After his father's death, Ash has officially inherited the title of earl and must marry, despite the fact that he had already made a commitment vow to a partner, who died in battle several years earlier. When he meets young widow Agnes, the pair agrees to a marriage of convenience — Ash will keep the title and lands from one day going to his horrible uncle, while Agnes saves herself from being forced into marriage to an equally horrible family friend — and neither expects anything other than friendship out of the union. When a bandit sets upon them in their travels, however, Ash's past comes back to haunt him, and forces them to re-evaluate everything, including their growing affection for one another.
Denny plays with some familiar historical romance tropes here (marriage of convenience/fake dating, mistaken identity, etc), but with some fresh twists. Ash's past love is a man, Agnes is nonbinary (though she doesn't have the language to properly label herself), and the *spoiler* unexpected reappearance of Ash's long-thought-dead lover *end spoiler* creates a truly tricky romantic situation. Yet Denny handles all of it delicately and deftly. While this is the third book in the series and there are plenty of references to the first two, A Vow Made Twice stands alone well, and only made me want to pick up the first two. It's great to see the representation of this romantic configuration, especially in a historical setting.
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