THE BEAST TAKES A BRIDE is a delightful historical romance by one of my very favorite authors, Julie Anne Long. This is the eighth in Long’s The Palace of Rogues series, set in the backdrop of the female-owned boardinghouse Grand Palace on the Thames. Long writes such witty books with riveting turns of phrase. As usual, I highlighted the heck out of this book as I gobbled it up, and I can’t wait to go back and savor the story again. Long’s books make my keeper shelf of books that I choose to re-read when I’m in need of cheering up.
Alexandra (Alexa) Bellamy is a beautiful blue blood sacrificed to marriage to save her crappy family’s fortunes. Shockingly, she appears to have betrayed her new husband Magnus on their wedding day five years ago. I love how this backstory comes out in drips and drabs- I was on tenterhooks to learn what had happened to cause Magnus to walk out on his bride! I love the feminist leanings of Alexandra- she is the perfect historical heroine for today.
Colonel Magnus Brightwall is described as “a taciturn brute of a war hero,” and he banished Alexa to an icy separation and left for Spain after her wedding day betrayal. He’s come back now and is being awarded an earldom for his service. Magnus issues an edict that he and Alexa will rehabilitate their reputations in the ton, appearing as a united couple, before he banishes her to live out the remainder of her life in America and he takes his place in the British aristocracy.
Magnus and Alexa move into a suite at the Grand Palace on the Thames, where they begin to wage their war on society. But acting as erstwhile compatriots begins to thaw Magnus’ heart toward Alexa, and Alexa begins to see under the gruff exterior of the man who bought her. Long’s books have sprightly dialogue and a beloved cast of highly engaging characters. THE BEAST TAKES A BRIDE definitely showcases Long’s glorious storytelling
This is a Beauty and the Beast trope romance and also a second chance romance. Both are done with inimitable panache. I laughed often and even cried in a few spots. THE BEAST TAKES A BRIDE is Julie Anne Long at her best, with plenty of angst and oodles of witty repartee. The Palace of Rogues series is still going strong, and I can’t wait to see what Long brings us next.
In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s latest installment in the Palace of Rogues series, an estranged couple decide to fake their way through the London season to repair their good name… but neither are prepared for the genuine sparks that begin flying between them.
A blue-blooded beauty bartered to a Beast…
He would pay any price to possess her. But even though Alexandra Bellamy sacrifices herself to save her family’s fortunes, a shocking betrayal sunders her marriage to a taciturn brute of a war hero, Colonel Magnus Brightwall, before it even begins. Five years of icy separation later, a scandal—with Alexandra at the middle—reunites them, and Magnus issues an edict: they will confront the ton, rescue their reputations, then Magnus will banish her to another continent—forever.
But alone in a suite at the Grand Palace on the Thames, a new battle begins—between pride and the unexpected volcanic passion stirring between them. The danger is real: Magnus rediscovers why Alexandra is the only woman who could ever break him. And even as she lays bare the beautiful heart beating beneath the battered hide of the near-stranger she married, Alexandra knows she may have already lost him—even as she finally falls fatally, irrevocably in love.