The Perfect Stranger by Anne Gracie

Wonderful Regency Story
4 Stars

The Perfect Stranger is the third book in Anne Gracie’s series about the beautiful Merridew sisters after The Perfect Kiss and the Perfect Waltz.

This book focuses on Faith Merridew who has given up everything for a man who she thought was the love of her life but instead he has destroyed her name and her dreams and left her to fend for herself in the wilds of the French countryside.

She is saved by the mysterious Waterloo veteran Nicholas Blacklock who offers to save her reputation with a marriage of convenience. But Nick isn’t prepared for his new bride’s spirit and love of life and despite his need to keep her at arm’s length to hide his dark secrets – he soon realises that he can’t fight fate, or Faith Merridew.

I really enjoyed this book. Faith is a wonderful character – spirited and brave but with enough human qualities to make her someone you can truly admire. Nicholas is a brooding war veteran who has many scars from the war but he isn’t able to mask his charming and chivalrous side – especially when it comes to Faith. The man is moody yet deliciously strong – the perfect hero. Together the pair are an excellent match and you really believe their love story and root for the pair to work things out.

The story itself is also very enjoyable. It is set mainly in the French countryside which is a nice change for a regency novel and brings something extra to the story. The secondary characters are well drawn out and none are clichéd or there only to fill pages. We even have a secondary love story which is never a bad thing! The reason I did give the book four stars instead of five was that because near the end of the book the secondary story and characters did almost overtake the main story but it certainly didn’t ruin the book for me.

This is part of a series of books and while it probably does stand alone I would recommend that you have read the previous Merridew books as then you’ll really get a feel for some of the secondary characters as well as knowing a lot more of Faith’s history and back story.

Overall I thought this book was great and an excellent addition to the Merridew sister books. It is fun and fresh as well as touching and sweet and I really think that you will fall in love with both Faith and Nick. Give it a try.