The Substitute Bride

by Margaret Blake

2010 EPPIE AWARD Finalist for Best Historical Romance! It is a simple trick—Elizabeth Mary will take the place of her older sister Mary Elizabeth. She will marry the Lord Edward Hinchcliffe, pretending to be Mary. He will never discover the plot…Mary can then do what she promises, enter a Convent. Only, the best laid plans often go astray and Elizabeth Mary finds the deception leads her into terrible danger. The Lord Hinchcliffe is no fool and he is a stern taskmaster who prides honesty above all virtues.

Genres: Medieval, Marriage Of Convenience, Tudor Period, Historical

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Margaret Blake was born in Manchester, England. She has written 20 novels, three of which will be published this year.

She writes historical and contemporary romance and currently has written two romantic suspense novels. The first of these is Breaking the Clouds published by Robert Hale Limited, in hardback, and the second A Poisoned Legacy was published in October. Shadows of the Past is her latest Hale novel.

A Whiskey Creek romance "His Other Wife was published in August - an historical romance "The Substitute Bride" came out in November and is the No.1 best seller for January. Spanish Lies was published on the l5th December at Whiskey Creek Press.

Margaret has since published "Dangerous Enchantment" an historical romantic suspense, A Saxon Tapestry an historical
suspense, The Longest Pleasure, and in June 2012 Tilly's Trials. She has also re-published her very first historical romance A Sprig of Broom. Super reviews for all these books can be seen here and at Amazon.

Margaret has two new books out The Longest Pleasure, a romantic suspense and Tilly's Trial a contemporary
romance.

Her just published book is a contemporary romance Under a Grecian Moon.

Do check out her new website at
www.margaretblake.com
All books are available as e-books and print. On Kindle too.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread: 5/21/24
Reread: 2/12/24
4 stars! An extra star for still enjoying this book enough to reread.

I really like this book! Bess is headstrong but sensible. Edward, on the other hand, is a little mysterious. We rarely got his internal thoughts or how he really felt about the h

The chemistry between this couple was off charts!



********Reread: 5/4/20
Another great Tudor book!


********Read: 2018 Orginal review ********,
This was a pretty good book! I loved Bess! The story starts off with Bess's older sister, Rose, telling Bess that she is scared of her betrothed (never met), and she wants to enter a convent. After she cuts her wrist and vows to kill herself, Bess agrees to switch martial places.

Usually, whole trading places plotline irrates me. In most books, I spend the whole story waiting for the ax to fall instead of enjoying the story. Surprisingly, MB pulled this plotline off, and I enjoyed every moment.

Edward is not your typical H. He's tough, smart, and good-looking. Edward falls pretty quickly for Bess, but you would never know it. Bess also falls in love with the gruff H but she's scared of the consequences if her identity is discovered. Edward hates liars! She won't be safe until her sister enters a convent. Strangely, Rose hasn't joined the nunnery and hasn't written back. DUN- DUN- DUUUUN

I really liked Bess and Edward's story. I wish the book had been longer .

I highly recommend it!

Problems: The h is only 16 years old when they marry. This isn't shocking for that time period. I didn't like how she was described as looking young." It was not like she was too young; for although she looked barely turned 16" -- not the best line.from the H

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread: 2/31/25
I still enjoy this book. Usually, I hate when a character has a terrible secret. I spend the whole time screaming, " Just tell him the truth already.". Somehow, the author was able to tell a great story despite this flawed trope. Still, this book isn't for everyone.

Reread: 2024

Reread: /8/9/2020
************orginal review *******&,,,,,,
Good! This was a pretty good read. I loved Bess! Bess trades places with her sister. Her sister is weak and wants to enter a convent. She cuts her wrist and threatens to kill herself if she has to marry Edward. Bess agrees to switch places.

The whole trading places was stupid, and they were bound to be caught. Surprisingly, the author actually pulls off the whole switching places and makes it an enjoyable read.

Edward is not your typical hero. He's tough and gruff. He falls quickly for Bess but doesn't show it. Bess falls in love but is always waiting for the shoe to drop. Her sister has yet entered a convent. I wonder why?

