The Devil Takes a Bride

Grace Cabot is found in a compromising position with the wrong gentleman, and soon she’s whisked away to marry a stranger. Jeffrey Merryton requires order and perfection in all things, until his accidental new wife sends his world into chaos.

Set in Regency-era England, the couple has strict parameters for proper social behavior. They are married for the sake of not causing a scandal, and trapped in marriage with no hope of leaving. Jeffrey is not the typical chiseled romance-novel hero with broad shoulders and rippling muscles. He suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder that would have not been a diagnosable illness in the 1700s. The author captures the cacophony of his mental illness dramatically, giving the reader the opportunity to peer into Jeffrey’s mind. Grace approaches Jeffrey in many different ways: anger, dismissiveness, and finally love.

The Devil Takes a Bride had a unique intensity that other romance novels of its kind just don’t possess, but that intensity is what I would expect from such an adept romance author as Julia London. Don’t miss London’s The Trouble with Honor as a companion book and the first in her series about the Cabot sisters.