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I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

 

Book Review-The Spring Bride by Anne Gracie

by | Nov 29, 2015 | Book Reviews | 6 comments

Book Review-The Spring Bride by Anne Gracie

Book Review-The Spring Bride by Anne GracieThe Spring Bride by Anne Gracie
Also in this series: The Winter Bride
Series: Chance Sisters #3
Published by Berkley on June 2nd 2015
Genres: Historical Romance, Regency Era, Mystery
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Self Purchased
ISBN: 0425259277
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four-stars

A dog in need of rescue brings together a young debutante and a mysterious stranger in this regency charmer from the beloved Anne Gracie. For fans of Mary Balogh and Madeline Hunter.
On the eve of the London Season, Jane Chance is about to make her entrance into high society. And after a childhood riddled with poverty and hardship, Jane intends to make a good, safe, sensible marriage. All goes according to plan until a dark, dangerous vagabond helps her rescue a dog.
Zachary Black is all kinds of unsuitable—a former spy, now in disguise, he’s wanted for murder. His instructions: to lie low until his name is cleared. But Zach has never followed the rules, and he wants Jane Chance for his own.
If that means blazing his way into London society, in whatever guise suits him, that’s what he’ll do. Jane knows she shouldn’t fall in love with this unreliable, if devastatingly attractive, rogue. But Zach is determined—and he‘s a man accustomed to getting what he wants.

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My Review

Summary 

Jane Chance, is looking for security and a family. Unlike her sister, Jane isn’t out looking for love, because love doesn’t feed or clothe you or put a roof over your head. Jane is one of the Ton’s most regal beauties, and at the beginning of the season she is made an offer from a man that is looking for a beautiful wife and he wants Jane and he has wealth. But all Jane can see, is a man that offers a safe harbor for herself and her children. While out on the town, giving children pennies so they can have food, she spies a dog being tortured and beaten and runs into a gypsy, a man that is handsome and charming with a wicked gleam in his eyes and she can’t resist him. Zachary Black has returned back to England, after years of service to the crown. But he comes back learning, that he will need to clear his name before he can access any of his titled lands or wealth. But after his meetings with Jane in the park almost every day, he sees the kind of woman he would be honored to know more and even love. But his life is in turmoil, and when he learns that she is betrothed, he knows that his time is running out….and Jane will have to decide over security or the man of her heart?

The Hero 

Zachary Black, is a spy and worked for the British Government in collecting information that helped save his country. For years he dedicated his life, risking it every day, for his country. But when he returns, he finds out that he has been accused of murder of his father’s widow whom he helped escape and go into hiding. He knows that she is alive, and that its absurd that he could be hanged for a murder he never committed. With his father dead, Zachary is on the hunt for Cecily and all at the same time trying to court a woman that doesn’t really want to be courted by a poor gypsy. Zachary is a hero I came to truly enjoy from beginning to end. Zachary is honorable and good, and loyal. He has a solid sense of humor, and respects those that protect and defend Jane even if its against him. I couldn’t help but fall for his charisma, he is devilish in his charming nature and I just wanted more of him.

The Heroine 

Jane Chance, is a woman that on the outside it may seem that she has had everything handed to her on a silver platter, but that is not the case. Jane and her sister grew up poor. Their parents fell in love, and went against the Ton and married for love. Their families disowned them, and refuses to help them. Jane and her sister lost their parents when they were kids, and had to fight to survive. Jane was rescued by a generous lady of the Ton, that adopted four women as her nieces and gave them a chance to make good matches for themselves. Jane takes the first offer given to her. Because the one thing she values above everything else, is a safe home but not just for herself. But for any future children she may have. She knows that love can develop over time. So she doesn’t hold out for it. I loved that Jane holds onto her principles. She can be quite stubborn though, but she has reasons that you admire in the end. And I love how she fights in the end for what really matters and there is a moment toward the end of the story where we see her strength and fortitude and I wanted to cheer for her!! A fabulous heroine I couldn’t help but admire and respect.

Plot and Story Line 

The Spring Bride is the third book in the series. There were many things that I love about this one. The first aspect I grew instantly in love with, is the writing. Anne Gracie has the capability of gaining my interest immediately, and I just couldn’t put this one down, no matter how hard I tried. I loved that. I couldn’t help but just gravitate toward this pair and all the stress and drama that tends to come with them.

