Perfect Bride Book

I loved this !

A lovely romance about a young lady, Devon, whose mother died and left her alone to fend for herself in the slums of London. She is attacked by thieves on night and stabbed but manages to kill one of the criminals. The H Sebastian saves her and takes her to his home. I enjoyed reading about his attempts to turn her into a lady and teach her to read. It was so perfect. He's a stuffy but very sexy Marquess and has a bit of emotional baggage himself: his mother had been a rather promiscuous woman who had always embarrassed the family before her death and so Sebastian has sworn to himself that he will only marry a woman who will be the "perfect" bride for a man in his position. He wants a noblewoman who is not going to scandalize his family name. The homeless, illegitimate heroine fills none of these requirements but he is still drawn to her from the minute he saves her.

Devon has had a hard life. Her mother had been a governess who had fallen in love with a duke's son. All that rake gave the mother was a family heirloom necklace and pendant and a pregnancy. Devon still has the necklace and pendant and it helps her paternal grandmother, a dowager duchess, identity her. She also has her dad's rare colored amber eyes so the old duchess knows she has found her granddaughter.

Before all this happens though, Sebastian thinks that the ideal plan to safeguard Devon's future is to marry her to a suitable and wealthy gentleman. It was so funny seeing him eaten up with jealousy when the prospective husband candidates turn up for dinner. Sebastian eventually seduces Devon and falls in love with her but still cannot see her as his wife because of her background. Just when he decides that he loves her enough to marry her, her grandmother turns up and takes her away. Of course I've simplified it a lot, but this was truly one very beautiful romance novel. I will definitely be reading the third novel in the series. That one is called A Perfect Hero and features Sebastian's sister. I won't be reading the second novel A Perfect Groom because I didn't like the description of the heroine and I really liked Sebastian's brother Justin.