A heartbroken man, a frustrated spinster, and a marriage of convenience that proves quite inconvenient.
Simon Kingsley is in desperate need of a wife. After years of searching, he finally found love. Unfortunately, she wed another, and now, it’s time to settle for someone with whom he can share his life. Love is no longer an option for a man whose heart is irrevocably broken.
Mina Ashbrook … broken.
Mina Ashbrook longs to marry for love but knows she’s too old, too plump, and too plain to catch a gentleman’s eye. And a marriage of convenience is better than being a spinster sister living off her brother’s charity. Simon may not love her now, but Mina knows there’s hope—if she can convince him that love comes in many forms.
Will Mina find a way to heal Simon’s heart? Or will the shadows of the past keep them from finding happiness together?
Though part of the Regency Love series, each book is a standalone sweet romance and can be read in any order.
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A sweet book about what love really is. The characters were well written and believable. Looking forward to real about their daughter.
1st in great series
This is a lovely book. much more than average romance. a powerful book.
From my review at amazon.com:
For so many good women who are not petite little things, how does a Lady find love, especially one who has given up on finding it, and convinced herself that spinsterhood is her only future?
With no standard to measure Love by due to having been raised by such an unhealthy family how can Simon know what love is?
Watch and learn what happens with Mina and Simon!
I love these characters and the storyline and some of the conversations may connect with you. There was some underlining in my Kindle version from readers highlighting sentences that resonated with them.
Good story and no yukky sex to wade through.
Wonderful romance, I loved it. Great author
I liked this book…Mina was plump! That never happens in historical romances! Good for you for bring original!
An okay, if predictable story. The Reader keeps waiting for Simon to get his head out of his ass, which of course he finally does.
Love Lost, Love Learned
Mr. Simon Kingsley has no heart to give to a wife, but a wife is what he wants and needs
Miss Mina Ashbrook has a loving heart to give, but no one wants it or her.
Flame and Ember by M.A. Nichols is a poignant story that could have been depressing if not for the unflagging courage of Mina, even in the face of Simon’s disappointing behavior. Instead, this well written unexpected love story was an engrossing read. The characters were varied and interesting, and the roller coaster emotions were kept in check by eye-crinkled cheek.
If not for the over use of mental musings, I would have given this interesting read 5 stars. Still, I did enjoy it and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
Content 411: This is a clean read. There is no swearing and other than a couple of kisses, no sexual content.
Flame and Ember by M A Nichols is a sweet romance.
I don’t know why I didn’t love this book. I just didn’t. Maybe I found it too hard to believe that such a sweet woman like Mina would put up with Simon. However, I also didn’t understand how Mina could be so distraught with her marriage, knowing precisely what to expect. I felt unsettled by the end of the book rather than happy.
It was ok. Sweet short read. But seriously can you stop mentioning how unattractive she is.
I’m very glad to be a 21st century woman, where our opinions count and we have choices, outside of those chosen for us by fathers or brother-protectors! Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed the book about a capable woman who does eventually find happiness, in spite of the times. First book I have read by this author, but I understand there are more, and I will be checking them out!
Unusual to have a heroine who is slightly overweight and not gorgeous but couldn’t help but love her and her real heartache.
Good book. Liked the characters. Easy to read.
Nice read for a rainy day!
Easy to read and entertaining.
I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book.
On one hand, I liked Mina. As the story progresses, you can’t help but root for her. Her bashfulness, kindness and compassion was lovely to read. However I did feel that she had some almost ‘immature’ moments. I can definitely understand that she is a bit insecure as she has been overlooked her whole life, but she shouldn’t have put up with the horrible behaviour from the villains, and also the ‘hero’ in the story. This leads to my main dislike of the novel: Simon. He was a bit of a stubborn fool at the beginning, but I thought that I would warm up to him, but I didn’t. Every time he seemed to be becoming a better person, he would ruin it by thinking of the other lady, or doing something foolish, like siding with the catty housekeeper. I thought that surely at the end of the novel I would like him, but was proved sadly wrong. He had broken Mina’s trust, and mine too many times for me to be happy for him. He was so rude to Mina, he literally flirted with the girl who was tormenting his wife while Mina was right there! He had too many heartless moments for me to truly like him. Sure, he had his good moments, when he’d give Mina flowers, but then in the next moment he’d turn around and say that his heart belongs to another. Although I understand that humans mess up, I feel like he broke Mina’s heart a few too many times.
Well, enough about what I didn’t like… there were some redeeming factors, and they were Thea, Frederick and Lady Lovell. They were delightful characters; a joy to read and very entertaining. They were so supportive of Mina, and they were truly great friends.
Overall, I enjoyed the heroine, but disliked Simon. Since he is one the most important parts of the book, I honestly didn’t enjoy the novel all that much. There were also some historical inaccuracies such as language used, but since this was the author’s first Regency novel, understandable. There were also some grammatical errors.
I will say that the story hooked me in initially, but there were too many unlikable aspects. I rarely write negative reviews, but was quite disappointed.
To slow moving I just couldn’t get interested in the story enough to even finish it.