All through her pennypinching childhood Jocelyn dreamt of marrying a rich prince who could provide her with the life her parents didn't. Now her brother and elder sisters are settled and she's having a successful season she's determined to make her dream come true. She's still myopic but determined not to wear glasses because they'll ruin her rôle of the "pretty" one, so when she overhears men plotting they have nothing to fear from her but don't realise it. When her brother-in-law's friend realises her life is in danger, he insists on protecting her but they have to get married, but Rand, Viscount Beaumont, neglects to tell her he is also a Prince of a small European country. He also has the impression she's mercenary, so he neglects to tell her he's quite well off and although they both make the best of this mismatch, he has foot-in-mouth disease and when he finds out she CAN'T identify the villains he ruins things by saying if he'd known before they wouldn't be stuck in a marriage neither of them wants. She'd fallen in love with him but no longer trusts him. Then his cousin the Prince pretends to kidnap her to force Rand to follow him home and the conspirator decides to kidnap her for real. Has Rand fallen in love with Jocelyn only to lose her?
Now I don't know whether I'm just out of sorts and therefore misunderstanding things or taking them wrongly but the Marriage Lesson went totally haywire and I had to read some Lisa Kleypas to get back in the mood. So I decided to have another try, but less than 50 pages into this book they're forcing Jocelyn into a marriage and raising my hackles. I don't find it amusing, all my alarm bells are ringing and I'm very dubious about finishing ... Well luckily it improved and Jocelyn and Rand began to grow on me but the whole false/true kidnapping ending strained my patience again. It's becoming obvious to me that, unlike Lisa Kleypas or Stephanie Laurens, I just can't read several VAs in a row.
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