Review: Anthology: The Wedding of the Century by Charlotte Featherstone, Mary Jo Putney & Kristin James

Filed in Charlotte Featherstone , Kristin James , Mary Jo Putney , Review , The HEA Lover Posted on May 23, 2011 @ 10:00 am 4 comments

Format read: e-ARC from Netgalley
Number of pages: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Release Date: June 1st 2011
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Charlotte Featherstone, Mary Jo Putney, Amazon

Book Blurb:

NewYork Times bestselling authors Mary Jo Putney and Kristin James join Charlotte Featherstone to bring you three sparkling stories of love found in the most unlikely of places—marriage!
The Wedding of the Century by MARY JO PUTNEY

Stunningly beautiful and extraordinarily wealthy, Sarah Vangelder had always wanted more for herself than to be sold into marriage for the price of a dukedom. But marriage to Justin Aubrey might be the adventure she’s always dreamed of….

Jesse’s Wife by KRISTIN JAMES

When a late-night walk on her father’s ranch inadvertently destroys her reputation, Amy McCallister finds herself married off to Jesse, a sinfully handsome farmhand. But can he convince her to give him her heart, despite their rocky beginning?

Seduced by Starlight by CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE

Jase Markham, London’s most dashing—and notorious—rake, has loved his brother’s fiancée for as long as he can remember. When his brother casts Blossom aside, Jase is determined to finally make her his—if she’s willing to overlook his scandalous reputation!

My Thoughts:
The Wedding of the Century by MARY JO PUTNEY
This is the first time I read something by Mary Jo Putney and I’m glad to say it won’t be the last. I really like her writing style. We meet Sarah, an American young lady, at a party in England, she’s young, beautiful and loved by everyone. Justin is the Duke’s brother, he’s in the shadow, he’s the one running the estate while his brother parade away. When he meet Sarah he’s attracted to her, but she has only eyes for another man.

A few years later, Justin finds himself in his brother’s shoes. He needs a lot of money and he must marry an heiress. His first thought goes to the pretty Sarah he was so attracted to. Here comes the wedding of the century between a Lord and an American heiress. Sarah’s aunt told her not to enjoy her marital duties, she told her she should ‘lie and not move until his husband is done’…so that’s exactly what Sarah does. For month, it’s really a marriage of convenience, both doing their duty without enjoying one minute of it. It was painful to read about, Sarah doesn’t want her husband to think she’s wanton and Justin doesn’t know why she reacts this way every time he touches her. It’s killing them both from the inside, they both want each other. I loved how Justin and Sarah slowly discovered each other. They both wanted more from their relationship but both didn’t know how to show it. The lack of communication was killing me, but I got what I wanted in the end. 😉

I didn’t know what to expect of this novella and I was pleasantly surprised. It was fun and refreshing to see the Wedding of the Century taking place. The author’s writing was perfect to make us realize how fasts the  events happened for our couple, while reading it’s like you’re thrown in there, too.  And Justin’s reaction to the American press harassing him was really hilarious,  a clash of cultures between England and America that’s for sure. 😉  It’s a fast and engaging novella that will make you want to talk things out with your loved ones.

4 stars

Jesse’s Wife by KRISTIN JAMES

Amy is young and naive and doesn’t realize that she’s in danger of being ruined. Lucky for her Jesse, a young man who’s been working in her father’s ranch for years  saved her, but servants saw him with a half naked Amy. It’s too late to save her reputation. Amy’s parents want her to marry to avoid a scandal.  Jesse has been in love with Amy for years but he knows she deserves better than him. Still he asks her to marry him so that she doesn’t have to be forced to marry to someone else.  He even agrees never to touch her if she agrees.
Jesse and Amy’s life together is a sweet story.
Both young and innocent, at first they lack the knowledge to make their marriage work. Amy hasn’t been prepared for this life, she doesn’t know how to  take care of a household, which leads to very funny moments. They have to live in a small place and intimacy is rather difficult to get. I really loved Jesse, he’s sweet and so nice. He’d do anything for her, even if it means never being able to touch his wife. He’s a real everyday hero to me. I liked that Amy found herself and started being proactive on her situation. She really grew up to become a woman, a wife.  It was a  really cute story. 3.5 stars.

Seduced by Starlight by CHARLOTTE FEATHERSTONE

This story is the reason why I requested this book. I’m a bit fan of Charlotte Freatherstone and I couldn’t wait to read this story! It features the son and daughter of the heroes from Addicted and Sinful. *squeee* So of course we see all our favorite characters again, 25 years after their HEA *squeee*.
Jase is in love with his brother’s fiancée. Something he can’t bear, so he’s fled to the other side of the country to avoid seeing them. He can’t very well be seen lusting about his future sister-in-law, can he?  Blossom is an artist just like her father. She loves to paint and wouldn’t stop for anything in the world. She’s been engaged to her childhood friend thinking it was the most natural step in their relationship. But when he tells her he met someone else he wants to marry, she understands. As you can imagine when Jase hears that the engagement is broken all he’s thinking about is having Blossom for himself. I loved the chase. I love how he tried to prove her they are made for each other.  
This story fits in the theme of the anthology because Blossom thinks Jase wants to marry her because he feels obligated to right his brother’s wrong. She thinks he wants a marriage of convenience. Oh, how I loved this story. it was hot, cute, passionate, and oh so romantic. This was my favorite story in the anthology.
4.5 stars!

Final thoughts: This is a very good anthology about marriage of convenience and how love can creep on you when you don’t expect it. I loved that it was often about the lack of communication between the leading characters and the prejudices people can have on married life. I can only recommend it to all the HEA lovers. If you need a dose of love this one is for you.

I give The Wedding of the Century 4 Bookies

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

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About Caro The HEA Lover


Caroline is a HEA loving, yarn addicted French who's desperately hoping to get a HEA of her own. If she's not reading then she can be found knitting while listening to Audiobooks or watching Tv shows. Her secret addiction is reading websites that make fun at other people's expense (DYAC, Failbook)! Caroline also blogs at the Secret HEA Society with Susi.

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4 Comments

Join the Discussion
  • Blodeuedd May 23, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    Meh I do not know. And the first one, not so romantic to me

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  • pattepoilue May 23, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    @Blodeuedd To be honest, the only reason I DID request it was because I wanted to know about the characters from Charlotte Featherstone's series. But I'm glad I did request it. *g*

    Ohh I know #1 doesn't sound really romantic but in the end it was. They got past what was required of them and finally did what they both wanted from the start. It was cute in the end
    But I know it's not for everybody…for example…Susi could NEVER read this. The feminist in her would probably have a stroke at some of the scenes! lol don't tell her I said that 😉

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  • Welzen May 29, 2011 at 10:56 am

    I love Mary Jo Putney, her stories are wonderful.

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  • pattepoilue May 29, 2011 at 11:44 am

    @Welzen I'd love to start reading Mary Jo Putney's book. Which should I get? Do you have a favorite?

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