What do you think?
Rate this book
The Necessary Series #2
A Necessary Bride
When a self-made American man and a most proper English lady meet in Regency London, it's a total clash - and attraction - of opposites.
Audible Audio
First published February 25, 2003
About the author
Debra Mullins
23 books134 followers(from website)I hate writing bios. They always seem so cut and dried. But you came to my website to learn more about me, so here goes.
I’m the oldest of four sisters, and we are full-blooded Irish on our father’s side. Oh, and our house had one bathroom. If you have any questions about where I got my flair for drama, just imagine that scenario on a Saturday night when four teen-aged girls need to get ready for their dates all at the same time.
‘Nuff said.
So, I am the writer in the family, though I always had a secret dream to be a torch singer. You know, like Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys. My voice is OK, but the only place I feel comfortable singing is in the shower, so that was out. Besides, my sister Kate would kill me. She’s the singer in the family. Seriously, she sang at Carnegie Hall once (yeah, as part of a choir and with the orchestra and a bunch of other people, but Carnegie Hall! How many people can say that and be telling the truth?)
Anyway, I settled on writer and left the singing to Kate. My other two sisters are both artists, and no, they don’t have anything in the Louvre, but my sister Christine paints her house constantly, always changing the décor in her kids’ rooms. So you see? Creative impetus will out, and there’s no stopping it. Better to just give in and have the chocolate standing by for those moments of Artistic Frustration.
After giving up my torch singer aspirations (but before I fully accepted that I am A Writer) I gave serious thought to a practical career. The term “starving artist” was not conceived out of whimsy, you know, and I did have a fondness for food and shelter. So, soon after high school, I considered a career as a simultaneous interpreter for the UN.
I heard you giggle. Yes, I did. So let me clarify by adding that I have a gift for languages and had already taken several years of Spanish, French and Italian by the time I graduated high school, AND I had done the exchange thing in France, where I lived for a summer with a family, speaking nothing but French. So there.
Ahem. Anyway, in order to be a simultaneous interpreter, you need to know five languages. I had four under my belt (since I do know grammar and punctuation, I consider English the fourth language). I just had to learn one more language.
But that never happened. I chose True Love over College, then got married and started a family young.
Yes, you can laugh now.
Anyway, years pass. I gave in to my natural tendency to be a storyteller and started working on the one thing I had ever finished—a hand-written, 100 page “novel” about a Spanish pirate that I had completed in junior high. As an adult, I still felt there was a story there. That novel evolved into my first published work, ONCE A MISTRESS (Written in English, though my pirate does say cool Spanish words like mi amor and mi querida. Sigh. Swoon!) In 1996, ONCE A MISTRESS was a finalist in the prestigious Golden Heart competition run by Romance Writers of America. Two years later—OK, on January 26, 1998 at 4:06PM—Avon Books called and offered to publish my opus.
So there you go. I’ve written eight more books since then, often utilizing my knowledge of other languages for flavor. I visited the old West with DONOVAN’S BED and THE LAWMAN’S SURRENDER. (Oh, and DONOVAN’S BED was a finalist for RWA’s RITA Award for Best Short Historical in 2001, which is like an Oscar nomination in the land of romance writing. How cool is that?) Then I visited the Regency era. I won the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award for Best Historical (2003) with A NECESSARY BRIDE. In 2005, THREE NIGHTS… was nominated for Best Historical Romance in competition for Virginia Romance Writers’ prestigious Holt Medallion.
All of my Regency historicals have been optioned as featured selections by Doubleday Book Club and Rhapsody Book Club. My books have also been translated into Hungarian, Russian, and Portuguese f
I’m the oldest of four sisters, and we are full-blooded Irish on our father’s side. Oh, and our house had one bathroom. If you have any questions about where I got my flair for drama, just imagine that scenario on a Saturday night when four teen-aged girls need to get ready for their dates all at the same time.
‘Nuff said.
So, I am the writer in the family, though I always had a secret dream to be a torch singer. You know, like Michelle Pfeiffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys. My voice is OK, but the only place I feel comfortable singing is in the shower, so that was out. Besides, my sister Kate would kill me. She’s the singer in the family. Seriously, she sang at Carnegie Hall once (yeah, as part of a choir and with the orchestra and a bunch of other people, but Carnegie Hall! How many people can say that and be telling the truth?)
Anyway, I settled on writer and left the singing to Kate. My other two sisters are both artists, and no, they don’t have anything in the Louvre, but my sister Christine paints her house constantly, always changing the décor in her kids’ rooms. So you see? Creative impetus will out, and there’s no stopping it. Better to just give in and have the chocolate standing by for those moments of Artistic Frustration.
After giving up my torch singer aspirations (but before I fully accepted that I am A Writer) I gave serious thought to a practical career. The term “starving artist” was not conceived out of whimsy, you know, and I did have a fondness for food and shelter. So, soon after high school, I considered a career as a simultaneous interpreter for the UN.
I heard you giggle. Yes, I did. So let me clarify by adding that I have a gift for languages and had already taken several years of Spanish, French and Italian by the time I graduated high school, AND I had done the exchange thing in France, where I lived for a summer with a family, speaking nothing but French. So there.
Ahem. Anyway, in order to be a simultaneous interpreter, you need to know five languages. I had four under my belt (since I do know grammar and punctuation, I consider English the fourth language). I just had to learn one more language.
But that never happened. I chose True Love over College, then got married and started a family young.
Yes, you can laugh now.
Anyway, years pass. I gave in to my natural tendency to be a storyteller and started working on the one thing I had ever finished—a hand-written, 100 page “novel” about a Spanish pirate that I had completed in junior high. As an adult, I still felt there was a story there. That novel evolved into my first published work, ONCE A MISTRESS (Written in English, though my pirate does say cool Spanish words like mi amor and mi querida. Sigh. Swoon!) In 1996, ONCE A MISTRESS was a finalist in the prestigious Golden Heart competition run by Romance Writers of America. Two years later—OK, on January 26, 1998 at 4:06PM—Avon Books called and offered to publish my opus.
So there you go. I’ve written eight more books since then, often utilizing my knowledge of other languages for flavor. I visited the old West with DONOVAN’S BED and THE LAWMAN’S SURRENDER. (Oh, and DONOVAN’S BED was a finalist for RWA’s RITA Award for Best Short Historical in 2001, which is like an Oscar nomination in the land of romance writing. How cool is that?) Then I visited the Regency era. I won the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf Award for Best Historical (2003) with A NECESSARY BRIDE. In 2005, THREE NIGHTS… was nominated for Best Historical Romance in competition for Virginia Romance Writers’ prestigious Holt Medallion.
All of my Regency historicals have been optioned as featured selections by Doubleday Book Club and Rhapsody Book Club. My books have also been translated into Hungarian, Russian, and Portuguese f
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 12, 2021
Fun and engaging regency romance
4 stars
Justin St James, the new Earl of Rathmore, has returned to England after a period of exile for a murder he didn't commit. Barely tolerated by Society - Justin vows to clear his name for the sake of his ward.
Sprited American Meg Stanton-Lynch is the darling of the ton and yet she doesn't care what people think of her, or her friendship with the Earl.
Marriage to Meg would be Justin's ticket back in to Society yet Meg longs to experience life before she shackles herself to any man for the rest of her days. So Justin - at the same time as clearing his name, finding the real killer and looking after his wild ward - will just have to convince her that they belong together.
This book centres around Meg, Garret from A Necessary Husband's sister. Although the two books are connected - you don't need to have read one to understand and appreciate the other.
This book was a enjoyable, engaging romance story with good and interesting characters. Meg is the high-spirited, feisty American but she never comes across as a stereotype and is aware and abides by the rules of Society. Justin is the tortured hero who can't help but desire Meg but is uneasy about how much he actually needs her. The pair are an excellent couple and I loved their interactions.
While being a fun book, I did have a few issues with it that stopped it from getting fully five stars. Firstly, there were some subplots that I would have like to see tied up such as the ward, Emily, and what became of her. And Meg seemed to be unsure of her reasons for not marrying. She didn't come across as the intelligent heroine I would expect from a Debra Mullins novel. She was lovely and smart - but I got exasperated with her once or twice!
There is a slight mystery to this book but that is purely a minor subplot to the romance and you figure out fairly quickly who the real murderer was. As the book doesn't focus on the mystery - this isn't too much of a disappointment.
If you're looking for a well-written and entertaining romance then you can't go wrong with this book. Debra Mullins is becoming a favourite author and despite this book's minor flaws it's still one I would recommend. 4 stars.
March 5, 2013
Disappointing. The heroine was so annoying, constantly wavering between believing the hero killed his cousin's fiancee and believing him to be innocent.I actually liked the hero but I just couldn't see what he saw in her, and that's what kills the romance for me. At least it was from the library, never again.
