The Bad Luck Bride

I voluntary reviewed this ARC after receiving a free gifted copy.
Wow. Wow. Wow. What an awesome book to have read. The Bad Luck Bride, by Janna McGregor was awesome!
My gosh, I was on an emotional roller coaster with this book. It had all what I was looking for when I’m reading a historical romance novel. First, I have to say Alex’a character, whewwww. I need a man like him to talk dirty in my ear all day. The things that he was saying to Claire got me very hot, but I digress.
This isn’t about me, it’s about the book. This Book was written like a well thought out drama. The suspense and suspicions that where going around, had me begging to ask who is the culprit. Guns being drawn. People taking other people’s homes and land.
Money and death and terrible rain storms. Oh me oh my. I was glued to each word, wanting to know what was going to happen next. The romance, oh my gosh was beautiful, my heart melted each time Alex showed his love to Claire. The book flowed without flaw.
The writer didn’t use exuberant words to try to bring flare to the book. Janna kept it simple and very sweet. Thank you for that. Oh yes my fellow readers, I recommend this book. I give it a snap and a twist. Read the book.
Until next time my fellow readers- read on.

Janna MacGregor continues her Cavensham Heiresses series with The Luck of the Bride. Michael Cavensham, the Marquess of McCalpin and ducal heir, is the trustee of the funds set aside for the Lawson sisters. The Lawson sisters, along with their younger brother were left orphans eight years earlier upon the death of their parents. McCalpin is informed that the eldest Lawson sister, March, has been forging his name to secure funds. He knows that he must step-up and look into just what is going on with the Lawsons. In the meantime, March Lawson has been struggling for the past eight years leading her siblings through lean times and has become desperate. The funds due to her on her twenty-fifth birthday from her father’s estate have not been dispursed to her by the trustee. After trying to contact the trustee with no response she resorts to procuring the funds by the means at hand. McCalpin insists on addressing this issue with March Lawson and visits her home. Thus the path to finding true love begins.

The author has a wonderful ability to make her characters come to life on the pages of her story. She draws the reader into their lives, emotions and passions. March Lawson is depicted as a brave, strong, loving lady. Addressing all the troubles facing her family, she strides forward each day to protect her siblings and provide for them as best she can. She has put her feelings and her life on hold until McCalpin enters the picture. Upon meeting March Lawson McCalpin is enchanted with this lovely lady. He can’t have her arrested for her misdeeds and decides to help the family. Janna McGregor has painted a picture of McCalpin as a fair man who believes in doing the right thing.

The Luck of the Bride is an engaging read with wonderful glimpses of London and the fickleness of society of the time. This story has fun interactions amongst the characters with witty dialogue and some poignant moments. I really enjoyed the meeting of March Lawson and her “David,” the Marquess of McCalpin, and the delightful road to their HEA.

The Bad Luck Bride is book one in the Cavensham Heiresses series. Alex, Marquess of Pembrooke wants nothing more than to destroy his friend Lord Paul for his sisters death! So he pays all his vowels and takes his fiance! Through his revenge he never thought he’d fall in love with Claire! Claire believes she’s actually cursed when another engagement is called off making it the 4th one.. When Alex says they’ll marry she was skeptical about it all! Over their course of marriage she also falls in love with him.. only one problem, he hasn’t told her the truth about their marriage! Through heartache and betrayal they finally find a way back to each other!

I absolutely LOVED this book! I cried through the end! Can’t wait to read the rest of the Cavensham Heiresses series!!

I loved the opening scene in this book – it hooked me after reading the first sentence “The raw wind pounded every inch of Alexander’s body and lashed at what little remained of his compassion.” It set the scene for the revenge between our hero, Alexander Hallsworth, Marquess of Pembrooke and Alex’s childhood friend & now a betrayer that has ruined his family’s name, Lord Paul Barstowe and Alex will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Our heroine is Lady Claire Cavensham better known as “cursed” Lady Claire, because of her 3 previous engagements being ended & now her fourth one is falling apart also. She is lovely, rich and her reputation will not survive another scandal. Claire has other secrets that no one knows about that only convinces her she is “cursed”.

