A Bride for the Season by Jennifer Delamere

Ria’s always felt guilty about breaking her engagement and so, on her deathbed, she begs Lizzie to go to London, pretend to be Ria, and make amends for her jilting her (also dead) husband’s brother. Ria also left London in a hurry-ten years ago she was engaged to one brother but eloped with another. There she became friends with a woman named Ria who looks a lot like Lizzie. Lizzie Poole left London in shame and moved to Australia. In this Regency romance, a young woman pretends to be a dead friend of hers.

(I’m an agnostic and faith based books are lost on me.) I found the plot to be a stretch and, had I realized it was an inspirational novel, I probably wouldn’t have begun it. The book picks up in the last quarter and ended well. While Jack is at home, not much happens other than his pursuing his wife. My only issue with this book-both the history and the writing are quite good-is that it dragged in the middle. The two have a realistic and interesting relationship.

Their courtship is slow and well-done-Jack realizes he has to convince Elizabeth he’s worthy of her body and, ultimately, her heart Elizabeth knows she is his lawful wife and she works to move past her anger. Elizabeth, still hurt by Jack’s infidelities, resists him. He, however, is astonished at the woman his wife has become and sets about wooing her into his bed. (The woman has a cousin in Canada who shared this gossip.) After hearing that, Elizabeth’s letters became cold and she and Jack became-via mail-distanced from one another by geography and by emotion.įive years later, Jack is injured, Bonaparte is defeated, and Jack returns to his English estate to face a wife who wants nothing to do with him. Then a bitchy busybody neighbor in the small English town Elizabeth lives in told her of Jack’s well-known infidelities. In the beginning of their marriage the two exchanged letters that grew in warmth. Elizabeth moved to his home, took care of his senile mother and worked to keep his estate profitable. (He died of chicken pox which he’d never had as a child.) Jack promptly abandoned Elizabeth and returned to his military life in Canada. Jack and Elizabeth married when Elizabeth’s husband of a week-and Jack’s best friend-begged them to on his death bed. I found it a little slow but, overall, the book was well-done. This novel is a marriage of convenience story and it’s pretty good. But, in general, my October of romance reading left me wanting. I also enjoyed several of the books reviewed positively here at Dear Author. The month wasn’t a total lost–I read several books that will be published over the next few months I thought were quite good. The majority of the books I read ranged from mediocre to dreadful. October was, overall, a crappy reading month for me. NovemA Sampling of What Dabney Read in Octoberĭabney Book Reviews / Reading Lists Reading lists 17 Comments

A Bride for the Season by Jennifer Delamere