The Winter Bride (Chance Sisters Romances, #2) (Chance Sisters Romance, #2)

by Anne Gracie

[EBookObsessed]

In Autumn Bride, we met Abigail and her sister, Jane, who have joined with their new sisters of the heart, Damaris and Daisy. It was Daisy who originally contacted Abigail to help Jane and Damaris escape the brothel where the girls had been sold to after being drugged and kidnapped. It is Abigail who first met Lady Beatrice, who was being abused by her servants. Together these five woman are working on rebuilding their lives. Lady Beatrice has recovered enough to reenter society and she is introducing the girls as her nieces.

With Abigail now married to her own nephew, Lady Beatrice wants the rest of the girls to have their official coming out. Jane is excited to finally be introduced to a possible husband, but Damaris is hiding more secrets than she has revealed to her sisters. Secrets that she feels makes her unacceptable as a wife. She is refusing to attend the season since she has no intention of finding a husband. Damaris only wants to buy a little cottage where she can live in safety and peace.

When Max took Abigail on their honeymoon, he left his friend, Freddy Moniker-Coombes to take care of his Aunt and the girls. Freddy is a young man with a title and he is tired of being chased by every mother with an unmarried daughter and does everything that he can do to avoid “muffins.” He is not thrilled with the task of taking care of unmarried girls, especially when he catches Damaris walking alone in an unsafe neighborhood–to a job no less. How is he supposed to take care of muffins who walk around at ungodly hours of the morning to go to work of all places? It isn’t bad enough he has to get up out of a warm bed to make sure Damaris arrives safely, but the viper of a boss keeps accusing him of trying to ruin Damaris. As if, he would have anything to do with an unmarried muffin if Max hadn’t asked for his help.

But Damaris might be just what Freddy needs when he receives a letter from his mother. She is planning a house party with every available muffin in the neighborhood and he is expected to announce his engagement at the end of the weekend. Freddy realizes that if shows up already engaged, he will be able to escape his mother’s further matchmaking. Damaris is an odd girl who has declared that she has no interest in getting married. Freddy’s plan is for Damaris to pretend to be his fiance, he can walk away no worse for wear and Damaris can then call off the engagement.

Convincing Damaris isn’t an easy task, but the gift of a cottage in Damaris’s name will make both of their dreams come true. If only their time together hadn’t changed those dreams to thoughts of a real marriage to someone who is quite perfect for them.

THOUGHTS:
The star of this series is still Lady Beatrice, although she is not in as much of the story as in The Autumn Bride. She quickly sees through the farce that Damaris and Freddy are trying to perpetrate on his family, but she also sees something in the two of them that she knows compliments each other. She has noticed that the marriage-fearing Freddy always stares at Damaris and has been walking her to work each morning. So the “frail” Lady Beatrice is back on her game, plotting the fates of her girls, including publicly denying knowing anything about the girls having large dowries, which causes an increased attendance of young, eligible men in their reading circle. Lady Beatrice should be a politician since she is so awesome at getting the public to buy her lies.

Damaris has had a difficult life and once she confesses her secrets, we truly see her inner strength and we are not the only ones. Freddy truly is the best man for her since he can see past her “flaws” for the brave and beautiful woman she is inside. I don’t see the reason behind the big production of how carriage sick Damaris becomes except to be the underlying reason why they eventually get trapped in a open buggy during a rain storm and are forced to be alone out of the rain. Shocking!

We are introduced to Max’s Irish partner, Flynn, who has come to London to meet a well-bred lady so that he can buy his way into the Parlors of London as rich potential husband. He is a lively and fun character. Freddy makes his toss out all of his bright colored coats and crazy pants for the usual subdued outfits of an English gentleman but it is Lady Beatrice and Daisy who convince him to wear the interesting waistcoats and keep his earring to keep him standing out from the crowd. I look forward to reading Flynn’s story.

This series stands out from the usual Regency Romances for its interesting cast of unusual and memorable characters.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.