I've just finished a great book called The Bad Luck Bride by Janna MacGregor. It was really cute but also made me think while I was reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read The Bad Luck Bride. The novel was released on May 2nd 2017.


The Bad Luck Bride tells the story of Lady Claire Cavansham and Lord Alexander Hallworth, the Marquess of Pembrooke from when they meet each other and what happens after...

NOTE: This is an ADULT read due to sexual encounters.

Spoilers below: This story is told from 3rd person perspective. We start by seeing Alexander, who's just lost his sister. He doesn't know who to blame but he's going to find who hurt her.

He meets Claire at a ball. Claire is the Bad Luck Bride from the title. She's been engaged/married many times but it's never turned out well. She's engaged to Lord Paul, a minor character at the beginning of the novel but he calls it off cause of the rumours surrounding her and her curse. Then she meets Alexander. Alexander needs a wife so he asks her to marry him. He doesn't believe in all the nonsense of Claire being "cursed" as she's called lots in the story. They have a rocky relationship at first but they learn to care for one another. They learn that they have lots of things in common, like lost family members and the want for children eventually etc.

Reading The Bad Luck Bride has made me see that not all relationships are perfect. Claire and Alexander certainly weren't at first but they made they're way to their perfect.

What I liked about Bad Luck Bride:

- The characters...They all had their own flaws to get over to be happy.

- How this story wrapped up in one book...This is a series but I believe it will follow different Cavansham women throughout. We might see from Claire's sister or daughter's perspective next/at some point.

- All of the cute remarks that Alexander made to Claire. I really thought these made the novel different as I don't often see this in the adult romance literature that I read.

What I didn't like about Bad Luck Bride:

- The long chapters...The chapters were written well but I just think that some sections could have been edited out or at least slimmed down to make the chapters and the book for concise and to the point.

- The 3rd person perspective...it would have been interesting to read from both Claire and Alexander's perspective to actually experience and feel exactly what they were feeling. This is a novel that could have really benefitted from 1st person perspective, I think for at least Claire and maybe still third person POV for Alex.

- We never learn the date the story is meant to be set...We just know it's in history at some point. In a third person perspective story this could have been said, at least once.

All in all then, I really enjoyed The Bad Luck Bride. It had everything I look for in a good book with just a few negatives as well. This is why I'm giving it 4 stars!

I look forward to reading the sequel in November 2017 so stand by for my review of that.

I had really high hopes for this book but its been really hard to read. I am a sit down and finish book in one go type of person and this book really didn't hold my interest. I saw it advertised on SBTB daily reads and when I saw it on Netgalley I was really happy.

The main characters just do seem to be engaging enough and whether its the writing style or just the lack of flesh on the characters I couldn't connect with them.

The secondary characters actually intrigued me more than the primary characters due to their antics.

I voluntarily read an advanced review copy of this book

This is the first book that I have read by Janna MacGregor and I really liked it. This book was very well written and kept me intrigued from beginning to end. The story while predictable still had the power to suck me and leave me wanting more.

Overall this book was very good. It is always interesting to me that if a book is well written you can know that something is going to happen and still be impacted by something that you knew was going to happen. Sorry folks no spoilers from me but just know that if you're a sappy bookaholic like me then tears just may fall. The only thing I thought it did not need was all the talk about the curse. I think the story would have been just as good without it.

This was a page turner for me. It definitely is a dark story with lots of ups and downs, breath holding, and tears. I fell in love with Claire's spirit and determination to marry. Alex was a dog until he proved his real feelings and worked hard to get Claire to see him as a better man. I did not want to put this book down, and I look forward to more from Janna MacGregor.

I received a copy of this story through Netgalley, and it is a selection of the Book Obsessed Chicks Review Team. This is my unsolicited review.

This was an enjoyable, easy read. Claire and Alex have instantaneous chemistry and the sexual tension between them builds at a steady pace. Although their relationship is built on a foundation of revenge, it becomes clear that they both needed each other to overcome painful things that had happened in their lives. They end up saving each other. I did get annoyed with Claire at times. It seemed like she was playing too hard to get. Overall, this is a solid romance but not much more than that.

