The Bridal Season and Bridal Favors

Award-winning author Connie Brockway takes readers to the elegant drawing rooms and sprawling country estates of Victorian England in this captivating tale of a woman who must keep an irresistible nobleman�s most scandalous secret�without losing her heart. Evelyn Whyte has never forgotten the night she first met Justin Powell�or the shocking indiscretion that left the raffish military hero eternally in her debt. Now, desperate to save her aunt�s foundering nuptial-planning enterprise, she�s ready for Powell to repay the favor. All she needs is Justin�s scenic ancestral home, where she�s determined to show the world that even a woman innocent in the ways of love can turn a simple wedding into the social event of the season. Justin is happy to oblige, but his hospitality may place the wedding party in peril. Unaware of the daring double life he conceals behind a cloak of amiable gentility, Evie and her guests descend on North Cross Abbey. Pursued by enemy agents amid a whirl of festivities, Justin vows to keep Evie safe. But who will protect him from the charms of this alluring woman�and the promise of a matchless love worth any risk? From Publishers Weekly Set in Chelsea, England, during the late Victorian era, this brisk and refreshingly droll tale sets cheeky Evelyn Cummings Whyte on a collision course with the scruffy but invariably handsome Justin Powell. When 15-year-old Evelyn interrupts what she takes to be a tryst between Justin and a prominent diplomat's wife, she exacts a note of debt from the ruffled 23-year-old in return for her silence. Ten years later, Evie, who is filling in for her aunt as a society wedding planner, comes calling with her note. She needs Justin's familial estate for the wedding of the season. He agrees reluctantly, complaining it will interfere with his bird-watching he's an ornithologist on the tail of the elusive Bubo Formosa Plorimus (Most Beautiful Owl) but in truth, the nuptials will provide an excellent cover for his espionage activities. Far from the frivolous ladies' man Evie thinks he is, Justin is really a spy, but his latest mission to hide a "diabolical machine" being shipped to him by his handler may put them both in danger. Readers are left to wonder what the machine is for much of the tale, and in the end, it's not what we're led to believe. A handful of other surprises keep the narrative lively, and Brockway's buoyant characters and lilting writing style sweep the reader along to a heady and hilarious denouement. (Sept. 3) Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Late one night, young Evelyn Cummings Whyte bumps into Justin Powell as he exits a married woman's bedroom. Evelyn agrees to keep silent about the indiscretion, and Justin is left in her debt. Now, ten years later, Evelyn calls in the favor. Ever since her aunt eloped to France, Evelyn has been trying to keep Whyte's Nuptial Celebrations running smoothly, and now has one last chance to keep the company solvent. A wealthy American client insists on holding her second wedding at North Cross Abbey, which just happens to be Justin's ancestral estate. Justin agrees to let Evelyn use his digs on one condition: he'll be on the premises. Thinking that the wedding offers the perfect cover for his plan to ferret out a dangerous enemy spy, Justin quickly discovers just how challenging, yet enjoyable, it is keeping Evelyn unaware of his real plans, and out of danger. The second of RITA award-winning Brockway's "Bridal" books, this a scrumptious literary treat with delightfully unconventional yet wonderfully engaging characters, superbly crafted plot, and prose rich in wit and humor. John Charles Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved