The Winter Bride

by Anne Gracie

Overview

~"Delightful....A romantic winner." —Kirkus   
Four young women face a life of destitution—until a daring act changes their fortune and turns them each into a beautiful bride.  In The Winter Bride, a compromising situation leads to an unexpected wedding and delicious temptation....
Damaris Chance’s unhappy past has turned her off the idea of marriage forever. But her guardian, Lady Beatrice Davenham, convinces her to make her coming out anyway—and have a season of carefree, uncomplicated fun. 
When Damaris finds herself trapped in a compromising situation with the handsome rake Freddy Monkton-Coombes, she has no choice but to agree to wed him—as long as it’s in name only. Her new husband seems to accept her terms, but Freddy has a plan of his own: to seduce his reluctant winter bride. 
Will Damaris’s secrets destroy her chance at true happiness? Or can Freddy help her cast off the shackles of the past, and yield to delicious temptation?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425259269
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	Chance Sisters Series , #2
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Anne Gracie is the national bestselling author of The Autumn Bride, Bride By Mistake, and The Accidental Wedding. She lives in Australia.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for The Winter Bride:
"A delightful, emotionally complex romance....A romantic winner, with Gracie’s typical witty charm and sweeping emotion." --Kirkus Reviews
"Exquisitely written, perfectly plotted." --Library Journal (starred review) "The Chance sisters are living a dream, and readers will be thrilled to be there with them. Gracie has created a wonderful cast of characters, from the sisters themselves to their benefactress and servants....The lively dialogue and tender emotions compel readers to relish every moment." --RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)

Praise for Anne Gracie's previous romance, The Autumn Bride:
“Gracie charms and entices with this launch of the Regency-era Chance Sisters series….A deep, rich story that will leave readers starry-eyed.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A complex, charming heartwarmer that celebrates love, brave heroines, and the miracle of second chances.”—Kirkus Reviews
"With a pair of beautifully matched protagonists and some particularly despicable villains, this funny, dangerously addictive page-turner is a hands-down Regency winner; the rest of the series can't come fast enough." --Library Journal
“I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a book quite this much.”—Night Owl Reviews

Editorial Reviews

02/24/2014
Gracie continues the charming seasonal saga of the four Chance sisters (introduced in The Autumn Bride), family by choice rather than blood, with this thoughtful and tender Regency. Miss Damaris Chance (formerly Tait), a missionary’s daughter, has a well-earned “abhorrence of marriage.” The Honorable Frederick Monkton-Coombes wants to present a fiancée to his cold and distant parents to avoid their matchmaking schemes. Freddy and Damaris enter into a business arrangement: she will engage in a faux betrothal in exchange for ownership of a cottage that will allow her to be self-sufficient. Freddy’s cultivation of his rakish reputation has developed his wooing skills, which are put to the test when his friendship with Damaris evolves slowly into romance, despite both parties’ hurts and vulnerabilities. Gracie gradually expands the setting without overwhelming the reader by sending Damaris and Freddy to his family estate, separating them from Damaris’s benefactor and Freddy’s business partners, while setting the scene for the next two seasons. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Winter Bride:
"A delightful, emotionally complex romance....A romantic winner, with Gracie’s typical witty charm and sweeping emotion." —Kirkus Reviews
"Exquisitely written, perfectly plotted." —Library Journal (starred review)"The Chance sisters are living a dream, and readers will be thrilled to be there with them. Gracie has created a wonderful cast of characters, from the sisters themselves to their benefactress and servants....The lively dialogue and tender emotions compel readers to relish every moment." —RT Book Reviews (Top Pick)

Praise for Anne Gracie's previous romance, The Autumn Bride:
“Gracie charms and entices with this launch of the Regency-era Chance Sisters series….A deep, rich story that will leave readers starry-eyed.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A complex, charming heartwarmer that celebrates love, brave heroines, and the miracle of second chances.”—Kirkus Reviews
"With a pair of beautifully matched protagonists and some particularly despicable villains, this funny, dangerously addictive page-turner is a hands-down Regency winner; the rest of the series can't come fast enough." —Library Journal
“I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a book quite this much.”—Night Owl Reviews

From the Publisher

2014-03-06
Neither Freddy Monkton-Coombes nor Damaris Chance is interested in marriage, so Freddy convinces Damaris to enter into a fake engagement to get his mother and a horde of marriageable young ladies off his scent. What could possibly go wrong? It's 1816, and Damaris has a new lease on life. Leaving her past behind, she's landed on her feet, living in the home of her informally adopted aunt, the aristocratic Lady Beatrice, along with her sisters-of-the-heart, collectively known as the Chance sisters. But she knows marriage isn't in her future, thanks to some horrible luck and a blackguard sea captain. Determined to make enough money to buy a small cottage and live on her own terms, she's quietly taken a job painting pottery. But somehow Freddy has learned her secret, and he's not pleased, since it involves wandering through less-than-safe neighborhoods at ungodly hours of the morning, and he's promised his dear friend Max—Lady Bea's nephew, now married and honeymooning with the eldest Chance sister—that he would keep an eye on the household. After Damaris and Freddy share a frank conversation regarding their shared antipathy toward marriage, Freddy asks her to play the role of his fiancee, since his mother is putting pressure on him to pick a bride. In return, Freddy promises her the cottage she's always wanted. But as they spend time together, they learn each other's deepest secrets and most ardent desires, and suddenly marriage doesn't seem quite so atrocious. Gracie continues her Chance Sisters series with another delightful, emotionally complex romance. Freddy and Damaris are each textured characters, combining well-hidden wounds with a determination to thrive in spite of them, which makes them perfect for each other once they break through to trust and understanding. A romantic winner, with Gracie's typical witty charm and sweeping emotion.

Kirkus Reviews

In this funny, sweet book about sisters, narrator Alison Larkin delivers distinct voices and accents to bring to life the rolicking story of Damaris Chance. A beauty with secrets, Chance is determined not to marry. Charming rogue Freddy Monkton-Coombs also has an aversion to marriage—until he meets Damaris. Their romance leads both on a merry chase, complete with a fake engagement, swimming pigs, and marriage-minded debutantes on the hunt. This touching story, so well delivered, makes one laugh out loud one moment and sigh the next. A listening experience to be savored. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

MAY 2014 - AudioFile