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A Belated Bride
written by Karen Hawkins
Studio : Avon
by Avon
Release Date : 2001-01-09
Publisher : Avon
Released : 2007-10-01
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780380815258
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 29 reviews)
List Price : $6.99
Our Price : $3.25
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Product Description |
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She'd Never Marry Him!
The last man Arabella Hadley ever wishes to see again is Lucien Deveraux, the handsome, dissolute Duke of Wexford -- who broke her innocent heart years ago and disappeared to London. So when she finds an unconscious man on her deserted country road and sees that it's Lucien, she's tempted to leave him there. But even more appalling than his presence is the brazen kiss he plants on her shocked lips and her response! So it would be totally insane to take him home to recover -- wouldn't it? Except For One Small Thing...
Lucien dares not reveal why he's returned to his country estate -- or why he abandoned the strong-willed beauty years ago. Especially since Arabella clearly has secrets of her own. But when her scheming, marriage-minded aunts successfully compromise them, the two are forced to become man and wife. Which makes it ever harder for both to battle the passion that never disappeared... |
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Secrets abound! and a great regency. |
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We first met Lucien Devereaux, Duke of Wexford, in The Abduction Of Julia, as a cynical, amused, droll and somewhat dissolute widower. Unbeknown to just about everybody, Lucien has a dangerous secret life, involved with - actually, if I told you I'd have to kill you... He's pursuing these, ah, secret activities when he gets thrown by his horse. Knocked unconscious, he's rescued by none other than the disgruntled woman he seduced and abandoned years ago. Arabella Hadley is risking everything to keep her family solvent. Having a suspicious Duke - an amorous ex-lover at that - suddenly ensconced in her guest bedroom is really complicating her secret life! Secrets abound in this book. It makes for great reading, as Lucien and Arabella guess and second-guess and try to outsmart each other. Arabella's dotty aunties delight, and the secondary love story with Arabella's brother and Lucien's sister is fast, fiery, and entirely delicious. And, quite frankly, Lucien can charm the birds out of the trees, let alone Arabella out of her clothes when he sets his mind to it. Ooh. |
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This book ties for 1st place with her book "An Affair to Remember" |
I LOVED this book. I thought it was just wonderful. I loved everything about it. I love regency/ton books set in the country.
I loved the main characters & the secondary characters. The plots
were great! Yes, plots! There was the main plot, about her being a smuggler & him being the man sent to break up the smuggling ring,
but there were also many other plots within this book -- Her brother & his sister's romance, the romance between her aunt & a knight, the family treasure, and so much more! Perfect!
On the 1-10 scale, for me, this is a solid 10, maybe even an 11.
On the star scale, 5 stars plus!
If you're only going to read one or two Hawkins books to start with, read them out of order, read this one and "An Affair to
Remember", another 5 star winner.
My next book will be "One Lucky Lord" by Kim Bennet, which is a
pseydom for Karen Hawkins. After I've read it, then I will have
read all the Karen Hawkins/Kim Bennet books there are, minus the
book for teens called "Catherine & The Pirate". Since I'm not a teen, I think I'll pass on that one, though I'm sure it's great! |
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I just loved this book! |
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After reading the Abduction of Julia I found myself wanting to read once again about Lucien in a Belated Bride. There is just something about this man that I found so totally captivating. It is one thing for a woman to not get over a man but I find it even more compelling when such a handsome rogue after ten years has not gotten over his Bella. I was reminded in the Abduction of Julia what a lost sole Lucien continued to be and just had to reread how he finally finds the love of his life. Lucien is one of Karen Hawkins best male heroes!! Excellent read - the second time every bit as good as the first! |
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4 & 1/2 stars; would have been 5 with an epilogue |
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Not quite as good as The Adbuction of Julia, in my opinion, but still a wonderful story. Unlike tAoJ, A Belated Bride drags just a little in spots and needed a resolution to Robert & Liza's situation. Nevertheless, Hawkins delights with a story of second chances. Arabella is a strong heroine in the highly capable and responsible, but still heartbroken mold. Lucien is the hero who loved and left, thinking he was doing the right thing, but never able to really face up to his decisions...until he ends up back in her life. Arabella and Lucien's passion sizzles at every encounter, and the reader so wants them to get it right this time. A stable of interesting secondary characters helps keep the momentum and humor going. And there's plenty of humor with Arabella's aunts around. The plotting may not be quite as tight as tAoJ and the main charcters just slightly less heartfelt, but not enough to seriously diminish the book's appeal. As I said, I'd drop it only 1/2 a star. Therefore, since it certainly deserves better than 4 stars, I've stuck with the 5-star rating. It's a good follow-up to tAoJ, in which Lucien was introduced (and in which he is very appealing as well). |
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a good book but not great |
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In short, this was a good book. A good read but it wasn't fantastic. At some points I found it quite difficult to concentrate on it. The story line was alright - although I thought the baddy got killed off rather easily - and Lucien was a really great guy! He wasn't your typical hero because he didn't run from love or commitment even when he was twenty! Bella was also a good character but I found her a bit annoying at times (I can't marry him cos he doesn't want to really...blah blah blah), but on the whole I liked her too. She was a strong character and all her emotions where shown brilliantly. The best thing about this book is that it made me laugh! It was really quite funny at parts! Disapointments? Apart from the ones I've already mentioned I think the love scenes were also a bit of a disapointment - they got me quite bored because I didn't think there was much feeling in them. Basically if your in the mood for a good, light read this is the book for you: Its funny and has very well-made characters. |
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