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The Runaway Bride
Damsel in distress…or veiled threat?
Bernadette Morgan left her cheating fiancé moments before they were supposed to marry in the society wedding of the year. Now she's stuck in Runt River, Ohio, with a broken-down car and a tattered wedding dress. All she wants is a place to hide. But what she finds are a handsome mechanic, a little boy and family secrets that could change everything. Because the toddler Liam Wilson's raising is actually her cousin's child. And she'll do anything to protect him from her politically ambitious family, even if that means rejecting the possibility of love with Liam…
Bernadette Morgan left her cheating fiancé moments before they were supposed to marry in the society wedding of the year. Now she's stuck in Runt River, Ohio, with a broken-down car and a tattered wedding dress. All she wants is a place to hide. But what she finds are a handsome mechanic, a little boy and family secrets that could change everything. Because the toddler Liam Wilson's raising is actually her cousin's child. And she'll do anything to protect him from her politically ambitious family, even if that means rejecting the possibility of love with Liam…
- GenresContemporary Romance
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published June 6, 2017
5 people are currently reading
412 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Johns
168 books362 followersPublishers Weekly bestselling author Patricia Johns writes sweet romance. She lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and son.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 14 reviews
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April 2, 2023Oh my goodness, just too sad for me. I couldn't take the little boy crying for his mother one more time. Heroine's parents were just the cherry on top.
June 2, 2017
3.75 stars
I liked the way it was written, and the characters are going to be memorable for sure. The story would make an excellent Hallmark movie and definitely provides plenty of feel-good quiet love. Bernadette's character arc in particular is engaging...from pampered, almost "royal" bride to a desperate woman running from the corruption she sees, with an instinctive horror. It instantly raises the question—how'd she manage not to lose the conscience these people lack so much?
Things get even more interesting when her classic Rolls breaks down in the small town where her mostly-forgotten aunt lives (the aunt who also had a conscience and ran away from the life of privilege and power and corruption a generation ago). The garage owner, Liam, is glad to help her out...this disheveled, desperate lost bride. But pretty quickly the tables turn, and she's the one helping Liam with his new son, his estranged wife's legacy to him at her death—the darling two-year-old Ike, product of the wife's affair.
I will say that some of the themes could be a bit adult (cheating spouses, illegitimate children), but in the end the book is clean, except for one instance of a "minor" swear. (Which was totally dispensable, but...oh well.) It's evident that Liam and Bernadette have a pure relationship, though there are some pretty good kisses. I especially liked that it wasn't squishy-sensual. Yes, he's handsome and she's pretty, but they aren't ogling each other in gross ways, if you get my drift. :)
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.
I liked the way it was written, and the characters are going to be memorable for sure. The story would make an excellent Hallmark movie and definitely provides plenty of feel-good quiet love. Bernadette's character arc in particular is engaging...from pampered, almost "royal" bride to a desperate woman running from the corruption she sees, with an instinctive horror. It instantly raises the question—how'd she manage not to lose the conscience these people lack so much?
Things get even more interesting when her classic Rolls breaks down in the small town where her mostly-forgotten aunt lives (the aunt who also had a conscience and ran away from the life of privilege and power and corruption a generation ago). The garage owner, Liam, is glad to help her out...this disheveled, desperate lost bride. But pretty quickly the tables turn, and she's the one helping Liam with his new son, his estranged wife's legacy to him at her death—the darling two-year-old Ike, product of the wife's affair.
I will say that some of the themes could be a bit adult (cheating spouses, illegitimate children), but in the end the book is clean, except for one instance of a "minor" swear. (Which was totally dispensable, but...oh well.) It's evident that Liam and Bernadette have a pure relationship, though there are some pretty good kisses. I especially liked that it wasn't squishy-sensual. Yes, he's handsome and she's pretty, but they aren't ogling each other in gross ways, if you get my drift. :)
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.
June 11, 2017
Plot: 4/5
Characterisation: 3/5
Prose: 3/5
How much I enjoyed it: 4/5
Characterisation: 3/5
Prose: 3/5
How much I enjoyed it: 4/5
June 4, 2017
Bernadette Morgan, an heiress to a NY scion with political ambitions for his family, meets a car mechanic, Liam Wilson, when her Rolls-Royce breaks down shortly after she rumbles into the little town where her aunt lives. Thus begins a series of questions the reader is asked to find answers to, beginning with why Bernie has left her fiance at the altar (you can guess after what she sees he's doing with the woman he told her was an old flame, now burned out--not so much, I guess).