In the beginning of their relationship, its mostly getting to know each other, making each other laugh and developing a platonic bond, but there is chemistry, just one that they don’t act on immediately. Than we have some secrets become revealed, which only adds to a bit of conflict to them fully coming together. Zachary has to clear his name and get his lands returned to him. Jane is betrothed and needs to decide which man she would take a risk on more. Zachary ups his game when it comes to Jane, he knows that he is running out of time, and goes out of his way to prove himself to her. But when the worst happen, and Jane will have to find Cicily herself, we see a personal growth in Jane’s character we didn’t see before.

What is most fun was seeing two other couples….one having been married for years and seeing their love stronger than ever and how it gets tested in unique ways. Then we see a hint of Daisy’s story as well (I have a feeling that one is going to be a riot). We have some great involvement from the supporting characters. We also see a sweet reunion between the sisters and their grandmother. It broke my heart about their parents, but we also see some good things come out of their rough childhood. We see how Zachary is strong and didn’t have the easiest when he was a child either. He was beaten often by his father, and understands Jane in ways that her betrothed never will.

This proved to be a truly remarkable romance that spun its way into my good graces with flair, drama and good chemistry and some barrels of laughs and giggles. Excited to see what Gracie has up for us next.

The Cover 

This cover is so gorgeous and I love the spring feel to it. I love the elegance and grace it portrays. I wish I could just jump into all that lavender goodness!!

Overall View 

The Spring Bride is a tantalizing story of passion, fighting for love and honor, and living to the fullest moments in life!!! BREATHTAKING!!

Series Order

the autumn brideThe Winter BrideThe Spring Bride

About Anne Gracie

I've always loved stories. Family legend has it that I used to spend hours playing in the sand pit, with a dog on either side of me and Rocka the horse leaning over me, his head just touching my shoulder, while I told them stories. I have to say, dogs and horses are great audiences, apart from their tendency to drool occasionally. But people are even nicer.

In case you imagine we were a filthy rich horse-owning family, let me assure you we weren't. The horse period was a time when my parents entered a "let's-be-self-sufficient" phase, so we had a horse, but no electricity and all our water came from the rain tank.

As well as the horse and dogs, we had 2 cows (Buttercup and Daisy and one of them always had a calf), a sheep (Woolly,) goats (Billy and Nanny) dozens of ducks, chooks, and a couple of geese, a pet bluetongue lizard and a huge vegie patch. I don't know how my mother managed, really, because both she and Dad taught full time, but she came home and cooked on a wood stove and did all the laundry by hand, boiling the clothes and sheets in a big copper kettle. Somehow, we were always warm, clean, well fed and happy. She's pretty amazing, my mum.

Once I learned to read, I spent my days outside playing with the animals (I include my brother and 2 sisters here) and when inside I read. For most of my childhood we didn't have TV, so books have always been a big part of my life. Luckily our house was always full of them. Travel was also a big part of my childhood. My parents had itchy feet. We spent a lot of time driving from one part of Australia to another, visiting relatives or friends or simply to see what was there. I've lived in Scotland, Malaysia and Greece. We travelled through Europe in a caravan and I'd swum most of the famous rivers in Europe by the time I was eight.

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6 Comments

  1. Grace Fonseca

    Excellent Review. I might give this series. It sounds like a book that I would enjoy very much. I also think the other books sound and look good. Love the hero and heroine’s journey to become a couple….

    Reply
  2. Braine TS

    Sounds good. I love it when the secondary characters shine as much as the main couple. Adds to the excitement and makes the story more entertaining for sure

    Reply
  3. Sophia Rose

    Oh good! I read the second one and loved it. I sorta knew this one was going to be good, too. My cousin is the translator for this series into Italian and she enjoyed working on each of these and told me how much I would love them.
    I enjoyed the deeper elements like the ladies’ backgrounds affecting the story right along side the humor. Looking forward to Jane’s story.

    Reply
  4. Quinn's Book Nook

    The covers for all these books are GORGEOUS! I really want to try out this series.

    Reply
    • Lover Of Romance

      I know right?? I love them, even though Gracie has been writing for quite a while I didn’t look into her until The Autumn Bride came out—and the cover is the reason I looked into her. I have read some of her backlist, and she is just wonderful. You would LOVE her style. Hope you get to try out this series soon.

      Reply
  5. Anna@herding cats&burning soup

    Oh yes. I love this series too! Beautiful covers and amazing romances 🙂 So glad you’re enjoying them!

    Reply

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