"Isabelle and Alexander" is not your usual Victorian romance: it's not about falling in love instantly, it's not about a whirlwind courtship and endless happiness, it's not about London and the ballrooms...but it's all about learning the trust and appreciate the other, to be true to own's vow "in sickness and in health", to navigate a world one knows very little about.

Isabelle and Alexander's marriage of convenience doesn't begin so successfully: both are rather shy and do not know how to communicate. It is only after Alexander's paralysis, ensuing his fall from his horse, that Isabelle and her husband start to talk to and understand each other.

I really enjoyed the topic of disability/different ability, both physical, with Alexander's paralysis, and mental, with the family friends' daughter Glory who seemed to have Down Syndrome (even though the diagnosis might not have existed at the time, and I am only moderately familiar with this diagnosis - although I found the depiction of it quite realistic). Disability obviously existed at that time, although many people were sent to asylums because they were misunderstood by society, so I found it great that the author includes this topic, not only as a pretext for a romance but also to teach us about disability and treatment of disable people in the early Victorian era. I especially appreciated that Glory was depicted as a person with talent, likes and dislikes, emotions, feelings, and not just as a person with a different ability.

I also enjoyed learning more about what a fabric factory was like: its structure, its internal operation, its workers, and found it very interested the way the factory was bound into the storyline.

Regarding the romance, I would have enjoyed more talk, banter or confessions between Isabelle and Alexander to create a real chemistry between them, which I found a bit lacking, but the rest of the story apart from the romance was great, so I still give it 5 stars !

4.5 stars
This was so cute! I read the description and I knew that I wanted to read it. Isabelle and Alexander was just as good as I had hoped. Isabelle and Alexander is written by Rebecca Anderson and is published by Shadow Mountain Publishing. I read Isabelle and Alexander in one day, staying up way later then I should have.
Isabelle and Alexander are married through an arranged marriage. Isabelle never expected to marry for love, but she is happy with the man her father has chosen for her. However, marriage isn’t what she expected it to be. Life in Northern England is not what she expected and her husband spends much of his time working at his textile mills. Seeing that Isabelle is unhappy, Alexander suggests a trip to his country estate. At the estate, Isabelle finds herself growing closer to her husband, but while riding horses together, Alexander is thrown from his and becomes paralyzed. Isabelle is now given the task of caring for her husband, but is this Isabelle’s opportunity to forge a connection and create a deep and romantic love where nothing else could?
I found Isabelle so strong and amazing. She was thrust into a situation that no one would ever want to be in. Although she and Alexander didn’t have a love match at the beginning, she still cared for help and wanted to be the best wife she could. She had to learn what it meant to be Alexander’s wife and the best way to help him as he was recovering. As she spent more time with him, she grew to love his mill just as he did. She learned that her husband was an honorable hard working man
Alexander was a bit of a piece of work. He did have a horrible accident, but I felt as if he could have been kinder to Isabelle. I would have loved to read from his perspective. However, I did like him and I felt as if he just didn’t quite know how to express his feelings. He did care for Isabelle; he just didn’t know how to tell her. Alexander had to figure out what it meant to love his wife, and how to live with the ramifications of his accident.
This was a wonderful book that followed the love story of a couple as they figured out how to live after a horrible accident. I was intrigued from the beginning and the characters were quite fun. I really liked Mrs. Burns and Doctor Kelley, but Doctor Fredericks and Nurse Margaret got on my nerves. I would definitely recommend this book! Isabelle and Alexander is a clean Regency romance

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher through Netgalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion, a positive review was not required.

Isabelle and Alexander by Rebecca Anderson is a wonderful, heartwarming, and amazing historical fiction novel that truly shines a light on the miracles of the human spirit, love, loyalty, forgiveness, and goodness.

To set the time period: This takes place in England around 1850.

