Reading the title alone already gives an early sign of arranged marriage elements in the novel. True to the novel’s title, The Reluctant Bride tells us a modern-day story about an arranged marriage between two powerful families, which are the Lancaster and Constantine families. The MCs of this novel are Charlotte Lancaster and Perry Constantine.
We’ve seen lots of romance novels featuring scapegoats before while forgetting about the Golden Child. Perry, the Golden Child, has exposure in The Reluctant Bride novel. He may be his mom’s Golden Child, however, he has a weakness for Charlotte Lancaster, a woman whom he falls in love with.
Constant tugs-of-war between each MC’s feelings will be the common thing we find in The Reluctant Bride novel. By “tug-of-wars”, I meant those “I don’t want to marry this person vs.
I love this person so much till death” feelings throughout the chapters. We can say that the romantic scenes are slow-burnt, and we can feel the female MC’s attempts to get stronger to deal with her demanding husband.
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- Part 1: Meet The Characters Of The Reluctant Bride
- Part 2: Story Of The Reluctant Bride
- Part 3: Meet The Author Of The Reluctant Bride
Part 1: Meet The Characters Of The Reluctant Bride
Charlotte Lancaster
Charlotte is The Reluctant Bride of this novel, and she is also the female MC. Unlike the Golden Son in this novel, Charlotte is the forgotten daughter of the Lancaster family. In other words, she only exists as the family’s extension. Furthermore, Charlotte has recently broken up with her ex, so, embracing new steps in her romantic life is difficult for her.
From what I read in The Reluctant Bride book, the Lancaster and the Constantine families are the families who “trap” Charlotte into becoming a blushing bride for Perry’s “Golden Child” Constantine. At the same time, their contrasting personalities complement each other so well.
Perry Constantine
The Reluctant Bride may be a novel with lots of tug-of-feelings-war scenes between the characters. Nonetheless, no characters experience as intense internal and external dilemmas as Perry Constantine of the Constantine family.
In The Reluctant Bride, Perry is like Charlotte, who repeatedly goes from not wanting to marry another person to wishing to get closer to the significant other. In addition, his personality has also been conflicted since the first few chapters of the novel: He appears as the life of the party in public while hiding his brooding, dark, angry sides so eloquently.
Part 2: Story Of The Reluctant Bride
The story in The Reluctant Bride novel is focused on the two wealthy families in the city. The first family to be introduced in the novel is the Lancaster family with their daughter, Charlotte Lancaster. Meanwhile, the second family is the Constantine family with their son, Perry Constantine.
These two people in The Reluctant Bride are not only different in terms of their genders. Charlotte is the invisible daughter of the Lancaster family, while Perry is the Golden Child of the Constantine family. As a Golden Child, it’s not surprising that a guy like Perry becomes the life at the party At least from the surface.
Perry is also unlike Charlotte who always has her choices invalidated. He is free to choose anyone he wishes to marry! Then, again, The Reluctant Bride novel is also all about the two families trying to make peace with each other.
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So, that’s how Perry and Charlotte meet for the first time in The Reluctant Bride book. It also marks Charlotte’s scenes in going from the invisible daughter in her family to a blushing bride a.k.a. The Reluctant Bride for the secretly brooding, dark, and angry man.
Perry’s domineering and ruthless nature starts to emerge as soon as he shares beds with Charlotte, his wife. Soon, both parties feel intense hatred and love at the same time. Now, this part is where the tug-of-war in The Reluctant Bride begins!
Part 3: Meet The Author Of The Reluctant Bride
Monica Murphy, the author of The Reluctant Bride, is also one of New York’s Best-Selling Authors who specializes in writing romance and YA novels. As one of the best-selling authors, we can see her get featured in lots of famous media, such as Forbes, Popsugar, USA Today, Buzzfeed, and more.
Like all New York’s Best-Selling authors, Monica also has official social media accounts where she keeps updates on her novels and series. In addition, she is also one of the rare best-selling authors to have a dedicated Facebook group for her readers to discuss the characters that they like from her universe.
Anyway, speaking of The Reluctant Bride, it is the first book in Monica’s Wedded Bliss series. As for the series itself, it is the first series that Monica makes in her book-writing career. So, we can equate The Reluctant Bride with Monica’s debut novel. No wonder there are flaws here and there in this book, particularly on the inner tugs-of-war between the MCs.
Still, The Reluctant Bride becomes one of the best-selling books we can enjoy reading in different languages and through different platforms. It also screams Monica’s strong beliefs in kissing and loving so loudly.