Married to the Viscount (Swanlea Spinster Series #5) Book

Originally posted on Adria's Romance Reviews

Married to the Viscount is one of my favorite Sabrina Jeffries books. It is one of the few books that checks off all the things that make a historical romance a hit for me.

Spencer Law, the Viscount Ravenswood is such a stuffy, arrogant and a generally unlikable fellow when he is first introduced to readers in Dance of Seduction so finding out he was to be the hero of the next book was a little hard to believe. Would this stuffy man lower his lofty standards and harsh character long enough to attract a woman? Apparently not, he had to be forced into a marriage in order to have a chance at love. Spencer was handsome and rich of course but at the beginning of Married to the Viscount he really doesn't have much else to commend him. He's courteous of Abby, the woman who claims to be his wife, but when he finds himself becoming attracted to her, he lets his insecurities and his secrets rule his verbal responses to her. At times he's cold and cruel to her and other times he's caring and sweet. It's enough to make a woman's head spin!

Abigail is a lovely heroine. When reading historical romances set in Regency England, it's always nice to have at least one American (preferably a woman) thrown into the mix to turn things upside down and Abby doesn't disappoint! She's definitely kind but she's also forthright, intelligent and sarcastic. She tries so hard to please her stranger husband, whom she's desperately attracted to but she doesn't cross the line into "wimpdom" by letting him walk all over her. That's so important in a heroine, just because she cares for the hero, she shouldn't let him do or say what he wants to her. Of course, she isn't made of stone and Spencer's objections to their marriage hurt her, but she doesn't shrivel up and whine, she gets up and fights dirty. She isn't afraid to tease him or to face him head on in an argument.

There's plenty of sexual tension between Spencer and Abby, almost from the beginning and it builds slowly and passionately. Mixed in with that passion is such angst from both characters, each one wanting the other and thinking it isn't possible. The longing adds such an appeal in the story that when I first read it, I just could not put it down until I finished it! Years later, upon reading it again on my Kindle, I found that I still loved Married to the Viscount as much as I did when I bought it in print.

Spencer and Abby's road to a happy ending was well written and perfectly timed. They got to know themselves and each other better through their forced circumstances, and Spencer had to choose between confronting his fears or losing Abby forever. Married to the Viscount is the last book of the Swanlea series but in my opinion can be read alone since the previous characters don't do much but play supportive roles.