The Bride Who Got Lucky: The Cavensham Heiresses

Emma is a wild, independent character, allowed to be so by her parents. She has known Nick for a while although only on the sidelines of her most recent years. However, when he intercepts one of her wild adventures and the repercussions have her sent off during the season, they find themselves afterwards growing a bit closer. Now that Emma is seeking justice as well as absolution for her best friend’s death, Nick is adamant that he will stop her from her foolishness. The end result is not what either anticipated but what both ultimately desire. I enjoyed the relationship between these two characters. Emma needed to be free to help women who suffered and Nick was capable of giving her that freedom up to a point. However, when it crosses a line that he dug into the sand as a young man, they both struggle to find a solution to their uncompromising ways. The first three-fourths of this book was quite entertaining and I adored getting to know not only the main characters, but the secondary ones sprinkled throughout. However, I did anticipate some action as the story progressed and was disappointed to find that this was all character driven. The resulting answers to their issues were all based on how they evolved as individuals as well as a couple. Many readers will love it but I just needed a little more “oomph” to my story. This is an honest review of an advanced copy provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Dual POV Safe Possible Triggers – heroine’s best friend was abused by her husband

Nicholas St. Mauer, Earl of Somerton has a bit of a rough outlook on life. Rejected by his father - his mother having died in childbirth – Nick has sworn to encase his feelings in ice. He learned at a young age that one could only depend on one’s self and so he set out to prove to himself, to everyone, to his father, that he needed no one to make is way in life. Success was measured by the sum of his wealth and everything else be damned; most especially weaknesses contrived from emotion. He didn’t have time for it. Didn’t want it. And he definitely didn’t want even a hint of what he might be missing by closing himself off from fickle emotions that caused pain. So when he steps in to help his only friend retrieve Lady Emma from potential ruin and impending danger, it has nothing to do with his growing need to protect her. Protection isn’t such a foreign feeling, but everything else brewing, unidentifiable to him, is. Lady Emma Cavensham is just as resistant to the idea of love and marriage as Nick is. While she doesn’t go the extreme of avoiding society, neither is she looking to get herself forever bound to a brutal husband. Sure, her parents share an idea marriage, as does her “sister”, but she feels theirs are uncommon matches. After all, a husband dictates to his wife and in cases like her friend, Lena, murders them. She will not be thwarted from bringing the evil man to justice, but every time she hatches a plan to do just that, Nick shows up. Pair his constant unwanted presence with a rising attraction that could be likened to electric magnetism, and you’ve got a recipe for heartache. Or maybe not. But is it worth the risk? I found this story a fun, romantic read. While the book was quite predictable and there was very little suspense, it was time well spent. I do not regret reading this book, but I had the strangest sense of déjà vu the entire time I was reading it. Ms. MacGregor goes in to quite a bit of detail explaining the events that have molded her main characters into who they are, but I failed to make a deep connection with either of them. Perhaps if I had read the first book and came to the story with a bit of knowledge of both Nick and Emma, it would have been different. That said, even though this book is a 2nd in series, it read well without leaving a reader feeling lost in the absence of prior knowledge. I encountered a few typos while reading this story and I hate to hold that against an unreleased copy because it is very likely going to be rectified prior to the release date, but there it is. I suppose we don’t always need suspense or impulsiveness in a book when we just want something to read. And for a situation such as that, this book is satisfying. But if you are looking for a deep-rooted connection that sucks you in and leaves you aching for more, you won’t find that in this story. I would also have liked to see a bit more wit and sarcasm, sparing as it was in this novel. So overall, as a first experience with this author, it is a satisfying read, but lacking in character depth and unpredictability. Given the chance the read another book by Ms. MacGregor, I most likely would. However, I might choose outside of this series just to see if her styles vary at all. Kindle version provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nick and Emma are friends, and both have decided that love and marriage aren’t in their futures. Nick’s issues stem from his father, a cold and mean-spirited man who did all in his power to keep him bowed and insecure despite his destiny to be a Duke. Emma is guilty over the loss of her best friend Lena at the hands of her abusive husband: she’s determined to see women provided with their own ability to provide for themselves and make choices that are broader than marriage or hidden spinsterhood. But, the attraction that keeps these two dancing around one another, despite their clinging to their fears and prejudices against love is something that, despite their best intentions, will not be denied. From the prologue where we get Nick’s backstory, his personality and retreat into someone who is rather removed and scornful, all while being little boy lost is rather intriguing: unfortunately he never really did grow from that as completely as Emma did, and their interactions often suffered from this imbalance. Emma, for her part did have some intriguing moments and a solid backstory that gave her intentions some purpose, but that too felt shuffled to the background as the author worked to put the couple’s relationship forward. So much richness here for exploration that went largely untapped: the subjugated role for women in the time, property rather than people of their own right, society’s scorn and dismissal of women who wish to follow their own path and challenge that status quo, and even Emma’s rather ham-handed attempts to ‘save’ yet another woman that lands her in the middle of the wagging tongues. MacGregor again uses some complex issues to fuel the backstory, but these issues have again been relegated to background as the growing affection between Nick and Emma is created, lacking that emotional feel from characters that show a pattern of growth that would bring them together organically. Pacing is again uneven, and prose moves from some fabulous dialogue between Emma and Nick to flowery and almost painfully forced sexy moments where neither character truly presented a conviction to the reader that would show them together. While I was excited to see a more feminist character in Emma, and an understandably closed off Nick coming to see that his childhood belief in love as a curse was wrong, neither grew into their potential, and the unevenness between the strides and changes Emma made were starkly contrasted to the stalled growth of Nick. Yes, this is the author’s second book, and while I saw some improvement in style and development from the first, there are still points where character, intention and issues could be more fully flushed out, providing emotional connection to the couple that readers couldn’t deny. I’ve read the first two in this series now, and am curious to see MacGregor’s progression and growth in her next book. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.