ARC Review: Marry in Scandal by Anne Gracie

Marry in Scandal is the second book in Anne Gracie's Marriage of Convenience series. I loved it, and I think it was much better than the first book in the series, Marry in Haste.

Lily is a very sweet girl who looks for the best in everyone. While this is normally an admirable quality, it lands Lily in quite the predicament. Through a bad sequence of events, she is abducted. Lily is quite the heiress, and that is what tempted her abductor. What I find marvelous, is her determination and her smarts to get herself out of the situation. I admired that about her immensely.

To be fair however, she did get a little assistance from her brother's best friend, Ned. Ned is in the right place at the right time, and is able to help Lily escape. Ned is a very troubled gentleman who seems to push people away. It pulls at every girls' instinct to try to save him from his inner demons. I'm not sure Lily realizes it's effecting her at first. But he also becomes her hero, despite his adamant proclamations that it is not the case.

Despite every effort to keep Lily's reputation clean, rumors are flying. The whole ordeal has become quite the scandal and it basically forces the two into a marriage of convenience. Ned resists all inclinations that what they have will ever be love. Sometimes love is irresistible however.

This romance was so adorable and everything sweet! It was just what I needed. It has Anne Gracie's flair of dreamy romance. I felt like doing the cliche sigh that women do when seeing romantic gestures in the movies. I cannot wait to continue this series!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: Marry in Haste by Anne Gracie

Marry in Haste is the beginning of a new series featuring marriages of convenience by Anne Gracie. 

Cal comes back to England from the continent on the search of an assassin he has a hunch is English. The assassin killed his friend right in front of him, and his whole goal becomes finding justice. However, when he returns to England, he discovers some road blocks. His older brother has passed away leaving Cal the new Lord Ashendon. With the new title, he is now in charge of his two younger half sisters. These two young women are quite a handful, and Cal finds himself torn between caring for them and finding the assassin.

Emmaline is a teacher at a school for girls in Bath. She has a history of some sort of scandal that sent her back to the school she attended as a girl. When Cal comes to the school looking for help with his sisters, he sees her there handling the young ladies with finesse. The school refuses to accept his sisters back because they're too old, and the headmistress remembers them as trouble makers. Cal doesn't know what to do other than try to steal and employ Emm from the school to help him with his sisters.

I was very disappointed with the first half of this book. The two lead characters interact maybe four times total. Otherwise, it's just complete backstory, and I was quite bored. I was also a little frustrated with Cal and his sisters. I did love Emm from the start, but her presence is pretty scarce in the first half. Once I broke the halfway point, things began picking up. We even see a cameo of one of the Chance sisters which I loved! 

So in all, I disliked the beginning half to where I would have rated it between a 1 and 2. However, the backstory was necessary to the book, and who knows? It may be necessary to the whole series. The second half of the book brought a little romance and better communication. I would have rated it at 4 stars. So I met in the middle with the total rating of 3 stars. I'm still a huge Anne Gracie fan, it was a good book and I think the rest of the series will be even better.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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Audiobook Review: The Summer Bride by Anne Gracie, Narrated by Alison Larkin

“The Summer Bride” by Anne Gracie had such great reviews everywhere I looked that I instantly jumped at the chance to read it. This was a while back before it came out, when I started reading it I couldn’t really get into it. So I thought it must be the cockney accent that was turning me off. So when the chance to review it on audio came up I tried to listen to it, thinking that it would help improve my experience with the story. 

I wish it had, but it didn’t. 

Usually I love outcasts. They are my favorite hero’s and/or heroines. Daisy and Flynn are definite outcast. Daisy is a seamstress. She makes her living designing fashion for the tons most sophisticated and revered. This is the last book in the series, so Daisy’s character appears in the previous stories. Daisy is very outspoken and very much her own person. Flynn is not a gentleman but also makes a living and is very successful. Unlike Daisy, Flynn does want to be accepted into society and is determined to find a wife that will meet all the goals of the ton. Because him and Daisy have always been friends, apparently Daisy’s only male friend, they are very comfortable with each other.

While visiting one of his ships-not boats- as he repeatedly tells Daisy, he begins to see her in a new light and decides that he will start courting Daisy. Flynn is handsome and overall, a nice guy but Daisy is determined to be herself and not conform to any assigned roles, whether it be by society and most certainly not her husband. When Flynn proposes, Daisy refuses and they both try to grapple with finding their own happiness. 

Usually I would love a story like this, but this story felt so long and drawn out and just, plain, old -boring. I didn’t love Daisy. She seeming very irritating and drama-driven. I get that the author was really breaking with convention by creating a very free thinking heroine but I did not take to her. Flynn also fell very flat for me. I wanted to shake some sense into him and yell at him to get a backbone. Like I mentioned, Gracie’s books all have fantastic reviews and I’m sure her fans will love this story but for me, I was happy when it was over. 

