Angie
Written on Nov 17, 2014
I really liked The Highwayman's Bride, at least until the highwayman got his bride. Tess's uncle wants her to marry an awful, abusive man after he spends all of her inheritance. She obviously doesn't want to enter that marriage, so she disguises herself as a boy and sets out to rob a carriage. She plans to sell whatever she can and start a new life for herself. Of course, her heist doesn't go according to plan, since Aiden shows up and things get messy. When the two meet again, Tess decides that she's going to blackmail him into marrying her, since that's the only way to avoid her fate. Aiden agrees, because he feels like he needs to help her, and because the man he's been hunting has been linked to Tess's uncle.
The premise of The Highwayman's Bride was great! Tess and Aiden both disguise themselves and kind of live double lives for a bit. I also liked how Tess was super confident and goes after she wants, and avoids what she doesn't. However, once they got married, about halfway in, I got bored. The excitement was gone, since all of Aiden's antics happen off the page. Tess doesn't do anything except hang out with his sister, and whine about how he leaves her alone all the time and is putting his life in danger.
The Highwayman's Bride also suffers from a lot of telling rather than showing. Aiden's sister had an abusive husband, whom is the man Aiden is after. She's been a shell of herself for a long time, but apparently Tess has brought her back. We don't get to see this happen. We only witness Mary telling Tess how she's helped her, instead of actually seeing her help her. Tess also randomly loves Aiden's son from his previous marriage as her own, even though we never see them interact. And speaking of his son, that is the most annoying, needy, nagging child in existence! I know he craves Aiden's love, since Aiden is a super jerk to him, but come on! Shut up, kid!
In the end, The Highwayman's Bride just let me down. It started off so good and fun, but quickly went downhill.
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.