Never a Bride [Mass Market Paperback]

Amelia Grey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

"Charming and delightful-a must-read!"
-Joan Johnston, New York Times bestselling author of A Stranger's Game

"Witty dialogue and clever schemes... Grey's vivid characters will charm readers."
-Booklist

Her name is on everyone's lips...

When he left for America six years ago, the handsome Viscount Stonehurst never suspected that he would return home to England to find his lovely fiancée embroiled in the scandal of the decade. The woman he planned on making his wife has been kissing every man in London...except him!

But scandal doesn't matter in search of the truth...

Engaged and then abandoned, Mirabella Wittingham is determined to find the man who drove her cousin to suicide, even if it means ruining her reputation and disgracing herself in the process...When her plans go awry, Mirabella has no choice but to turn to her long-lost fiancé for help. But can she trust the man who deserted her so many years ago, or is he destined to fail her yet again?

"Readers will be quickly drawn in by the lively pace, the appealing protagonists, and the sexual chemistry that almost visibly shimmers between them in this charming, light-hearted, and well-done Regency."
-Library Journal

"An uplifting, wonderfully sensual story. I hated for it to end."
-Meryl Sawyer, New York Times bestselling author of Play Dead

(20100726)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this debut Regency, independent Mirabella Whittingham is determined to find the scoundrel who seduced her friend Sarah and drove her to suicide, but Mirabella's only clue to the man's identity is that he bears a scar on his neck. Having consigned herself to spinsterhood ever since her betrothed fled to America, Mirabella sees little harm in kissing a few men and running her fingers beneath their cravats to search for the incriminating mark. Unfortunately, her intended, Viscount Camden Brackley, decides to return to London after six years only to discover Mirabella in the arms of another man and his family's affairs in shambles. Having been betrayed by his previous fianc‚, he is appalled to find that Mirabella is no less chaste, and he decides that he cannot marry her. The two pretend to remain engaged, however, so that Camden can have time to settle his family's finances and Mirabella can avoid upsetting her ailing father. As they play the betrothed couple and Mirabella secretly continues to root out Sarah's seducer, Camden realizes that he is not immune to Mirabella's charms. The story line is more complex than many others in the genre and far less believable. Grey's all-too-proper and perfunctory dialogue and her wooden characters do little to enliven this middling tale. (June 5)Forecast: Given its flaws, Grey's novel may be left at the altar by readers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Determined to learn the identity of the man who caused her gentle cousin, Sarah, to take her own life, unconventional Mirabella Whittingham embarks on a daring plan one which involves kissing her suspects in order to find the telltale scar on the back of the cad's neck. Predictably, her actions threaten to ruin her reputation. Undaunted, Mirabella continues to scandalize the ton (British high society), but when her fianc? of six years, whom she has never met and had given up on, suddenly returns from America and finds her in another man's arms, she is forced to change both her tactics and her perspective. Despite the somewhat improbable premise, readers will be quickly drawn in by the lively pace, the appealing protagonists, and the sexual chemistry that almost visibly shimmers between them in this charming, light-hearted, and well-done Regency. Grey has also written a number of well-received romances as Gloria Dale Skinner and lives in Panama City, FL. This is her first novel under the Amelia Grey pseudonym.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Reprint edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402239785
• ISBN-13: 978-1402239786
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't expect too much..., April 20, 2011

By 

Irishcoco725 (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never a Bride (Mass Market Paperback)

2 1/2 - 3 Stars:
I was excited to read this after I looked at the reviews for the novel. The plot line seemed like a good one...

Our hero, Camden, gets engaged to our heroine six years prior to the beginning of the novel. The lovely Mirabella dutifully waits his return even though she has a strong suspicion that he will not come back for her. She is resigned to being a spinster and caring for her ailing father. But, all that changes when her sort-of adopted sister kills herself after being ruined and impregnated by a villian.

This is where the author stretches it a bit too far for my tastes: Mirabella gets the idea that she can find the villian by feeling up a handful of mens necks in the garden while kissing them. Huh? It is a very humorous visual, but a little thin plot device department.

When Camden finally returns, he (of course) catches his fiance liplocked with her hand down a guy's cravat. Because his pride took a beating from his last betrothed who was also caught kissing someone else, he wants nothing to do with a neck obsessed, kissing trollop like Mirabella. Too bad his kisses are the only ones she actually enjoys. And it is really too bad that his family will go broke without her forwarded dowry.

