A Christmas Romance...

 

Title & Author:  A Christmas Bride by Jo Ann Ferguson

Genre:  Regency Romance

First line:  "All we need to do is find you a fiancee by tomorrow."

Plot summary:  All Timothy Crawford's grandfather wants for his 70th birthday is to meet his grandson's fiancee, Serenity Adams. The only problem is that she doesn't exist; Timothy made her up. He's on his way to York to tell Lord Brookindale the truth when he happens upon an overturned carriage with an injured young woman inside who looks remarkably like his imaginary Serenity. She appears to be an abigail, but she doesn't remember her name, or who she works for, or where she's from. When Timothy's cousin explains Timothy's situation to her, she agrees to pretend to be his fiancee over Christmas. In return, he promises to help her figure out who she really is.

My thoughts:  Sweet and frothy are two words that perfectly describe this novel. And I don't mean that in a bad way. Serenity seems to fit right in with Timothy's family, and he quickly finds himself falling in love with her. But he also doesn't want to take advantage of her situation. Besides their romance, there's the intrigue surrounding Serenity's accident and true identity. Though that mystery is NOT the main focus of the story, it does add a little twist at the end. Ferguson also throws in a lot of time period slang throughout the book, words like betwattle and skimble-skamble. I felt it was a little overdone at times, but it was a small thing and easily overlooked. For the most part, this is a completely predictable bit of light-hearted fluff. But it's also a fun read. And knowing a happy ending is coming isn't a bad thing when it comes to a Christmas romance.

Happy Reading!

Similar reads:

The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig 

Christmas-y Haiku Reviews

The White Christmas Inn by Colleen Wright

Two Fun Reads...

The Road to Winter by Mark Smith

This entertaining YA dystopian novel is set in an Australia where an unknown virus has wiped out most of the population. For the last two years, Finn and his dog, Rowdy, have been on their own. Finn traps rabbits and harvests abalone for food, trades for veggies with an old man who lives nearby, and tries to avoid the gang of raiders known as the Wilders. Oh, and he surfs to stay sane. Then a girl named Rose enters his life. She's on the run from the Wilders and Finn knows he will have to risk his own life in order to save hers.

Not all dystopian novels are worth your time, but if I were grading this one I'd give it a solid B. It's well-paced. It wasn't too long, which means it never dragged. I really liked the survival aspects of it; I liked the characters, too, especially Finn. And I'm actually looking forward to reading the sequel.

To Suit a Suitor by Paula Kremser

Insipid characters, stilted dialogue, conflicts that could be resolved in two seconds, and/or an overly contrived plot will make me DNF a Regency romance every time. Luckily, this particular Regency romance by Paula Kremser has none of these deficiencies. Instead, Kremser has created two main characters who are believable and very likeable. I enjoyed their witty bantering and their tentative friendship.

Julia North, who is in her third London season, has just been abandoned by her latest suitor, much to her mother's chagrin. Julia knows there must be something wrong with her, she just doesn't know what. So she retreats to her cousin's house in the country where she meets Mr. Henry Chamberlin, who is still mourning the death of his fiancee three years ago. He's handsome, but truly believes he'll never fall in love again. Then he meets Julia. This charming romance, while not on the level of Austen or Heyer, is a light-hearted, well-written and fun read. And I liked it a lot.

Happy Reading!