Review & Giveaway: How to Lose a Bride in One Night by Sophie JordanHow to Lose a Bride in One Night by Sophie Jordan
Published by Avon on July 30, 2013
Genres: Historical Romance, Romance
Pages: 370
Format: Paperback
Source: Advance Reader Copy, Avon Addicts
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
three-half-stars

He saved her life...

When Annalise Hadley is tossed over the side of her honeymoon barge, the newly-minted duchess knows she's been left for dead -- for her husband's only interest is in her vast dowry, not her muddied lineage. However, she didn't count on a savior. Especially not an honorable, sinfully intriguing earl who will tempt her to risk everything—again.

Now he will seduce her heart and soul

A man with his own demons, Owen Crawford, the reclusive Earl of McDowell, is enchanted by the mysterious, courageous woman he rescued. He will help her heal, teach her to protect herself, and then send her away—so that she’ll never see he’s far from the hero she believes him to be.

But days and nights alone prove that some secrets are meant to be discovered...some desires are too powerful to resist…and some wounds can only be healed by love.

Avon Books has generously offered up 3 books for a giveaway! Just leave a comment for me 🙂

This is the third novel in the Forgotten princesses series and what starts out as a dream wedding quickly becomes a nightmare. Annalise’s new husband tries to kill her. He very nearly succeeds. Her perfect duke turns out to be a money-grubbing man who only pretended to like her for her dowry. While she is fighting wedding night jitters, he is preparing to kill her.

Owen finds Annalise facedown and battered on the riverbank after she’s been tossed overboard on her wedding night. He doesn’t know why, but there’s a pull for him to help her and to stay with her. She isn’t going to make it much longer, so when Owen sees horses on the road, he begs them to pull over and help them. It turns out to be a band of gypsies who are willing to help Annalise heal.

This is where the book is the slowest. There are easily 5 weeks or so where literally nothing happens but Owen brooding and Annalise denying she knows who she is.

Annalise is afraid to let anyone know who she really is because technically that person would be within their rights to return her to her husband. At first she really is out of it for a while, just recovering. But once she’s alert enough to talk, she fakes amnesia.

I get that, really I do, but it dragged on too long. I’m talking until the last quarter of the book too long.

Owen meanwhile has his own demons to deal with. Recently back from India and not quite the same man he was before, he found his childhood crush married to his brother. A love match. With a baby on the way. Luckily he realized he’s very happy for them early on, and it’s not so much that he wishes he were married to her, it’s more of they have something unattainable for him, in his opinion. He wants what they have together.

The lovely girl Anna who he fished out of the river never leaves his thoughts. She’s broken her leg and can’t remember who she is, but he finds he can’t leave her. He has random fits of jealousy that he’s never felt before, and he sleeps in the same caravan car as she does. It’s obvious to everyone but Owen that he’s falling for Annalise.

Once she’s able to leave the gypsy camp, he takes her to his house, and this is where it picked up for me. the ending however felt super rushed, and really it felt off.  There’s a scene where she surprises her husband at a dinner party and shows up alive. Yet no one is happy to see her, and her husband is already courting the woman he really wanted. And this girl’s father is just fine with that. What, he didn’t have to go into mourning? I thought the minimum was 6 months? I could be wrong, but it felt odd. I felt the girl’s father should have taken issue with that. 

SPOILER

The plot was really interesting, and a different take on the beginning of a romance novel. I didn’t even mind that Annalise and Owen were together while she was married (adultery is usually a dealbreaker for me, no matter what), but I think that’s because we know from the get-go that her husband is the villain of the piece and she won’t possibly end up with him. I did enjoy the story, I just felt that the majority of the plot revolved around Annalise’s pretense of amnesia, when her husband trying to kill her was a much better source of conflict. The ending was good, if rushed.

Final verdict: It’s a different plot than I’ve seen before, and it’s a good read, even if a few things bugged me.

***ARC courtesy of Avon Books and Avon Addicts

Avon Books has generously offered up 3 books for a giveaway! Just leave a comment for me 🙂

highland hussy

three-half-stars