First of all, a warning: this is not a lighthearted Regency romp. It's an emotional, dark story that includes a lot of tragedy and misunderstandings before reaching a happy ending.

The hero, Alex Marques of Pembrooke, is introduced as he prepares to call out his ex-best friend, Lord Paul Barstowe, whom he blames for his sister's suicide. Alice took her life when she found herself in a family way, rather than face the scandal and humiliation. Another friend of Alex manages to stop the duel, but he's determined to exact his revenge and embarks upon a ruthless plan of ruination for Lord Paul.

Jump forward in time and Lord Paul, who's an inveterate gambles, is about to become engaged to Lady Claire, daughter of the previous duke of Cavensham and notable heiress. Alex facilitates Paul's ruination and makes him break the engagement, planning to make off with the heiress as his final act of revenge.

Lady Clair was an interesting heroine. Older than usual for this time period, she had suffered a lot of tragedy in her life and actually has emotional scars. Even though her life has been sad, she shows grace and determination. Her misfortunes are not little mishaps. She lost her parents in traumatic circumstances and still suffers for it. Her first love (fiance #1) died a month before their wedding. Three fiances later, she knows she's not cursed but can't help doubt herself as bad things keep happening around her. Clair's determined to make a good life for herself within the context of her historical times. I liked her a lot, even though she got a little dense towards the end.

Alex was a true dark hero. He had all the flaws of his virtues. His abiding love for family made him dictatorial and over-protective. I liked the fact that, even though obsessed with vengeance, he was unable to let innocent bystanders (read Clair) suffer through his actions. I didn't read him as a modern hero wearing a costume in a masquerade.

Lord Paul was very intriguing to me. He does not come off as a misunderstood possible hero at any time. He was in turns good (as regards his friendship with Alice and Claire) and horrible, as in his interactions with both Alex and another male friend in the story.

There are a lot of secondary characters in this story, which made it at times confusing trying to keep up with who's who. Best of all, nobody is all black or white, with the possible exception of Clair's aunt.

For a debut novel, this was a rich emotional read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Despite all the gossip around her, Claire still hopes to be able to marry and form a family. She has been through very tragic things but is still holding her head up. Only at the end did I feel that she let herself be carried too much by the presence of that supposed curse and began to obsess with it when she began to have problems with Alex.

For his part, I loved the male protagonist. He's very sweet and really cared about Claire. Even though his reasons for being with her were not entirely noble, from the beginning he decided to protect her and he was not afraid to utter the words "I love you" even when the future was uncertain.

I can't wait to read the secind novel in the series

I found this book while poking around on netgalley and looking for something to read. The cover caught my eye (ooh, turquoise! It pops!) and the blurb sounded fun. I like that it was the debut novel in a new series by a debut author – kinda like I was getting in on the ground floor. So, I was entirely delighted to receive a copy in exchange for an honest review.

And, honestly, as the three star rating indicates, I liked it. But, while I enjoyed the book, I think it is entirely telling that it took me over two weeks to read 368 pages. I’m a fast reader, but had an incredibly difficult time connecting or relating to either of the characters. Claire and Alex are complex, to put it nicely, and the plot is also complexly layered with plots, side plots, curses, and mysteries to solve. But, I found my mind wandering while I was reading and never fully immersed in the story.

For example, the notion of the curse is just not appealing to me. I enjoy that she had 4 broken engagements and was determined to make this last one stick, no matter what. I really wish the author had focused more on that than on Claire’s continual belief that the curse existed and that she was doomed to a life of misery. That her worries of the curse followed her for the entire 368 pages of the book was tedious to me. Curses are fed by belief, so – whew – hers would be a doozy. But, in my mind, all I could think was “get over yourself, girlie.”

