OMG, I LOVED THIS BOOK. I can't even express how much I loved it. I have a thing for the Marriage of Convenience trope, and boy does this one deliver.

It's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. The setup is beautiful in its simplicity: we meet Clare, learn of her dire circumstances and then her change in fortune. Unfortunately, her odious cousin is one of the trustees of her fortune, and he'd never allow her a penny if he had his way. She turns to her solicitor (the other trustee) to help find a suitable candidate for marriage, one who would be agreeable to her terms in allowing her to control her own money. It just so happens that said solicitor has another young client on the edge of ruin: Jamie Boleigh, Lord Trehearth. He's about to lose his estate and plunge the local village into disrepair, and he is completely and utterly depressed by the prospect.

Clare has the foresight to hire herself a companion so that she's not going into this crazy situation alone. She and Jamie meet, agree to terms, and are married by Chapter 5.

They immediately heard for Trehearth House, Jamie's estate and family seat in Cornwall. Clare and her companion, Selina Newton, are in for quite a few surprises, not the least of which is Jamie's rambunctious 10-year-old twin sisters and their larger than life dog. The house is practically in ruins, they have all of 2 servants, and Jamie is desperate to get to work on the estate.

The vast majority of the first half of the book details their life on the estate. Clare puts her previous vocation as a governess to good use and manages to bring the twins to a manageable level. She slowly begins to put the house in order: ordering furniture, hiring servants, etc. Selina is an accomplished seamstress, and she puts her talents to good use as well. (She also takes up with the local vicar, a very sweet second-chance-at-love subplot that rounds out this slice of life look at village life.)

It reminded me very much of the first couple of seasons of Monarch of the Glen, which of course just made me love it all more. I loved all the lush details about Clare and Jamie settling into their married life together as they begin to bond with each other, and Clare with the twins. Jamie's relationship with his sisters is strained, at best, right up until the end; he has no patience for them at all and doesn't seem to realize that his cutting remarks towards them are doing more to hurt than to help. They continue to rebel against him, but slowly start to trust Clare.

All is happy in happiness house until Jamie allows his resentment over Clare's control of the purse strings to boil over. The tipping point is when she hires builders to install a bathroom in the house without consulting him, but it had been festering for much longer than that. He explodes, and they argue, and Clare decides she needs to get away for awhile. She heads to Penzance, the nearest city, and is outraged to learn that Jamie has been going behind her back and authorizing huge drafts from her bank account. The banker treats her like a child, and she loses all of her reason. She stomps back to London, back to her solicitor, to assure herself that the men in her life can't just walk all over her.

Unfortunately, Jamie is just as stubborn as Clare is, and just as sure that he's right. He refuses to run after her, sure that she'll eventually come around and see reason like a good little obedient wife. Clare holds fast, deciding to stay in London to enjoy the Season, and she and Selina pitch up at a friend's house.

Jamie's friends in London become concerned about the obvious rift in their relationship and write to him, suggesting he come to London. He eventually decides to do just that. He's taken up drinking in Clare's absence and decides that he has the right to force her to reason and drag her back home. He shows up and basically makes a total ass of himself, which does nothing to endear him to his lady love.

Meanwhile, Clare's odious cousin has slithered back into the picture and decides to take advantage of the rift in her marriage. He cannot stand the fact that she received their uncle's money instead of him, so he maneuvers to overturn the marriage agreement that gives her control of her wealth.

They go on like this for awhile, but things are brought to a head when the twins suddenly disappear. Everyone races back to Cornwall to look for them, but they have zero luck, as the days stretch on. Clare finally happens upon the clue that brings them back, and she brings them home and confronts Jamie.

The two begin to hash out their differences. Jamie is the one who relents (yay!), finally giving up on his idea of male superiority by right of birth. He realizes that when he communicates with her, she's quite reasonable and isn't out to deny him anything.

Just when things are getting comfy and cozy again, the cousin rears his ugly head and gloats about his machinations to steal Clare's money away, using Jamie as his pawn. She is heartsick over it, and decides that she needs to get away again - but realizes that running away didn't help the last time, and that she can't keep running away forever.

The twins help her out by taking her to their hiding place, and they are eventually the ones that bring the couple back together. When Jamie returns and realizes what has happened, it's driven home to him in a huge way all of the mistakes he's made, and how long-ranging their effects are. He's grief-stricken without Clare, even going so far as to stop drinking, cold turkey. He can't continue on as he has, but for the first time, he recognizes his demons and deals headlong with them.

