Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Getting Married at Crofton Hall

SERIES:  Modern Crofton

AUTHOR:  Rebecca Cohen

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  340 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 22, 2022

BLURB:

Ben and Ashley are getting married! For the first time in history the Earl of Crofton will be allowed to marry a man.

But wedding admin isn’t always fun, and frayed tempers and bickering are not the best ways to prepare for the happiest day of their lives, but hopefully they’ll make it down the aisle before one of them kills the other. The arrival of two of Ben’s old friends at Crofton Hall does not help matters, especially with their rather messy shared history.

The hall also has a new writer in residence, Chris Gamling, and while he’s not always with the plot in the real world, he’s a brilliant wordsmith. When he meets Jack Webb, Ashley’s best friend, Chris feels the spark he’s been waiting for. Sometimes meeting the love of your life doesn’t have to be difficult.

This is the fourth Modern Crofton novel, featuring Benjamin Redbourn, the 16th Earl of Crofton and descendant of Anthony Redbourn, 1st Earl of Crofton from my historical series, The Crofton Chronicles. Each book in the Modern Crofton series will feature Ben and Ashley, alongside another couple finding love at Crofton Hall.

REVIEW:

NOTE:   This is the fourth book in the Modern Crofton series and it builds on the three previous titles.  It is recommended to read them in order as this book contains major spoilers for the previous books.

Ben and Ashley have gotten engaged, but Ben has the idea that they need to be married before year-end, so there isn’t a lot of time to plan.  Ashley’s day job is planning weddings, but taking on his own in a compressed schedule in addition has him run ragged.  And then there is the fact that Ben is basically no help and he’s pressuring Ashley about whether or not he will take Ben’s name and yeah, Ashley is in a bit of a pressure cooker.  Ben seems much more keen on planning the Stag do rather than the actually wedding.  Then there is the fact that Ben’s best man is also an old school friend Dorian (a closeted actor) and his PA Robin is really his BF and Ben’s old friend with benefits that could have been more.   He has an open invitation as a friend with benefits for them and he’s not been honest with Ashely about and the pressure just seems to keep building.

Ashley’s best man is his best friend who was also his first boyfriend, Jack.  Jack went through a pretty hard breakup and did some traveling before he came back to settle into single life.  He’s a barrister and he’s happy enough to be back, but he hasn’t been dating.  While in town to meet up with Ashley his literally runs into a blonde angel.  Little does he know he’s just met the writer in residence at Crofton Hall, newly returned from Los Angeles.  Chris had a rough time in LA what with people making a lot of assumptions about him because of his looks.  Jack realizes that Chris is someone he would like to get to know and he also knows he has to take things at Chris’s pace.  Chris is a virgin and he’s not one to jump into anything.  He comes from a big family, had been a scholarship kid and definitely is used to taking care of himself.  But he does really like Jack 🙂

As the wedding planning causes friction between Ashley and Ben, Chris and Jack grow closer.  They agree to date but are taking this slowly as Chris needs to be sure before he takes things further.  Jack has never felt this kind of attraction and care for another man before and he’s a nervous as if this was his first crush 🙂  It’s clear that these two have something and as the wedding gets closer and the Stag do shenanigans threaten Ben and Ashley’s happiness, Jack and Chris are there to lend support and help stop the madness 😉

Well this was a really lovely addition to this series and I was rally happy to see Ben and Ashley finally married 🙂   In this book we meet an established (although closeted) couple as well as witness the relationship of two new characters who begin the story unattached.  I cannot wait to see what happens with Dorian and Robin as that is a disaster waiting to happen.  Chris is just the sweetest character – but he’s wrapped around a spine of steel!  He knows what he wants, he’d worked hard to maintain his integrity and he’s willing to do what’s necessary to get he wants and needs in his own understated way.  He needs to trust Jack before things to further and he finds that he can 🙂  Jack has been hollowed out by his breakup.   He’s not sure he wants to even do that again, but it turns out when he meets Chris, he realizes he doesn’t want to be alone.  Their slow realization that they might be perfect for each other is well written and I just wanted them to give in already – but of course the authors knows best 😉

I am a fan of this series, and I’m so glad there will be at least several more books.  The historical context is also so nice to see as well as the couples from the prior books.  Highly recommended!

RATING: 

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