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First Comes Marriage: A Selection from Married in Seattle
First Comes Marriage: A Selection from Married in Seattle
First Comes Marriage: A Selection from Married in Seattle
Audiobook4 hours

First Comes Marriage: A Selection from Married in Seattle

Written by Debbie Macomber

Narrated by Angela Dawe

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

There are all the usual ways, of course, but here’s how Janine Hartman did it.

My grandfather Hartman arranged a husband for me! Zach Thomas, the intended groom, was just as outraged as I was. But gramps insisted we’d be “a perfect match.” First Comes Marriage, according to him.

Does Grandfather know best? You decide!

“Debbie Macomber writes characters who are as warm and funny and real as your best friends.” —New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 30, 2010
ISBN9781441863003
First Comes Marriage: A Selection from Married in Seattle
Author

Debbie Macomber

Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author and a leading voice in women’s fiction today. She is a multiple award winner with more than 200 million copies of her books in print. Five of her Christmas titles have been made into Hallmark Channel Original Movies, as well as a series based on her bestselling Cedar Cove stories. For more information, visit her website:www.DebbieMacomber.com.

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Reviews for First Comes Marriage

Rating: 4.230769230769231 out of 5 stars
4/5

26 ratings11 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This one holds up very well on a re-read. I wasn't grading back when I first read it so I can't properly compare but I certainly didn't have any trouble getting through it again. Balogh captures very well the bafflement men can feel regarding women and emotions and I enjoyed Elliott getting in touch with his feelings. I also loved how Vanessa became truly beautiful to Elliott - I think everyone needs to be beautiful to someone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book from Dell Books through Goodreads.I believe this may have been the first book I have ever read by Mary Balogh, which is odd since I love historical romances. I am particularly fond of Regencies, and although this one takes place several years after, it still has the same flavor.My feelings about this book are a little odd. I found the beginning confusing and could not figure out what it had to do with the story. I kept going back to see if I had missed something. The beginning is not explained until almost a hundred pages into it.I really enjoyed the bulk of the book. I wanted to shake the two main characters more than once, but that was the point. The other characters were handled well and the basis for the sequels was established.I did think the ending was too abrupt. Yes, there are sequels, but I wanted a satisfying ending. Something more than "they lived happily ever after."Overall, it was a good book and I am glad I had the opportunity to read it. I will definitely be reading the sequels which thankfully are all published.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The first story in the Huxtable series. This focuses on Vanessa and Elliott. Vanessa is considered, by society standards, plain looking, but having a warm heart. In an attempt to ensure that her eldest sister, Meg, finds her true lover, Vanessa proposes to Elliott, who wanted to propose marriage to Meg. The motives behind the proposals were anything but love. Vanessa and Elliott had great sexual chemistry that turned into love. Overall very entertaining book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyed the chemistry between Elliott and Vanessa. Both characters were very practical about the ridiculous constraints of regency high society.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Elliott Wallace, Viscount Lyngate has come to the small town of Throckbridge and all the young ladies are in a twitter because there is to be an assembly with dancing and the Viscount is coming. Little does the town realize this is just the start of the shakeup that the Viscount brings to the residents. At the dance the only lady that he deigns to dance with, is the Widow Dew, one of the Huxtable sisters, but not the pretty one, the very plain one. The days following he disrupts the Huxtable household by informing them that Stephen, the youngest, is now the Earl of Merton and that they need to move to Warren Hall where Stephen, until his majority, will be trained to take over his responsibilities. Elliott realizes that the sisters will need to be introduced to London society and since there is no one who can sponsor them that they know, he will need to marry sooner than he planned to provide that service. He agrees to marry Vanessa Dew so that she can serve as her sisters' sponsor. Their love story unfolds.First, let me say that I love Mary Balogh's books. Se writes love stories in a series surrounding a family. She is one of my favorite authors, and this is her newest, the first in the Huxtable Series. I've read 20+ of her books and this is the first one that really disappointed me. I kept waiting for the plot to develop and it never got there. There was no conflict, no mystery just a simple love story that really did have much of a bite. These are the first two Hero/heroine/ that didn't grab me. I just hope that the