An Inconvenient Grand Tour by Lisa H. Catmull

From Goodreads:

She needs to hide. He’s tired of being overlooked. It’s going to be a long two years. 

Eleanor Barrington has one rule: don’t draw attention to yourself. Her father does that far too often. She has one goal: marry a Peer with enough social status to protect her family from embarrassment. When her father decides on a last-minute Grand Tour, Eleanor finds herself spending time with the one man who cannot help her: a younger son who draws attention to himself everywhere they go. Her brother’s best friend. 

 As the younger son of an earl, Percy Hauxton has to fight for everything. A Grand Tour is the perfect opportunity to pursue his ambition to work for the Foreign Office. But traveling with Eleanor and her parents wasn’t part of the plan. 

 When circumstances draw them apart and a secret from the past threatens to unravel everything, Eleanor has to rethink her goals and decide one thing. Can she marry for love, or does she need a marriage of convenience?

My Take:

Historical fiction is another side reading trip for me. Usually, I prefer them filled with death and mystery. So, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this romance. It wasn't full of silliness. The characters were sensible people living a normal life for their day and age. 

Elli thought getting married to a peer was her only hope of safety and a grand tour derailed all her plans. She handled the changes and challenges that came her way with grace and strength. As a younger son, Percy was working past his "moments" of wishing for more and diligently striving to be the best he could be. Neither counted on falling in love. 

There were moments I wanted to shake them both because of lack of communication. However, in that day and age, it made sense. You didn't come right out and say what needed to be said. It was easier to misunderstand intentions and desires. Especially when you might say the complete opposite because that's what decorum called for. 

All in all, I found their interactions fun and endearing. There is also plenty of other drama going on around them to keep things interesting and the story moving forward. 

I give An Inconvenient Grand Tour a solid 4 stars and a CLEAN rating.

1-5 scale and what it means:
1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad
2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing
3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive
3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love
4: Solid mind candy / worth reading
4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read
5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:
Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no intimacy on or off "screen"
PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, intimacy is all closed door
PG-13--some language (swear words not related to intimacy), more talk about intimacy, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but intimacy is closed door.
PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen intimacy
R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” intimacy, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the intimacy and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always