Trying to get over her ex fiancé’s infidelity, Margaret Brinton attends a matchmaking party.
Broken hearted and confused she thinks she needs to attract a relationship of convenience. She meets two gentlemen who only add to her confusion.

Seriously broken hearted and confused following her fiancé’s infidelity Margaret Brinton promises herself to not fall in love again and be made a fool of, just find a man to marry for convenience. Attending a match making party, she meets two very different men equally competing for her hand. One matches exactly what Margaret thinks she needs, while the other one she finds really condescending and annoying. Without knowing, she gets mixed up in secret dealings between the two, ending up resenting them both. The romance of this story develops slowly, interrupted by different kinds of other things, just like in real life. I appreciate that Margaret needs time to recover from her heartbreak to get clear on what she really wants and needs going forward.

Maragaret Brinton is the main character in this story having been in love with a man who let her down. I find her to be a warm hearted, but confused woman with little experience how to deal with men. It’s easy to relate to her fear of falling in love again and her promise to herself not to let her guard down ever again. She seems very caring about her little sister and her family around her, which is very nice to see, and is a very important element in the plot.

Mr Lundall is a character who adds confusion and interrupts other scenes in the plot. While I found him funny at times, I was worried that Margaret would give in to his irritating and intrusive ways. He repeatedly proposes and gets rejected, but that doesn’t seem to put him off. Stalking her and wearing her down he seems to think will be the way to her heart. While I realize he has an important position in the plot, I still found him terribly annoying and by far my least favorite character.

The dialogue flowed easily and I enjoyed the vivid nature descriptions in and around the family estate. It was like I could see the nice and affluent living conditions of the stately home where Margaret was brought up. It seemed like environments similar to Jane Austen stories.

Once Margaret gets clear on what she needs and with whom, I enjoyed the deepening of the relationship with her love interest. I appreciated the descriptions of her process going from utterly hurt and confused, through every doubtful twist and turn of though, until she reaches more clarity.

Promise (Proper Romance) is a sweet, romantic story reminiscent of Jane Austen, which fans of historical romance fiction will enjoy.

Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGally for this eARC which gave me the opportunity to share my honest review. All opinions are completely my own.

My rating: 4 stars / 5