∎ PDF Gratis An Unwilling Bride Zebra Historical Romance Jo Beverley 9780821767245 Books

An Unwilling Bride Zebra Historical Romance Jo Beverley 9780821767245 Books

Download As PDF : An Unwilling Bride Zebra Historical Romance Jo Beverley 9780821767245 Books

An Unwilling Bride Zebra Historical Romance Jo Beverley 9780821767245 Books

Ninety percent of An Unwilling Bride is given over to strong characterization and excellent writing filled with enough plausible angst to keep me tense and turning the pages to see if Beth and Lucien were ever going to be able to come to accord with one another. To be sure, Beth IS a shrew through much of this 90% and Lucien is alternately judgmental, condescending and threatening. Of course, while Beth and Lucien have some right to their poor behavior as both have been suddenly and rudely plunged into an alien world not of their making, neither of them is terribly likable in the early going. The acrimony is so strong there were times I had to put the book down for a bit just to relieve the tension. It was difficult, but fascinating to watch them navigate uncertain waters and shifting sands on the way to some kind of a relationship. I have to say, the usual HEA expected in a Regency Era novel was not a foregone conclusion in this 90% and that is goes a long way to making this book a standout among others of this genre.

If you've read other reviews, you know that there is a scene of violence between Beth and Lucien and there has been some reviewer outrage over it. One if the laudable aspects of this book is the author's strong sense of this era. Women were chattel and they frequently suffered at the hands of men. While I am not condoning what happened, it didn't feel contrived just for the sake of sensationalism given everything that had transpired between the H/h up to that point. It was the RESOLUTION to this act that felt unrealistic, a bit of a sellout and a conscious move on the author's part toward a more typical Regency romance novel.

What had been an atypical Regency Era novel that explored characters and relationships under difficult circumstances was turned it into a story where 'the dashing marquess and his lady engage in derring-do" to solve an injustice. This part felt wholly contrived and 'out of the blue' to the effect of subtracting from what was otherwise a superbly written novel. Also, of course, the author was positioning two of the currently secondary characters to be the leads in the next book in the series. This last 10% didn't completely undo my enjoyment of the novel, but it certainly diminished it. Such is my disappointment, that I am very much on the fence as to whether I will continue the series.


Tags : An Unwilling Bride (Zebra Historical Romance) [Jo Beverley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Content with her independent life as a teacher, free from the bonds of matrimony, Beth Armitage suddenly finds herself trapped in a betrothal to the rakish Lucien de Vaux,Jo Beverley,An Unwilling Bride (Zebra Historical Romance),Zebra,0821767240,Romance - Historical - General,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Fiction Romance Historical General,Fiction-Romance,MASS MARKET,Romance - Regency,RomanceHistorical,Romance: Historical

An Unwilling Bride Zebra Historical Romance Jo Beverley 9780821767245 Books Reviews

I read all of the books in this series in paperback years ago. Some more than once. I was glad to see it offered at low cost as an ebook, as it was certainly worth re-reading. The excellent writing and vivid characterizations of Jo Beverley are on full display here. Lucien was always a questionable character to me for his oft-threatened and once enacted violence. Even more so today than when originally published, this episode shocks and alarms women. I could not give the book 5 stars because I thought that was too quickly recovered from, for both H and h. But it is a book that engages and entertains, and I am very glad to have met it again.
This is one of the strangest reviews I've ever written. I would have given this book 4 or even 4.5 stars except for it crossed the line of a subject I feel very strongly about, violence towards women. I understand the book is fiction, and even that such behavior was common at the time, but I draw the line when the H is the one perpetrating the violence against the h. Worse the entire event is glossed over as being insignificant. It is a shame really since it was entirely unnecessary, and the rest of the book was rather entertaining.
This review is of “An Unwilling Bride”, book #2 in the “A Company of Rogues” series by Jo Beverley.

The Story As the book begins, a secret is revealed. This secret affects the lives of many people, most notably Lucien Philippe de Vaux, Marquess of Arden, the hero of the book, and Elizabeth Armitage, a teacher at Miss Mallory’s School for Ladies and the heroine of the book. This secret compels Lucien’s father, William, Duke of Belcraven, to force a marriage between Lucien and Elizabeth.

Beth goes to Belcraven to live with Lucien and his parents, who don’t have a happy marriage, and soon, Beth and Lucien are at odds as well, the stress surrounding their betrothal playing havoc on both of them. Beth and Lucien marry, but are basically strangers, each going their own separate ways. They eventually come together to help one of Beth’s former students, who is being forced into a marriage with the Rogues’ archrival, Lord Deveril. Beth and Lucien consummate their marriage, they have a couple of adventures and later, they have their Happily Ever After.

Upside It’s a regency romance. The second half of “An Unwilling Bride” is better than the first half.

Downside The first half of “An Unwilling Bride” is very sludgy. In the books I’ve read by Ms. Beverley, she has several weaknesses which show up frequently a stiff writing style, little to no character development, an inability to create romantic chemistry between her heroes and heroines and an inability to make me, as a reader, care about her characters. I never saw the characters as more than just people in the pages of a book (or in this case, words on the screen of the computer I read the ebook on.)

Sex Two very mild love scenes, which are far from erotic and also display the stiffness I wrote about earlier.

Violence Lucien hits Beth during an argument; while he feels bad and apologizes and she forgives him, this did cast a pall over the book for me. Later, an “off-screen” murder with a lot of blood and an assault with a heavy skillet occur.

Bottom Line “An Unwilling Bride” is better than the first book in the “Company of Rogues” series, “An Arranged Marriage”, but it is still far from good. I found “An Unwilling Bride” to be, at best, average.
Ninety percent of An Unwilling Bride is given over to strong characterization and excellent writing filled with enough plausible angst to keep me tense and turning the pages to see if Beth and Lucien were ever going to be able to come to accord with one another. To be sure, Beth IS a shrew through much of this 90% and Lucien is alternately judgmental, condescending and threatening. Of course, while Beth and Lucien have some right to their poor behavior as both have been suddenly and rudely plunged into an alien world not of their making, neither of them is terribly likable in the early going. The acrimony is so strong there were times I had to put the book down for a bit just to relieve the tension. It was difficult, but fascinating to watch them navigate uncertain waters and shifting sands on the way to some kind of a relationship. I have to say, the usual HEA expected in a Regency Era novel was not a foregone conclusion in this 90% and that is goes a long way to making this book a standout among others of this genre.

If you've read other reviews, you know that there is a scene of violence between Beth and Lucien and there has been some reviewer outrage over it. One if the laudable aspects of this book is the author's strong sense of this era. Women were chattel and they frequently suffered at the hands of men. While I am not condoning what happened, it didn't feel contrived just for the sake of sensationalism given everything that had transpired between the H/h up to that point. It was the RESOLUTION to this act that felt unrealistic, a bit of a sellout and a conscious move on the author's part toward a more typical Regency romance novel.

What had been an atypical Regency Era novel that explored characters and relationships under difficult circumstances was turned it into a story where 'the dashing marquess and his lady engage in derring-do" to solve an injustice. This part felt wholly contrived and 'out of the blue' to the effect of subtracting from what was otherwise a superbly written novel. Also, of course, the author was positioning two of the currently secondary characters to be the leads in the next book in the series. This last 10% didn't completely undo my enjoyment of the novel, but it certainly diminished it. Such is my disappointment, that I am very much on the fence as to whether I will continue the series.