The Bride Takes a Groom: The Penhallow Dynasty

by Lisa Berne

Overview

Star-crossed childhood friends meet again in “an elegant, poignant, and joyful romance and a must-read for Regency fans” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Katherine Brooke may be a fabulously wealthy heiress, but she’s trapped, a pawn in her parents’ ruthless game to marry her into the nobility. Then Captain Hugo Penhallow—so charming, as handsome as a Greek god—comes into her life once more, and suddenly she sees a chance to be free.

As a Penhallow, his is one of the highest names in the land, but still his family is facing ruin. So Katherine boldly proposes an exchange: his name for her money. But only if Hugo understands it’s merely a practical arrangement, and that she’s not surrendering herself entirely.

Back from eight years in America and determined to give his younger siblings a better life, Hugo agrees. He’s never fallen in love, so why not? Yet neither of them guesses that this marriage will become far, far more than they ever dreamed of . . .

“One of the most exciting new historical writers in a long time.” —Julia Quinn, New York Times–bestselling author of the Bridgerton novels

“Berne takes all the classic elements of a Regency romance and turns them upside down. The most charming surprise is the hero . . . who stands out from the legion of Regency leading men before him by being kind.” —BookPage

“Regency fans will love this forthright, intellectual heroine and affable, resourceful hero.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062451842
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	08/18/2023
Series:	Penhallow Dynasty Series , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	387
Sales rank:	219,279
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Lisa Berne read her first Georgette Heyer novel at fourteen — it was the effervescent Lady of Quality — and was instantly captivated. Later, she was a graduate student, a grant writer, and a teacher — and now writes historical romance for Avon Books, with her stories set mostly in Regency-era Britain. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest.

Please visit Lisa on the web at www.LisaBerne.com . . .  and say hello on Facebook! LisaBerneAuthor

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/05/2018
In Berne’s marvelous third Penhallow Dynasty Regency (after The Laird Takes a Bride), reunited friends find that a hasty marriage leads to significant challenges. Capt. Hugo Penhallow hopes to marry well to restore his family’s fortunes. He sets his sights on Katherine Brooke, a childhood friend. Katherine is not the amiable girl he remembers; she has succumbed to her parents’ pressure to display the trappings of their wealth with her ostentatious dress, and is so eager to get out from under their stifling control that she breaks convention and proposes to Hugo. As Hugo and Katherine adjust to married life, she surprises him with glimpses into her caring nature and confuses him by first displaying a sudden eagerness for intimacy and then stifling it because she thinks he regrets their marriage. But Hugo discovers that she desires him and Katherine learns that she is worthy of his affection in a slow development that’s beautifully written. Regency fans will love this forthright, intellectual heroine and affable, resourceful hero. Agent: Cheryl Pientka, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Berne’s third Penhallow title maintains the exquisite writing, lush emotion, and complex characters we’ve come to expect [...] An elegant, poignant, and joyful romance and a must-read for Regency fans.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Regency fans will love this forthright, intellectual heroine and affable, resourceful hero.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Lisa Berne takes all the classic elements of a Regency romance and turns them upside down. The most charming surprise is the hero…who stands out from the legion of Regency leading men before him by being kind.” — BookPage

“Berne’s light touches of humor (provided by the Penhallow parrot) and realistic dialogue bring the characters and atmosphere of the era to life. There will be a smile on many a reader’s lips by the satisfying HEA.” — RT Book Reviews

“Now I know which book to bring on a desert island!” — Fresh Fiction

From the Publisher

Berne’s light touches of humor (provided by the Penhallow parrot) and realistic dialogue bring the characters and atmosphere of the era to life. There will be a smile on many a reader’s lips by the satisfying HEA.

RT Book Reviews

Lisa Berne takes all the classic elements of a Regency romance and turns them upside down. The most charming surprise is the hero…who stands out from the legion of Regency leading men before him by being kind.

BookPage

Now I know which book to bring on a desert island!

Fresh Fiction

★ 2018-02-20
When childhood friends—fortune hunter Hugo Penhallow and wealthy but oppressed heiress Katherine Brooke—decide to wed, neither can imagine what the future has in store for them or how marriage can save them.After having been wounded in Canada, Capt. Hugo Penhallow comes home to straitened circumstances and calls on his former playmate Katherine, who jumps on his arrival as salvation and asks him to marry her. Her rich parents are looking for an advantageous match, and while Hugo doesn't have a title, Penhallow is "an old and illustrious name that loomed large, extremely large, among the haut ton." Unfortunately, in the years since they last met, Katherine's parents have taken draconian measures to keep their lively daughter in check, and she's become an angry, suspicious young woman. Once married, Katherine retreats behind a protective screen of brittle hauteur, and the ever genial Hugo realizes he might regret his impulsive decision to marry her. A honeymoon visit to Hugo's cousin Gabriel, his lively wife, Livia (the couple from Berne's debut, You May Kiss the Bride), and Gabriel's formidable grandmother Henrietta, who takes Katherine under her wing, chips away at her insecurity, and once the couple heads to London for the season, the bride begins to wonder if there's hope for them after all. Startling news sends them back to Hugo's childhood home, where, surrounded by his large family, Katherine continues her journey of rediscovering her true self. Berne's third Penhallow title maintains the exquisite writing, lush emotion, and complex characters we've come to expect, this time with a heroine who is knocked back time and again but finds herself strengthened by the choices she makes, the people she helps along the way, and, to her pleasant surprise, the remarkable man beside her.An elegant, poignant, and joyful romance and a must-read for Regency fans.

Kirkus Reviews