I love everything about this novel. We first see the union of two only children joined in matrimony mostly for financial purposes and common sense matching then by mutual affection and love. Isabelle and Alexander are thrust into a life together as almost total strangers. Isabelle leaves everyone and everything she knows and holds dear to move into Alexander’s home in Manchester. Here, she finds it is difficult to spend tjme and even speak with him due to his determination and need to run his business and the walls that he has placed in front of him due to his fear of inadequacy that by Isabelle coming from a family of slightly “higher means”. Both seem to be unable to connect and find one another on their own separate islands.

A riding accident that paralyzes Alexander while they are riding on his country estate literally just as Isabelle is finally cracking the tough outer shell of her husband completely sends their lives into an entirely new realm. I will leave all of the further details for the reader as I do not want to ruin the beautiful surprises placed within their stories as they weave together a way back from the physical and emotional damage that has taken place.

The dichotomy of the simplicity yet complexity of the emotions and path taken by Isabelle to help Alexander recover, overcome their obstacles, and find one another is just stunning.
The journeys they both take separately and together to get to the heartwarming, beautiful, and perfect ending kept me enthralled. I loved the plot, pacing, the complexity of the main characters, the changes and maturity that these events bring forth, and the full character cast is nothing short of perfect.

It was fascinating to also see how society (social and medical) reacted to its members that had mental and physical concerns. Not only did I love Isabelle and Alexander together, but I loved the full household staff and also The Kenworthys, Dr Kelly, and the workers at the mill added just the right amount of emotion and connection that I needed at all the right times.

The best part: the ending!

Truly an amazing read that is memorable, sweet, romantic, and a ray of sunshine that I so needed at this time.

Wonderful book. 5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Instagram, and Bookbub accounts immediately (as of 11/5/20 no BB listing has been created) and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 5/4/21.

3 1/2 stars.

I picked up this book from SM thinking it's by a new author, but it's actually author Becca Wilhite's new pen name. Maybe because it's historical and she's only published contemporary before.

This story is a reverse romance. It starts with a marriage of convenience that Isabelle's father set up. She doesn't know Alexander other than he's very handsome, but she has high hopes for their relationship.

Unfortunately, once they take up residence in Manchester where he lives and has his textile mill, Alexander is cold and aloof and Isabelle suffers from loneliness.

I liked seeing the progression of their relationship, especially after Alexander's accident. Isabelle's patience is commendable but I would have liked to see a bit more gumption from her.

I think the narrative would have worked better in first person deep POV. There are a lot of "she thought", "she wondered", "she saw", etc, that turn the story a bit detached. Or his/hers POVs might have also worked well.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

I so wanted to love this book! I appreciated the author bringing in such a shocking injury and the long term ramifications it would hold to the newly wed couple. I found myself too often lost in Isabelle's inner ramblings and wished for more development sooner between her and Alexander. I also wanted an explanation of why Edwin's new bride was so put off by Isabelle. I could only conclude that she was jealous of Isabelle and Edwin's relationship. It just seemed against his character to choose a bride like that. I admired Isabelle constantly trying to stand up to things she disagreed with and wish that her breakthrough of sticking to her guns had occured sooner. While I appreciate that her injury endeared Alexander to her suddenly, it all felt so rushed to resolve in the end.

#isabelleandalexander #netgalley
To say that I loved this book would be a huge understatement. This book took me through so many emotions and pulled my heartstrings. I absolutely loved this raw love story and how Isabelle and Alexander have to find themselves while falling in love. Well done!!

In sickness.

This is not your usual historical. Its more of a first person, POV of Isabelle as she marries and then learns to cope with a husband who suffers from a debilitating injury. This is entirely from the viewpoint of Isabelle and I found myself really needing Alexander's POV.

What stood out though, was the focus on dealing with injury, both his and hers as well as a minor character's developmental disabilities. What was well captured was the lack of knowledge and understanding and expectations of dealing with permanent disabilities. Also, I liked that the books primary characters were of the business class, not aristocracy or nobility.