Reviewer: Rowena Wicked Delights of a Bridal Bed by Tracy Anne Warren
Series: The Byrons of Braebourne #4
Also in this series: Seduced by His Touch, At the Duke's Pleasure, The Bed and the Bachelor, Tempted by His Kiss, At the Duke's Pleasure
Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins
Publication Date: August 31, 2010
Genres: Historical Romance
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Series Rating:
To her surprise, Lady Mallory Byron finds herself walking down the aisle with the last man she ever expected to ask for her hand . . . .
Everyone knows the Byron brothers are “mad, bad and dangerous.” Now their sister shockingly discovers she’s the newest talk of the Ton when she marries the scandalous Earl of Gresham. Faced with a tragic loss, she’d sought comfort from him as a family friend. But soon consolation turned to passion, scandal—and a wedding! In the bridal bed, she finds pleasure beyond her wildest dreams. But can nights of wicked delight change friendship into true love?Charming rakehell Adam, Earl of Gresham, has secretly loved Mallory for years. He lost her once to another man, but now he has a second chance to win her love—and plans to do so by any means necessary. Will Mallory’s heart give him what he so dearly desires? Or is the past too much to overcome?
Rowena’s review of Wicked Delights of a Bridal Bed (Byrons of Braebourne Series, Book 4) by Tracy Anne Warren.
I’ve been waiting a long time for this book to come out. Mallory is one of my favorite characters in this series and mostly because I saw her storyline unfolding in the background of the other books and man I couldn’t wait to see what would happen. I had a feeling it would all lead up to this climatic happy ending for her and I was so anxious to get on with the story telling already.
This was one of those friends to lovers to true loves stories and I ate it all up. My favorite thing about this story was that the crush wasn’t the heroines on the hero but the hero’s on the heroine. Oh man that was a juicy little tid bit. I loved seeing Adam show up at Braebourne and do everything he could to bring a smile to Mallory’s face again.
Mallory’s fiance, Michael was killed in action and it’s been a year since he died and she still can’t get over it. She suffers from that survivor’s guilt, the one where she can’t bear the thought of forgetting Michael, of moving on while he lays in some grave somewhere and while it drove me bat shit crazy, I understood it. She was truly in love with Michael when they were together and grieving was only normal.
There were plenty of times while reading this book that I fell a little more in love with Adam and watching the love he had for Mallory only made him more swoon worthy but as much as I loved him, there were times that I wanted to give him a good swift kick to the groin for being such a bonehead.
His idiotic vow that he made Mallory make because of his jealousy? Yeah, I totally wanted to knee him in the ball sack because of that. His insane attitude toward the whole thing that made him jealous? Yeah, he needed to protect his family jewels because I wanted to kick him where it hurt but I got over all of that in the end because I adored Adam. He wasn’t the perfect hero but he was still a great one. I never once doubted his love for Mallory and though Mallory wasn’t the most perfect heroine herself, I still liked her. I thought she was great and the both of them together made for some fantastic reading.
All in all, this was a great addition to the Byrons of Braebourne series and I am so very much looking forward to Drake’s story. Over the course of the series, my love for Drake the scholar has grown by heaps and bounds. So much so that I’m anxiously awaiting his story.
Historical fans will enjoy this story and while I feel you should read the other books in this series to thoroughly enjoy this book, I think the book stands great on its own. The characters were very engaging and the story moved along so well that I got this book read in no time at all. Warren did a great job of showing the friendship between Adam and Mallory and she did a wonderful job of penning their romance in a way that was believable and enjoyable. So would I recommend this book?
Yep, totally.
Grade: 4.25 out of 5
GIVEAWAY ALERT: In an effort to celebrate the release of this book, we’re giving away three copies of this book for three lucky winners. All you have to do is leave a comment here letting us know if you’ve ever had a secret crush on one of your friends growing up. Share your stories with us and we’ll enter your name into the drawing. You’ll have a week to get your stories in, we’ll announce the winners in a week.
Reading Order:
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here.
