Download The Autumn Bride A Chance Sisters Romance Anne Gracie 9780425259252 Books

Product details Series A Chance Sisters Romance (Book 1) Mass Market Paperback 320 pages Publisher Berkley (February 5, 2013) Language English ISBN-10 0425259250

The Autumn Bride A Chance Sisters Romance Anne Gracie 9780425259252 Books Reviews

• The Autumn Bride
  
  This is the first book I’ve read by Anne Gracie, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t much of a romance.
  
  This is the first book in the Chance Sisters series. It introduces the reader to Abby, Jane, Damaris and Daisy Chance, as well as their “aunt” Lady Beatrice Davenham.
  
  The hero of this story is Lord Max Davenham, Beatrice’s nephew, and the heroine is Abbigail Chantry a.ka. Abby Chance.
  
  Max returns from nine years at sea to find his aunt’s servants sacked and four young women in residence with her. Beatrice has been mistreated by her former servants and it is Abby and her sisters who saved her. Max is of course suspicious and sets about investigating their motives in an effort to protect his aunt.
  
  I enjoyed getting to know all of the girls as well as Beatrice and Max’s friends and business partners. It is clear they will be featured in subsequent books. However, so much time was spent setting up the series the relationship between Max and Abby was never developed.
  
  The two characters spent no time together and didn’t seem to know each other well at all. Aside from the fact that Max finds Abby attractive and Abby finds him attractive, very little of the story is dedicated to building their relationship.
  
  Max and Abby had no chemistry and I never cared if they ended up together or not. Max spent more time talking about muffins with his good friend Freddie than he did with Abby.
  
  The ending was rushed, and the sex scene hurried and unnecessary at the point in the story at which it occurred. The romance between Max and Abby was totally unbelievable and unsatisfying.
  
  I also had a hard time remembering this was supposed to be a historical romance as the author did a poor job establishing a sense of place. The language was too modern and I felt many of the characters acted in ways contrary to what would be considered socially acceptable at the time.
  
  I did enjoy getting know Abby and her sisters, as well as Lady Beatrice, and to be honest that is what kept me reading. I also liked that the main characters were not born in society and offered something different from the traditional historical romance.
  
  I would have enjoyed this book more had it been written in such a way that the relationship between Max and Abby was the focal point. I am torn as to whether I will continue the series.
• THE AUTUMN BRIDE is the first novel in a new historical romance series by Anne Gracie. The book is chocked full of colorful characters and derring-do. The heroine Abby rescues her kidnapped sister and her friend from a brothel with the help of maid. The quartet band together as sisters. When destitution leads Abby to break into a nearby house to steal to provide for the group, she discovers someone in greater need of rescue. She saves a nearly starved and ill Lady Davenham routing evil servants as she and her sisters tenderly care for the once grand dame (Max, Lord Devanham being abroad making his fortune). This Dickensian start leads to her own fairytale Happily Ever After with Max.
  The story is laced with humor. The romantic duo are supported by great secondary characters with rich and funny dialogue. The sharp witted Lady Davenham, Max's aunt, has a loose way with the truth and a sarcastic tone that save her from being just a sad old lady rescued by the young. I started laughing with her when she said, "I never trust the word of people with their hands on my private parts" and never stopped. Freddy (the muffin hater), Daisy, and the rest of the cast kept this book moving along to the expected HEA.
  I think this is one of Gracie's best. If you are a fan, I think you will love it too. She knows how to pace a novel and has a deft hand adding humor through dialogue . This is not an erotic romance. For those you want a sex scene, there is one near the end.
• I want so much to give this a 5 star, but....
  
  I enjoyed this book enough that I will continue the series. This is my first Gracie novel, and based on my enjoyment of this read, I'm eager to read more by her. I read the book in a single day. The plot is an interesting mix of mystery and romance without overdoing the mystery. The writing is good with the only typos being a few rogue quotation marks. The characters are thoughtfully crafted with good depth.
  
  What keeps it from being a 5 star there was far more telling than showing. The book was set up as a series of scenes, all brief conversations or brief inner dialogue, rarely lasting more than a page or two, which left little room for scene description, imagery, or anything to really pull you in for a good visualization. Much of the action, especially at the climax, is all off-scene, with characters being told what happened rather than experiencing it. This made for a tidy and quick clean-up of the plot, but wholly un-satisfying for the reader. It made everything feel rushed and bland. Far too much telling with little showing. There were a few inconsistencies, as well, and a few characters who were established at the beginning but then forgotten. The hero and the heroine had little opportunity to build a relationship. The kiss came out of the blue, and then suddenly he wants to be with her, all with very little interaction between. They had great potential as a couple, but just never really got a chance to know each other on page. The love scene felt gratuitous. It would have worked better to omit it completely for a sweet romance or better build it into the story (perhaps before she receives the letter--leaving her in a real sticky wicket because she's compromised herself but doesn't feel she can stay and ruin the family?). The girls themselves seemed quite juvenile, and I didn't much care for the times in which they sat around and talked to each other. It felt like pre-pubescent teens gossiping to each other, giving the story a teen-romance vibe. If those conversations could have happened off-stage and traded for more on-page interaction between hero and heroine, that would have worked beautifully.
  
  So, all in all, the plot is clever and kept me reading all day, but there were a few issues that keep me from giving it a 5 star.