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lanidacey's review against another edition
3.0
Cute story, but there are some quirks in the writing that I couldn't get past. Out of this three in the series, this is my second favorite following Theodosia's story.
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
3.0
To avoid being forced into a marriage to one of her father’s old cronies, Frederica, the illegitimate daughter of a duke, hatches a plan to advertise in the newspaper for a husband and be married by Yuletide. Her good friend Jasper is enlisted to chaperone her as she meets her various suitors. Jasper is a widower with young children and a lot of complicated feelings—he wants Frederica, but he still loves his late wife, he wants a mother for his children, but he doesn’t want to burden Frederica, you get the picture. This is one of those “it’s painfully obvious to everyone but us that we should be together” romances, and I’ll admit I got a little impatient, but I really enjoyed reading a historical romance set in Britain that includes POC characters.
shannanh's review against another edition
4.0
I love this series, the storyline of this book, as well as the recurring characters from previous stories. And I was excited to hear there's a book 4 in this series. I enjoyed the story line and the flow of the story.
breadedbookpages's review against another edition
4.0
TBB is a delightful historical romance from a new-to-me author who wrote a biracial black heroine who gave me so many feelings and a widower hero who comes with a ton of fear and worry for his family and for his "butterfly."
The Butterfly Bride definitely made me want to yell at them to just...kiss already but the slow-burn was worth it. At some times I thought I should have read the previous books in this series to get more of their banter but at the same time, I liked that they got the chance to fight and banter and makeup all in one book dedicated to them.
This book also deals with a lot of instances of racial injustices, especially ones that the heroine faced. I liked that the author went there and brought forth discussion-worthy topics such as racial prejudices within the society as well as child labor and how dangerous it was for women. I felt so anxious but also relieved and happy at the end.
This book could be rated very mild since there are no explicit sex scenes but very nice kissing ones. I am sure historical romance readers would enjoy this tremendously.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
The Butterfly Bride definitely made me want to yell at them to just...kiss already but the slow-burn was worth it. At some times I thought I should have read the previous books in this series to get more of their banter but at the same time, I liked that they got the chance to fight and banter and makeup all in one book dedicated to them.
This book also deals with a lot of instances of racial injustices, especially ones that the heroine faced. I liked that the author went there and brought forth discussion-worthy topics such as racial prejudices within the society as well as child labor and how dangerous it was for women. I felt so anxious but also relieved and happy at the end.
This book could be rated very mild since there are no explicit sex scenes but very nice kissing ones. I am sure historical romance readers would enjoy this tremendously.
Rating: 4.5 stars.
shameless505's review against another edition
5.0
I really liked this one. This was a sweet story featuring two of the side characters from the other books taking the lead. This book was all about the MMC allowing himself to fully love again after the death of his wife two years prior. The FMC is charming and I enjoyed her learning that she didn’t need to be perfect to be loved or put everyone’s needs before her own to be loved. Bonus points that the villain in this book definitely got what he deserved.
storieswithsoul's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars
All in all, it's a good read, but there were some parts that bored me while I was reading and I had to take a break before continuing with the story. I found it a little bit slower for my taste. Other than that I liked it a lot. The story is good, characters are well-developed and it's quite intriguing. I especially enjoyed the whole mystery/danger aspect of it.
Frederica Burghley is an illegitimate daughter of a Duke. All her life she has tiptoed around society, careful of not causing any scandals, she fears being compared to her mother and just wants a respectable life. That's why she must marry now because the Duke himself has a new bride and her status in his household has become precarious. She is hoping to find a husband among the candidates who responded to her newspaper advertisement. There is only one problem; one of them could be a potential psychopath bend upon hurting her. That isn't going to deter her though, she must marry soon and she will find a husband for herself at any cost. Love can wait until after marriage.
Jasper likes Frederica and hates the thought of her marrying someone else. However, he can't marry her. So, he must let her go. He can only ever be a friend to her. The kind of friend she deserves. When he finds out that she is in danger he appoints himself as her guardian. But will he be able to keep his distance, find her a husband, and keep her safe all at once? Or are they both running towards an imminent disaster?
It's an enjoyable read that I would recommend to all historical fiction fans. Although, it's a standalone novel, it is better to read the series in order if you plan to read all the books in this series because characters from previous books made an appearance in this one. And it will be more fun to know their backgrounds and history as well.
P.S. I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley.