Alison Larkin is a great narrator. She really seems to understand her characters and knows how to make each one stand out as their own person.

**Audiobook Provided by Publisher**

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A Historical Christmas Event with Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie started her first novel writing by hand in notebooks while backpacking solo around the world. Hooked on Georgette Heyer from the age of eleven, Regency-era historical romances were a natural choice. Now a best-selling, multi award-winning author, Anne has written more than twenty books, which have been translated into more than eighteen languages.

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ARC Review: The Summer Bride by Anne Gracie

A heart-stopping conclusion to the Chance Sisters series! I read The Spring Bride and fell in love with Anne Gracie's writing. I then quickly read The Autumn Bride and The Winter Bride and found myself impatiently awaiting this gem, The Summer Bride. I'm so very glad it did not disappoint!

Born a foundling with no knowledge of her parents, Daisy Chance had a hard childhood. She worked in a brothel as a cleaning girl, and she was instrumental to the escape of not only herself but two other girls there. They met up with another older sister and through amazing circumstances found themselves the adopted nieces of Lady Beatrice. With her prospects looking upwards, Daisy has allowed herself to try for her dreams and ambitions of becoming the most sought after modiste in London.

Patrick Flynn is a recent acquaintance of Daisy in that he is partnered with her brother-in-law at his trading company. He is a hardworking Irishman who built his business up from the ground and is now very wealthy. He seeks a marriage into the aristocracy. Daisy has made many clothing items for him, but Flynn starts noticing she is overworking herself. So he seeks to give her a little business advice.

Of course this bristles up dear Daisy hitting her pride. However, this couple is the perfect match, and they both have a lot of soul searching to find out not just what they really want but what they really need. Daisy is every bit the strong and independent woman that today's readers will love, and Flynn is so very charming and genuine. We don't see a whole lot of cameos from the previous books' protagonists which was a little disappointing, but of course that doesn't take away from this story.

I absolutely adored this entire quartet and I highly recommend to all lovers of historical romance! I suggest starting with The Autumn Bride to fully appreciate the trials these girls went through but it isn't completely necessary. As I said before I read them a bit out of order myself. Anne Gracie does such a lovely job. I'm excited to see what she may have in store for us in the future, and until then I will be catching up on her earlier works.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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ARC Review: The Spring Bride by Anne Gracie

I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to read this book. Honestly, Anne Gracie was nowhere near my radar, and not reading this book would have been a tragedy for me in my opinion. Being this is the only book of hers I’ve read, I can’t say she’s on my must buy list of authors, but I have ordered a copy from Barnes and Noble, and I plan to read the two previous books in the series.

The story begins like a fairy tale. Jane Chantry is begging her mother to tell her the story of the day she was a princess. The day she met and fell in love with her father. Jane is very young and doesn’t seem to completely understand that her mother is sick. Jane’s older sister, Abby, does understand though and is trying to care for her mother the best she can. The family is one full of love but also full of struggle. Jane’s parents were disowned by their parents because they both left arranged marriages and eloped together.

We learn that the girls’ parents both die while they are very young. Somehow though through actions of Abby, the two girls along with two friends are in the care of Lady Beatrice. She claims the four girls are her nieces and wants them all to debut in the coming season. Jane’s focus for a husband is one of safety. Because of her difficult childhood, she believes love is the cause of their struggles and doesn’t believe it’s worth it.

Zachary has been serving England the last twelve years as a spy. His supervisor calls him back from the continent and informs Zachary that his cousin is trying to legally proclaim him dead so that he may take over the title. It’s more complicated than just proving he’s alive, however, because he also has a murder charge on his head. Until they can prove his innocence he must remain in disguise.

Jane and Zachary meet in a dirty alley both trying to save a poor dog from getting tortured by some street children. From this point forward the two are drawn to each other. Jane feels this attraction is just a distraction from her goal of a comfortable safe future. Zachary knows it isn’t good to get attached to a lady, but he can’t help himself. It’s all so very sweet, and the story picks up speed later.

One person I loved in this book was Lady Beatrice. If you have read Julia Quinn’s books you will be familiar with Lady Danbury. These two would be well matched. Especially with how often they stomp their canes! Oh how I loved it!

I would highly recommend this book to historical romance readers. I do think that reading the first two books in the series would be beneficial because the backstory was rushed a little in this book. The unknown of those books though has me wanting to read the first book, The Autumn Bride, so I can see what led them to where they are. The Spring Bride swept me away!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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My Favorite Book Couple with Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie spent her childhood on the move when her father's job took them around the world. The gypsy life taught her that humor and love are universal languages and that favorite books can take you home, wherever you are.

Anne's popular and award-winning Regency-era romances are published by Berkley USA. She is a nationally bestselling author, a five time RITA finalist, and her books have been translated into more than 16 languages, including Japanese manga editions.

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