His Bride for the Taking: A Regency Romcom novella

Product Information

If some readers find those quips "out of place", that is their prerogative. I don't care. You will pry my Tessa Dare books from my cold dead hands. I adore that they make me feel warm and cozy. I adore that they make me laugh. Mary was suddenly curious about the impolite ways to say it. But that wasn’t a conversation for the moment. “They’ll assume we anticipated the wedding vows.” Yes, but your reputation will not. You know the things people say when a long engagement is broken. They will assume that you’ve… Well, that the two of you…” He churned the air with one hand. “Help me here. What’s a polite way to say it?”

Once upon a time, two sworn enemies—the bookish daughter of a scholar and the devilish heir to a duke—made a pact: If they were both still single in ten years, they would marry each other. I may be one the few who enjoy reading ‘Novellas’ and this one was no different. Short, sweet and a perfect filler / mood lifter / feel gooder that ever was. I loved a lot about this. The fact that Mary is two years older. The fact that it doesn't feel like instalove because they've both been secretly in love with the other one for YEARS. And the fact that their first fight as a married couple is about how to assemble the frame and slats on a Swedish bed frame without instructions (*cough* IKEA *cough*).New York Times and USA Today Bestselling authors Tessa Dare and Christi Caldwell come together in this smart, sexy, not-to-be-missed Regency Duet! She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Perhaps I’ll have to surrender my membership in the Ladies’ Social Justice Society. The meetings were rather a bore, anyhow.”

I wasn't going to actually admit to reading it, but it pleasantly surprised me enough that I feel it deserves some recognition. (At least, if I mark the really lousy pseudo-Regency Kindle freebies I read, I should mark the semi-decent ones too, right?) Sebastian had always sworn to keep his hands off of his best friends sister, Mary but circumstances arise where he has to save her from scandal and marries her after he fiance leaves her at the altar. What ensues is a romantic story between two people who have a powerful love for one another and are finally able to have the one they've always loved and desired. There is even a surprising twist at the end and I loved it. The epilogue was perfection!!! He put off the wedding once,” she corrected. “The other time I was in mourning. That wasn’t his fault.” Sebastian stopped pacing and turned to her, staring directly into her brilliant blue eyes. Then I’ll call the bastard out. * * *You’ll be ruined. You don’t have the money or connections to overcome even a hint of scandal. If you don’t marry Perry today, you might never wed anyone at all. His Bride for the Taking is a stand alone novella by Tessa Dare that was oringinally in 2018 as a part of the Rogues Rush In: a Regency Duet.

They ride all night to a small cottage he owns and there’s a scene, the best scene in any book ever. Guys. They have to assemble a bed, a Swedish bed, with no directions, and it goes about like any couple who has ever gone to Ikea and tried to assemble a piece of furniture would think. Tessa Dare, I see what you did there. 🙂 Sebastian is such a swoon-worthy hero. I loved the premise of an impetuous proposal and wedding. The cottage caretakers reminded me of Prudie and Judd in the opening episode of Poldark. The romantic dinner scene was to die for, literally. You must read this. They were hilarious. Mary was ingenious in her machinations and I smiled and giggled at her plotting. Methinks someone has tried to put together some IKEA furniture with her spouse at some point.

It’s the first rule of friendship among gentlemen: Don’t even think about touching your best friend’s sister. But Sebastian, Lord Byrne, has never been one for rules. He’s thought about touching Mary Clayton—a lot—and struggled to resist temptation. But when Mary’s bridegroom leaves her waiting the altar, only Sebastian can save her from ruin. By marrying her himself. But today, Sebastian found himself tempted to break his promise. No, break was too weak a word. He wanted to bundle his principles, snap them in two, and grind them to sand beneath his boot. I hope it makes you smile, laugh, and feel warm inside. Please have safe and healthy holidays. Let’s look forward to 2021! Christi has been my favourite (read ‘obsessive’ favourite) for the longest I can recall. My love for historical romance doubled manifold with her stories. While Tessa Dare has been a recent recommendation, that I have also lapped up, because her books just make me laugh. It is her witty prose that took me by surprise and had me hooked. So no surprise there either when I read book 1 in this anthology, His Bride for the Taking, I simply just fell in love with Mary Clayton. She was a perfect heroine in all ways. She wanted something and she went about it systematically to get it. A love story that had an embarrassed hero and a spunky heroine, is a refreshing change and the twist at the end turned out to be the icing on the cake. Made a perfect story even more perfect.

We get to explore what went wrong and witness the couple sort themselves out to a satisfactory ending. Nine years have passed since Elizabeth married Crispin, Duke of Huntington, her childhood friend. It's also been nine years since they last saw one another, when she ran away from him, after hearing him voice his regret for marrying her. Now that he finally found her, teaching young girls at Mrs. Belden's Finishing School on how to catch a husband, Crispin is determined to convince her to return with him to London, so he can prove to the ton she's not a fragment of his imagination. And he want to know why she left him when they were about to beginning a new life together. When he learn the reasons for his wife's desertion, it's up to him to persuade her that the reputation he gain as a rogue the years they've been apart won't be an other obstacle to their HEA. It was such a sad and heartbreaking story about two people who assumed too much and hurt the other in process, the one they should have cheered and protected. Well, I don’t know how you propose to complete this bed without joining pieces together. Did you find a leaflet in the attic with instructions? In Swedish?"talk her into this. He wasn’t giving her months of time to change her mind. “We’re getting married today.” We can’t marry today,” she declared, having recalled that she was the daughter of a solicitor and claimed more than a passing familiarity with the law. “We don’t have a license, and no banns have been read. It simply isn’t possible. So there you have it.” But you were the one who saw it through. The dear little bird thought you were its mother. Remember?” She hooked two fingers and skipped them up his arm. “Hop, hop, hop…”