After three days, the twins bring Jamie to Clare and they have it out. She finally tells him about her odious cousin, and he swears he'll never unknowingly cross her again. She's a bit more realistic about matters, telling him that they'll continue to make mistakes, but they both declare their love for each other and boom, happily ever after.

I really, really enjoyed the female characters in this book. Clare has a good head on her shoulders. She goes to great pains to safeguard herself and her newfound wealth; at the same time, she throws herself into her marriage and her new life in Cornwall. She has an aura around her that draws others in; she even manages to get through to the twins, mostly by listening to them.

I liked the twins, too, though they had to grow on me. I'm not much for precocious prank-playing children in my romance novels, but they became central characters, surrogate daughters to Jamie and Clare. Realizing that they had to care for the twins made the protagonists grow the hell up. The twins became their own separate characters, too, and were great foils for each other. I wouldn't mind reading more about them as they grew up.

The London set were also quite fun: Jamie's friends and the old Mrs. Howland, who sponsors Clare in Society. There's a bit of drawing room intrigue, but they both serve their purpose in the story and round it out nicely.

Jamie is perhaps the least likable of all the main characters, mostly because he just drinks way too much. He loses himself in the bottom of a bottle for most of the second half of the book and it takes him way too long to come to his senses. But at the same time, we see the struggle with his alcoholism and what he does to overcome it. He has been handled a rotten lot in life, but he's willing to work hard and do better for himself and his family. He truly comes full circle, which was very heartening.

This is a bit warmer than a straight up Regency; what few love scenes there are, are fairly opaque. Still, these two don't hold back their passion for one another, whether they're having sex or butting heads :P ( )

For a romance, there was not a lot of romance (but there was passion ;). When you read it you will understand. They had to build their relationship first.

Clare is a governess, and she longs for something else. She inherits money, but typically, her idiot evil cousin has a say on how she can spend it. Poor Clare, she just wanted freedom. To make her own choices, to have her own money. So she marries someone who needs money and signs a contract.

Jamie, oh Jamie. I wanted to kick him in the balls. It works really well with hating for for parts (do not worry about that!). I am not going to say where the issue lay, but it had to due with him being a male, and thinking a certain way at times. Then I wanted to kick him in the balls and slap him.

So as you can see their hasty marriage does come with issues. They move closer, they move further apart. Insert 2 siblings, a house falling apart, some passion and two strong wills.

I must say it has been a while since I wanted to slap someone like this. Mostly it's cos they are evil or does evil things but here, it was just different. And when they all got their heads straight it was nice to see a HEA. ( )

The Bride Insists could have been so good, with its finely-crafted prose and interesting characters. The problem is the plotting. There are just too many misunderstandings between the hero and heroine. By the end, after one last mixup involving the heroine's OTT evil cousin, I just wanted to hurl the book across the room. I also did not like that the author chose the names Jamie and Clare for the hero and heroine...afer all, they're already taken. ( )

THE BRIDE INSISTS by Jane Ashford is an interesting Regency Historical Romance.

Get ready to meet, Clare Greenbough and James Boleigh, seventh baron Trehearth. They are definitely in for a shock! A marriage of convenience may not be so convenient after all. Oh they both have very different ideas on their marriage, for one, Clare is not a submissive wife while, James is not such an easy going husband. This is only their first of many mistakes.

Passion will overrule their ideas, as the heart enters into their marriage. A must read. Filled with passionate kisses and other things, a battle of wits, and a fight for love. Engaging and entertaining characters. Not only are the main characters charming, but the secondary characters are just as engaging. Ms. Ashford is a talented author and THE BRIDE INSISTS is an enjoyable read! Received for an honest review.

RATING:4

HEAT RATING: MILD

REVIEWED BY: AprilR, courtesy of My Book Addiction and More ( )

I wanted to really like this book, but I found it a just okay book. Most of the book is about Clare and Selene with occasional glimpses of Jamie. Even Selene and the vicar's romance had more excitement then the two lead characters. I didn't like Jamie at all at any point in the book and found myself skimming over his pages of alcohol abuse. He only really played any real part in the story at around the 60-65% mark then became an even bigger ass. This was the first and most likely last book by this author that I've read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. ( )