As for Alex, well, he’s grieving, moody, controlling, lacks self-awareness, and so wounded he spends ¾ of the book lashing out at others. All because one sister died tragically. Yet, he entirely ignores another living, and still single, sister. I don’t get it. Then, he has an epiphany that he’s in love with his wife and spends the last ¼ of the book trying to win her back, but, really, since she spent the first ¼ of the book pushing him away, that really only leaves about a week of time when they were both actually interested in the other person. Which, even in a romance novel, is an incredibly short amount of time for a relationship to progress from vengeance to lust to love.

I also don’t understand the Emma/Lord Paul events at the ending. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I’m still not entirely sure of what happened there and am wondering if she’s that good of an actress, he’s that good of a forger, or if they were somehow working together on a poorly designed plot to mend things between Claire and Alex. Or maybe she has a brain tumor or other illness causing lapse in her memory, changes of behavior, etc.

So, that’s the stuff I didn’t like. As for things I did like, well, I liked that Claire inspired loyalty and friendship so easily. I liked the exchanges between Alex and Somerton and how Alex realizes his friend really was trying to shake sense into him all along. I enjoyed the exchanges with William and McAlpin, particularly after the Duke beat up Alex and when he was lecturing Emma. I liked the shifting in setting between town and country. The plot, while overly complicated, does move quickly. And, most of all, I enjoyed that the writing is very well done. I just wish the editing had reeled the story back in a bit, tightened the plot, and focused the story.

Overall, I think this was a solid debut novel in a series that shows a lot of promise. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

By all means the story sounds pretty good, I mean we have a curse and revenge. However, The Bad Luck Bride wasn't what I was expecting. I honestly thought it would play up more of the revenge plot, but the more I read the revenge thing kind of disappear. By the way, it had to because of the circumstances of the story. What boils down about this story is a lack of communication and being honest, which is a horrible way to start a marriage. I had a hard time with Lady Claire for most of the book. A lot of that has to deal with the fact she couldn't open up with what causes her panic attacks. This is one the things she should have told her husband from the get go. Oh well. Pembrooke should have told Claire after they were marry why he did what he did. However, he never did. We find both of them afraid to communicate. There's a lot of miscommunication. Other than that issue, the writing was pretty good, and actually Claire's cousins sounds quite interesting. So, I'm curious about them.

Overall, I struggled with The Bad Luck Bride. I liked the beginning, and I thought the ending was sweet. The middle was a little rough. Am I willing try the next book, sure. You never know I might be surprised with the next one. Anyway, the story didn't work for me, but there are others who absolutely loved it.

Copy provided by St. Martin via NetGalley

Rating:
2 1/2 Stars

The first twenty-five percent or so of Janna MacGregor’s début novel, The Bad Luck Bride, had me eagerly turning the pages, so thoroughly drawn was I into the story of a man who was so bent on revenge upon the former friend he held responsible for the death of his sister, that he would go to any lengths to completely ruin him, even going so far as to steal his fiancée. Unfortunately however, at around that point, the first of what turned out to be several rather flimsy misunderstandings made its appearance and although I was still interested to discover where the story was headed, my former enthusiasm had waned. There were also a number of issues – choppy writing, odd word choices – that took me out of the story on several occasions, as well as inconsistencies in the characterisation of both principals that were impossible to ignore and which have affected my final rating.

Alex Hallworth, Marquess of Pembrooke is distraught with grief over the suicide of his beloved sister, and is determined to exact rather more than a pound of flesh from the man he believes fathered the child she carried and was thus responsible for her final desperate act. When a friend prevents Alex issuing a challenge to Lord Paul Barstowe, he turns instead to a far more devious manner of engineering the man’s downfall. Knowing that Barstowe is deeply in debt as a result of his liking for high-stakes gaming, Alex secretly arranges for him to receive all the credit he asks for and then buys up all his debts, putting the other man completely at his mercy. The final humiliation is that Barstowe must break his betrothal to a wealthy heiress, Lady Claire Cavensham, the daughter of the late Duke of Langham, a young woman whose “bad luck” in having suffered three broken betrothals (for good reasons) has made her … if not quite a laughing stock, then someone who is frequently a subject of gossip among the ton.