March 4, 2017
Description here on Goodreads is all wrong. It should reads something more like: American Meg Lynch came to England to get to know her grandfather and to experience a London Season. He's promised her she can marry whomever she wants, but she isn't so keen to marry. Having been left by her brother as a child, Meg is not thrilled at the idea of marrying an English husband, who are known for leaving their wives out in the country and living their separate lives. Meg won't settle for that. Even though she finds herself intrigued with Lord Rathmore, whom the gossip mills claim is a murderer, Meg refuses to entertain ideas of marrying him. Even though Justin, Lord Rathmore is both vulnerable and taciturn and all the more endearing for his desperate attempts to help his 12-year-old ward, Meg will not marry him. Even though she gives him her virginity and falls in love with him, Meg will not cave. First, she needs to know that she won't lose herself in a marriage and even then she won't marry him until he loves her... and she doesn't care who else her decisions affect.
Meg was beyond frustrating if that wasn't evident from my description of the book. Rathmore was pretty damn delightful but there towards the end reached a level of obtuse that seemed forced. Meg, who actually managed to be engaging at first, turned into a right stubborn and idiotic woman there after she had sex. No matter who it hurt, no matter the damage her decision not to marry Justin did, Meg up and down refused to marry him because of her own selfishness. What was really frustrating though was this endless conversation:
Meg: "No, I won't marry you until you love me."
Rathmore: "I don't understand what you want!"
Meg: "If you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you. By the way I want you to love me."
Rathmore: "Why won't you marry me?!? What do I have to do?"
This is also somewhat convoluted since Meg actually doesn't want Rathmore to love her because then she'd have to accept his proposal...since then he'd meet her requirements and apparently she doesn't actually want to marry at all. So she's lying to him. This is then made all the more frustrating, when, after Meg has finally realized what a selfish cow she's been in hurling Rathmore's honor back in his face and destroying her family (who are pretty much hypocrites by the way) and Rathmore more or less says, "Thank goodness that's settled, I love you so much." Reference above conversation to really feel the burn of that statement. I think I respected him more when he simply said that "love would come with time." Because at this point I can't figure out if he loved her all along and simply didn't realize it (even though that's what she said she wanted) or if he only realized it when she finally said yes. My brain hurts trying to figure these people out.
Loved Rathmore though, really. He really was a nice hero.
Meg was beyond frustrating if that wasn't evident from my description of the book. Rathmore was pretty damn delightful but there towards the end reached a level of obtuse that seemed forced. Meg, who actually managed to be engaging at first, turned into a right stubborn and idiotic woman there after she had sex. No matter who it hurt, no matter the damage her decision not to marry Justin did, Meg up and down refused to marry him because of her own selfishness. What was really frustrating though was this endless conversation:
Meg: "No, I won't marry you until you love me."
Rathmore: "I don't understand what you want!"
Meg: "If you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you. By the way I want you to love me."
Rathmore: "Why won't you marry me?!? What do I have to do?"
This is also somewhat convoluted since Meg actually doesn't want Rathmore to love her because then she'd have to accept his proposal...since then he'd meet her requirements and apparently she doesn't actually want to marry at all. So she's lying to him. This is then made all the more frustrating, when, after Meg has finally realized what a selfish cow she's been in hurling Rathmore's honor back in his face and destroying her family (who are pretty much hypocrites by the way) and Rathmore more or less says, "Thank goodness that's settled, I love you so much." Reference above conversation to really feel the burn of that statement. I think I respected him more when he simply said that "love would come with time." Because at this point I can't figure out if he loved her all along and simply didn't realize it (even though that's what she said she wanted) or if he only realized it when she finally said yes. My brain hurts trying to figure these people out.
Loved Rathmore though, really. He really was a nice hero.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2014
This book is one of the worst offenders I've ever seen in the category of 'stick a modern, liberated woman in an historical setting and wave away all the very real, social, legal and political limitations on women as mere mosquitoe buzzes, easily overcome by a little 'spunkiness'- and pretend attitudes, beliefs and behavior always have and always will be shaped by the same forces that shaped you'. Granted that characters who really and fully represented their time would not be very engaging to modern readers, still there has to be a happy medium. Historical writers really have to feel SOME obligation to find a plausible explanation for behavior and beliefs entirely out of step with the time they're writing about. And no, "But I'm an American" doesn't do it. American women of the time were no more sexually liberated than the English- perhaps LESS. As for the heroine being a pioneer abstract painter- oh, please- give me a break!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2013
Started off okay but went way downhill.
August 19, 2014
The plot is a blend of murder/mystery and Regency era romance.
There is also a very subtle hint of the fairytale: "Beauty and the Beast."
There is also a very subtle hint of the fairytale: "Beauty and the Beast."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews