Part of the I Read with Audra Tour
About the Book
Can real love grow between a wallflower and an unrepentant rogue?
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?
Click here to read an excerpt.
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.
My Impressions
“God is a Redeemer, One who turns the weak into the brave, who can use the broken ones to save.”
I cannot love Midnight’s Budding Morrow by Carolyn Miller enough. A Regency Romance, Midnight’s Budding Morrow explores themes of drunkenness; depression; plus, searching for acceptance and deep, forever love. Miller also presents the flip side. Redemption and forgiveness are centerpieces of this amazing novel I couldn’t read fast enough.
Unfortunately, the inferiority that plagues Sarah Drayton may be far too easy for many readers to identify with. James Langley’s behavior is also easy to imagine. Miller has done a great job of producing realistic, imperfect, and relatable characters, whose growth will depend upon whether their faith can rise to meet the challenges.
I loved the way that we see the maturation of both characters, as they grow into the roles they have been called to fulfill. Yet, both are imperfect, which drives the novel, along with the machinations of shrewd and conniving tertiary characters.
I could not read this book fast enough, yet I wanted to savor every word, every scene. And I ugly-cried. Books rarely make me cry. These people of Miller’s-for they are no longer merely characters on a page- will live on with me for some time. This novel hit every sweet spot in my requirements for memorable, top-of-its-category Regency Romance. Problems are impossibly deep, God’s Grace is deeper.
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I received a copy of the book from the I Read with Audra tour. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
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Notable Quotables:
“Nothing mattered. No one would remark on her absence. She was nothing. Nobody. Of no value. Of no importance. She was a failure. A failure as a wife. A failure as a mother. She had failed to be accepted.”
“God didn’t see her. He didn’t care. He hadn’t cared before, so why would He pay attention now?”
“Broken, but being healed by God.”
“It is most wonderful to see how God can restore the brokenhearted, and free those who have been bound to their pasts.”
“When we’re in the depths of midnight’s pain and darkness, we cannot see that God is still working goodness for tomorrow.”
My Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Magnificent!! This Regency Romance Catapulted to the top of my Top Ten Reads in 2022!!
About the Author
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).
Giveaway
Click the link below to enter the giveaway of Carolyn’s book, Midnight’s Budding Morrow!!
https://www.audrajennings.com/2022/05/win-copy-of-midnights-budding-morrow.html
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