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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
Eh.
It was just okay.
The chemistry between Gabriel and Lisa didn't click with me and almost everyone they interacted with was insufferable and mostly inconsequential. There were so many characters, many of which seemed very one-dimensional. The only character I really liked was cousin Hugo and he was there only briefly.
I realized that with about 100 pages left, the black moment was coming, but I felt no dread, because I really didn't care about these characters. As a matter of fact, I had about 20 pages left and just set the book down and left to go do something else. The resolution of Gabriel's stupidity was too quick and too easy.
The author did a lot of telling instead of showing - at one point, Gabriel tells someone off in a rather spectacular manner, but we're just told about it. We don't even know what he said. yawn.
It was just okay.
The chemistry between Gabriel and Lisa didn't click with me and almost everyone they interacted with was insufferable and mostly inconsequential. There were so many characters, many of which seemed very one-dimensional. The only character I really liked was cousin Hugo and he was there only briefly.
I realized that with about 100 pages left, the black moment was coming, but I felt no dread, because I really didn't care about these characters. As a matter of fact, I had about 20 pages left and just set the book down and left to go do something else. The resolution of Gabriel's stupidity was too quick and too easy.
The author did a lot of telling instead of showing - at one point, Gabriel tells someone off in a rather spectacular manner, but we're just told about it. We don't even know what he said. yawn.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Dementia, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, War
Gabriel Penhallow comes to Wiltshire to meet the woman his grandmother as picked to be his bride. She is beautiful, accomplished, a perfect ornament to the society marriage he expects as a member of the wealthy Penhallow family. Instead, he ends up kissing the poor but rebellious orphan neighbor girl, Livia, in the garden at the ball where he is supposed to propose to Celia, the aforesaid 'perfect' woman. Of course, they are caught and Gabriel proposes to Livia instead.
She is whirled away to Bath to be trained in 'the Penhallow Way' by his grandmother while Gabriel makes places to ensconce her at his country estate while he travels the world.
I enjoyed this book very much. There were times when Gabriel was too 'Mr. Darcy-like' (the pompous, arrogant one), and one scene was a take-off of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre meeting, but as the story went on, I could see the reasons for his pomposity in his childhood. Livia was a bit immature as could be expected from her upbringing, but she lost some of her fire partway through the book as she took on a bit too much of 'the Penhallow Way' persona. Ms. Berne is an engaging writer though, and I couldn't stop reading it. I just grabbed the next book in the series about the Scottish wastrel Penhallow cousin and I'm looking forward to reading it.
She is whirled away to Bath to be trained in 'the Penhallow Way' by his grandmother while Gabriel makes places to ensconce her at his country estate while he travels the world.
I enjoyed this book very much. There were times when Gabriel was too 'Mr. Darcy-like' (the pompous, arrogant one), and one scene was a take-off of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre meeting, but as the story went on, I could see the reasons for his pomposity in his childhood. Livia was a bit immature as could be expected from her upbringing, but she lost some of her fire partway through the book as she took on a bit too much of 'the Penhallow Way' persona. Ms. Berne is an engaging writer though, and I couldn't stop reading it. I just grabbed the next book in the series about the Scottish wastrel Penhallow cousin and I'm looking forward to reading it.
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Yikes. You know those books where you dislike every single character? And there isn’t a single redeeming quality to them, the plot, the ~drama~, or the resolution? Yeah.
This book reads like it was written by two different people.
As debut novels go, You May Kiss the Bride is sweet, smart, and sexy as I've come to expect from the Avon Romance line. Livia Stuart is the typical sassy but naive heroine and Gabriel Penhallow is, of course, a bit of a rogue who has decided to please his grandmother by settling down and producing an heir or two.
The journey to the happily ever after is certainly fun. When the heroine runs away not once, but twice, from a maddening beau to try to find employment as a scullery maid, you know things are gonna get interesting. A man who makes you want to do dishes is either the worst kind of guy or the best kind. *wink wink* That said, Livia is a little childish and silly and as such, slightly annoying to me, but she redeems herself by the end of the book. Anyone who rescues a stray dog, I like!
