[Review] - Midnight's Budding Morrow by Carolyn Miller

Available on Kindle and Paperback. 

About the Series 

While most stories set in Regency England focus on the rich, the young, and the beautiful, award-winning author Carolyn Miller decided she wanted to give readers something different for a change. Her new Regency Wallflowers series follows the commoners, away from the hustle and bustle of 1810s London, out in the Lake District of England. She tells the stories of women who are slightly older and have few prospects for marriage, women who might be considered “wallflowers.”

Midnight’s Budding Morrow is the second book in the Regency Wallflowers series. The first book in the series is Dusk’s Darkest Shores.

About the Book

Sarah Drayton is eager to spend time with her best friend at her crumbling Northumberland castle estate. Matrimony is the last thing on her mind and the last thing she expects to be faced with on a holiday. Yet she finds herself being inveigled into a marriage of convenience with her friend's rakish brother.

When James Langley returns to his family's estate, he can't be bothered to pay attention to his responsibilities as the heir. War is raging and he wants only distraction, not serious tethers. But his roguish ways have backed him into a corner, and he has little choice but to obey his father's stunning decree: marry before returning to war, or else. Suddenly he finds himself wedded to a clever and capable woman he does not love.

Sarah craves love and a place to belong, neither of which James offered before returning to the battlefront. Now everyone around her thinks she married above her station, and they have no intention of rewarding her for such impertinence. It isn't until her husband returns from war seemingly changed that she begins to hope they may find real happiness. But can she trust that this rake has truly reformed?

When tragedy strikes, this pair must learn to trust God and his plans. Will they be destroyed . . . or will they discover that even in the darkest depths of night, the morning still holds hope?

My Review

I fell in love with Midnight's Budding Morrow's cover from the getgo. Why? It reminds me of the old Gothic romance covers from the '60s and '70s. (No, I'm not that old. These books were way before my time.) I don't know if it was intentional, but the descriptions throughout Midnight's Budding Morrow (and its predecessor, Dusk's Darkest Shores) have more of a Gothic feel than a Regency vibe.

I connected with Sarah Drayton by the end of the first chapter, but it took me a while to like James Langley. I don't have an explanation as to why, besides the fact that James comes across as a cliched love interest. Yes, I'm fully aware that this is a romance, and every protagonist needs a love interest, but James comes across as nothing more than an alcoholic. Well, at least in the beginning, that's all he is. As the story moved further along, the character changed, and eventually, I tolerated him. 

As for the marriage of convenience story, it was better than what I anticipated it to be. Yeah, I've read several similar romance books, and they can get stale after a while. I'm glad to say I didn't have that problem with Midnight's Budding Morrow. 

Besides some character nitpicking, I did enjoy reading Midnight's Budding Morrow.

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About the Author

Carolyn Miller is an inspirational romance author who lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children.

A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English literature and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. She enjoys music, films, gardens, art, travel, and food.

Miller’s novels have won a number of RWA and ACFW contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers.

Learn more about Carolyn at www.carolynmillerauthor.com, or find her on Facebook (Carolyn Miller Author), Instagram (@CarolynMillerAuthor), and Twitter (@CarolynMAuthor).