Alex plans to marry the lady himself, but knows he’s got his work cut out for him given that Barstowe will be ex-fiancé number four. But, well, Alex is tall, dark, handsome and wickedly charming, so I’m not giving away any secrets when I say that he manages things to his satisfaction, although not without a hiccup or two along the way. Up to this point, I was fully engaged with the story, wondering when and how the cat was going to be let out of the bag and what angsty twists and turns would follow. But then, during a discussion just a couple of days before the wedding, when Alex jumps to a not completely unreasonable conclusion about Claire – a misunderstanding which is quickly corrected, I might add – she decides that he doesn’t trust her and that she can’t marry him. Having some inkling that she might try to bolt, Alex unfortunately compounds his mistake by laying a wager under a false name (sort of) which backs Claire into a corner and gives her no alternative but to go through with the wedding.

After the ceremony, the newly-weds travel to Alex’s estate, which is close to Claire’s old home. She’s aloof and off-hand with him for a few days, but it’s not long before Claire begins to soften towards her new husband and to enjoy the time spent in his company. It’s the same for Alex. Even as he was preparing to marry Claire as part of his revenge upon Barstowe, he couldn’t help but recognise that he was attracted to her and that he actually wanted to marry her for herself. They find themselves bonding over the care of the tenants and villagers, and Alex is delighted with the way his bride settles into her role as his marchioness and lady of the manor. Of course, it’s just a matter of time before the serpent is introduced into Eden in the form of Claire’s discovering the truth about Alex’s manipulations, and, quite naturally, wanting nothing more to do with him.

While I think The Bad Luck Bride has the makings of a good historical romance, the execution is messy and overall, the story lacks focus. There are too many different plot-threads thrown in and the motivations of the characters are not always clear. But as I said at the beginning, the biggest stumbling block(s) relate to the flimsiness of the devices used to create the conflict between the hero and heroine. We already have the fact that the truth of Alex’s machinations is hanging over his head like the Sword of Damocles, but the author has to throw in the misunderstanding I mentioned earlier, AND give Claire a tortured past which involved witnessing the deaths of her parents in tragic circumstances, plus three broken betrothals, all of which have made her believe she is under some sort of curse. Despite several attempts early on to have it seem as though Claire is dismissive of it, it’s clear she actually believes she’s cursed, and that was a stretch too far for me.

The characterisation is inconsistent, too. There’s no question that Alex is manipulative, and that he would of course show his most attractive, charming side to the woman he is wooing, but apart from at the very beginning, he never really gives off a ruthless or dangerous vibe. Sure, he’s the hero and not the villain, but there’s never any doubt that he’s honourable and protective and all the things readers expect of a romantic hero. One of the reasons I picked this book up for review was because I like a redeemed bad-boy and had hoped that that was to be Alex’s journey; but there’s absolutely no ‘edge’ to him and he’s fairly bland when it comes down to it. And Claire… well, among the things that attract Alex so strongly are her dignity and inner strength, yet for much of the book she doesn’t appear to possess either of those things. I couldn’t really connect with either character – never a good thing in a romance – and at times their behaviour made little to no sense.

With all that said, however, I do think that Janna MacGregor shows promise as an author of historical romance. She needs to smooth out her prose – the sex scenes in particular are very “He did this. Then he did that. Then she did this.” – and take a bit more care with some of her word choices and phrasing. The novel would also have benefitted from a firmer editorial hand to help weed out some of the extraneous plot developments and craft stronger and more plausible motivations for the characters. I’m certainly going to keep an eye out for more of Ms. MacGregor’s work – although I might wait until she’s got a few more books under her belt before I pick up another one in the hope that she’s been able to iron out the first time bugs. Anyone looking to try a new author might like to give The Bad Luck Bride a whirl, but should be advised that while it’s not the worst historical romance I’ve read this year, it’s not the best, either.

