#Review: The Brigadier's Runaway Bride by Erica Ridley - 3.5 Wine Glasses

Title: The Brigadier's Runaway Bride
Series: The Dukes of War #5
Author: Erica Ridley
Format: eBook/Paperback, 200 pages
Published :September 1st 2015 by Intrepid Reads
ISBN :1939713382
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Netgalley
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Miss Sarah Fairfax is having a wretched year. Her intended perished at war. His child is in her belly. To secure her future, she resigns herself to a loveless marriage. Just as she’s about to say "I do," her fiancée returns from the grave to crash the wedding... but he’s no longer the charming, carefree man she remembers.

After being left for dead on the battlefield, Brigadier Edmund Blackpool is scarred inside and out. He fights his way home only to discover his intended before the altar with his best friend. He'll be the one to marry her, no matter what she wants! But when his new bride disappears with his child, he must reopen his wounds to win the most important battle of his life.

Linda's Thoughts:
He stole her first kiss. And then he stole her heart.

THE BRIGADIER'S RUNAWAY BRIDE by Erica Ridley is an enjoyable, but heart-wrenching, regency historical romance and the fifth book in her Dukes of War series. The Dukes of War regency romance series features roguish peers and dashing war heroes who return from battle only to be thrust into the splendor and madness of Regency England. All the books in this series work very well as  standalones if that is your preference. I'm reading the series out-of-order and don't feel that it has materially affected my enjoyment of it. That said, I have read posts by other reviewers that the enjoyment of recurring characters and series subplots will be greatly increased if the series is read in order.

THE BRIGADIER'S RUNAWAY BRIDE is a  second chance at love tale with a hero suffering from PTSD and a heroine with her own problems. Together they must find a way to re-unite as a family and rediscover the passion that had been theirs before the war. This was the love story of Miss Sarah Fairfax and Brigadier Edmund Blackpool.

They had been childhood friends and evolved into a young couple madly in love. They had one joyous weekend, a last fling before he went into combat. Then he had gone missing after Waterloo. His brother and friends witnessed him go down and knew he had to be dead from the horrific wound....until he showed up in the nick of time to stop Sarah's wedding to the Duke, one of his best friends.

That last fling resulted in a pregnancy for Sarah. The Duke had offered to marry her so that the baby that Edmund had sired would not be born branded as a bastard. They had waited to marry until the last possible moment as Sarah had felt that she was betraying Edmund by marrying his best friend. But she had to think of the child and she was due to deliver at any time. Edmund had been her heart and soul, but this new Edmund who stopped her marriage to the Duke was a stranger to her. With a child now to raise, could they recapture the love and joy they had lost?  It will be a difficult, emotional journey for them both.

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from this touching, sometimes tearful, romance:

From the second Edmund burst into the ceremony, she'd no longer wanted to be a duchess. 
She just wanted Edmund.
Seeing his face had been like being flooded with magic. He was sunshine and sultry nights.
Laughter and sensuous kisses. The other half of her heart.
---

"Every morning," he said softly, his breath caressing her cheek.  "You were my only thought." He tilted closer. "Every night, you were my only thought." His lips brushed her cheekbone. "Every moment of every day, you were my only thought."
---
"I've come to seduce you."
His pupils dilated as his gaze heated.
She smiled. He hadn't been surprised at her presence, but he'd been very surprised at the reason.
He held up a palm. "By all means."

One of my favorite scenes was when Edmund and Sarah were bathing their little boys. It brought back humorous memories of when my son did the same thing :-)

She turned to him with wide, shocked eyes. "Why did he..."
His lips twitched. No coarse language in front of the infants limited the ability to discuss the fountain of baby piss that had just arced halfway across the room.
"Twasn't you, darling. It's one of their favorite bath-time games.
"Something about the cool air on their naked...berries," he substituted at the last second....
"Do I have piddle in my hair?" she whispered, her eyes sparkling with laughter above her flushed cheeks.
"Not much," he assured her with a straight face. "You look almost becoming."...
"Decades from now, when our children ask how I fell in love with their mother, I'll say 'twas her sweet, gentle compliments during bath-time, and her fleetness of foot whilst dodging a flow of ---"

I became enamored with this series when I listened to the delightful first book, THE VISCOUNT'S CHRISTMAS TEMPTATION. I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys sexy regency romances peppered with angst and tempered with humor. I already have the other books on my reader and hope to catch up with the series soon! I can't wait for the next book in the series, THE PIRATE'S TEMPTING STOWAWAY, releasing in December 2015. I love pirates!

Here is the suggested reading order:
1. THE VISCOUNT'S CHRISTMAS TEMPTATION (Review)
2. THE EARL'S DEFIANT WALLFLOWER
3. CAPTAIN'S BLUESTOCKING MISTRESS
4. THE MAJOR'S FAUX FIANCE'
5. THE BRIGADIER'S RUNAWAY BRIDE
6. THE PIRATE'S TEMPTING STOWAWAY