Marriage At The Manor
By Amanda Grange 

     Robert Hale keeps UK romance fans well supplied with the sort of light, frothy romances that makes the genre so enjoyable. This one, set during the Belle Époque, as an alternative to the invariable Regency, is no exception. Young Cicely Haringay has had to sell her beloved Oakleigh Manor to pay off her late father’s debts. Instead of it going to a nice family, it has been bought by a mere chit, who bought it sight unseen. To add injury to insult, Alex Evington even knocks her down in his car as she cycles to her new home. To make ends meet, she ends up working for him as his secretary! But Alex has a plan of his own for which he needs to own a large country house…

     This has a typically light and enjoyable story that readers expect from the genre, with the added frisson of a spot of crime. Halfway through, the scene switches to Marienbad which is unusual and interesting; but I would have liked to have read some more descriptions of the place and its inhabitants. I wanted to be able to picture it as it must have been, full of Teutonic glory in the heady days before the war. I felt the poorer for not being able to do this. A good if not exceptional tale that ought to please romance fans without bowling them over.