A lovely end to the series. This one goes into some deeper territory - emotionally abusive parents, dealing with deafness, bribery to have someone committed to an asylum to get control of their money, and the horrible treatment of those considered deficient. Oliver and Christina are absolute delights, as well as Oliver's staff. ( )

Actually DNF - library loan ended before I finished. But I’m not too upset about it, which says something. The heroine was annoying to me. ( )

My rating: 4.5 Stars

Lady Christina Bradley is in a true quandary. Her parents have ruined their family and have lost their wealth. They have escaped to family in New York and plan to marry Christina to a wealthy man - any wealthy man. They are victims of scandal and if Christina's parents can marry her off well, then they can again rise in status. So, they find someone. However, he is old enough to be her grandfather. Christina finds him despicable.

While traversing in someone's beautiful gardens, Christina falls and gets hurt. She is in the gardens of Oliver Hawkes. Oliver is a deaf man who has become a recluse. He has been spending his time with his inventions. He has avoided society because at that time in history being deaf was equated with being "less than", insane even. When he discovers Christina, he wants her gone, no matter how beautiful she is, or how different she seems from everyone else that he had been around before.

Oliver is extremely efficient at reading lips. He and Christina easily communicate, as he writes everything down for her. This is where I began to truly love this story. But things took a slant. Christina is about to be married off. Oliver steps in to protect her by marrying her. He plans for it to be in name only as his wealth can keep her safe. The question is whether or not they can pull this off.

I loved this story. Oliver and Christina make a fantastic couple. While they are more than suited for one another, a lot transpires that truly threaten the happy future that they can have. There are despicable people in their lives. So despicable even that conflicts arise so much that these two may not be able to remain together.

A Notorious Vow is quite an delightful story. I was able to read this book rather quickly as my interest was piqued all of the way through. Oliver and Christina were wonderful characters. The author, Joanna Shupe, has an excellent writing style that made this story quite enjoyable. The chemistry shared between the characters, as well as the angst in this story, was quite balanced. This is the second in a series. While it did quite well as a standalone, I do look forward to continuing on with this series. I wasn't clued in as to who might be in the next story, so I am really on the lookout.

Many thanks to Pure Textuality and Avon Books for this ARC to review in exchange for an honest opinion.

Please see my other reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com. ( )