The Wedding Trap [Mass Market Paperback]

The book is about the story of Kit Winter and Eliza Hammond, who have been supporting characters in the previous novels in this series. It's mostly a "growing up" tale for Kit Winter -- he's a second son, and as in the first book in the series "The Husband Trap", he is not a bad person but more likely grew up a bit self-indulged. Having loads of money without really any responsibility that his older brother Adrian has. So he is overschooled and uninspired.

Then his sister-in-law (Adrian's wife, Violet from "The Husband Trap") sets him up to be a mentor for her best friend Eliza, who is a wallflower spinster who had just inherited a large fortune and therefore wants a more successful London season than her previous ones. Kit is supposed to teach her how to be less shy and reticient in society and to give her an all over "makeover". She has also been secretly in love with Kit for the longest time but he has never noticed her and although he was never unkind to her he was just too immature to appreciate her "inner beauty". As they spend more time together Kit gets to know more and more about Eliza and soon finds himself in love and realises he needs to start doing something with his life as his carefree bachelor days were really getting tiresome. Through their relationship he becomes a better person with a better sense of priorities.

The main characters were familiar as they have been introduced in the previous books and so they have been acquaintances for a while. It was also nice to catch up with characters from previous books in the series. I can not fault the story. I am glad they ended up together but I gotta say I am less than enamored by Kit. There's nothing really wrong with him it's just that I think his level of maturity in thinking could have been developed more convincingly, not just changing overnight (well, not really overnight but almost anyway). And, I liked Lance Brevard! Really, he should have his own story. If I were Eliza I would have chosen Lance (at least he'd seen and appreciated her for who she is from the moment they met) but then I guess you can't help who you fall in love with after all. Really Brevard should have his own story as he quite stole the show for me and no offense to Kit but Brevard is the better man. Ah, well. Hopefully Lance Brevard does get his own story soon.

Bluestocking Eliza Hammond has been in love with Kit Winter forever. Unfortunately, he only sees her as his sister in law's mousy, shy, bookish friend. After 4 seasons without a sniff of an offer, it would appear that every other man thinks the same. But now Eliza has come into a fortune and is determined that this season will be her best yet - she just needs some help.

So she enlists the help of Kit to transform her into a stunning society belle that will be worthy of catching a great husband. But as their lessons continue, the sparks between Kit and Eliza begin to fly. Kit soon finds himself floored by his desire for Eliza, but will he realise his true feelings before he loses her to another man?

This is the third book in Warren's 'Trap Trilogy' after The Husband Trap and The Wife Trap. The book features the couples from both previous stories but apart from this stands nicely on its own.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The writing was entertaining and engaging and the characters likeable. My main problem with the story was that there was a distinct lack of passion. It was a good read but lacked any great emotional depth so it was hard to develop a great feeling for Kit, Eliza or their emerging love story.

Another great annoyance was the huge number of Americanisms that popped up quite frequently in the book. This really pulled me out of the story and seriously grated after a while.

Despite all its faults, this is still a story that I would recommend. It may not be the deepest or most involved story but it's still an entertaining and readable story. 4 stars.