Cover Image: Wedded Bliss

Wedded Bliss

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Bliss Worthington has been living in the country with her guardian all her life. Though her parents are alive, their busy lives are centered in London, and they only come to visit her occasionally. Upon her guardian's death, Bliss comes to town to stay with her cousins, the eccentric and quirky Worthington family. Because of her abandonment by her parents, Bliss is very cognizant of being left alone. She has a strong desire to build her own family, one with a solid husband who will never leave her. Bliss finds just such a man in her dear friend, Neville, Duke of Camberton. As their friendship grows, Bliss begins to plan their marriage, even though she feels only affection, not a deep, abiding love. As a duke, Neville will always stay put to manage his estates, and his sweet and amiable nature will surely lead to love down the road.

Morgan Pryce is a sea captain, the illegitimate son of a duke, and Neville's older half brother. He is fully acknowledged by Neville, and the two share a deep friendship and love, something rare in Morgan's life. When Morgan is contacted by their Uncle Oliver, and advised that a scheming harpy is trying to trick Neville into marriage, he is only too willing to help. Especially since, if he succeeds, Oliver will supply him with a ship of his own, his lifelong dream. Oliver has been intercepting letters sent by Bliss to Neville, and has all the details of the wedding plans. Since Morgan and Neville look so much alike, Oliver plans to put Morgan in place as the bridegroom. Though this seems farfetched, it's actually very cleverly done.

When Bliss realizes that she's been tricked, she demands an annulment. Of course, Morgan doesn't agree, he's eager to consummate the marriage, collect his prize, and head off to sea again. Bliss, realizing that Morgan thinks her a fortune hunter, decides to prove him wrong by showing what a good wife she'll be. She turns his spare and uninviting living quarters into a home, cooks appetizing meals, and treats him with dignity. What she doesn't do is go to bed with him - that would cancel out any chance of annulment. Though they think the worst of each other, Bliss and Morgan can't deny that they greatly desire one another, and it's getting harder to resist temptation.

Of course, the marriage greatly hurts Neville, who is very fond of Bliss. While he hadn't yet thought of marriage, he would have gone along with Bliss. Now his anger and hurt are directed at his brother, who he thinks a traitor, and the close bond of love and friendship appears to be severed. Neither Morgan nor Neville has yet recognized their scheming Uncle Oliver for the evil dirtbag that he truly is.

WEDDED BLISS is such a well written, captivating book. While I dearly love Morgan, and felt great sympathy for his lot in life, I also was very fond of Neville, who seemed to me deserving of his own happy ending. If the marriage gets annulled, what will happen to Morgan? If Morgan and Bliss stay together, how will she realize her goal of having a mate who's always with her when her husband is gone off to sea most of the time? Will Morgan and Neville reconcile? Will sleazy Uncle Oliver get his comeuppance?

I loved reading this book, and the glimpses of the screwball Worthington family only added to my enjoyment. Aside from the situation in which Bliss finally succumbs to the charms of one of her suitors, which I found unappealing, this book delivers on all fronts. (You'll have to read the book to see who she ends up with.) Characters to love, (and hate)an interesting and fast paced plot, page turning excitement, and scorching chemistry make WEDDED BLISS a pure delight, with a happy ever after for all. All who deserve one, that is.

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Oh, how I love the Worthingtons! There’s no way I can adequately express how much I enjoy Celeste Bradley’s Worthington series featuring this utterly unique and wonderful family. Every book has been an absolute pleasure, and I am grateful there are more unmarried Worthingtons for the continuation of this must-read series.

Wedded Bliss features Bliss Worthington, who is actually a cousin of the tight-knit clan but loved as if she is a sister. She grew up in the country with a guardian after her parents left her there, and she came to live with the Worthingtons after her guardian passed away. Now she is of marriageable age, and her top requirement in a potential husband is stability, because she wants someone who isn’t going to leave as her parents did. Bliss finds the ideal candidate in Lord Neville Danton, Duke of Camberton.

Neville’s uncle isn’t thrilled with Bliss and tries to prevent their courtship; therefore, she takes matters into her own hands and arranges a secret midnight wedding with Neville, but Neville's uncle found about her plan. He bribes Neville's bastard half-brother, Morgan Pryce, to stop the wedding by marrying Bliss himself, and this is how she ends up married to Morgan and not Neville. Morgan is a sea captain and has been promised a ship from his uncle. He is also protective of his brother and believes he is saving him from a money-grubbing, title-hungry harpy.

Bliss isn't happy she’s been tricked, and she’s not thrilled to meet her new husband. He’s exactly the type of man she wanted to avoid - one who leaves. He also has a surly temperament and believes the worst about her, and she’s determined to get out of this marriage. But Morgan is just as determined to stay wed.

