Barely a bride Book

Griffin Abernathy, Viscount Abernathy is going to live his dream and be a solider, fight for his country and protect it's people. With his Free Fellows League promise binding him at the age of 10 yrs old to avoid a leg-shackling wife in order to become England's greatest hero along with his best friends and free fellows, Griffin is up for the task at hand. That is until his father orders Griffin to get marry and get her with a child before he leaves as being the old child, he's duty bound. No Marriage. No Regiment. Griffin is running out of time to snag himself a bride, that is until he lays eyes on..
Lady Alyssa Carrollton wants to be gardener, she wants to be free to live her life and not by the rules of the ton and forced to be sold off to the highest bidder at the marriage market. Given an ultimatum by her mother to get herself married this year, Alyssa still sees really no use to the whole deal, until Griffin meets her at a local gathering, and then he kisses her and asks her to marry him all in the same night!
Both see this as a way out of their troubles, they get to do what they want without delusions of grandeur blinding them. With their wedding going smoothly and a honeymoon both could only dream about. Time flies and Griffin is off to war as both Alyssa and him have their own battles and test of wills to fight as both have fallen madly in love with each other.

Griffin and Alyssa were two leads you quickly get attached to. Griffin a man going off to war, I truly loved his wits and charm when he "bargain" for Alyssa hand in marriage. He also showed many sides of himself from being gentle to sensual and later tortured at the horrors he saw on the battlefield. He never once came across a cocky or full of himself, always showing great respect for his new bride, thinking he got the better part of their marriage bargain!
Alyssa could command men! She was fun and smart, and the way she order the wedding in a week and transform a once shabby manor into a slice of heaven was amazing. Although I found it a little unbelievable she would fall in love with Griffin so quickly, the way the story was laid out it made sense. Through the time Griffin and her are apart, you see how she falls more in love with him and later helps him not only through his days on the battlefield but after he comes home.

The love scenes between the two were romantic and hot, with a urgency over them as time runs short. The author does such an awesome job of having them fall in love with each other in such a short amount of time, but really shows how deeply they love one another toward the end.
I cried a lot toward the end of the book as Alyssa and Griffin sends letter back and forth, both giving hope to each other, trying to stay positive to get the other through the day, and when Griffin comes home with shattered dreams and a haunted, tortured man, Alyssa shows even greater strength to help heal Griffin's soul and heart.

There was a lot of memorable secondary characters from Griffin's friends and Free Fellows to Aylssa's family, both added to the great story but didn't hinder it or drag it down, with the focus always remaining on the lead couple.

The only trouble I found with the book was it was pretty predictable, it didn't take away from the plot, you just knew what was coming.

Overall: It was like a breathe of fresh air reading this book, with it's sometimes fun dialogue to it's tear-jerking moments that torn at your heart. Amazing book