ABOUT THE BOOK

Beautiful, headstrong Madeleine of Elford has picked her husband. Unfortunately her family disagrees. When her father organizes a tournament to parade alternative suitors in front of Madeleine, she is outraged but determined to stay true. 

Childhood nemesis, Thomas of Draycott, arrives at Elford and from the moment they meet again, tests her resolve. A skilled warrior, handsome and honorable, Thomas is her father’s favorite, and only has to be near Madeleine for sparks of all kinds to ignite.

Thomas remembers Madeleine well from fostering at Elford, and even his desperate need for a rich wife would not persuade him to woo a woman who hates him. Except Madeleine is all grown up and Thomas is experiencing strong feelings of a most inconvenient kind. And Madeleine doesn’t appear to hate him after all. 

Battle lines are blurred, as enemies become lovers, in the Betrothal Melee.

MY REVIEW

This is my first book by Sarah Hegger and it is a fun enemies-to-lovers historical romance filled with angst, humor, passion, and attempted murder.

Lady Madeleine’s father, Sir Richard, is hosting a tournament to find her a husband, but she already loves her childhood friend, Robert, to her family’s dismay. When her childhood antagonist, Sir Thomas of Draycott, shows up at the tourney proceeding to win the games quickly and skillfully, he threatens her feelings and she finds passion in his arms.

Sir Thomas owes his life to Sir Richard of Elford and was not intending to go to the tournament nor was he seeking a wife, but his long-time friend and sly priest Peter had other plans. When they were kids, Maddy stood up for her brother Edward by biting Thomas and pushing him into the water. There was no love lost between them until the challenge begins and sparks fly. 

Overall, this is a fast-paced, funny, and fiery romance with a feisty and stubborn heroine and a noble and honorable hero. I enjoyed the teasing and flirting between Thomas and Maddy. My favorite scene was during the dance when Thomas warned Maddy he was a horrible dancer and proceeded to show her how horrible to her enjoyment.  I look forward to hearing more about Maddy’s brother, Edward, and his wife Catriona as well as Maddy’s sister, Adelaide.  Recommend highly!

Thank you to Ms. Hegger for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.

Mimicking her globe-trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother. She currently lives in Ottawa, Canada, filling her empty nest with fur babies. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.

Sarah is the recipient of the 2015 EPIC Award for Historical Romance.

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