How to Lose a Bride in One Night - Forgotten Princesses

So, my first time with Sophie Jordan, she made my jaw drop. The beginning of this one? Holy cow it was crazy intense and shocking--especially for a non blurb reader. Whew! See, the heroine? Nearly killed. By her husband. I loved it! The shock, the hunky--yet troubled--hero who rescues her at nearly the last second, the slow burning romance. It was a great combination that made for an excellent read.

Anna's life has been hard--she's crippled from a childhood injury, been alone in the world for years and is nearly murdered by her new husband. But you know, instead of wallowing like so many people would do she pulled herself together. She refused to give up and to remain a victim and I loved her for that. She's a heroine you can really look up to and admire.

And Owen. lol Owen is a reluctant hero. He's being chased by nightmares from military service and doesn't see himself fit for good company much less romance. And the man, he's good at running. I swear I wanted to tie the man down after a while so he couldn't escape his attraction to Anna. lol He puts up such a fight even if it is a losing one and it's pretty amusing watching him fall.

I really enjoyed both of them and the very, very slow romance building between them. Things do get heated up nicely at the end but until then there are just a couple brief kisses. Their journey was interesting and seeing how torn they were over certain things made me love them more and just want to hug them. I also just liked seeing their interactions. They're so different from each other personality-wise and it makes things pretty entertaining.

I can't wait to read more from Jordan. Her writing was smooth and easy and made me feel like I was right there with Anna and Owen experiencing everything with them. The good and the bad. The serious and the light hearted. And omg she can write a villain you will freaking despise! I was so ready for someone to die. Painfully. How to Lose a Bride in One Night kept me excited and turning the pages the whole time waiting to see what happened next as these two fell in love and it definitely sparked my interest in reading the rest of the series.

Sophie Jordan's The Forgotten Princesses series features the illegitimate daughters of wealthy Jack Hadley, and Annalise is the "princess" this time. I find this novel to be weaker amongst the others in the series, but that could be due to the lack of much concrete action in the story (as opposed to tremendous tension and suspense). Nonetheless, Owen and Annalise are captivating characters and their romance is passionate, thrilling, and enchanting.

Annalise has lived a hard life working as a seamstress before she met her rich father. But despite her new wealth and betrothal to the Duke of Bloodsworth (what a forbidding name!), Annalise still felt herself to be a crippled ugly duckling, undeserving of her new fortunes. Her fears were further confirmed when her husband attempted to murder her on their wedding night, after which she was rescued and helped by Owen Crawford, the Earl of McDowell. As Annalise and Owen get to know each other and fall in love, Annalise began to put Owen before herself, attempting to sacrifice herself for his happiness. The recovery period for Annalise's injuries took the majority of the book; her journey from stranger to friends and finally lovers with Owen creating a poignant and gripping romance in the midst of internal conflicts. While the tribulations within the story are not so much due to plot, this is ultimately a character-driven novel where inner demons are battled and hidden courage found.

Annalise and Owen are truly wonderful characters with their own dynamics and troubles. Throughout this book, Annalise has grown out of her timidity into a strong and self-assured person, willing to fight for her love. Owen had come back from war a changed man; he lost her previous joyfulness and became solemn and taciturn, choosing to remain a shadowed beast and believing himself undeserving of Annalise's love. The transformation these two experiences - Annalise helping Owen reconcile with his brother and he teaching Annalise to defend herself - is the best part of this novel.

While the story's resolution seems a bit too fortuitous, the storytelling and character complexity place Sophie Jordan among the ranks of my favorite authors.
All in all, this book is a must-read for anyone loving some ample character growth mixed with a dash of adventure and intrigue!

Plot: 7/10
Characters: 9/10
Writing: 8/10
Structure: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

How To Lose A Bride In One Night
Sophie Jordan
Avon, Jul 30 2013, $7.99
ISBN: 9780062033017

Annalise Hadley feels like she lives in a fairy tale when the seventh person in line for throne marries her. She is plain, crippled, illegitimate and unpolished yet the handsome Duke of Bloodsworth chose her. Only one year since her wealthy absentee father Jack Hadley claimed her and her three half-sisters (see Wicked In Your Arms, Wicked Nights With A Lover and Lessons From a Scandalous Bride now all four are happily married.

Traveling on a barge on their wedding night, Bloodsworth brutally takes her while displaying his scorn for the useless cripple. Next he smothers her with a pillow and finally tosses her into the sea.

Annalise survives her ordeal as she ends up at the estate of an Earl, Owen Crawford. He hires a Gypsy healer who helps Annalise recover from her ordeal and fixes her bad leg. Owen and Annalise fall in love though each has doubts; as he suffers from PTSD for what he did in India and she was almost killed by her spouse. Additionally both know legally she remains the married "property" of the influential wife killer.