Not when I was growing up but when I started working. I had a crush on this guy and as I think back on it, I think everyone knew about it!! Groan. So embarassing!!
I had a huge crush on my best friend Ben all through middleschool. We did everything together, I even brought him to Seattle with me to visit my dad and grandparents. He was like an extended part of me and my family and I was totally in love with him. I knew he had feelings for me too, we talked about it but ultimately I decided I couldn’t chance loosing my best friend. We were in 8th grade, the chance of us not breaking up at some point was a million to one and I couldn’t loose him. Come Sophomore year I brought him to a party with me and as my sister and I were leaving I gave him a hug goodbye and have no idea what happened but we ended up making out!! It all felt right and things fell into place. Needless to say he ended up breaking my heart. I fell head over heals and he not only broke up with me once but three times. I lost the best friend I ever had and from than on it was awkward to be near him, and he kept me at an arms length of I don’t want to be with you now, but I can see marrying you in the future. My experience sucked, so I hope others had better ones than me
june111@att.net
I got my first crush on someone when I was 6. His name was Jeff. We went to Montessori School together. Everyday when we had recess, we’d play. He’d be the “damsel in distress”. My brother and his two best friends were the “evil villains” who chased and “captured” him. I was the “hero” who rescued him daily from their clutches. He was so cute! This went on until a new girl came to the school. Her name was Phoenix. After that he stopped playing with me and only wanted to play with her. She became his girlfriend and he broke my heart as only a 6 year old’s can. Then I turned 7 and entered the first grade at another school and got a new crush on someone else!
When I was 5 or 6, I had a crush on a boy in kindergarden. We were playing alot together, but he was one year older than me, so he left to start school. I never saw him again. Sad, I know. 🙂
Do I really have to confess to this *sighs* yes, I played with my cousin as a kid and had the hugest crush on him when I was like 5. There I said it
I had a huge crush on a friend of my in the ninth grade.I first saw him in study hall .I starred at him all period and the weeks that followed.by then it was time for summer vaction and at the return of school the crush was long gone
Oooooo . . . loved this series and this book sounds like another great WArren novel. Wonderful review, and hope you include me in any give-away drawing.
I had a secret crush on my brother’s friend (4 years older than me). When it did not remain a secret anymore it was extremely embarrassing!
My first crush was on Rusty the boy next door. He was five and I was six (oh the scandal!) and he had freckles and the brightest red hair.
When I was 7 I fell in love with David who was 12! I remember for my 8th birthday a few months later, he came to my party with his sister who was my best friend. He gave me a little “silver” necklace with a surfer on it. Whenever I heard (or hear) the Beach Boys’ Little Surfer Girl, I always thought of him.
But my real crush didn’t come until I was almost 18. I fell in love with my room mate’s boyfriend, James. He and I became really good friends, dated for awhile, got semi-engaged and broke up. I don’t remember why but it broke my heart. We later got back in touch with each other and became good friends. He wanted to become friends with benefits but we’d never gone all the way and I was afraid to take that last step with him and have him break my heart again.
We both ended up married to other people but still exchange holiday cards and brief snippets of our lives. I know if I ever needed him he’d be there for me as I know he knows I’d be there for him.
goddessani at gmail dot com
I don’t know if I’d call it a crush but I was very attracted to my friend’s bf, who was also my friend, in HS. I never said nor did anything about it though because I just don’t do that type of thing. They broke up in college, he went on to marry his college sweetheart and she’s still a good friend of mine. I have no regrets about it.
I had a huge crush on a guy I worked with when I was 16, and I finally managed to go on a date with him. It was pretty obvious that he wasn’t all that interested in me, so that convinced me to finally give up my crush and just stay friends.
Thanks for the review. No secret crushes on any friends, but the stories are interesting.
Maybe in college, a totally innocent one!
delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com
I had a crush on one of my friends in middle school but it faded after a while.
lilazncutie1215[at]yahoo[dot]com
I had a crush on a neighbor boy down the road for years. Then they moved away and I seldom saw him.
kissinoak at verizon dot net
I don’t think I ever had a crush on a friend.
