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A review by halfpintreads
Tempting the Bride by Sherry Thomas
4.0
Sherry Thomas is a genius at making me love things that I normally dislike. In the first two books in the series, she made me sob over Millie and want to shake Fitz in Ravishing the Heiress and in Beguiling the Beauty made me love another trope I usually can’t stand (no spoilers though).
Then we get to this book! I absolutely hate the “he’s mean because he likes you” trope as a big sign of toxic masculinity and will usually nope out. BUT somehow, she takes this, adds some secrets (usually another thing I hate) and amnesia, stirs it all together and makes a masterpiece.
You’ve seen Hastings and Helena bicker and fight and insult each other throughout the first two books so you know the stakes are already high. They keep getting higher after a fake elopement to protect Helena from scandal and just when things might be turning around, she is in an accident and gets amnesia! And then you really get to see how Hastings has been head over heels and pining for her from the beginning. It is wonderful!
Sherry Thomas = pain. She knows how to bring the emotional anguish and angst! But also deliver you a swoony love story and hea that you think shouldn’t work but somehow absolutely does.
I really appreciated how the secrets and Helena getting her memory back were handled. In other books, that would have been a main conflict and the secrets would have been revealed only when she regained her memory. But Hastings tells Helena everything before her memory returns which I thought was a great choice.
While you could probably read this as a stand alone, I wouldn’t recommend it. You really should read the first 2 so that you have all the backstory and build up. I’m planning to read the novellas soon and starting the Lady Sherlock series this weekend!
Then we get to this book! I absolutely hate the “he’s mean because he likes you” trope as a big sign of toxic masculinity and will usually nope out. BUT somehow, she takes this, adds some secrets (usually another thing I hate) and amnesia, stirs it all together and makes a masterpiece.
You’ve seen Hastings and Helena bicker and fight and insult each other throughout the first two books so you know the stakes are already high. They keep getting higher after a fake elopement to protect Helena from scandal and just when things might be turning around, she is in an accident and gets amnesia! And then you really get to see how Hastings has been head over heels and pining for her from the beginning. It is wonderful!
Sherry Thomas = pain. She knows how to bring the emotional anguish and angst! But also deliver you a swoony love story and hea that you think shouldn’t work but somehow absolutely does.
I really appreciated how the secrets and Helena getting her memory back were handled. In other books, that would have been a main conflict and the secrets would have been revealed only when she regained her memory. But Hastings tells Helena everything before her memory returns which I thought was a great choice.
While you could probably read this as a stand alone, I wouldn’t recommend it. You really should read the first 2 so that you have all the backstory and build up. I’m planning to read the novellas soon and starting the Lady Sherlock series this weekend!