The final Forgotten Princesses historical romance is an exhilarating entry as the amoral confident duke proves quite an adversary while the lead couple have plenty of doubts re their worthiness. Fast-paced, readers will want to know why the evil duke wed and murdered his bride in a few hours as Sophie Jordan says in the afterward How To Lose A Bride In One Night cleverly rewrites the end of the Chinese fairy tale The Beggar Princess.

Harriet Klausner

originally posted on my blog I Heart Romance
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I bought this book on a whim because I loved the blurb. Plus, the title was so catchy! I also slightly remember reading the first book of the series but for the life of me, I couldn't remember the details.

The story starts of pretty good. We get to met Annalise, the bastard daughter of one of the richest men in London who just wed a Duke. They go off on their honeymoon on a barge with only the Duke's valet for company. Anxious for her wedding night, Annalise doesn't realize that her new husband plans to kill her until it's too late and he smothers her with a pillow and throws her overboard and left for dead. She is found miles away by Owen Crawford, the Earl of McDowell who just came back from the war trying to forget his past. He rescues her and meets a band of gypsies on the way who reluctantly agrees to help them. Annalise comes to about a week later and decides not to tell Own who she really is. He brings her to recuperate in his London town house and starts to fall for her. All is revealed when Annalise was seen by the Duke in town.

I immediately connected with Annalise and I thought she was a brave young woman trying to forget that she was killed and left for dead by her new husband. I also thought that adding an affliction or imperfection, if you will. She fell when she was a child and broke her leg which apparently did not heal right but after she broke her leg again when the Duke threw her overboard, the gypsy allowed it to heal and set it right so she wasn't limping anymore. I did think that this was a little bit farfetched since it had been years since she broke her leg and it would be a little bit impossible for it to completely healed minus the limp, right?

I also liked Owen at first and thought that he had a lot of baggage on him, especially since he came back from the war. Unfortunately, I thought his avoiding and ignoring Anna was a little too much and I felt that it was him playing hard to get. Which brings me to the point that it was Annalise who was doing all the seducing! Don't get me wrong and I am all for a girl who goes after what she wants but at a certain point in the story, it was getting too much.

The end was a little too....non-thrilling. I would have expected more to happen to the Duke and would have wanted him to get his comeuppance very violently and by Owen or her but no, it was this debutante who wanted him all for himself! eeek! There wasn't much drama in that area!

All in all, I thought it was an OK read and it is not something that I may read again, though.

I enjoyed the story line which was quite unique from the normal story lines I have been seeing lately where a husband marries for money and then tries to murder his bride. Owen and Annalise were decent characters. Owen a tormented soul who doesn't believe he deserves love and Annalise who has been through her fair share of trouble as well. Owen rescues Annalise and they find their way to each other's hearts offering each other what they need to be complete. It was a very nice romance and included suspense and danger.

Loved the author and the story. Annalise marries a Duke and on her wedding night he tries to kill her (which he thought he did) and throws her over board into the river. Owen not long back from war, finds her. With the help of gypsies brings her back to health. So much happens btwn the two including her wanting to protect him against her murdering husband!!! You have mystery, intrigue, and love!!

Sophie Jordan's latest "Forgotten Princesses" tale hits the ground running from the very first chapter. The story stands alone, and while it verges on melodrama at times, readers will delight in watching Annalise and Owen get their happy endings.
Heather Nordahl Files at affairedecoeur.com

Love plain Jane romance plus some damsel in distress; I'm in heaven. Anna who is plain, lame, and chubby should have listened to instincts screaming loud and clear--- NO. She was hoping to marry her fairy tale Prince, but married the big bad wolf. Owen rescues her, saves his soul and falls in love.

I loved this book! It is interesting, sensual, and exciting and never lagged through 370 pages. I highly recommend this to historical romance readers. This is my 4th Sophie Jordan book and I am looking forward to the next one. Another one I especially enjoyed was "Sins of a Wicked Duke".

Sometimes I have a problem with Jordan's heroines being too weak. Or her heroes being jackasses. In this one, however, the heroine was so selfish and just flat out stupid. All she did was lie, again, and again, and again. Yet somehow Owen was in love with her. I didn't really feel like I knew her inside because she never told the truth! About anything! When she finally tells Owen she's married to the "villian," she does it after they do the deed, because it's just the best possible moment to do so. Not in the beginning of the book, nor in the middle, not even when Owen meets Bloodsworth does she say who he is. Every decision she made was stupid. I really tried to like her, but I just couldn't.

This book started out as a great story but rather fell apart at the end. Too much ‘saving Owen’. They might have worked together to vanquish the bad Bloodworth. Less melodrama and more drama could make this a much better book.