A Necessary Bride [Mass Market Paperback]

Debra Mullins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2003

When a self–made American man and a most proper English lady meet in Regency London, it's a total clash – and attraction – of opposites.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Debra Mullins is the author of several historical romances for Avon Books. Her work has been nominated for the Golden Heart and RITA^® Awards from Romance Writers of America and the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers. In 2003, she won the Golden Leaf Award from NJ Romance Writers for her book A Necessary Bride. A native of the east coast, she now lives in California.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (February 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380819090
• ISBN-13: 978-0380819096
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,652,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Debra Mullins is the award-winning author of over a dozen historical romances from pirates to cowboys to Regency England to the Victorian period. Born and raised in the New York area, she moved west as an adult and loves old swashbuckler movies, Star Trek and cats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing Regency With a Little Mystery, June 10, 2003

By 

M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Necessary Bride (Mass Market Paperback)

The heroine Meg Stanton-Lynch is a transplanted American - granddaughter of a Duke, and of course not having been brought up within the pompous strictures of the English nobility did not know at first that the divinely handsome guest at her cousins wedding was so taboo! She saw only that no one seemed to be speaking or associating with him so she took it upon herself to act as a one-woman welcoming committee.

Justin St. James, knew at once that this bright, beautiful and friendly young woman was running the risk of ruining her reputation by her innocent overtures of friendship towards him. He knew she did not know of his reputation which was why he kept telling her that she shouldn't be seen associating with him. Of course the more he tried to remove himself from her sphere the more the stubborn Miss would close in. He was known as the `devil earl' unjustly accused of murder and banished by society and his own family for six years. He had returned, at the demise of his uncle and cousin, to inherit an earldom, guardianship of his young ward Emily, and also to try to find the person who had committed a murder that he had been accused of. Nothing however had prepared him for the unrelenting attraction for this very `cheeky' young beautiful American.

Other than wanting to slap the heroine silly for acting like such a ninny, I did enjoy this amusing romance. What I could not condone though, were the half-baked protests of the heroine after she `gave' her innocence to Justin and would not marry him. They were too far-fetched and belabored for my tastes. Justin, on the other hand was a superbly drawn out hero. He was strong, yet vulnerable when he was so shaken over his inability to understand or be able to remedy his relationship with his ward Emily. He was also quite honorable and extremely patient with Meg's inability to understand the chaos she was creating by not accepting Justin's marriage proposal. The numerous secondary characters all blended in well and a couple were possibly introduced to be featured in their own stories down the road, especially the young ward Emily. The sensuality was extremely pleasant and very well done - definitely this is worth a recommended `to be read' spot on your lists.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars 90 pages too long, June 3, 2004

By 

Annie (Pearl River, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Necessary Bride (Mass Market Paperback)

Meg Stanton-Lynch is an American granddaughter of a Duke. Justin St. James is a deadly handsome Earl with a ward named Emily and he had been banished from England for 6 years as everyone thought he killed his cousin's fiance. Well, of course he didn't and of course Meg knows this and wants to help Justin clear his name. But here is the vastly annoying part of the book - even after sleeping with Justin, she won't marry him. Her denying his proposal was about a 100 pages and it was about 90 pages too long. She loved him! She knew he liked her, appreciated her, needed her. So he did out outright say he loved her, well, it was unrealistic that she would continue to say no even after it was apparent that her refusal caused a rift in his relationship with Pen and her husband. She was childish and frankly uninteresting. Also, everytime she did something a tad out of the common way for an English gal, it was always, well, I'm an American!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Reading, March 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: A Necessary Bride (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first Debra Mullins book and I am now a fan! The plot was good, the characters well defined and the "chemistry" was just right. All in all a very pleasing read.

I was mostly taken with the characters. Justin St James is the better of the two, accused of a murder he did not commit and banished from England for 8 years, he comes back to inherit the title and set the records staight. However, he is hurt at the rejection and slights he is forced to endure in society while he tries to clear his name for the sake of his ward for whom he cares deeply. He is one of the best heroes I have come across - strong, passionate and yet vulnerable.
Meg Stanton Lynch too is not the regular milk and water miss but a strong willed beautiful woman. I just wish there was less allusion to the fact that she is American though! She is strong-willed beacuse she is American! She wont' settle for a loveless marriage because she is American! It was rubbed in too much. And also given the fact that a lot of wealthy Americans during this period contracted marriages of convenience with the British aristocracy, the "Americans marrying for love" bit is strictly not true.
However, I was pleased with this book and will look out for more of Ms Mullins' work.