First Earl I See Tonight (Debutante Diaries #1) by Anna Bennett

 First Earl I See Tonight by Anna Bennett

Blurb: 

An heiress with a daring proposal. An earl who’s determined to resist her. And a love that just might be written in the stars…

Recently jilted by his fiancée, David Gray, Earl of Ravenport is not in the market for a wife. Even if Gray didn’t have his hands full renovating his crumbling country house, it would take more than a bold marriage proposal from a headstrong young beauty to thaw his frozen heart. Gray is confident that spending a week at his ramshackle estate will change her mind about marriage, but every passionate moment he spends with her tempts him to change his…


A talented artist, Miss Fiona Hartley desperately needs her dowry money to pay off a blackmailer set on ruining her sister. The handsome earl seems a sensible choice for a husband…if only she can convince him that romance will play no part. But marrying in name only may prove difficult for Fiona. Gray can’t help but be dazzled by her genuine warmth. Yet as their feelings deepen, Fiona’s deadline looms. Will her secrets destroy them, or is true love their final destiny?



I enjoyed reading this story about Fiona, a warm-hearted and desperate heiress and Gray, the jilted, disillusioned and slightly frustrated Earl of Ravenport! Fiona has to fight to protect her sister from ruin and if that means proposing to some stranger, well, Fiona is willing to do almost about everything in order to protect those that she loves!

The problem is that such a business arrangement as the one they agreed upon may look very different if you spend time with someone as warm and lively as Fiona every day..is it a problem? Well, it might become one if there are other forces conspiring against them and when former lovers and blackmail join in the fun.

A warm and compassionate heroine and a hero who tries to hold himself back and fails, a mysterious blackmailer whose identity remains unknown almost to the end - and I never even guessed who it was. I took me as well as our hero and our heroine completely by surprise when we recognized the blackmailer because, well, ...
There were parts of the story that were a bit bumpy but on the whole, I really enjoyed this first book in Anna Bennett's new series. I loved the writing and the characters a lot and I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

★★★★