The Husband Test
A Novel
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4.3 • 30 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
She devised her own standards for the perfect man. Now, can she resist him?
Betina Krahn, the New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Talking Man and The Soft Touch, is at her most charming and witty in this enchanting tale of unlikely love.
She vowed never to be married....
Sister Eloise was perhaps the most well intentioned novice at the Convent of the Brides of Virtue — and the one always in the most trouble. Headstrong and earnest, she was determined to surprise her frustrated abbess and succeed in her latest role as the convent’s new husband judge.
But to do so this modest beauty, who had forsaken all carnal pleasure, must judge a warrior whose mere presence exuded a dangerous, unpredictable, and totally male sensuality.
He’d do anything to be a husband....
Peril, earl of Whitmore, needed a virtuous wife in the worst possible way. And he could think of no way worse than taking a stubborn, opinionated young novice back to his blighted estate and proving he was husband material. But in the days and nights to come he finds that the one test he can’t pass is resisting this maddeningly irresistible woman.
And as the dark secret of the Whitmore estate is revealed and their passion ignited by a single forbidden touch, they find that the perfect match is often made in a far more sensuous place than heaven.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Funny and poignant by turns, this absorbing medieval-era romance will beguile readers with its unconventional tone and multifaceted protagonists. Unlike many historical romance heroines, Eloise of Argent isn't a healer, a country maiden or an aristocratic beauty. She's an overly headstrong novitiate at the Convent of the Brides of Virtue whose well-intentioned but disastrous plans to "improve" the abbey have made her the bane of the abbess's existence. When Peril, the impoverished Earl of Whitmore, arrives seeking a bride, the abbess hatches a plan that will rid her of both Eloise and the imposing earl. She decrees that Eloise should accompany Peril to Whitmore to determine if he is worthy of one of the convent's young women. After seeing the dilapidated condition of Peril's estate, Eloise determines that a few "improvements" are in order, but her every effort is met with resistance. She soon learns that the land is supposedly cursed, and only a bride of the highest virtue can set things to right. A charming romance develops between Eloise and Peril as they clash, come together and rebuild. It's been many years since Krahn (Sweet Talking Man, etc.) has written a medieval romance, and her fans will welcome her return. (On sale Nov. 27)
Customer Reviews
Great book
This is a great book. I read it a couple years back and today I finally found it again. So guess what i am retreading it. Yay me.
Wish I could say I liked it
Too much Big Mistake, Proud Warrior/Feisty Woman. Too many historical & other errors for a history buff or someone used to well-researched fiction, which is me.
These in particular pulled me out of the story: Wisteria and Clematis weren’t even in the Old World until 400 or so years later—I’m well-versed in botanical history. At least it wasn’t a fuchsia hedge in 9th C. Ireland. A novena (I’m a recovering Catholic) is a NINE DAY prayer, and nuns had more regular hours of prayer than merely morning and night.
I did like Hildegard and figured she might have had another name, and the descriptions of a medieval household (not a house, thank you—a keep or a castle) were spot on.