series is better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The first in a new series, this is the story of the Huxtables, a family of four orphaned siblings who have grown up taking care of one another. When a strange but handsome man shows up in their isolated rural village to inform Stephen, the youngest and only son, that he has inherited an earldom, all their lives are sure to change completely. Stephen's guardian, Elliott, is a viscount and heir to a dukedom, but still unmarried. Elliott decides that, since it is time for him to marry, that one of the very beautiful Huxtable sisters would be a convenient choice. However, his plans are thwarted when Vanessa, the not-so-beautiful Huxtable sister, proposes that he marry HER instead. This is a very satisfying and well-written historical romance. Not outstanding in any particular way, but there is nothing I can find fault with, either.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Listened to the Brilliance Audio recording narrated by Anne Flosnik. The narration was excellent, but the story was simply too drippy for me. I like a little more wit and verve in my romance novel relationships. As far as I could tell our heroine fell in "love" based on this guy's looks alone. He had hidden depths, but she had no way to know that and apparently simply divined it intuitively despite the fact that through the first two thirds of the book he is consistently unpleasant. I'll give the series one more try - I'm a sucker for this family linked type of series - maybe with a different hero and heroine I'll like it better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this rather sweet story of Vanessa Huxtable, a widow, who is plainer than her sisters finding love with her new husband, Viscount Lyngate, through several ups and downs, including having to come to terms with his past relationships and several other issues. The only real jarring note was Constantine who seemed only to be missing moustaches to twirl. I have a fairly good notion what's going on with him but I'm going to have to keep reading to see if I'm right. Light but I enjoyed the read and look forward to more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Huxtable sisters have just been informed that their young brother is the new Earl of Merton. His guardian, Viscount Lyngate, decides that he should marry one of them, to simplify matters. He prefers the eldest, but she is in love with Another. To save her sister, Vanessa selflessly proposes that he marry her, instead. Despite the fact that she is plainer than her sisters and given to arguing with him, he does so.Can this marriage work? This is a romance novel, so of course the answer is "yes." But watching it play out is loads of fun.This is the first in a series of four books about the Huxtables. I'm looking forward eagerly to the others.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Balogh doesn't disappoint as usual, tender and sexy romance with a dash of realism.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lovely story that will play with your emotions yet keep you smiling. "First Comes Marriage" is the premiere novel in Mary Balogh's new series about three sisters and their younger brother who are lifted from obscurity when he is elevated to the title of Earl of Merton. The first to find love is the middle widowed sister, Vanessa.Vanessa is the 'plain Jane' of the Huxtable family. She's heard it all her life and can see in the mirror for herself as well. But she's also the happiest and most joyful, finding pleasure in each day. When the terribly correct and arrogant Viscount Lyngate comes to inform the family of her younger brother's surprising inheritance, Vanessa is just as excited and fearful as the rest of her small family. But when it appears this same Viscount will propose a dutiful marriage to her older sister, Vanessa knows that just won't do. Her older sister deserves to have a chance at love so Vanessa proposes to the Viscount herself!Elliott isn't sure which part of his duty is most onerous. Having to locate and guide the new Earl of Merton or having to sacrifice himself on the altar of marriage for his own title. It doesn't take him long to realize that what's really most irritating is the widowed sister of the new Earl. She doesn't stand in awe of him, she talks back to him, and now for some reason he seems to be attracted to her. But he must marry and heaven knows one chit is really as good as another so he might as well lighten his burden by marrying the oldest Huxtable daughter. Well...he would...if that irritating woman hadn't just proposed to him!I found laughter and tears in this story; I also couldn't seem to stop reading once I started. Both of those are signs of an irresistible book for me. From the first page, Balogh sets up the premise of this entire new series and draws the reader in with a bit of mystery. While you are reading the story of Elliott and Vanessa, you also get bits of pieces of the mystery tossed in. The relationship between the main characters is complex and engrossing while the deepening of their feelings proceeds at a reasonable and smooth pace. I find myself anxious for the next book "Then Comes Seduction" which is the story of the youngest daughter. It should hit the shelves April and I'll look forward to reading more about the Huxtable family, the Earl of Merton, and the mystery of Constantine.