Bliss is very beautiful with a sunny, serene temperament. She’s fairly unflappable, and everyone who meets her loves her. People want to make her happy; therefore, she’s shocked when Morgan resists her. Well, he tries to resist her and tries to stay grouchy and not like her, but it’s difficult to resist Bliss. I fell in love with Morgan, and I love the dynamic between them.

Wedded Bliss is such a fun read; it will keep you entertained from the first page to the last. The Worthingtons will make you laugh, and Morgan and Bliss will have you smiling and sighing. There is not much not to love about Wedded Bliss, and I highly recommend it. - Keeper Shelf Book Blog

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As a ship’s captain, highborn bastard Morgan Pryce has spent his life sailing away from England. The last thing he needs is a wife. But when he fears that his titled half brother, Neville, is about to be snared by a gold digger, Morgan aims to protect Neville by tricking the lovely crook into marrying him first. He knows he can't allow himself to believe a word she says. If only she weren’t so convincing....

Determined beauty Bliss Worthington is not terribly fond of finding another man waiting for her at the altar—after all, no one tricks a Worthington and gets away with it. Somehow she must persuade her dangerously handsome new husband to grant her an annulment, because her heart is set on his brother.

Soon the newlyweds must deal with a secret but mutual attraction. Morgan finds himself oddly devastated by her tenderness and braveness. When Neville shows up to rescue her from a loveless marriage, she will have to quickly decide which man is the right one for her....

Bliss Worthington and Neville, Duke of Camberton, love each other. Bliss knows that Neville’s uncle is against their relationship so Bliss takes it upon herself to plan a clandestine wedding. She sent notes to Neville telling him of the plans and headed to the church the night of the wedding. Unfortunately her notes had been read by Neville’s uncle and not Neville. The uncle talked Neville’s half-brother, Morgan into taking Neville’s place at the wedding. He stated that Bliss was a manipulative gold digger and as Morgan loved his brother dearly and would do anything for him, he agreed.

Bliss is obviously heart-broken and distraught when she finds out that she’s married the wrong man. She tries to talk Morgan into an annulment but he won’t agree. She does all she can to talk him into it with no luck. Morgan just wants to consummate the marriage and move on. His uncle promised him that he would own the ship he’s been sailing for his brother’s fleet and he wants that more than anything.

As time goes on and Morgan gets to know Bliss he finds that she’s not the person that his uncle made her out to be. He starts to question his uncle and his motives and then starts to realize what he’s done to his brother. His guilt eats at him but he can’t feel too bad about the marriage as he falls in love with Bliss.

This was a very sweet story that I really enjoyed. I thought that Bliss was a lovely heroine and I admired her continued strength after everything she’d been through in her life. She kept her calm and just went on with life as best she could, despite the circumstances. She never planned on falling for Morgan – she thought she loved Neville! But as she gets to know Morgan and her feelings grow she realizes that she never truly loved Neville and probably would have been miserable with him. I loved the way the author wrote Bliss and the dawning realization of her feelings for Morgan – it was done well.

Morgan was the bastard son of a duke but his father had always treated him as a son and not someone he needed to forget about. He let his sons play together and as such the pair created a bond that Morgan thought was unbreakable. When he realized the mistake he had made in believing his uncle and marrying Bliss he felt horrible. The confrontation between Morgan and Neville was awesome and while it turned out well it kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened.

Overall I thought it was a lovely historical romance. While it’s the fifth book in the series I thought it was a great stand-alone. This was my first read by Bradley but it definitely won’t be my last.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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This was a very good book. I really appreciated finding out who the characters truly were and how it played in to the dynamic of their relationship. I don’t normally care if everyone (including minor characters) gets a happy ending if the ending fits the characters and their story, so I was very surprised and pleased that this author made it happen for all the characters in a way that didn’t make it obvious that she adjusted the story line right at the end of the book to make it happen. This is a book I look forward to reading again and adding to my collection.

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What’s it About? Ship captain Morgan Pryce is close to his half brother, Neville, the Duke of Camberton. The two couldn’t be more different, Morgan is all alpha, rough, dangerous, and illegitimate but his loyalty to his brother knows no bounds. So when he is told that Neville is about to be tricked into marriage by a heartless fortune hunter, Morgan doesn’t hesitate to help, by tricking her into marrying him instead! Bliss Worthington isn’t actually a fortune hunter but she’s determined to marry Neville and she’s not thrilled when she finds out she’s married Morgan instead. Still, she’s sure she can convince him to give her an annulment but there’s a pesky mutual attraction between them that keeps getting in the way of things.


Describe the hero in five words: Alpha. Stubborn. Proud. Charming. Loyal.

Did you like him? Yes.

