Customer Reviews

The Fairy Tale Bride (Once upon a Wedding)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Duke of Kerstone had planned on offering for Miranda Fenster five years ago...until his mother revealed a scandalous secret that made him determined to remain childless.

Then their paths crossed again, and he found himself offering to marry her after all in an effort to protect her reputation. He was looking forward to the joys of married life...until his mother reminded him of the family secret and the importance of not continuing the family line. Now he found himself living a tortured existence...denying his own desire to consummate his marriage and trying to explain his decision to his loving and eager new wife.

Miranda is determined to get past her husband's defenses, although she doesn't know exactly what the problem is. She does know, however, that her mother-in-law is the key to the solution. Miranda, alway a strong believer in the happy-ever-after ending, must somehow convince the Dowager Duchess to tell the truth and free her son from the bitterness that controls him. But what if--in this case--the truth only makes the situation more hopeless?

One of the most thrilling romances I have read recently, The Fairy Tale Bride will keep you turning the pages in eager anticipation. I am also eagerly anticipating the sequels that must surely be planned to relate the marriages of Miranda's many deserving siblings.

Based on the other reviews, my expectations were high. I'm sorry to say I was very disappointed. The first part where Miranda is "ruined" is truly unbelievable. When Miranda and the Duke meet again five years later, there seems to be a lot of missing information. I thought there was a chapter missing. Then, the rest of the action is either predictable or far-fetched. I've read Romance for 30+ years, and I could barely finish this book. I'm sorry to say this, since I always am on the lookout for a new author and a new plot twist.

The characters and the story were engaging and intriguing. One particular twist completely took me off guard and I usually see them coming a mile off.

The one thing that annoyed me to no end was the heroine's "cutesy" way of likening everything around her to various fairy tales. Every time it made her seem like a juvenile, naive idiot, when the rest of the time she was rather level-headed and even cynical at times. It was jarring each time, but I enjoyed the rest of the aspects of the book.

I wasn't sure about this story after reading some scathing reviews... First off, the Kindle edition does have some odd characters that pop up (I'm going to assume it was in the scanning... annoying but not uncommon in Kindle rescans)... Yes, the main character does relate life to fairy tales and happy endings, but it's not distracting... juvenile/naive on the part of the heroine, but that is what makes her innocent. There is mention of "gaps"... well, we do jump ahead 5 years from the prologue to the main body, but the author does fill you in on the missing time. The characters were engaging, the story moved along... I liked the resolution at the end... All in all worth the 99 cent Kindle investment. Looking forward to the rest of the siblings stories...

The heroine has her head stuck in the land of fairies. It was an okay read, but not a "I can't put this book down until I've finished it." It was more like, I am stuck at the DMV waiting and there is nothing else to read kind of book.

Miranda is a reckless young lady, who ends up in compromising situations, & when she does so with the Duke of Kerston, he chooses to let her brother know of the situation & to suggest that it is best that they marry. Miranda disagrees, but her brother agrees with the Duke, to avoid a scandal. The Duke's motive is that he wants Miranda in his bed, but a family secret stands between him & his bride on their wedding night, so he tells Miranda that he is ill & will die in 6 months, & the plot thickens! It is a little too complicated at times, but, was still a good book. To me, love breaks down the barriers of any skeletons in the closet! Miranda loves the Duke, but will the lie, & the secret keep them as man & wife in name only?

I'm not sure what happened with this story. It seemed like there were several chapters missing and the way a lot of the events are written is laughable. My copy (kindle edition for $0.99) also has weird german characters in random spots instead of a word or a letter and part of the sentence will be missing. This book wasn't even worth the 99cents. it's a struggle to get thru and leaves you more irritated at the pace&writing then wanting to actually read it.

I bought this book because I loved the cover and the title. I didn't read the description or the reviews as I have learned that with all books there are those that love it and those that hate it, so I usually read the reviews afterwards. I hardly ever read period romance, so I almost didn't read this once I found out it was set in the 1800's, but decided to go ahead and was so glad that I did. This was a time when your reputation was everything to you, and I like that the Duke stepped up and did the honorable thing, and I loved that she dreamed of fairytales and wanted a fairytale life. I loved how wonderful she was with her sisters and the compassion and love she has for all of the people she loved.

I thought the writing was done very well, a couple minor editing errors, but very easily looked past, I think some people are just way to picky. I loved the twist, and was not even expecting it. I won't say what it is for those who read these before reading the book, but this was excellent and worth my time and money. The only thing I didn't like is that he wouldn't consumate the marriage. I love my men to be so in love they can't keep their hands off of their women, so that bothered me, but I loved the book so much that I was able to look past that one thing.

I found all the characters real and well developed, and the ones I loved I really loved, and the ones I hated, I really hated. I will look for more work from this author.

I hate to trash a book, especially one that has a nice twist in the plot, but this book is screaming for a decent editor. You know it's going to be bad when you have to go back a chapter, at the very beginning of a book, to figure out who the author is talking about and the idea they are attempting to convey. Unfortunately, it only gets worse the further you get into the story. This happened over and over again to the point where I found myself skimming paragraphs. The chapter where the "big secret" is revealed was especially confusing. At that point, I just gave up, unable to force myself to finish the book.

The lead characters, Miranda and Simon, are equally frustrating. Miranda comes off as Pollyanna-ish with her equating every situation to a fairy tale and for never losing her temper with her husband's ridiculous behavior. In her situation, I would expect a normal woman to either become hysterical or scream her lungs out instead of becoming a door mat. Simon, with all his grand illusions of honor, is totally lacking in integrity. One minute he is saying that he will never marry and the next he declares that Miranda must marry him. He knows he is going to abandon her in six months, but he marries her and then refuses to consummate the marriage. What kind of honor is that? After discovering the "truth" about his family, he acts like a spoiled child, once more rejecting his wife, but within a short period of time, and for no apparent reason, everything is wonderful again. One can only conclude that Simon is bipolar based on his actions.

As I said before, this book seemed promising but the lack of editing really killed it for me.

It's a free Kindle download, let's see if it was worth it...

It wasn't. The characters weren't strong, the story was all over the place and the ending was stupid.