As if that wasn't enough, Liam is now caring for the little boy his late wife gave birth to after having an affair with Bernie's uncle, another sleezeball politician. Liam is coming to love the boy and while he's his official guardian, he fears that the biological father may take the boy away--if only to prevent his presence from becoming known to his continuents.
But the real meat of this story is the examination of relationships: specifically, the differences between foster care, adoption, and biological linkages. Liam was a foster kid and he knows and felt the difference between being a thrown-away kid and one who might have been adopted. Bernie thinks she was born into that wealth that has always surrounded her--until she discovers that she was, in fact, torn from her birth mother and adopted by that couple she has always thought were her parents.
Both Liam and Bernie want to protect little Ike from what Liam endured. But how can Bernadette, who was the reason Ike's now threatened, protect him and those unexpected feelings that she now has for Liam, and he for her?
This book kept me up all night with both the questions it raised, the answers it ultimately provided and the sensitivity with which it dealt with things so very close to the current political situation many of us are now watching unfold. A great story.
As if that wasn't enough, Liam is now caring for the little boy his late wife gave birth to after having an affair with Bernie's uncle, another sleezeball politician. Liam is coming to love the boy and while he's his official guardian, he fears that the biological father may take the boy away--if only to prevent his presence from becoming known to his continuents.
But the real meat of this story is the examination of relationships: specifically, the differences between foster care, adoption, and biological linkages. Liam was a foster kid and he knows and felt the difference between being a thrown-away kid and one who might have been adopted. Bernie thinks she was born into that wealth that has always surrounded her--until she discovers that she was, in fact, torn from her birth mother and adopted by that couple she has always thought were her parents.
Both Liam and Bernie want to protect little Ike from what Liam endured. But how can Bernadette, who was the reason Ike's now threatened, protect him and those unexpected feelings that she now has for Liam, and he for her?
This book kept me up all night with both the questions it raised, the answers it ultimately provided and the sensitivity with which it dealt with things so very close to the current political situation many of us are now watching unfold. A great story.
March 1, 2021
I enjoyed reading this book. It's not listed as a clean romance but it is. There was no sex and only light kissing. There were some adult themes like cheating and an illegitimate child but I've seen those in clean/Christian books.
Bernadette is an interesting character. She's a spoiled and pampered Manhattan socialite heiress with a Harvard degree. She is a little annoying with her whole "I can't give up all my wealth and privilege because what will I do with myself waaaaaaa!" nonsense. She has a HARVARD degree, that's not exactly useless. In spite of her growth arch in this book, I lowered a star rating because of this. Seriously, a Harvard degree, and she's acting like she's out of options.
Liam is a character with a heart of gold. He's trying to raise the child that his deceased estranged wife had with another man. He cares about others and wants to do the right thing. He also fights for what he wants. I liked that he didn't take the high road like some characters do in these types of book and just let Bernadette just walk away. He fought to convince her to stay.
I had to lower another star because of the whole message this book tried to tell in regards to politics and political parties. I don't care about that and it annoyed me. The author should have left the party name out of it and just said it was a politician. I've read several books that featured unsavory politicians and the authors never stated which party. It felt as if the author was trying to score points and I rated this book accordingly for that.
If not for the whole Harvard thing and the political party, this would have been a 5-star rating for me. It's a pity that the author chose to ruin an otherwise amazing book this way. I doubt I'll be reading another book by this author. I'm not a fan of petty point scoring.
Bernadette is an interesting character. She's a spoiled and pampered Manhattan socialite heiress with a Harvard degree. She is a little annoying with her whole "I can't give up all my wealth and privilege because what will I do with myself waaaaaaa!" nonsense. She has a HARVARD degree, that's not exactly useless. In spite of her growth arch in this book, I lowered a star rating because of this. Seriously, a Harvard degree, and she's acting like she's out of options.
Liam is a character with a heart of gold. He's trying to raise the child that his deceased estranged wife had with another man. He cares about others and wants to do the right thing. He also fights for what he wants. I liked that he didn't take the high road like some characters do in these types of book and just let Bernadette just walk away. He fought to convince her to stay.
I had to lower another star because of the whole message this book tried to tell in regards to politics and political parties. I don't care about that and it annoyed me. The author should have left the party name out of it and just said it was a politician. I've read several books that featured unsavory politicians and the authors never stated which party. It felt as if the author was trying to score points and I rated this book accordingly for that.
If not for the whole Harvard thing and the political party, this would have been a 5-star rating for me. It's a pity that the author chose to ruin an otherwise amazing book this way. I doubt I'll be reading another book by this author. I'm not a fan of petty point scoring.
