Penny Shoemaker is a woman in a man's trade. She grew up
making shoes, like her father and grandfather before her,
but cobbling is a job for men. Two months after footpads
killed her parents, she's finally building a trade of her
own, in women's shoes, when the unthinkable happens. A rival
shoemaker appears, claiming to have bought her home, the
workshop, and everything inside.
Samuel Morrison is the bored second son of a minor baron.
He's always thinking, and noticing, but it's only a party
trick, not worth anything until he meets Penny Shoemaker.
When he sees a rival tradesman evicting Penny from her
lifelong home, Samuel quickly realizes something is wrong
and vows to set things right.
Penny doesn't entirely trust Samuel when he offers to help
her, but she has nothing left to lose. Samuel is just
looking for something to occupy his mind, and if he can
charm the pretty young woman into his bed as well, so much
the better. As they begin to unravel the truth about her
father's will and the sale of the shop, Samuel and Penny
begin to see that there's more to each other than meets the
eye.
I raced through the first half of WEDDED IN SIN. Jade Lee's
descriptive writing really lets you follow Samuel's
lightning fast thoughts as he notices, deduces, and reacts
to everything happening around him. Working class Penny
doesn't always know what he's talking about, but she can
keep up, and that both impresses and arouses Samuel. All the
characters are interesting, and the mystery of the forged
will is well crafted and compelling.
The second half of the book seemed to drag a bit, in part
because the mystery takes a back seat to Samuel and Penny's
personality problems. She has anger management issues, and
they both struggle with a certain amount of self-doubt, but
the scenes where they confront those problems seem forced.
When they finally give in to temptation, the setting and the
scene feel contrived. That said, the resolution to the
mystery and to the challenges keeping the two apart are very
satisfying. It's like biting into a peanut butter cup and
finding an area that's filled with marshmallow fluff
instead. It's not bad, but it's not the full-flavored treat
I expected.
The dazzling wedding fashions of A Lady’s Favor dress shop
are guaranteed to make any girl the talk of the ton. But the
brides aren’t the only ones falling in love…
With her parents murdered and her inheritance stolen, all
Penny Shoemaker has left is her job designing handcrafted
shoes for A Lady’s Favor dress shop. But that’s not enough
for her to support herself or her young brother. Her only
chance to regain what is rightfully hers rests with a
strange but brilliant gent with a weakness for damsels in
distress.
Samuel Morrison is a dispossessed younger son searching for
his place in the world. When Penny’s predicament literally
lands at his feet, he sets his keen detective skills to
solving her mystery. But she fills more than his time—she
fills his heart. How can a lost man solve the mystery, win
the girl, and create a life not only for himself, but for
her as well? The answer may be just a favor away...