Customer Reviews

Lord Carew's Bride (Signet Regency Romance)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
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Samantha is visiting with her cousin when she wanders off for a walk and meets the wealthy and crippled Marquess of Carew. He is dressed in gardener's clothes and she mistakes him for one. The marquess is charmed that this beautiful young woman wants to talk to a mere gardener, and so he does not enlighten her to his true station. The two develop a deep connection: they become true friends. Additionally, the marquess falls in love with her and, when Samantha returns to London, he is quite miserable without her.

While in London Samantha meets up with the only man she has ever loved, the villianous Lionel Kersey. She has not seen him in 6 years and is terrified of her attraction to him. When her friend - the marquess she believes is a gardener - follows her to London, she is relieved to see him. She desperately wants a distraction from her attraction to Lionel.

What will happen? You have to read to find out! This is a wonderful regency romance and I recommend it highly.

Samantha is young and beautiful. . .and terrified of her erstwhile suitor(anyone who has read Balogh's "Dark Angel" will recognize both Samantha and the man she once believed she loved. Fleeing the handsome "suitor" she runs straight into the arms of wealthy but hardly imposing Lord Hartley Carew--a man who though physically handicapped has a whole heart.

I thought the handsome villain and the physically handicapped hero made a nice juxtaposition. There is no miracle cure for the hero's handicaps, but that made his winning the love of his beautiful bride more sweet. The beast remains the "beast" though he always had a heart of gold, and the naive young heroine grows to learn that it is the heart and not physical beauty that matters.

(This book is part of the series of Balogh novels beginning with "Dark Angel" and going to "The Famous Heroine")

This is something special -- a romance about people who start out as friends and gradually grow into loving each other. Samantha and Lord Carew are very much like real people; when they make the wrong decision, you understand exactly what drives them to do so.

It also avoids the usual cliches -- bestowing lots of surprises and twists on the reader instead.

Fans of "Dark Angel" will be glad (?) to know that the notorious Lionel Kersey makes a return appearance in this book. And he's even more despicable in this book.

I gave this book Desert Island Keeper status at All About Romance.

Samantha is young and beautiful. . .and terrified of her erstwhile suitor(anyone who has read Balogh's "Dark Angel" will recognize both Samantha and the man she once believed she loved. Fleeing the handsome "suitor" she runs straight into the arms of wealthy but hardly imposing Lord Hartley Carew--a man who though physically handicapped has a whole heart.

I thought the handsome villain and the physically handicapped hero made a nice juxtaposition. There is no miracle cure for the hero's handicaps, but that made his winning the love of his beautiful bride more sweet. The beast remains the "beast" though he always had a heart of gold, and the naive young heroine grows to learn that it is the heart and not physical beauty that matters.

(This book is part of the series of Balogh novels beginning with "Dark Angel" and going to "The Famous Heroine")

This is a wonderful short historical romance by Mary Balogh, part of the series that begins with "Dark Angel" and continues with "The Famous Heroine" and "The Christmas Bride".

Beautiful Samantha Newman was a naive 18 year old in her first London season when she fell in love with the fabulously handsome and equally devious Lionel, Viscount Kersey, who at the time was her cousin's fiance. When she realized that Lionel had been cruelly toying with her affections, she was devastated. Six years later, her life is still blighted by the relationship and she has never married or allowed herself to fall in love again. While visiting her cousin's country estate, she goes for a walk and strays onto the neighboring estate of the Marquess of Carew. There she meets a gentleman in shabby clothing who she mistakes for a landscaper and strikes up a friendship with him, not realizing that "Hartley Wade" is actually the reclusive Marquess of Carew. Hartley is an average-looking guy who was partially crippled by a childhood accident--but his heart is pure gold. He is charmed by Samantha's sweet nature and dazzled by her beauty, so when she returns to London, he follows her there.