It was a little too perfectly constructed for my tastes. The dialogue, especially during the love scenes, was a somewhat wooden (would you refer to a man a 'sir' & 'my lord' in bed?). I thought that Mirabella should have come clean for the reasons behind her kissing spree a lot sooner. And Camden acted like he was the abused & injured party for way too long. He actually thought there was nothing wrong with leaving a young woman for SIX YEARS! And when he took her to task for simply kissing a handful of men, she asked if he had gone without a woman for the length of their engagememnt. Naturally, he had still had his fill but he wasn't going to forgive her any mistakes (but he let himself get carried away with her multiple without thinking of marriage). The conclusion was rushed and the villian wrap up left me feeling unresolved and unfufilled.

Don't get me wrong, there were good sections in this book. But, for the most part it was lukewarm and a little dissappointing.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Never A Bride, April 6, 2011

By 

Loves FAB Romance "Patti" (New Orleans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never a Bride (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first book by Amelia Grey. I'd heard wonderful things about her Rogues' Dynasty series and was looking forward to reading Never A Bride.

The premise of the story was good: Mirabella's father secured her engagement to Viscount "Cam" Brackley. Cam then had no intention of marrying Mirabella until he was old, he only agreed to the engagement because her dowry would help his father pay off debts. Six years later, Mirabella's father demands he come back and marry or Cam's father must repay the portion of dowry he already received.

Mirabella, however, knows none of this - only that her fiancee has been gone and will probably not come back any time soon. She is on a mission to find out who disgraced her cousin so badly that the cousin committed suicide. In order to do that, she must get the young men of the ton alone and get her finger into their neckcloths in search of a scar the cousin had written about in her diary. Needless to say Mirabella is starting to get a bit of a reputation when Cam unexpectely returns.

Here's the thing: I liked both Mirabella and Cam, just not together. They were both lovely characters but they didn't "mesh" for me. It was like they just kept bumping up against each other but didn't quite connect. My other problem was that I guessed the "whodunit" very early into the book. I would have preferred a bit of mystery and suspense on that front. It was frustrating to watch Mirabella go through all her machinations when I already knew who it was.

We also met Cam's best childhood friend, who was unexplainably mean to both Cam and Mirabella, but we never found out why he was such a jerk - jealousy? I'm not sure what he would be jealous of as he was already titled and married and had an heir. I was a bit confused on that point.

As I mentioned above, while I did like the main characters, this book was just not a good match for me.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!!!, June 9, 2001

By 

Beachreader "BeachReader" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Never a Bride (Paperback)

In order to avenge the death of her close friend Sarah, Lady Mirabella Whittingham has vowed to find the person responsible for her taking her own life. She has Sarah's diary and the diary has revealed that the man has a raised scar on the back of his neck. So, Mirabella, being unconcerned with propriety as although betrothed, she has never seen the man and he left six years previously, never to return. She has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood, so the scandal she's sure to bring by kissing each of the suspects and running her hands under his cravat,means little to her.

What she doesn't count on is the return of her betrothed, Camden Brackley, Viscount Stonehurst. And she is even more surprised to find that this man is the mysterious stranger she has recently met and can't get out of her mind. They are then both thrilled to discover one another's true identity.

But Camden has loved and lost once before. Six years ago he had found his then-betrothed in the arms of another man. He had vowed never to love like that again. So imagine is shock when he finds Mirabella in the same compromising position. He wishes to break their engagement and Mirabella agrees. However his family is in a very precarious financial state so he eventually gets Mirabella to go along with his ruse - they will act engaged in every way for several months - just until his family becomes more solvent - then they will quietly break off the engagement.

Of course, Camden's plans do not go as he had intended and he finds himself falling in love for the intelligent, lovely Mirabella - and she with him. It's not long before he joins her in trying to find the man who caused Sarah's death.

I am not much of a Regency historical reader - but I found this one absolutely charming. I couldn't put the book down. A real plus in this story is the intelligence of it's two main characters, Camden and Mirabella. Never did I feel the book deteriorate into silliness as could have easily been the case given the circumstances. I know when a book is particularly good when I find myself recommending it to total strangers in book stores. Such is the case with NEVER A BRIDE. An absolutely delightful read. Highly entertaining.