I liked Bess and Edward's story. I wish it could have been longer. Great story!

[Ann Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bess is desperate. Her older sister is so distraught about becoming the bride of Lord Hinchcliffe that she threatens to take her own life. So, she agrees to take Mary’s place in the proxy marriage, hoping that the nobleman will understand. Edward, however, is tall, stern and not a man to be trifled with. Even worse, Bess finds herself strangely drawn to him and to the people inhabiting his dark gray manor.

In addition, Geoffrey, Edward’s brother, seems determined to discredit him and undermine his authority. Geoffrey’s wife, Anne, is also a constant source of irritation, reminding Bess that she should be more biddable and an accomplished seamstress, instead. Finally, word reaches Bess that her sister has not entered a convent as planned, but may very well be expecting a child instead! How can this be?

Bess’ fragile world, constructed from the beginning on a mistruth, seems to be unraveling before her very eyes. How much longer will it be before Edward learns of her deception and that, by some miracle, she has come to love him?

This novel is set in England as the Tudors come to power. Greed, lust and deception war with love, friendship and honor in this wonderful tale set against the backdrop of one of the most tumultuous periods in English history. This is a time when women were mere chattel with few rights and privileges, the property of their fathers and then their husbands. Bess is an intelligent and spirited lass, a rare gem to the man who has the courage to see her marvelous qualities. Is Edward such a man? This is a worthy read, especially to those who believe that love really does conquer all.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great story. I got mad at the hero several times because of the way he acted but the heroine had lied to him. Her sister was not a nice person and pretty much coerced her to marry the H in her place. She tried to commit suicide and the heroine then agreed to do it. But it was all a sham. The heroine went and it was nice at first. She loved her husband very much but once he found out their deceit he treated her abominally. Thank heavens the heroine was so strong. I loved her and she took the blame because she knew honesty was abhorrent to her husband. I cried several times in this book by that the end, the happily ever after end, I loved it. Very good story.

[Lexie · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE is the first medieval romance I have read, and I do mean my very first as my tastes tend closer to Regency/Victorian England than Tudor England. The story takes place just after the Tudor Dynasty has taken hold of England (ousting poor King Richard and the Yorkists) and a fair amount of detail has gone into the atmosphere of the time period.

I found Elizabeth Mary (or Bess) to be an enjoyable lass, spunky and willing to back up what she defends. Admirable traits in any young woman, but she seemed very forward for the time period. It seemed every other character would scold her for her brazen tongue and unusual manners. Though her audaciousness earned her some high points, in the end those she bested nearly became her undoing.

Mary Elizabeth, the rightful bride, however, was beastly. As I suppose the author meant her to be. Almost I fell into the trap of sympathy for her, but as anyone will realize within the first ten pages, Mary Elizabeth is hardly worth it. I was less than pleased with how her relationship with Bess turned out by the end of the book, however.

Our romantic lead, Edward, was hot and cold to me. And when I finally began to like him, things took a turn for the worse and then I really wanted to drown him in the Irish sea by his home. He redeems himself, as he must, of course, for this romance to work, and by the end of it I felt better disposed towards him.

Overall I thought the book was very interesting, though it forcibly reminded me why I am glad for the modern convenience of toothpaste and toothbrush; the thought of scraping my teeth with tree bark sent goose bumps up my arms.

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to DNF. The dialogue was so stilted, the characters so shallow, I just couldn't continue. It was like reading a young persons first attempt at writing, which is fine, but it's not publishable. The logic was so absent it was laughable.

[T.A. Burke]

DNF the Kindle Sample

[Giulia Vasquez · Rating 1 out of 5]

the author deliberately wrote the character to be stupid to the point of being annoying ...

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn' t get how marriage contract problem solved at the end and he did not grovel enough but it was a good read and heroine' s idiocy was normal due to her age.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written but MMC was super abusive mentally and it was disproportionate

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard, decent story

Not a bad story, but a little sterile except for angst of a teen protagonist. Decent read but not worth the inflated price