In London, Samantha is appalled to learn that Lionel (now the Earl of Rushford) has returned to town after a six year exile on the continent. Even more gorgeous (and snake-like) than ever, Lionel begins once again to stalk Samantha. Can Samantha resist him this time and recognize the worth of the relatively plain Lord Carew??

In summary, this is a lovely little tale about friendship turning into love and discovering the inner beauty in a person. Samantha's final scene with Lionel is a beauty in itself.

Highly recommended!

A wonderful, superbly written Beauty and the Beast story. Samantha is an exquisite beauty who feels she's missing something in her life, but can't quite put it into words. While wandering about one day, she trespasses onto Lord Carew's land and meets a landscape gardener. They spend a very pleasant time just admiring the landscape. Neither has to fill the time with idle chatter. Little does she know that this "gardener" is actually Lord Carew. He walks with a bad limp and has very little use of his right hand. The story progresses quite nicely from here. You'll not want to put down this book until its finished, and then, you'll want to read it all over again.

I love intelligent, well written books with believable plot lines. This book fits all of those criteria. If you can't buy the book at a reasonable price, order it from your library. If your library doesn't have it, order through WorldCat as an interlibrary loan. You will not regret it!

I have just recently started reading Balogh's older books and have found them to be a wonderful treat. This book gets 5 stars from me because Balogh does what she does so well-explores human relationships. There's no fancy spy plot or extravagant sex, just a beautiful love story that tugs at the heart strings. Fabulous!

I loved this gentle, quiet love story. Lord Carew is a hero to die for. I love a wounded hero, beauty and the beast type of story, and this one really delivers. I did have a couple of questions though........
Spoiler alert.....
Even after they are married, there is so little focus on the hero's disability other than his curled hand. I wasn't exactly sure how the injury on the fall from the horse had caused him to have such a noticeable limp? She comments during lovemaking that both of his thighs are well developed and strong, but she NEVER mentions the rest of the damaged leg. She takes care to massage his damaged hand, but never offers the same service for the damaged leg.

And I was not really sure about their sex life. He reminisces about how often they have sex during the first three days of their marriage, and she assures him how much she enjoys it, but then there is this passage...

"He loved her three times during the night. He really must allow her some rest in the coming day and the following night, he decided with a smile as he held her and watched dawn lighten the room while she slept. Not that making love was a great deal of exertion for her. She enjoyed physical love with him. He did not doubt that. But so far hers had been a largely passive role. She had lain quiet and receptive as he worked in her.
He could bring her to climax. He could arouse passion in her and build it to a crescendo and then coax her over the edge he could teach her to make love to him and in the process intensify her own pleasure. And he would do it. He longed for it.
But not yet. She was not ready for passion. He would not have been able to put into words how he knew......He knew his wife was not ready for passion."

OK, someone give me your opinion on this. Is he saying that none of these things had happened yet, but they will?

This is my favorite romance. It is sweet, but not syrupy by any means, and the characters are real and not perfect. When they make mistakes and problems arise, the story flows naturally and does not seem contrived, and their actions ring true to their character.

Balogh lets us into the hearts of both Samantha and Hartley, alternating between their viewpoints. While Samantha seems a bit immature worrying over whether or not she will be attracted to the villian, we still see young woman who longs for love and family, despite her having sworn off men. And Hartley- he is truly one of the best heroes ever. You cannot help but be touched by his story.

Lord Carew's Bride is found in the two-story volume with the prequel, Dark Angel, and there are 2 more in the series: The Heroine (Kneller's story) and The Plumed Bonnet, which focuses on Bridgewater. Lord Carew's Bride is the best of the lot, with the story of Sam's suitor Francis Kneller being a close second.

I just wanted to reach my arms out and hug Hartley. Not out of sympathy. He just seemed so adorable to me. Even after his accident he could have turn bitter, anger, ugly(inside and out), but he didn't. He strive to do his best. He found his passion in landscaping. This book is so different from other in that it doesn't have all this sexual tension throughout the story. It is true friendship blossoming into so much more.

I find myself smiling as I read this book. So sweet......Just Lovely inside and out.