Grade: C+

Revenge, passion and delightfully fleshed out characters make this one a charmingly yet intense read. Very entertaining!

If you let a curse dictate your life, then you will lose a lot of opportunity.

I was captivated by the title and I was grateful to be given an ARC from St. Martin's Paperback and Netgalley.

I love Alex and how much he values his family. I admire him for what he did to grab Lady Claire's attention regardless of revenge or telling a lie.

I understand what Claire experienced when she was a kid and somehow when the story was revealed, I felt that it dragged the momentum of some scenes.

I must say I enjoyed reading it, but Claire gets out from her tragic past made it difficult for her and Alex to move forward to the next chapter of their love story.

I would have loved this book so much more if someone had simply explained to the characters what was going on and that this whole curse thing is nothing but ton gossip.

But there wouldn't have been a story.

I don't tend to enjoy romances where all the problems in the story could be easily solved with a single scene, usually involving the characters talking to each other. Instead, I watched Alex and Claire perform this elaborate dance of convincing each other and themselves that their relationship is the right way to go about things.

You have Claire, considered "cursed" because she has so many broken engagements in her past and each of her former husbands-to-be had something bad happen to them. She has a lot of demons from her past that make appearances throughout the book but they aren't really explained until much later which made it hard for me to really get a good feel for her character. The secrecy behind them relied on her trust in Alex and detailing the events of her past so I get the why part of the secrecy but it drove me, as a reader, crazy and not in a good way.

Then there's Alex and he's a piece of work, stealing another man's bride all for the sake of revenge for his dead sister. Not that he has any actual proof that this one man was the cause of all this harm, but it doesn't stop him from really screwing this guy over in every way he can think of. So his entire relationship with Claire is built on the fact that he married her to exact his own revenge plans.

Yeah, that's going to end well.

This romance was a lot of lust and steam but when it came down to moving past the physicality of it all these characters failed miserably. Building a marriage on lies doesn't help, of course, and I never felt they really grew as a couple. I never rooted for them nor felt any sort of chemistry past the fact that they were attracted to each other. Their personalities just didn't... click for me.

Despite my issues with the romance and characters, the writing was decent and I kept reading. MacGregor wove an interesting revenge story that I didn't expect to find in the historical romance genre, at least not in the way she presented it here in The Bad Luck Bride.

As far as series goes, I don't really have much interest in reading future books if they feature characters who can't show any growth and move the story forward in a logical manner. All the conflicts in this book couldn't convince me of the romance attempting to blossom, but since the writing was good there's hope for the sequel and new characters. I have a feeling I know which couple is going to be featured next and they interested me far more, even in this book, than Alex and Claire so we'll see. Can't say I was a fan of this one.

3.5 Stars. I didn't love this book but I didn't hate it either! I didn't like how the heroine was weak & how the 'curse' is blown up into this huge deal. I didn't really understand why the heroine made a big deal over the simplest stuff either. The Hero of the story came off as a manipulative jerk set on revenge for most of this book & than he changes into a love sick man out of nowhere. When it came out that he had manipulated the heroine & she got mad at him, he goes & gets drunk-because that always makes problems better?! That annoyed me a lot! And I didn't understand why Lord Alex's sister Alice had to commit suicide at all & why she wrote those things in the letter to Alex. That was a bit confusing-didn't she realize the trouble she'd be stirring up after she was gone?! And it got a bit boring with Claire always breaking off the relationship than they get back together, only to have yet another falling out. It gave me a head ache with all that flip flopping back and forth! Everything being blown out of proportion & made into a huge deal was a tad aggravating. But it was still a cute story & I'm still going to read the next book when it comes out!

Revenge, a curse, secrets, a marriage of convenience, and the surprise of a real love found make up the elements of this delightful Regency romance. I'm looking forward to more of this series!