Why? Morgan may have had the wrong idea about Bliss but he loved his brother dearly. In the eyes of society Morgan and Neville should have hated each other but they didn’t and they were more like brothers than half-brothers. Even when Neville believed that Morgan had betrayed him, Morgan still loved his brother. Morgan’s loyalty and willingness to sacrifice himself said a lot about him. He had his moments of being mean towards Bliss, believing her to be some kind of heartless seducer of men even as he started doubting what he had been told about her. He was super stubborn too! Even when he was seeing proof of Bliss’ character he refused to even contemplate that he was wrong about her, much less that he was falling for her. He did always make sure that Bliss was well cared for in terms of a roof over her head, food, and clothing. Around the halfway point he was amusing the heck out of me as he tortured himself with his growing feelings for Bliss and the nagging doubt that he was wrong about her. I couldn’t help it, he was so freaking sure that Bliss was this horrible person that I wanted him to suffer just a bit. And he did!



Describe the heroine in five words: Calm. Pragmatic. Kind. Intelligent. Strong.

Did you like her? She’s BFF material.

Why? The Worthingtons can be a little… Out there as characters but Bliss was the opposite. I loved how she handled her situation when she found out she was marrying the wrong man. Bliss wasn’t a hysterical, crying, screaming, over the top dramatic woman. She had this quiet strength that was so subtle you couldn’t tell she was getting her way until she already had her way. That was funny in itself because it was clear Morgan didn’t stand a chance against her and that was obvious in the first chapter. It seemed the more Morgan railed against her, the more serene Bliss became. Her calm nature drove Morgan insane and yes, I did take delight in that. She didn’t take Morgan’s crap though, she just knew a different, less obvious way to deal with him and get her point across. I loved her. She had her reasons for wanting to marry Morgan’s brother that really made me feel for her as a character and those reasons lead to a surprise twist about Bliss’ parentage that I did NOT see coming.



How convincing were the main characters as a couple? As a couple Morgan and Bliss don’t seem to have much in common except an inconvenient attraction to one another that ends up growing into something passionate, sweet, and good for both of them. At the very end it is revealed that these two actually did have something big in common and Morgan feels even worse for ever assuming that Bliss was a scheming fortune hunter looking for a title to marry. The growth of the relationship was one of the best I’ve seen because these two aren’t burning up the sheets together because Bliss wants an annulment so she refuses to consummate the marriage. Morgan being a gentleman won’t force her but he won’t let her go either so the two were kind of locked in a battle of wills for most of the book but at the same time they were getting to know each other without sex clouding things. It was different in a good way and I was rooting for them the whole way through. They just had that chemistry that was too good to pass up.



Is there a “Scooby Gang” worth mentioning? I said this before but the Worthingtons are out there when it comes to personalities. They’re weird in a charming, scatter brained way, and some are slightly dangerous (Attie, the youngest Worthington has a fascination with weapons and has shot at least one of her siblings). Almost all of them make an appearance in Wedded Bliss as they’re a very close knit family. Whenever they were in a scene with Bliss the difference between her and the rest of the rambunctious family was more prevalent. I think the reason I liked Bliss so much was because she wasn’t exactly like the rest of her family. Those Worthingtons can be a bit much to handle. I liked them but in small doses. I also grew to like Morgan’s brother Neville. He was a man-child but by the end he started to grow up and even found someone he could fall in love with and she definitely brought out the man in Neville.




Overall reaction to the story? I was instantly swept away by the opening lines of Wedded Bliss and thoroughly charmed by Morgan and Bliss’ love story. The muted longing between the two characters was so addictive that I read this book in less than two days. It definitely reminded me why I fell in love with Celeste Bradley’s books to begin with, particularly the Liar’s Club series.


Click It or Skip It? Click It. Morgan and Bliss are unforgettable characters that charmed the hell out of me and those Worthingtons are madness personified.

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This was my first Celeste Bradley and I will not be going back. From a writing point of view way too many characters with way too many exaggerated characteristics. Everyone seem extremely one-dimensional.

As a woman, I was appalled by every single interaction between the main characters, including the 'I liked her even when I thought the worst about her' bit that is supposed to be redeeming.

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I haven't read a good switched-at-the-altar romance trope in such a long time. Wedded Bliss was just what I need to fill the void. Morgan Pryce is the perfect regency hero. A Duke's bastard AND ship captain with a sad backstory? I mean come on, the fantasy writes itself. Then you have Bliss Worthington who is a surprising mix of beauty and strength. Plus, those bath tub scenes? Yes, please.

This is my first Celeste Bradley book, so I was pleasantly surprised by the layers of interweaving stories. This is not your straight forward regency romance and this time that's a good thing.

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I'm pretty sure Morgan doesn't really know what to think about his bride, "Morgan’s throat went dry as he let the facts settle. His wife wore a stiletto blade on her succulent thigh. His wife could fight off an attacker twice her size. His wife had a smile that could banish rational thought." I loved this book, Morgan and Bliss were well suited for each other, they drove one another bonkers.

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