Reese's Bride, by Kat Martin

The second volume in the Intoxicating Brides Trilogy (Honestly, what kind of a name is that?  So far they've been good reads but...Intoxicating Brides?  Come on!) and another speed-read.  I first read Royal's Bride sometime while I was doing cardio at the gym last year (I find it really, really hard to read romance novels where people can see me in public) and liked it so I decided that I'd buy the rest of the trilogy when the books came out...so I did.



It took me a while to warm up to this book (Reese's) initially because of the fact that our heroine (Elizabeth Clemens) was a widow who slighted him and brought along her late husband's son.  This lasted for a couple of months until I picked up the book yesterday, started reading it, fell asleep, and read it all day today and have just finished it not too long ago.

- Page 275 is a shoutout to Sabrina Jeffries by the author (except the character in reference is named Sabrina Jeffers.)
- There's something peculiar about the son of Elizabeth that everyone but Reese notices offhand...
- Aforementioned son loves horses, but especially unicorns.  Unicorns with glitter.  Lady Gaga, anyone?
- Elizabeth's late husband was abusive, and equally abusive are her in-laws (late husband's brother and brother's wife)
- Even going so far as to poison her with laudanum and plan to murder her and her son
- Recurring themes along with other Regencies: a dress shop and a "special license" (to marry)
- The name Elizabeth constantly reminds me of my own roleplay character, Elizabeth Hester Anne Lawson. But you don't need to know that.
- Can't remember what goes on in Royal's Bride, but at least Lily isn't a snotty duchess (unlike Felicity in the previous book I reviewed - How I Met My Countess)
- But Auntie Agatha is a snob
- Plethora of side stories that I was quite tempted to skip, but decided not to.  Not too big a fan of those.

This book didn't make me shiver, or cry, or anything like that.  Maybe I'm just jaded, but I'm definitely not in a sad place.  I will have to give it a 3/5 rating.  But I really did like it though.  You know a book's gotta give me the shivers and make my heart tighten, and make me cry for it to be a 5.