4 Stars
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperback
Date of publication: May 1st, 2018
Genre: Romance
Series: The Cavensham Heiresses
The Bad Luck Bride – Book 1
The Bride Who Got Lucky – Book 2
The Luck of the Bride – Book 3
The Good, the Bad, and the Duke – Book 4 (expected publication date: December 4th, 2018)
Where you can find The Luck of the Bride: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Book synopsis (from Goodreads):
Family secrets, mistaken identities…love and money make people do crazy things in The Luck of the Bride, the third Cavensham Heiresses novel.
March Lawson has never had much luck, and in a desperate move to save her family, she’s been posing as the Marquess of McCalpin. But when she’s summoned to a meeting with the Marquess himself, March expects jail time…not to be bewitched by dark hair and sapphire eyes.
Michael Cavensham, the Marquess of McCalpin and heir to the Duke of Langham, finds himself drawn to March despite the judgments from his peers. He isn’t sure he can trust March, especially since Michael has a secret that could ruin him and his family.
But society conspires to keep March and Michael apart, and when March is accused of not being who she says she is, will Michael toss her aside or fight for the woman he’s come to love?
My review:
I went into reading The Luck of the Bride thinking that it would be a typical Regency era romance. I based my assumption on the blurb. So, wasn’t I surprised when the prologue set the tone for the entire book. I am not an emotional reader but this book made me ugly cry during most of it.
I had a lot of respect for March. She took over raising them after their parents died. Her sisters were preteens and her brother was an infant. She raised those children with no help and almost no money. When a damaged roof takes all the money that she had saved, March was driven to do something that she would have never considered. She embezzled money out of her dowry account. That money was going to the upkeep of the estate and more importantly, to keep food on the table.
I thought that March and McCalpin had chemistry from the beginning. So much heat came from a single glance. I did like that the author kept them from having sex until almost the end of the book. Even after that, the chemistry was still there.
The romance between March and McCalpin had me in tears during certain parts of the book. Theirs wasn’t a slow burn romance but it wasn’t Instalove either. They both had a lot of obstacles to overcome. Trust was a huge issue on either end. Mainly on McCalpin.
I liked McCalpin from the get-go. His secret, while not shocking, was painful for him. I could understand why but I didn’t understand why he didn’t tell his parents earlier. Pride and not wanting his father to think any less of him was a huge reason. I loved how March was the only one for him as soon as he met her. Even though they met because she embezzled money from him. Her money but still. He only had eyes for her.
I wanted to strangle Cousin Rupert. He was an awful, awful man. When he burst into the ball with his “evidence” of March being a bastard, I wanted to throat punch him. Before that, I wanted to kick him in the boy bits for lusting after Julia and being horrid to Faith. All I have to say is that he got what he deserved in the end.
The end of the book was fantastic. The author did a great job of bringing all the storylines to a close. There were no storylines left dangling or forgotten. The emotional scene between McCalpin and March had me sobbing. The epilogue was spot on!! I am hoping that there are more books in this series!!
What I liked about The Luck of the Bride:
A) Excellent romance
B) Fantastic storyline
C) 3D characters
What I disliked about The Luck of the Bride:
A) March resorting to embezzlement to keep a roof over her head.
B) Cousin Rupert. He disgusted me.
C) McAlpin’s secret
I would give The Luck of the Bride an Adult rating. There is sex. There is mild violence. There is no language. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.
There are no trigger warnings in The Luck of the Bride.
I would recommend The Luck of the Bride to family and friends. I would reread this book.
I would like to thank St. Martin’s Paperbacks, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Luck of the Bride.
All opinions stated in this review of The Luck of the Bride are mine.
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**
