The Stranger She Married

‘The Stranger She Married’ is the first book the Rogue Hearts series by Donna Hatch. This series takes place in Victorian England after they won the war with France.

Alicia Palmer is a young woman who happens to be a fortune hunter looking for a husband. But she’s not looking for a rich husband for herself, but for a man willing to pay off the family’s debts. Her parents died in a carriage accident. Her twin brother Armand was shot in a duel and died due to complications. All she has left are her sister Hannah, her Uncle Willard, and Willard’s son, Robert. Things have gone from back to worse since Uncle Willard gained her father’s title and taken over the family’s money. Since then, the family has amassed a stunningly large amount of debt that must be paid off soon, or all of them will be thrown into debtor’s prison.

Viscount Cole Amesbury is the oldest son of the Earl of Tarrington. He has come to the country to visit his Uncle Andrew & Aunt Livy Fitzpatrick. Aunt Livy is trying to find a wife for him, but he doesn’t want to marry now, he wants to wait a few more years. Besides, no one catches his eye, until he meets Alicia. He is intrigued by her truly genuine character, having grown weary of the debutantes with the many pretenses they use to snag themselves a rich husband. But Alicia’s kindness and compassion for others draws him to her. And her true innocence makes him feel very protective of her. But when she finds out that he was the reason why her twin brother was dead, she wants nothing to do with him. For some reason, he was greatly disappointed that she no longer looked at him kindly.

Alicia was drawn to Cole. But she cannot let her good judgment be clouded by his handsome good looks. He killed her twin brother! He is a murderer! He cannot have a heart in him! But why does he keep showing her kindness, even after she’s been rude to him? Time is running out and she must choose a husband soon! Her choices are few and she doesn’t like any of them. Will she choose the one who tried to take advantage of her, the man old enough to be her grandfather who orders her around, or the man who murdered her brother? Her choices dwindle further and then a new man steps up and offers for her.

Baron Nicholas Amesbury, a distant cousin to Cole, agrees to pay off Alicia’s family’s debts if she will marry him, a scarred cripple. When she meets him he is covered from head to toe in dark colors, and walking with a cane to help with his limp. His head and face are always covered by a loose black hood and he hides even his hands with black gloves. Just how scarred is he? Is there a monstrous looking man hiding under all those clothes? It is well known that he was scared while serving in the war with France.

Will she forgive Cole in time to marry him? Or will she take the unknown, unseen, scarred Nicholas? And if she weds Nicholas, can she give him the heirs he wants? There are many surprises along the way. Some you probably won’t see coming. Some you may have suspected or seen coming for several chapters. 

Donna Hatch writes clean fiction, but I would say that this book is good for ages 16+. (There are no descriptive scenes, but some things are implied. There was an almost rape at the beginning of the book. There is another scene where a man tries to seduce a woman and almost secedes. And there are a few other scenes where it implied that Cole either currently has, or had in the past, relations with other women.)

This story almost has a ‘Beauty and Beast’ feel to it, which happens to be one of my favorite fairy tales. Maybe that’s why I love this story so much. And if you love this story, there are two more books in this series with hopefully more to come. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did! It comes in both book and e-book formats.