Great review, Wena! I, too, have been really looking forward to Mallory’s story!
Ahhh crushes. So many, so little time LOL. I had my first one at 3 in preschool. Me and David. We loved each other and were going to get married. We had sleepovers, and practically lived in each other’s pockets. Then we moved away *sob*.
My next love affair didn’t happen until 3rd grade. Kent. *swoon* I still remember him being the hottest thing around (with the exception of Starsky and Hutch, who were my true loves). When he moved away to Philadelphia, I became a lifelong Steelers fan (since at the time they were meaner and tougher than the Eagles, heh). And Elton John’s Philadelphia Freedom became my favorite song. I still love that song!
In my youth, I’d try to get myself out of a crush by befriending the guy – does that count? They may not have been friends with me at the beginning but they will be by the end, with the added bonus that I won’t be crushing on them anymore.
ironss[at]gmail.com
I have to be completely honest and say I’ve never had a crush on a friend. I’d still like a shot at winning this book.
Thanks!
Acorn
Have I ever had a cruch on a friend? Yep. I don’t really have any stoires, though. It was just a little cruch 🙂
This book sounds fantastic! Exactly a book that I would want to read!
8th-9th grade had a big crush on a freind of mine and while we would often chat that was the extent of the interaction. forward about 25+ yrs and we ran into each other for 1st time since high school and learned it had actually been mutual just neither of us realized. actually got involved for few years but it didn’t work out, neither of were the same any longer and had moved in different directions in our lives. will always hold a special place in my thoughts for the young guy I new way back then though 🙂
I never had a crush on any of my friends.
It sounds like a great book.
Great review! I have never had a secret crush on a friend, but I love to read books that have this theme.
Yep I did! I used to like a bit of a bad boy. He was popular, got into small trouble etc. I met him thru a boy cousin of mine. We became friends and he flirted alot – didn’t ever take the flirting to personal though as that was his nature. I was the honor student (though I was popular to) do gooder and was verbal in everything but expressing my feelings to the boys lol…
Pam S
pams00 @ aol.com
I never had a crush on a friend, either. But I do love reading about it!
Oh yeah, back in high school I had a crush or two, but it turns out that things were best left at friendship. I do wonder about those guys now…where they are and what they are doing.
I had a big crush on my hubby whose pics I’d seen from friends but never met. When we did meet it was like lightning – my crush came true and we’ve been together 13 years.
msboatgal at aol.com
My first crush was when i was 14 yrs old. Crushed on him for a while, then grew out of it. Then we became friends until high school ended. My best friend and I had loads of fun with him,
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I didn’t have a secret crush on anyone, but someone had one on me! I was so shy and awkward all the way through school. I was a “brainy bookworm”, tall, and I wore braces through most of high school. Many years after I graduated, I ran into the star quarterback of our high school football team. He had been an all-around great athlete in a number of sports. He was nice-looking, friendly and very popular. Years later, he was still nice, and he still had that great smile. He was married with three kids and well-settled. He gave me one of the biggest surprises of my life when he told me that he had a serious crush on me in school. He never thought he was “in my league”, so he never asked me out. I really wasn’t interested, but OMG, was I flattered!!! If he had told me that when we were still in school, my nonexistent ego might have bloomed : ) We went our separate ways. He went home, happily, to his family. I went home with a big smile and an overwhelming wave of nostalgia
I had lots of crushes on boys in Highschool all the time. I was always to shy to talk to any of em though. I’m still very shy today so is my husband its a wonder how we even got together. LOL!
eric250r@coosnet.com
LOL, my first crush was in the 7th grade when I laid eyes on Robbie Natter. Let’s see this was 1989 and Robbie had his hair permed and wore Z Cavarechi pants (I probably spelled that wrong). He thought he was such a stud and apparently, I did too!
I had my first crush when I was in 8th. He had blond, curly hair, blue eyes, he had the most beautiful smile and was funny. We flirted back and forth like kids do. He broke my heart when he went to a party the last day of school and kissed my best friend! The creep!