Book Review ~ "Marriage of Mercy" by Carla Kelly

Marriage of Mercy by Carla Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Source; Purchased by me
Genre: Historical Romantic Fiction

Book Description: From riches to rags, Grace has had to swallow her pride and get a job as a baker. But everything changes when she's the beneficiary of a surprise inheritance.Her benefactor's deal comes with a catch: give up her life of toil and live in luxury only if she marries his illegitimate son, a prisoner of war. It's an offer she can't afford to refuse. But her husband-to-be is dying, and he begs her to take one of his men instead—to marry purely out of mercy….

A marriage of convenience with a complete stranger… Could this arrangement ever work?
My thoughts: This book is different than I thought it would be. The synopsis and title made think it would e a different story. I enjoyed the book, just wondering who wrote the synopsis and came up with the title?

Grace went from riches to rags. She was forced to leave her home after her father's death, with no family to turn to and nowhere to go. She showed her fortitude and ingenuity when she offered to work for a baker whom her father owed money.

Ten years pass, she did well with her life and made friends by her friendliness and kindness. This paid off when she received an inheritance, 30 pound a year and life in a dowager house. The only catch was that she had to take care of the illegitimate son of her benefactor. He would be released as a prisoner of war into her custody. The problem when she went to get him, he was dying. He begged her to take another prisoner in his stead.

Here is where the book differs from the book description, marriage was not a stipulation. It was straight forward, she would watch over the prisoner,she would have a place to live, and an income.

Marriage was a large part of the book. Grace felt bad that she never had the opportunity to marry. She could no longer marry a member of the gentry, and a commoner would think her too elevated to be worth marrying. Rob, the prisoner, let her know that in America, she would have a better chance of finding a husband.

I did enjoy the characters. There is far more to many of them than appears on the surface.

This book does not fit in the mold of the other Carla Kelly books I have read. I look forward to reading her books because I usually get a good, clean romance. This book does not fit into the clean category. There is detailed intimate relations between the characters.

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