The Bittersweet Bride (Advertisements for Love, #1)

by Vanessa Riley

• ISBN10: 1981623582
• ISBN13: 9781981623587
• Publish Date: 11 December 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Heather]

These are my thoughts while hate reading this book. Might be semi-spoilery.

Ok now, this hero is a world class jerk.

Seriously, I would have DNFed this one already if it wasn't an author that the Twitter hive mind recommends. That's the only thing keeping me reading.

Now this fool actually is carrying on about how her body belongs only to him even though he hasn't seen her in years. Nope. I hope an anvil falls on his head.

So much of this plot would be resolved by an honest conversation between characters. I hate that.

The plot is that they were courting but his family disapproved. He went to the Army and was reported killed. She married. Now years later he is home and she is widowed. He keeps showing up and making snide comments about her being a slut. She slept with you, you dumbass. That seems to be very poor judgement, I grant, but you have no room to talk.

Ew, in the middle of threatening her his interior monologue is all, "Why won't she do what I want? I'm such a nice guy."

This dude is a majorly entitled asshole. He doesn't care who tells him no. He ignores them, jumps to some erroneous conclusion, gets all offended on his own injured behalf, and then does whatever he wants.

In case you can't tell, I've totally moved into hate-reading now.

She couldn't have loved her late husband, he has decided. After all her husband wasn't him. Jerk.

Oh! If she'll just admit she has regrets about her life he'll forgive her. FORGIVE HER! She needs to stab this fool.

Oh bloody hell, he magnamously told her he'd forgive her and is pouty that she's not overjoyed. Kick him!

This man never heard of No Means No. He's trampling all over her refusal of him and when she is finally able to get away from him, he decides she must be hysterical.

He thinks all this asshole behavior isn't wrong. It makes him a man.

Now he broke into her bedroom and he gets it into his head that there's another man there and wants to beat him up.

I never stopped hating him. He didn't get an anvil dropped on his head. I am sad.

[llamareads]

Theo is between a rock and a hard place. With her beloved husband dead, and her mourning period nearly at an end, she knows she must marry again to protect her young son. The last thing she needs is for a ghost from her past to appear and bring back all her carefully buried regrets. Ewan – once believed dead due to an army mixup – is finally back in England, and is shocked to discover his first love is now his cousin’s widow. Can they both let go of their feelings about the past and make a new future together?

“We said, ‘Respectable young widow of means looking for honorable family man of good character for matrimony.’”
The grimace on Frederica’s supple features was comical. Her nose wriggled as if she smelled dead fish. “Oh. I forgot we went the mind-numbing route. We should write back with more color. Something clever.”
Trying not to turn back to the patio, Theodosia crossed her arms. “What should I have said? Blackamoor beauty with babe and loads of baubles, needs beau?”

Theo’s life is hemmed in by her “Rs” – what she calls regrets – and those Rs are in some ways more harmful to her than all the racism she faces for being black and the circumstances of her low birth. The root of all her regrets – though perhaps not the most painful one – is that she trusted Ewan enough once by agreeing to elope with him. Theo still loves Ewan, but he’s failed her before by not being strong enough to stand up to his father. Theo has had to make some hard choices, but she owns them. Ewan, on the other hand, at times seems years younger than Theo, despite having been away in the army for more than half a decade. Ewan’s constant jumping to conclusions and willingness to believe the worst of Theo got old. Ewan believes she’s prideful and would never admit she’s wrong, and constantly accuses her of lying, gold-digging, etc. At heart, I think, he’s a good person, but it’s obvious that, had they eloped as intended, their marriage would never have lasted. As he spends more time with Theo, Ewan realizes the story he’s constructed about what happened – the story that his family has encouraged – is missing some major pieces.

“Resigned, she smoothed her thick cuffs and steeled her spirit with Mathew’s words.
Theodosia, you are a light rising from obscurity. When you focus on helping others, the darkness you think you have will be like the noon sun.”

There is a lot of conflict and angst: Theo and Ewan’s unresolved romance, Theo’s guilt over Phillip’s illness, Ewan’s conflict with his family, Lester’s scheming to win control of the Cecil estate, plus, of course, their difference in race and class. It was, at times, an exhausting read, because at one point it was very hard to imagine how they were going to end up together given everything stacked against them. Regardless, I think, it is a hopeful book, as Theo is strong, determined, and willing to do what needs to be done. There are some Christian themes running through it, as well as some Bible quotes, which works well with the themes of redemption, though I don’t think it would be overly noticeable to a secular reader. Theo’s friends were lovely, and I’m hoping that they are supposed to be the heroines of the next few books. I also loved Pickens, the butler!

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I’m very much looking forward to the next in the series! Recommended for anyone who loves second chance romances, with a well-drawn back story, and lots of conflict!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.