Bad luck or just fate. There’s a time a place for everything. Maybe it just wasn’t her time to follow through on a marriage to the wrong man. Maybe things were just not timed right. Maybe there were too many obstacles in the way. Maybe she just needed one to fall in love with. Bad luck was just viewpoint of how you looked at the various situations Claire found herself in. Which leads us to the engagement of herself to the Marquess of Pembrooke while she was engaged to another. This was most certainly some kind of luck for her.

Claire and Alex had some kind of start to their engagement. No courtship. No walk in the park. No handholding. Engaged. Married. Each step further allowed for a new layer of lies/deceit/misconception to be added to the rouse. Alex was not playing hero. He was doing this all to get revenge/payback. He did not take in to account the feeling of Lady Claire. There were many other things going on here but as the story progressed we see more of each Alex and Claire. We get to develop a relationship with them to understand them better as individuals and how they could work as a couple.

This was not a wham-kinda-read. This was a read that took time and patience. Things came about just when it needed to. The was a learn to sit, crawl, walk, then run.

I've been on a huge contemporary romance reading streak. This has gone on so long that I was telling my BFF, Amanda, that I felt like I was entering a reading slump. I told her I might need to change my sub-genre to fantasy or historical to kick me out of it. So, this was on my kindle from the publisher and I decided to read it next to see if it made me happier. IT DID!

This was awesome! Well written, great characters, a little angst due to Alex and Claire's secrets, and even some action/adventure there towards the end. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but just know that Alex begs for forgiveness REALLY well ;0)

The set up for the next book is great and I can't wait to read it!

*thanks to the publisher for sharing a copy of this with me*

This was an enjoyable debut from author Janna McGregor. However, I did take issue with Alex, Lord Pembroke. He was so bent on revenge that he never bothered to look around for who else his schemes might hurt. Lady Claire was innocent in this revenge plot and she was trapped and felt compelled to marry Alex. While Alex was kind and considerate to his bride, his thoughts were constantly on ruining Lord Paul so much so to the detriment of his new bride.

While I could sympathize with Claire, I found she flip-flopped too much. One minute she was strong willed and the next minute she's in a puddle of tears. Would she forgive her husband for what he's done? Will Alex finally learn that revenge does nothing except hurt everyone around you?

The writing was well done and I applaud Ms. McGregor on her first book. I will certainly pick up more of her stories.

This book features two of my favourite tropes in historical romance- revenge and marriage of convenience.. A good debut effort by this author. See my full review posted at Scandalicious Book Reviews.

Let's start with a fact. I have a crave for stories where the hero does something he shouldn't to against the heroine and then tries his hardest to conquer her back. It's a strange fetichism, but here it is.
In Janna MacGregor's debut novel we have it. Yay!

Our hero, Alexander Hallworth, Marquess of Pembrooke, to take revenge against one of his closest friend Paul, who considers responsible for his younger sister's suicide, decides to ruin his life at every step he takes; including snatching the heiress he's engaged to, Lady Claire Cavensham.

Although Claire is oblivious to Alexander's plan to take revenge, one would imagine that, considering the premises, the wedding won't be a great success from the beginning. And you would be wrong, or at least I was.

The two seem to share a lovely union since the beginning, where Alexander shows extreme kindness and care towards his new wife. However, Claire is rumoured to be cursed, she has been engaged four times before Alexander and each time, the fiancée has been left somewhat injured and the marriage annulled. Obviously this is a hurtful burden to be held for Claire and Alexander continuously comforts her, they grow very close and the feelings for one another strengthen day by day. Which I found extremely sweet; and I so like this type of sweetness.
That said, it is deducible that Alexander's secret scheme is a bomb ready to explode.

I truly liked this novel, I found it compelling and extremely entertaining, as well as dramatically sweet. As mentioned above, it is a debut novel, which it is surprising, The Bad Luck Bride is in fact, very well written and of the same quality of novels written by much more experienced writers.

It is certainly a must-read and I am genuinely looking forward to MacGregor's next story.