The Dance Before Christmas by Victoria Alexander (2018)

Anabel Snelling doesn’t want to marry childhood friend, Reed, but her father is pushing for it. She’s almost 21 after all. She and her aunt hatch a plan: aunt Lillian knows an actor who’s agreed to play a rival suitor: the son of legendary explore Reginald Everhart. Wesley Grant is in London in hopes of gaining investors for his new chronograph. He comes across Anabel at the Explorers Club and when she mistakes him for the actor he plays along. Quickly, they’re engaged and neither one is quite so sure they’re acting anymore. 

Added into this tale are three delightful older Ladies who have a secret of their own: Reginald Everhart is a fiction they invented. From the beginning, they’re working to help the scheme succeed while doing a little matchmaking at the same time. Because there’s nothing better than falling in love at Christmas.

This was a fun read. Witty dialogue, amiable characters and a comedy of errors that is never tragic. The father isn’t a villain. Wesley is extremely respectable. And Anabel, well, she’s lucky enough to fall in love with someone who wants to dance with her forever.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars