An Unwitting Alliance by Anneka R. Walker

An Unwitting Alliance
by Anneka R. Walker

ISBN-13: 9781524423483
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Released: July 10, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Cassandra Vail has but one objective at the Kellens’ ball: she must secure a proposal from her eminently suitable suitor. Instead, she finds her best-laid plans thwarted by another man―the handsome and thoroughly vexing Mr. Harwood. Thanks to his meddling, Cassandra loses her chance and her parents betroth her to a complete stranger.

Tom Harwood meant only to deter a debutante from pursuing his friend. He wasn’t supposed to be entranced by her. To make matters worse, he’s offended Cassandra. Before he has the opportunity to make amends, he finds himself the latest unwitting victim of the meddlesome Matchmaking Mamas. His parents have signed a contract for his hand in marriage, and it seems his mysterious betrothed is as opposed to the union as he is.

When the reluctant couple finally meets, they are shocked to realize they are not strangers after all. Can one miserable beginning be overcome, or has their future ended before it even begins?


My Review:
An Unwitting Alliance is a romance set in 1821 in England. I suppose I should have skipped this one as I have trouble accepting the premise that two sets of loving parents would force their children into a marriage with someone they don't know and plan a hasty marriage so they can't back out of it. Cassandra was trying to catch a man, so she's upset that they didn't even trust her to choose and win her own man. Tom never wanted to get married and is heir, so I can understand his parents wanting him to marry, but not their signing a binding contract sight unseen.

Anyway. Cassandra constantly assumed the worst about Tom and refused to hear his apology or explanation. Even after she finally accepted that he hadn't meant her any harm nor had any hand in the betrothal, she still assumed the worst about him and didn't want to listen to him. That's not going to make for a good marriage, especially as Tom also assumed the worst about her on occasion. They spent much of the story just getting to the point of deciding they might have pursued each other if not forced into it, and I felt like they didn't have time to get to know each other--the real person, not their assumptions.

Tom had to overcome his reluctance to let people see past his charming, cheerful facade. His much-loved brother died when he was young, and Tom's determined to never love and hurt like that again. It's a young boy in the nearby workhouse that broke through that wall. At the end, he tells Cassandra "...all along I needed your love to right what was wrong inside of me." Yet I didn't really feel like she showed him that type of love. Anyway, this romance just didn't quite work for me.

Historical details were woven into the story, like the side story involving workhouses for the poor. However, the author used some pretty modern phrases at times. Tom had a habit of talking his problems out with his dead brother (who must be an angel in heaven) and praying to him for help. He didn't trust God to care. There was no sex or bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.