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    The Reluctant Bride
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    The Reluctant Bride
    Unavailable
    The Reluctant Bride
    Ebook400 pages5 hours

    The Reluctant Bride

    By Beverley Eikli

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A nineteenth-century French woman is caught in a web of spies, intrigue, and dangerous passion in this “fast-paced [and] enchanting” historical romance (Historical Novel Society).
     
    After her loving fiancé, Jack, dies in the Napoleonic Wars, desolate and pregnant Emily Micklen has few options left for survival. She is sure to face ruinous scandal, rejection from her Puritanical father, and absolute poverty should she be cast out. Her only escape is to accept the proposal of Maj. Angus McCartney, a scarred and taciturn soldier.
     
    Angus needs Emily for escape as well—from the haunting grief over the sins of his past and the tragic death of his mistress. But as Napoleon cuts a swath across Europe, Angus is sent on a mission to snare a notorious female spy. But neither he nor Emily is prepared for where the mission will lead them: straight into a trap of family betrayals and deadly secrets. Now, in a time of war, Emily and Angus will discover that their hard-won love could be the only thing that can save them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateAug 1, 2013
    ISBN9781781890882
    Unavailable
    The Reluctant Bride
    Author

    Beverley Eikli

    Beverley was seventeen when she bundled up her first 500+ page romance and sent it to a publisher. After being rejected on the basis that drowning her heroine on the last page was not in line with the expectations of romance readers, Beverley became a journalist. Twenty-six years later, Beverley got her first publishing contract after she snatched her heroine from a watery grave during a shipwreck. She now writes psychological historicals, and Colonial-Africa-set romantic suspense, as Beverley Eikli. She also writes steamier family sagas and romances laced with mystery and intrigue, mostly set in England during the Georgian, Regency and Victoria eras, as Beverley Oakley. Beverley lives near Melbourne opposite a picturesque nineteenth century insane asylum with the handsome Norwegian bush pilot she met while running a safari lodge in Botswana, their two beautiful daughters and a rambunctious Rhodesian Ridgeback the size of a pony.

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    Reviews for The Reluctant Bride

    4/5

    3 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      THE RELUCTANT BRIDE by Beverley Eikli is an interesting Regency Historical Romance. Fast paced and filled with spies,traitors,danger,secrets,lost love,Napoleon's swathe through France,grief,treachery,and love. The story of Major Angus McCartney and Emily Micklen,their struggle to find love and happiness. Emily struggles with the lost of her fiancee,pregnant,disowned,abandoned and married to Major Angus a man she doesn't know,but who was in the Military with her beloved Jack. Emily will soon learn what she thought she knew was all a lie,her family,her lost love and her own life."The Reluctant Bride" has engaging characters, a unique storyline that involves English as well as French spies,traitors to both the English and French,finding love, healing,and finding forgiveness. While, Emily fills disloyal to Jack's memory, she finds herself attracted to her new husband, Angus. Angus in the meantime has loved Emily from afar for a few years,never thinking he would become her husband and trying to atone for his past,he finds no hardship in marrying Emily to protect her unborn child. "The Reluctant Bride" is filled with secrets,and spies. "The Reluctant Bride" may soon become a most cherished bride,with a most cherished husband. If you enjoy a good spy story,passion,a bit of romance,adventure,and a great read than this is the story for you to read. An engaging story from first to finish. Received for an honest review from the author.RATING: 4HEAT RATING: MILDREVIEWED BY: AprilR, Review courtesy of My Book Addiction and More

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      After the death of her fianc?, Captain Jack Noble, Emily Micklen finds herself in the worst possible situation. Major Angus McCartney is the bearer of bad news when he informs Emily of Jack?s death. Angus has loved Emily since he saw her at the Regimental Ball. He despaired that she belonged to such an unworthy man as Jack. Fate lays Angus? dearest wish at his feet when he?s provided the opportunity to save Emily from destitution. Will Emily ever see Jack for what he was and Angus for the man he is? What about Emily?s French relations? How do they play into the secret missions Angus has been assigned? Wishing you all the happiness for which you are prepared to strive towards in your new life. This line struck such a chord with me because it sums up Emily?s situation so succinctly. When her mourning has eased off will she let go of the past? When will she discover that the only thing noble about Jack was his name? Emily is laboring under the misapprehension that Jack Noble was a good man, wallowing in grief for a faithless man while spurning the worthy Angus. The loyalty to a dead man Emily employs to distance herself from Angus is wasted effort and undeserved. However, Emily does acknowledge that she owes much to Angus as slowly she comes to value the worth of a real man, but has her realization come too late? One of Emily?s finest traits is the ability to admit when she?s wrong, once she recognizes it of course. This and the fact that she never came across as mean spirited or vindictive is why I was able to like her even when she wasn?t necessary likeable.Angus, while being the embodiment of the qualities ascribed to a hero, isn?t totally blameless in Emily?s misconception. Unwilling to hurt the woman he fell in love with two years prior he lies to Emily regarding the circumstances surrounding Jack?s death. Some months after his last meeting with Emily, Angus allows his brother to persuade him to check on her. When he discovers Emily?s tenuous position he finds himself returning to offer her marriage. When Angus first saw Emily on the arm of Jack at the Regimental Ball he fell hard and fast. Never entertaining the thought he would ever have his heart?s desire he leaps at the opportunity to save her and possibly win her love. However, the lie he told her unfavorably colors her perception of him. It?s only one of the many barriers between them. These are two of my favorite quotes that reflect how deeply Angus feels for Emily.'This won't always be where we live nor will this coarse woollen great coat be your only comfort. One day I will buy you silk and cashmere and you will know I love you and perhaps even be glad for it.''It's not as if you married for love.''My dear Emily, I married where I thought I might find it.?Truly sigh worthy. Who wouldn?t love Angus?When Major Woodhouse recruits Angus for spying missions against Napoleon his absences allow Emily to reflect and grow up. Angus? absences also reveal skeletons that jeopardize not only any chance he and Emily may have at a happily ever after but England and her security as well. In THE RELUCTANT BRIDE you won?t find detailed descriptions of clothing, glittering ballrooms, the thinly veneered elegance of the Ton, or witty bantering between the hero and heroine. What you will find is a realistic, exciting, and deeply satisfying love story that effortlessly sweeps you back in time and holds you in its grip until the last page. Reviewed by IvyD for Manic Readers & Miss Ivy's Book Nook

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A really enjoyable Historical Romance.Emily slowly gets over her grief and comes to accept and love Agnus. I think her change happens at a realist pace.On a superficial note - the girl on the cover has brown hair, Emily is described as having black hair.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Emily's fianc? dies a week before the wedding. Unknown to her she is pregnant. His comrade-in- arms offers for her. She does not make it pleasant for him. Emily marries Angus McCartney who then becomes the replacement for her late fianc? in a plot to save England and restore the monarchy to France. I loved Angus from the moment he appeared. Emily was a lot harder to take. I wanted to put her over my knee and spank her. She was so bratty. I was halfway through the story before I could find her likeable. There are secrets all over the place here. Emily has hers but they involve her husband. Angus has them and slowly reveals them. Then there are other characters whose secrets affect Emily who do not reveal them but these must be solved so she and Angus can be comfortable together. I liked how well Beverley Eikli did the time period. She got the feel of it right. Most of the secondary characters were horrible people. I definitely knew who I was rooting for through the whole book. I also liked how the beginning of the story circled into the end of the story.