The Regency Brides Collection
by multiple authors (see details below)

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical romance, short stories

This book contains short stories from 7 different authors, taking place in England during the Regency period. My overall rating for the book is an average of my ratings for each story, shown below. Below the ratings is a brief review for each story.

“First Comes Marriage” by Amanda Barratt – 3 / 5
“Masquerade Melody” by Angela Bell – 4 / 5
“Three Little Matchmakers” by Susanne Dietze – 4 / 5
“The Gentleman Smuggler’s Lady” by Michelle Griep – 3 / 5
“When I Saw His Face” by Nancy Moser – 2 / 5
“The Highwayman’s Bargain” by MaryLu Tyndall  – 3.5 / 5
“Jamie Ever After” by Erica Vetsch – 4.5 / 5

“First Comes Marriage” (3 / 5) is a marriage of convenience story with a nice forgiveness angle, plus a focus on the change in a person that comes from following God. Overall, though, it didn’t stand out, and there was a major coincident near the end of the story that bugged me a bit.

“Masquerade Melody” (4 / 5) is well-written and sweet, with a romance that isn’t as overly obvious as they often are, especially in short stories. Though I think I may not be musical enough to enjoy this much as I could have, it was one of my favorites in the book.

“Three Little Matchmakers” (4 / 5) has Sound of Music vibes to it, with a grumpy father-figure and kids that end up endearing themselves to him. The kids’ constant eavesdropping bothered me a little (like, does no one watch or discipline them?), but it ended up being kinda cute. I also really liked Henry’s arc in dealing with his temper.

“The Gentleman Smuggler’s Lady” (3 / 5) was overall fairly simple and didn’t stand out to me. The female main character had this way of trying to convince herself to pretend things weren’t as bad as they were or pretend something she wanted was really going to happen—it’s difficult to explain, but it made her seem very immature to me.

“When I Saw His Face” (2 / 5) is the story of a widow who accepts a marriage proposal mostly out of obligation, and then starts to fall in love with someone else. I did not care for her at all or the terrible way she treated both of these men, especially the fiancé, with barely any consequences. The story in the end is too easy and too predictable, and was my least favorite in the book.

“The Highwayman’s Bargain” (3.5 / 5) was maybe a bit predictable, but it ended up sweet. I was a little frustrated with how long the female main character held out before letting her better judgment prevail. And I don’t particularly care for so much deception without consequences in a Christian setting, but overall, the story wasn’t bad.

“Jamie Ever After” (4.5 / 5) was my favorite story in the series, and no surprise, since the author has recently become my favorite author of this genre of novels. Her inclusion in the collection is the main reason I read it. I liked both of the main characters as individuals and the relationship that built between them. It’s a marriage of convenience story, and though there is a contrivance in it that caused the half-star detraction in my rating, it’s overall a very sweet story that left me very happy.

In the end, though my overall rating for this collection isn’t wonderful, I liked more than I didn’t, and I think that others who like Christian romance from this time period will enjoy the book even more than I did.

Find out more about The Regency Brides Collection

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!