An unlikely countess

After his elder brother unexpectedly dies, Catesby Burgoyne, the new Earl of Malzard, knows his first duty is to marry. He just doesn't expect to find Prudence Youlgrave, his future wife, about to marry another man. Several months earlier, Catesby had rescued Prudence from a band of drunken ruffians. Now it seems Catesby must rescue Prudence again, this time from her equally brutal husband-to-be. Catesby doesn't expect that his reckless decision to marry Prudence, who has been struggling to survive in genteel poverty, will sit well with his mother or his other relatives, all of whom expect him to wed the perfect countess. But much to his surprise, Prudence not only turns out to be perfect for the job of being Countess of Malzard, but also the perfect match for Catesby as well. With her usual gift for crafting a captivating plot and creating complex, compelling characters, RITA Award-winning Beverley fashions another superbly satisfying addition to her Georgian-eraMalloren World series.--Charles, John Copyright 2010 Booklist

Beverley's 11th Malloren World romance, which starts a new trilogy, is a delightful, deftly plotted exploration of social class, gender roles, and romance. Prudence Youlgrave's expectations are reasonable for an impoverished woman in 1765 Yorkshire: she hopes to improve her station by marrying well. When roguish Catesby Burgoyne rescues her from robbers and persuades her to marry him, both are shocked by their impulsiveness and then stunned when Cate's older brother's death makes him the implausible earl of Malzard and Prudence an improbable countess. Prudence and Cate's path to love is rife with obstacles and charming secondary characters such as the formidable Lady Arradale. Though the final confrontation with Prudence's former fiance is disappointingly anticlimactic, the romance is otherwise charming and refreshingly restrained. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.