Historical romance fiction lover looking for your next escapism read? Check out The Duke’s Runaway Bride by Jenni Fletcher.
The plot:
When Beatrix, Duchess of Howden, writes to her estranged husband offering a divorce, she’s stunned when he arrives in person with a different proposition: a six-week marriage trial.
Quinton Roxbury seems cold and inscrutable, but Beatrix gradually realizes his tough exterior hides a heavy burden. As their connection deepens, dare she trust him with her own scandalous past and risk the marriage she never knew she wanted?
A read to swoon over
Full disclosure: this is the third book in the ‘Regency Belles of Bath’ series, and I haven’t read the previous two – so this review is based on this as a standalone.
I personally wouldn’t recommend this as a standalone – my understanding is that the previous books are following different main characters (which are mentioned in this book), so realistically *can* be a standalone, but I felt like I’d been thoroughly thrown into the deep end and was missing something.
It also took me about half the book to properly engage with the characters – but once I did, I loved them immediately and felt all their emotions. The smaller characters really add a lot to the plot, and the protagonists are just charming.
One page I was laughing and just felt like hugging the book, and within 20 pages I was shedding tears – this is why I recommend reading from the beginning of the series. Once I was connected to the plot and characters, I was really connected, so imagine the reading experience having already met them previously!
Enjoyable writing with lots of conversation to get those pages turning. A likeable plot and I could’ve had 100 more pages (not because it needed it, but only because I’m greedy).
A read to swoon over. I won’t be going back to the two previous books now I know what’s happened to the previous characters, but I will be keeping my eyes out for the next, as well as Fletcher’s other works.
3-stars – predicted higher if I had read the previous books.
The Duke’s Runaway Bride, Jenni Fletcher, RRP £6.99 (paperback); Amazon
Pages: 280
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Genre: Historical Fiction/ Romance
