Review: The Bittersweet Bride by Vanessa Riley
The Bittersweet Bride by Vanessa Riley Published by Entangled Publishing, LLC on January 29th 2018
Genres: African American, Fiction, Historical, Multicultural & Interracial, Regency, Romance
Pages: 200
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Widow Theodosia Cecil needs a husband to help protect her son. The former flower seller turned estate owner posts an ad in the newspaper, and no one is more surprised than she when her first love, the man she thought dead, reappears. Ewan Fitzwilliam has been at war for six years. Now, the second son of a powerful earl is back but his beloved Theo needs a husband and will not consider him. She believes Ewan left her—in desperate straits—so she denies the feelings she still harbors for the handsome, scarred soldier. Theo and playwright Ewan must overcome bitter lies and vengeful actions that ruined their youthful affair. Theo must reveal her deepest secret in order to reclaim the love that has long been denied.
The Bittersweet Bride is an apt title for this new historical romance by Vanessa Riley set in London that follows widow Theodosia Cecil and her one time love, Ewan Fitzwilliam.
Theo is recently widowed and needs a husband to not only protect her son but her fortune. She places an ad in the paper in hopes of finding a worthy candidate. Imagine her surprise when she walks out of a store after gathering her latest correspondence from potential husbands and sees her presumed dead lover, Ewan.
Theo and Ewan were together six years prior to the events in this book. Ewan thought Theo to be a golddigger after listening to his vengeful father. Theo thought he was dead and is shocked to see him after all these years.
These two obviously had a lot of love for each other despite all the lies and past hurt they both endured. They were very stubborn though and admittedly, I wasn’t very fond of Ewan. He constantly put Theo down and never seemed to be able to fully forgive her. Many times throughout the book, I wanted to scream at him: “Either you forgive her or you don’t, make up your mind!”
Theo was definitely the shining star in this novel and showed herself to be a strong and capable woman regardless of prior circumstances, hence why I thought the title was so fitting.
This was my first read by Vanessa Riley and I enjoyed her writing style and was interested in the plot with these solid characters. However, I thought it was a rather slow build up and became quite repetitive in the beginning. It wasn’t until I got about halfway through the book that I felt the storyline really start to move.
Overall, The Bittersweet Bride was an engaging novel with characters you either love or love to hate.
Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.
You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.
- Review: Kiss of Life by Louise Lennox - July 21, 2021
- Release Blitz: Kiss of Life by Louise Lennox - July 13, 2021
- Review: The Alpha’s Affair by Dria Andersen - June 7, 2021