I wasn't really shocked or surprised by anything I read. When you've read as much romance as I have in the past few decades, not much sneaks up on you. However, You May Kiss the Bride, is still a romance to give one the warm fuzzies by the time all is said and done. This is a solid debut.
~ My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ~
*I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.*
The journey to the happily ever after is certainly fun. When the heroine runs away not once, but twice, from a maddening beau to try to find employment as a scullery maid, you know things are gonna get interesting. A man who makes you want to do dishes is either the worst kind of guy or the best kind. *wink wink* That said, Livia is a little childish and silly and as such, slightly annoying to me, but she redeems herself by the end of the book. Anyone who rescues a stray dog, I like!
I wasn't really shocked or surprised by anything I read. When you've read as much romance as I have in the past few decades, not much sneaks up on you. However, You May Kiss the Bride, is still a romance to give one the warm fuzzies by the time all is said and done. This is a solid debut.
~ My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ~
*I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.*
You May Kiss the Bride was a rocky reading experience for me. I loved the premise behind the book and the author used some common tropes that I love (we have a young lady compromised!). That being said I struggled to get through the book, especially in the first half. Gabriel and Livia are seemly opposite characters and that shows from page one; however, as this a romance it's clear that these differences do not mean that romance can't save the day. And, well, that kind of needs to happen since Gabriel did compromise Livia. Unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat for me when the characters just didn't spend much time together. Gabriel was a distance character throughout the book and I just didn't quite buy his feelings for Livia nor hers for him. How can you have these strong emotions when this dude ignores you most of the time? A much more satisfactory grovel was necessary.
Ultimately I don't think this book was for me. A big part of what attracts me to the romance genre is that its a genre that focused on people and there interactions with each other. When you have a book where for the bulk of the book the characters are apart and then when they are together there's constant animosity rather than relationship development, it ends up not being the book for me. I'm still curious about the characters of the next book, so perhaps a different premise will work better for me next time.
*Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Ultimately I don't think this book was for me. A big part of what attracts me to the romance genre is that its a genre that focused on people and there interactions with each other. When you have a book where for the bulk of the book the characters are apart and then when they are together there's constant animosity rather than relationship development, it ends up not being the book for me. I'm still curious about the characters of the next book, so perhaps a different premise will work better for me next time.
*Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
I liked some parts, others annoyed me. Mainly the miscommunication. I also hated he made all the decisions for her without even talking to her. I did laugh and enjoyed the book. I think it was missing some groveling in the end. The conflict was anticlimactic because it ended in the same chapter.
When I go into a romance novel, I'm fully prepared to suspend my disbelief. It's one of the things I really enjoy about reading them: true love forms quickly and it's always pure. However, I struggle to believe in that love when the protagonists don't spend sufficient time together.
I had heard great things about this novel, and went in with my hopes up. But I left feeling as though the reader was deprived of some of the moments where the hero and heroine got to know each other. The author gave plenty of sweet scenes, but she also glossed over moments by saying the two went to a play or to dinner together, without giving us that scene. The resulting effect was that the reader was being left out of part of the story, and I didn't enjoy that.
There were also times that the novel felt overstuffed. Between learning to be a proper lady, the state of the Hall, and scenes with side characters, there wasn't as much time devoted to the romance itself as I would have liked.
I wouldn't actively recommend this book to other readers. However, plenty of romance readers really fell for these characters and this story. So take my opinion with a grain of salt and trust your own judgement!
I had heard great things about this novel, and went in with my hopes up. But I left feeling as though the reader was deprived of some of the moments where the hero and heroine got to know each other. The author gave plenty of sweet scenes, but she also glossed over moments by saying the two went to a play or to dinner together, without giving us that scene. The resulting effect was that the reader was being left out of part of the story, and I didn't enjoy that.
There were also times that the novel felt overstuffed. Between learning to be a proper lady, the state of the Hall, and scenes with side characters, there wasn't as much time devoted to the romance itself as I would have liked.
I wouldn't actively recommend this book to other readers. However, plenty of romance readers really fell for these characters and this story. So take my opinion with a grain of salt and trust your own judgement!