Everyone has secrets… Jonah and his wife, Irene, want it.
The biracial daughter of a seamstress and a con artist, Irene has built a secret career as a spy and pickpocket who helps troubled women. By day she works as a teacher at Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies; in spare moments she takes on missions that carry her everywhere from London’s elite heart to its most dangerous corners.
Jonah agreed to this arrangement for four years, until Irene’s family fortunes were made. After surviving on passionate secret meetings and stolen days together, now it’s time to begin the marriage so long delayed. But as these two independent souls begin to build a life together, family obligations and old scandals threaten to tear them apart…
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Some of the viewpoints felt modern. If you ignored that the the story was nice.
“EVERYONE HAS SECRETS”
All of the Chandler siblings have found love, except for the eldest brother.
Jonah spends his days training Thoroughbreds. He married 4 years ago, but his bride left after their wedding night. Irene is the biracial bride who is “missing”. She spends her days working as a teacher at Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies. She has also built a secret career as a spy and pickpocket who helps out troubled ladies. Sometimes her missions carry her from London’s elite to its most dangerous corners.
Irene is the lost bride who is a mystery no one dares discuss.
Jonah agreed to this arrangement for four years. Once Irene’s family fortunes were made, he felt it was time to begin marriage that they so long delayed. He is tired of surviving on passionate meetings in secret and stolen days together.
Can two independent souls begin to build their life together? Will family obligations and old scandals threaten to tear them apart?
I enjoyed this story and the setting. I liked the way Jonah and Irene were able to make a go of their marriage. Their love was wonderful, he supported her in so many ways, and loved her unconditionally. Wonderful wrap up to the Romance of the Turf series.
The author did a great job with the characters and developing although this is book 3 in a series.
Irene and Jonah Chandler married four years ago, a love match, but with the unusual agreement that they would live apart for four years. During that time, Jonah pursued training and raising thoroughbred horses, while Irene was a teacher at Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies. Irene also accepted assignments on the side, which involved spying and theft, but benefitted those who had been taken advantage of, or were in need of help. Irene and Jonah met whenever they could, sharing some stolen moments away from their busy lives.
Though Jonah agreed to the initial separation, he is more than ready to have a full time marriage. He’s lonely, and he wants Irene with him always. He is also anxious to begin to create his own family, as his own relationship with his father has always been somewhat ambivalent. While Irene wants to spend her life with Jonah, she is dealing with her own family crises, as well as her multiple careers. Irene’s mother is a seamstress, but her father is a con man, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Irene has taken it upon herself to make restitution for her father’s deeds, which are not her doing. Irene is also providing support for her mother, and her resources are stretched extremely thin, to say the least.
As Jonah eagerly begins discussing their future, Irene becomes more conflicted. When he realizes that Irene may be content to continue their haphazard, occasional marriage, he comes to see that he can no longer live that way. Though it breaks his own heart, Jonah lets Irene know that she has to come to a decision – she’s either all in, or they have to find a way to end the marriage. What I appreciated is that Jonah was not overbearing or demanding. He expressed his love and caring for Irene, and let her know his true feelings about how alone he was. Jonah and his family went above and beyond to help Irene’s struggling family, even her good-for-nothing father.
I did feel that HIS WAYWARD BRIDE suffered by not showing Jonah and Irene meeting and falling in love. That’s such an integral and important part of their relationship, and I wanted to know all about it. This story picks up after four years, and while there were some references to how they met, it just felt as if I had missed the most important part. I had to admire Irene’s character as evidenced by her compulsion to right her father’s wrongs, and her support of her family. It seemed, though, that her strength of character outweighed her love and her commitment to her marriage.
I began to feel that there was no way this couple could ever find a way to manage to live a full life together, yet fulfill both their needs. I shouldn’t have worried, as Theresa Romain managed to create a compromise which wrapped the conflict up nicely. There was also a very unexpected surprise in regard to Irene’s heritage which provided a delightful twist. HIS WAYWARD BRIDE is very well written, and delves into some complicated relationships and emotions, making for an engrossing read that I couldn’t put down until I had finished it.
3.5 stars as reviewed at Roses Are Blue: https://wp.me/p3QRh4-14U
As agreed upon like so many times before, Jonah was to meet HIS WAYWARD BRIDE, Irene. Because he had some business to attend to for his father, Jonah was in London earlier than planned. He’s had enough of meeting his wife in secret; after four years, he wants a real marriage and he’s prepared to issue Irene an ultimatum: him or the academy where she teaches. But his early arrival has some unexpected consequences.
I am a die-hard fan of Theresa Romain’s, Romance of the Turf is one of my favourite historical romance series, and to take a character from the Mrs. Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies anthology – Mrs. Chalmers – for our heroine Irene was a stroke of genius! HIS WAYWARD BRIDE is a very complex romance set in 1819 London working class. Ms. Romain’s painstaking research gives the story an unmistakable authenticity: from Jonah’s stud farm to the heartaches brought on by absent fathers and living as a person of colour in Regency England (Irene and her brother are biracial; their mother is black, their father white); this world felt real to me.
HIS WAYWARD BRIDE is a very compelling and emotional story as Irene and Jonah deal with their family issues as well as their own problems. The love they feel for each other was palpable, but I wondered if Irene loved Jonah as much as he loved her. I needed convincing and Ms. Romain did it brilliantly! There are several important characters in this novel, every one of them superbly defined, and all inextricably linked to the plot. And the secrets? You have no idea!
Theresa Romain’s lyrical prose is legendary but her exploration of the human psyche is just as extraordinary; this author simply does not do superficial, for which I am eternally grateful. HIS WAYWARD BRIDE is a riveting and emotional story and the perfect ending to the fabulous Romance of the Turf series. Absolutely sublime!