Both Alex & Claire have suffered both emotional & mental pain and unfortunately, their actions or reactions have caused misunderstandings, deceit & bad decisions. I enjoyed the marriage between Alex & Claire after he married her for revenge & she married him because of the scandal to her family of another broken engagement to her fourth finance. Their journey is not a smooth one & just when you think it is smooth sailing, Ms. MacGregor throws in a twist in the plot. The gripping story was written expertly & Ms. MacGregor’s storytelling pulled me into their world & kept me turning pages to see what could possibly happen next.

I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read the next one in the series.

Lady Claire Cavensham has been engaged more times than is fashionable and rumor says the lady is cursed. When her more recent beau cries off and prepared to hide he from slashing tongues, she’ll find herself in a compromising position with the man she’ll marry.
Lord Alexander Hallworth, the Marquess of Pembrooke is out for revenge and will do anything in his power to achieve his goal. This will put Lady Claire right on his path and marrying her will serve more than one purpose.
This is a very good debut book for the author, better than the first one I read in my opinion. The story has a great flow and, though I found some flaws period wise in the story telling, it was not enough to take from the rest of it. I found it enjoyable and really like the characters at play.

This was an enjoyable debut from author Janna McGregor. However, I did take issue with Alex, Lord Pembroke. He was so bent on revenge that he never bothered to look around for who else his schemes might hurt. Lady Claire was innocent in this revenge plot and she was trapped and felt compelled to marry Alex. While Alex was kind and considerate to his bride, his thoughts were constantly on ruining Lord Paul so much so to the detriment of his new bride.

While I could sympathize with Claire, I found she flip-flopped too much. One minute she was strong willed and the next minute she’s in a puddle of tears. Would she forgive her husband for what he’s done? Will Alex finally learn that revenge does nothing except hurt everyone around you?

The writing was well done and I applaud Ms. McGregor on her first book. I will certainly pick up more of her stories.

The author gives you a unique story of revenge, a curse and those who draw it out along for the fun of it, with those who want her hand for their own reasons. It takes a little while to understand what the curse is and why she feels she is cursed. The author plays off one man against another one wanting her money and the other wanting revenge for a wrong he feels has been done to his family. There are a few surprises along the way along with a few major twists that makes some look like fools. There is a lot of misunderstanding along with a little confusion, some suspense and a few thrills that makes the story interesting.

I loved this narrators accent she really adds to the audio making it believable. Her character voices are great from her dashing males to her very sassy ladies. She brings true emotion to the story as she spins a tale of revenge, anger, deceit, lies giving it true feeling. You could hear the anger, sorrow, sadness, fear, excitement, smiles, laughter in her voice. I always knew who was talking and what their feelings were. There are no background noise, no volume changes, no repeating of wording, it was a very clean and clear audio, if any breaks were taken I could not tell. I really liked her deep male voices and how she portrayed them. Her female voices were wonderful even the mean women with their nosey noses in everything were done just right. She really bought the danger alive for me making me hold my breath. There were times she made me feel sad for one or another. I am not sure if I had read it I would have had such strong feelings. I thought her performance was wonderful and can’t wait to listen to more of her work.

The story was a little long with a little more filler than I like. I thought some could have been left out making it a more interesting read. However, I did enjoy it and all the mystery along with the twists and turns that came with it. When Alexander finally saw the truth my heart broke for him. Claire I did feel sorry up to a point, and she was very likable but at times I thought she acted much younger that what she was. I liked how she took charge and truly trying to make the marriage work. I felt both their pains, trials and sorrow. The author does keep it interesting and for the most part I enjoyed it. For me this wasn’t a page turner but it was worth my time. The characters are interesting, I loved the mystery, how things turned around putting egg on a few faces. I loved the surprises and the defeat, some were very heart breaking. The ending is good leaving you with a smile.

This was a page turner for me. It definitely is a dark story with lots of ups and downs, breath holding, and tears. I fell in love with Claire’s spirit and determination to marry. Alex was a dog until he proved his real feelings and worked hard to get Claire to see him as a better man. I did not want to put this book down, and I look forward to more from Janna MacGregor.

I received a copy of this story through Netgalley, and it is a selection of the Book Obsessed Chicks Review Team. This is my unsolicited review.

interesting but a little wordy with some repetitive recitals of the characters thoughts.

Lots of extra relationships that seemed to be page fillers not relevant to the story. Probably should have been a novella.