All in all, it's a good read, but there were some parts that bored me while I was reading and I had to take a break before continuing with the story. I found it a little bit slower for my taste. Other than that I liked it a lot. The story is good, characters are well-developed and it's quite intriguing. I especially enjoyed the whole mystery/danger aspect of it.
Frederica Burghley is an illegitimate daughter of a Duke. All her life she has tiptoed around society, careful of not causing any scandals, she fears being compared to her mother and just wants a respectable life. That's why she must marry now because the Duke himself has a new bride and her status in his household has become precarious. She is hoping to find a husband among the candidates who responded to her newspaper advertisement. There is only one problem; one of them could be a potential psychopath bend upon hurting her. That isn't going to deter her though, she must marry soon and she will find a husband for herself at any cost. Love can wait until after marriage.
Jasper likes Frederica and hates the thought of her marrying someone else. However, he can't marry her. So, he must let her go. He can only ever be a friend to her. The kind of friend she deserves. When he finds out that she is in danger he appoints himself as her guardian. But will he be able to keep his distance, find her a husband, and keep her safe all at once? Or are they both running towards an imminent disaster?
It's an enjoyable read that I would recommend to all historical fiction fans. Although, it's a standalone novel, it is better to read the series in order if you plan to read all the books in this series because characters from previous books made an appearance in this one. And it will be more fun to know their backgrounds and history as well.
P.S. I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley.
una_macchia's review against another edition
3.0
This was a sweet story and I enjoyed Frederica and Jasper's romance. However, the pacing was somewhat off. I felt like it dragged in the middle as the suspense plot fell by the wayside, and both characters' inability to communicate got more frustrating as it went on. Basically as the story progresses, they both say and do things that make it clear to the reader that they love each other and make abortive attempts to communicate their needs, but they can't recognize those signs in each other. It makes sense because they have different perspectives and communication styles, but I would have liked it to be resolved faster. I was also bothered by the way the mystery is resolved ).
A good chunk of the plot deals with the heroine's social position as the illegitimate, biracial daughter of a duke and a courtesan, and I really liked the exploration of how that lack of stability / solid social acceptance has affected her, and the strategies she's developed to navigate that. The hero is not entirely unaware of those issues (presumably because his sister-in-law is a woman of color also, though I haven't read The Bittersweet Bride so I don't have the full backstory here) but he doesn't totally get it. They've known each other for a year when the story starts, but he doesn't know her as well as he thinks, and he has to learn who she truly is beneath her social persona. I would have liked more character development on her side -- she has a big self-sacrificing streak and is very much a people-pleaser, and I wanted to see her grow more towards focusing on her own happiness and feeling less insecure. That said, I tend to have trouble with "martyr" heroines, so maybe that's more just a me thing than a flaw in the book. Overall, not my favorite book but the strong points were compelling enough to get me interested in more from Vanessa Riley.
Spoiler
they figure out who the villain is and the heroine's father basically has him killed by his dogs. I guess this is a way of dispatching the villain without getting the h/h's hands too dirty, but I found it pretty disturbing that this happens and then is just glossed over?A good chunk of the plot deals with the heroine's social position as the illegitimate, biracial daughter of a duke and a courtesan, and I really liked the exploration of how that lack of stability / solid social acceptance has affected her, and the strategies she's developed to navigate that. The hero is not entirely unaware of those issues (presumably because his sister-in-law is a woman of color also, though I haven't read The Bittersweet Bride so I don't have the full backstory here) but he doesn't totally get it. They've known each other for a year when the story starts, but he doesn't know her as well as he thinks, and he has to learn who she truly is beneath her social persona. I would have liked more character development on her side -- she has a big self-sacrificing streak and is very much a people-pleaser, and I wanted to see her grow more towards focusing on her own happiness and feeling less insecure. That said, I tend to have trouble with "martyr" heroines, so maybe that's more just a me thing than a flaw in the book. Overall, not my favorite book but the strong points were compelling enough to get me interested in more from Vanessa Riley.
lraven13's review against another edition
4.0
I do enjoy these stories
From the first book this is the romance I wanted! My only complaint would be that in the middle the language feels more modern than Regency.
From the first book this is the romance I wanted! My only complaint would be that in the middle the language feels more modern than Regency.
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
I think Vanessa Riley may just be too melodramatic for me. I like the premise, but I just don’t like it in the execution - and I’ve had the same in the previous books in the series, but the blurbs are intriguing and so I keep coming back. I think I just like a bit more humour and a bit less angst. But if you do like the drama, this has all you could want to keep you turning the pages and is well written to boot.
****copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review *****
****copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review *****