May 29, 2017
What a solid story. Liam's and Bernie's romance warmed my heart. The author allowed their love to build--and it felt realistic--even though it was a short amount of time. Things started off rocky for Bernie but she came into her own. So many themes resonate in this read: family, forgiveness are two. It looks at the question of family and shows how love can stretch that parameter. The backstories and other characters added conflict and depth to the tale. I understood the couple's struggle and rooted for them on their path to happy-ever-after.
There were some great lines in this read:
"He was man enough to love a woman with his whole heart, but he was also man enough to let her go, and to deal with the pain on his own."
"...life doesn't give you many chances to follow your heart, and the rest of your life is an awfully long time to go without the man you love."
There were some great lines in this read:
"He was man enough to love a woman with his whole heart, but he was also man enough to let her go, and to deal with the pain on his own."
"...life doesn't give you many chances to follow your heart, and the rest of your life is an awfully long time to go without the man you love."
June 1, 2017
I wish I could have loved this book but I gave up a few pages in the first chapter because mainly I hate triangles. For me, I like my fictional romances to have Hero & Heroine be the only loves. I loath books in which Hero or Heroine is obsessed with an ex. In this book, it's Liam that I could not get on board. His wife, Lianne, had an affair with Bernadette's cousin and had a baby boy. They were separated for three years and never got a divorce so Liam ends up "inheriting" his wife's kid. For me that did it. The author lost me and I could not read any further. I didn't mind Bernadette's history with her e because she as clearly never in love with him and wasn't heartbroken. The same cannot be said with hero, therefore H/h's romance (if you can call it that) was not believable.
August 3, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. Imagine its your wedding day and you see something that makes you walk from your own wedding. You leave in your wedding dress and a vintage 1959 Rolls Royce. You have no idea were to go then you decide to go to visit Your aunt that everyone talks about but you have never met. This is what Bernadette did. She saw her fiancee in away no one ever wants to see. So she left on her own terms. She ends up in Runt River, Ohio to meet her Aunt Lucille for the first time. But first she meets Liam because her Rolls has problems and he owns the only Garage in the area. There are secrets that are to be found out and Bernadette family is a power family can she protect the people she's come to love? J
June 4, 2017
Loved this story of a privileged American princess who discovers minutes before her wedding that her groom is cheating on her. She decides to flee, a reaction that doesn't sit well with her family and their political aspirations. She runs to an aunt, the black sheep of the family, and stumbles into the life of her aunt's neighbor who is trying to do the right thing about an orphaned (sort-of) two-year-old. The child is adorable, and so are the main characters in this reverse Cinderella story. This one left me smiling.
June 20, 2017
BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY!
A actual superb read! I am not a fan of contemporary however, after this read, I need to write this author on my list of keep track of! I had only one tiny gripe....... The fiance and his comeuppance! Other than that.... A super engaging read. Complex at times, layers that you cannot imagine and surprises that you can not believe! Passionate and compassionate, and truly gripping! I was given this book in return for an honest review. Anna Swedenmom
A actual superb read! I am not a fan of contemporary however, after this read, I need to write this author on my list of keep track of! I had only one tiny gripe....... The fiance and his comeuppance! Other than that.... A super engaging read. Complex at times, layers that you cannot imagine and surprises that you can not believe! Passionate and compassionate, and truly gripping! I was given this book in return for an honest review. Anna Swedenmom
July 8, 2020
Wow, I love this story, capativing and intriguing from beginning to ending...Bernie Morgan, our main character was strong, fierce, and determine to find her true self and abandon everything, including her lying deceitful family and their millions, to seek happiness! Liam was honest, hard working, and compassionate soul mate, who stood by her side and was not afraid of the Morgan's fortune. This book would make an excellent movie....highly recommended!
February 27, 2018
The Runaway Bride was a fun book and I loved Ike, he was so adorable! Liam was hot and I enjoyed reading this story. I like reading stories with rugged men like Liam.
February 27, 2018
The Runaway Bride was a really fun and interesting story with great characters and unexpected plot twists that keep the readers attention and draw you into the story. I enjoyed getting to know all the characters and watch how they developed as well as all the different relationships. I loved Ike and thought he was really cute and had a lot of fun watching Liam try to navigate becoming a father for Ike as well as seeing Bernie blend into their makeshift family throughout the story. This was the first book from the Harlequin Heartwarming Imprint that I have read and I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more both from this author and this Imprint in the future.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 14 reviews