Hi ForeverBookers,
I've just finished The Bride Who Got Lucky by Janna MacGregor. It's the second book in the Cavansham Heiresses series. Each book in this series tells the story of a different relationship but they all link, so Claire and Alex, the couple from book 1 are featured in this book. Just as the main characters for the next novel are also introduced, here.
I requested The Bride Who Got Lucky on NetGalley and I was lucky enough to get it so thank you to NetGalley for giving me a chance to read it.
The Bride Who Got Lucky is a novel set around the regency era that tells the story of at first Nick who hasn't had a great childhood. His mother died in childbirth and his father disowns him in front of his peers at the beginning of the book. Nick doesn't know how to feel love because of this. The real story starts when Nick meets Lady Emma Cavansham and they share a kiss.
Lady Emma blames herself for the loss of her dear friend, Lena. She wants to open a women's bank, where women can go to feel safe from abusive husbands.
Emma and Nick have been friends since childhood but can they sustain a romantic relationship on top of that or will it break them?
This is an ADULT read because of sexual situations as well as abusive matters that are discussed.
Spoilers below...
Nick and his father didn't get on before they separated ways.
"His father never came to see him ever"
The reason for this is because his father blames Nick for the death of his wife, a woman he loved so much. Nick is therefore on his own, until he meets Emma, our heroine.
Emma is very much a female who wants to do things her own way. She doesn't want to be held to account by a man. Of course in this time period (1811), women were controlled by men.
"Over the last several months, I've been toying with an idea. I'm thinking of an institution that would allow women a means of creating financial independence"
Emma is very forward thinking for this time period. She doesn't just let things go without airing her thoughts. She puts her thoughts in progress to try and make the world a better place. However, in saying this there are some things a woman of this time couldn't easily avoid.
"Why should she marry ever? Why be subjected to a life where she might be considered nothing more that a piece of property or a nuisance or worse yet a punching bag?"
This, again demonstrates how Emma is very much a modern woman. All she wants is to be able to make her own decisions. However, with Nick in the way protecting her, this becomes pretty impossible. For example, when Emma wants to go and see Lena's husband, the person Emma believes is responsible for her death, Nick tries to stop her.
"Lena never said outright, but I think she feared Aulton. She wrote that she needed me by her side"
is what Emma says to Claire, her cousin (the main protagonist of the first book) when she suspects Nick won't let her go to see Aulton. Emma feels guilty as she believes she could have saved Lena if she'd been with her. There's a chance that Emma could have gotten hurt too, of course, but Emma doesn't care about that. She comes across as a very gun-ho character. Especially in the first half of the novel.
Emma does, of course get married to Nick. Her father forces them, after a time away from the family home where they could have been doing who knows what. Emma believes Nick is "perfection incarnate" at the beginning of The Bride Who Got Lucky. It's only after she speaks to and gets to know him that she falls for him, though. It takes a while for them to settle into married life. Emma questions herself quite often about whether or not marriage was the right thing to have orchestrated but by the end of the novel she considers herself "the bride that got lucky", just as her husband considers himself lucky too.
What did I like about The Bride That Got Lucky?
I liked how the love story had everything I like from sweetness to passion.
I also liked how Emma started as a woman who behaved as she pleased but learnt throughout to be a woman of the time and still independent.
I liked how Emma is 25 years old. I'm that age. Most heroines I read about are younger than me, so it was nice to be able to relate, even if the story is set in a different time period.
What didn't I like about The Bride That Got Lucky?
I didn't like how the author wrote some American phrases into this Regency period English story. For example, the word garbage is used, instead of rubbish.
Overall then, I really enjoyed this novel. It had a bit of everything for me. The main thing, of course was the romance, which I just loved. I also loved how this novel could have been set at anytime. Yes, the language would need changing to suit the time period but the basic storyline would work in any context, I feel. The only thing that I didn't feel was right about the story is some of the language used was too modern. That's why I'm giving The Bride Who Got Lucky 4 Stars.
The next novel tells of a swapped role relationship, where the male is a Cavansham and the female is not. I'm already excited to read it!
Will you be picking up The Bride Who Got Lucky?
Have you already picked up the first novel, The Bad Luck Bride? What did you think of it?
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