A Christian regency romance with Cinderella overtones!

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The Noble Guardian (The Bow Street Runners trilogy #3)  
by Michelle Griep             
I really enjoyed this storyline. Abigail Gilbert, daughter of a wealthy merchant from a previous marriage, spurned and bullied by her stepmother, is to begin a new life as the wife of a handsome Baron. Her dreams are finally coming true. Abby's head is full of the wonderful life she will have with her husband-to-be. After all, to offer for her hand after one meeting surely must mean the Baron is in love with her? Sigh! All her dreams will surely come true! The fact that her stepmother sends her off with no company but her maid and the driver, on a trip of many days through sparse and dangerous countryside did seem harsh, but Abigail was not to be deterred.
A group of horse patrol Bow Street runners, under Captain Samuel Thatcher, have been pursuing a gang of cut throat highwaymen with a vicious leader, Shankhart Robbins, operating on Hounslow Heath.
Samuel and Abby cross paths on the Heath when Samuel rescues Abby from an attack by part of Shankhart's gang.
Samuel pondered, "Who in their right mind had sent them out on their own? Allowed them to travel without a manservant? Without any kind of protection whatsoever?" A very good question. Why had neither her family or the Baron not seen to her safety?
After some tense happenings, Samuel agrees to act as a Guardian for the rest of Abbey's journey to the home of her betrothed. Of course the plot becomes far more complex and both Abby and Samuel are severely tested along the way by the situations they meet.
Abby's journey really becomes a pilgrimage for them both, filled with challenges, misunderstandings, and danger, supplemented by moments of empathy, self realization, enlightenment and grace.
Both lead characters are strong people, survivors, already tested by their pasts. They are both equally fascinating, having been trained up in the school of hard knocks and disillusionment.
I was quite comfortable with the way Abby and Samuel's faith was integrated into the plot. I felt their beliefs were appropriately portrayed without being preachy and without being imposed over the story line. All flowed quite naturally out of the events they experienced. 
I enjoyed this novel enough to decide to read previous novels in this series.

 A Barbour ARC via NetGalley 

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