A review by toosharpbyhalf
A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

5.0

I adored this Regency romance. Upright widow Martha will lose everything unless her husband got her with child before he died, so in desperation she hires the local dissolute rake as a stud. She has one month to get herself with child, not just to save herself but to save the local school she is setting up for the children of her labourers. Against my expectations (and his) she resolutely does not enjoy these nightly encounters for many weeks until, gradually, he shows himself a good and honourable man and she begins to fall for him, releasing her inner passions. The set up is contrived but the tale itself is wonderful. This is such a sweet book with plenty of delayed gratification, some very sexy scenes later on, and a satisfying ending.