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I'd never read Jane Feather before but she's written quite a few novels and after reading this one, I'll have to pick up a few more.

It appears that Jane Feather, like Amanda Quick, chooses heroines that are "strong and independent" and that "want no man to control them" and for the most part that's fine but it can be boring if they don't make the plot become something more than just that.

In 'Almost a Bride' Jane Feather did manage to add a few twists to this typical story of an old maid Arabella (a lady of twenty and eight) and the roguish Jack.

It starts with Jack and Arabella's brother Frederick playing a game of cards and Frederick betting the farm so to speak and all objects on it, animate and inanimate (i.e., Arabella just got screwed). Of course, with a set up like that you know Frederick is going to lose.

Jack has a proposal for Arabella: marriage or out in the cold she goes. She fights him and defiantly wants nothing to do with him and then concedes.

The underlying plot here is that Jack has a secret reason for wanting Frederick dead and wanting control over Arabella. It's hinted at initially but is finally fully disclosed and it's exactly what you thought it would be.

The story moves quickly through time and the entire book covers a year or so, two years if you include the epilogue (roughly). It was fairly predictable in parts but an enjoyable read overall.

What I disliked about it was how quickly Jack was tamed. He went into this intent on being his normal self through the marriage because he didn't like much less LOVE Arabella and yet he was completely cowed from the start. It was very disconcerting that there was no fight in him against what he was going through. I had a hard time with this aspect of the story because it made him feel so insincere and that made me not want to sympathize with him at all.

Arabella was played out nicely but she was the spitfire in the story and had her own agenda and successfully carried it all and fell in love with the hero to boot.

It reminded me a lot of the Amanda Quick books in that they have two unlikely pairs, neither of them wanting to marry, and then they fall in love. It has its good points and bad.

On the whole it was an enjoyable read and I did appreciate Jane Feather's use of language and historical accuracy. She didn't fall victim to using the same tired phrases and situations.

I'd probably give this a B-/C+ grade if I had to grade. It was written very well (grammatically) and while I disagreed with some things, I wouldn't hesitate to offer it to someone else to read.

We've had a discussion here on this forum about the romance character archetypes.

It's very interesting.

I personally get tired of characters that are too predictable.