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Fiction. Romance. Suspense. Historical Fiction. HTML:The second novel in the captivating Brides Trilogy, in which three unconventional young women vow they will never marry�??only to be overtaken by destiny. The Accidental Bride could only be the story of Phoebe, the "awkward" one . . . For four years, Cato, the Marquis of Granville, had been just another man�??the uninteresting, somewhat intimidating husband of Phoebe's older sister. But then her sister died, and Phoebe seemed a reasonable substitute. Her forced engagement to him should have been quite a cold-blooded arrangement . . . except that one day Phoebe looked at Granville�??really looked at him�??and saw what she'd never seen before: he was darkly, breathtakingly attractive. Once she'd noticed, she couldn't seem to stop noticing, and suddenly Phoebe was disastrously in love. It would be nothing short of torture to be married to Granville, knowing he didn't love her and never would. After all, Phoebe was not the kind of woman men fell in love with�??Phoebe with her untidy hair, her rumpled clothes, and her fingers forever ink-stained from the poetry she wrote. When running away does not solve her problems, Phoebe decides to try something a little different�??something that involves a little change in wardrobe, a daring new attitude, and a bit of brazen seduction. Granville is about to discover that his awkward Phoebe is woman enough even for him. . . . Don't miss the other novels in Jane Feather's captivating Brides Trilogy: THE HOSTAGE BRIDE | THE ACCIDENTAL BRIDE | THE LEAST… (more)
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She seems to be everything of which he disapproves, which makes it difficult to get him to love her back. She gets Olivia into trouble,creates chaos in his ordered manor home, she has neither the talent nor the wish to take over the housekeeping, none of her clothes suit her, hardly surprising, since they were all made for Diana, who was a completely different shape to her.
But Phoebe is made of stern stuff. She continues to go her good-hearted bumbling ways, causing uproar in home and village. As Cato lectures, criticises and eventually begins to become accustomed to her. Finally, when she bumbles herself into danger, he realizes his life would be much less interesting without her in it and begeins to fall in love, to his own surprise.
Okay. Let me start this off by saying: I have some very specific and odd kinks. (I also have odd and specific squicks, but this doesn’t go there.) This book hit so, so, so many of them.
This is the second in Jane Feather’s Bride trilogy and focuses on The
To say that I was sold before I even began the book is to just greatly undersell how excited I was about this. I like age differences, I like twisted up family relationships, I love stodgy older asshole with propriety syndrome marrying messes of girls. So.
But oh, Phoebe is so much more than just a mess. She’s passionate and smart and so loving and intense and I love her so much. She pretty quickly dispenses with the Ugly Duckling part of her appearance as soon as she realizes her clothing is working against her and That Boobs Are Awesome. I love, love, love, love love beyond words how the book shows the strength of Phoebe’s character. People dismiss her as a clumsy, dowdy younger sister without much to sell her.
But throughout the course of the book she becomes bold and challenging and adventurous. She sticks by the people she loves with a ferociousness that just destroyed me so much. Like the previous novel in this trilogy, this novel is full of plot and b-plot and c-plot, but none of it seems like spaghetti thrown at the wall to see what sticks.
Cato is, to be short about it, pretty much an ass. But he’s an ass in a way where he’s just pretty accustomed to his life going in a certain way and women acting in a certain manner and he had a very Decided Idea of the person Phoebe was and she does more than turn that upside down. She honestly just bowls him over and he never does quite find his footing with her. It’s amazing. I don’t even know why it’s amazing. It just is.
She doesn’t for a second put up with him when he becomes authoritarian. She is never cowed by him for more than the blink of an eye. She approaches his dictating nature by throwing it back at him and telling him where he can shove it, but it’s in a way with such conviction that it’s just. FEELINGS. Y’ALL. I GOT THE FEELINGS.
AND AS IF MY LOVE FOR PHOEBE WERE NOT ENOUGH.
The book is filthy for a historical romance novel. There’s this one oral scene that is just. Dear God. When Phoebe finally gets up the courage to show Cato that she wants more than his previous wives wanted, that she wants passion and sex and everything he can give her. It’s just. It’s such a touching scene. SHE BLINDFOLDS HIM. I mean, I’M SORRY. AM I A MONSTER? NO. IF YOU PRICK ME, DO I NOT BLEED? I DO. The sex in it is awesome and dirty and wonderful and just.
This boooooook.
The only reason that it doesn’t get 5 stars is there was one huuuuge plot point that was never resolved that just bothered me so badly. Phoebe takes 17th century contraceptive measures to make sure she doesn’t conceive before Cato accepts her for who she is. Having an heir is a huge thing for Cato. He assumes through the novel, and for a couple of major scenes, that she is barren. Not that I think any modern man gets to have a say in it, nor any man of that era, but there was something about never getting a resolution to that that just bothered me. Not that Phoebe should’ve felt guilty or that he would have any right to be angry at her. It just felt like a huge deception that was never dealt with at all! They just lived happily ever after in the epilogue.
So, for that, I can’t give it five stars. I’m not even positive that this 4.5 is reflective of the quality of this book. BUT HOW MANY OF MY BUTTONS CAN YOU PUSH ALL AT ONCE WITHOUT ME GIVING IT THAT MANY?