Back by popular demand, it’s Which One First, where we recommend where new readers should start with an author’s considerable backlist.
And also by request: it’s Which One First? Alice Coldbreath Edition!
Alice Coldbreath, if you aren’t familiar, is a massively popular author of historical romances, specifically medievals and some Victorian stories.
I love the entire existence of Coldbreath’s career. In a time where historical romance is not as dominant as it once was, and the more popular genres in romance are contemporary and Rrrrrrrrrromantasy, Alice Coldbreath is killing it writing medievals. Medievals! A subgenre of romance I hadn’t thought of until Coldbreath started dominating Reddit threads. I love this. I love it so much. It’s so great!
I also love her “about” page on her website: a portrait of (I presume) Alice herself with a very handsome dog, done in a medieval style.
And, after a three sentence bio, the page reads:
Alice Coldbreath’s books promise you…
- A guaranteed Happily Ever After for the hero and heroine.
- Categorically NO cheating by the central characters within their pages.
- To be stand-alone romances that will never end on a cliff-hanger or require the purchase of another book to complete the central story.
Reader warning, Alice Coldbreath’s books also contain:
- Jealous heroes
- Strong language.
- Scenes of a sexual nature.
I kinda like this forthright authorial guarantee. It’s very satisfying!
Lara has reviewed Wed by Proxy and gave it an A, in part because she loved how the book gave her the flavor of “tempestuous novels with slammed doors and groveling and intense feelings” (a la Jilly Cooper) but didn’t “make me cringe or rage because of dubious consent, controlling behaviour, and the like.” Lara also loved An Inconvenient Vow, and gave it an A-.
But where do you think a new reader should start with Coldbreath’s novels?
She has, if I understand correctly, three main groups of novels:
- medievals set in the fictional kingdom of Karadok
- Victorian novels set in the actual-factual Victorian era in England
- And! A paranormal – it’s a medieval with shifters called Love Potion for the Alpha
Folks who love Coldbreath’s novels like that she writes slow burn love stories that frequently start with arranged marriages, but also feature heroes who become completely besotted with their partners. There also seem to be a lot of Deeply Shitty Parents.
With several series, it makes sense, as Lara advised when we discussed this internally, to start “at the beginning of whatever series you’re interested in. I should have started with the Vaudrey brothers series.”
Amanda says, “My first and only Coldbreath was Her Baseborn Bridegroom and I found it underwhelming, probably because I set my expectations too high. I have friends who squee about her books a lot. I think it’s a fine entry, but I don’t know if it’s the best entry, if that makes sense.”
Claudia agrees: “I started with that one too, Amanda — then never picked up more of her books.”
I personally don’t start at the beginning of a series if I don’t want to. (I realize this is truly unfathomable behavior to many of you!) I’ll start with book 6 if that’s the one I want to read.
Kiki agrees: “For the medieval inspired books, I actually think you should skip Her Baseborn Bridegroom and read His Forsaken Bride first—it’s the set up for the rest of the Karadok series and gives a better vision of the whole court, although I know some folks don’t love the hero.
“For the Victorian series, I LOVED A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter (again, the second book in the series).”
So please help your fellow readers, Alice Coldbreath fans! Between the Brides of Karadok series and the Victorian Prizefighter and Victorian Reversal of Fortune series, which books do you recommend a new reader start with?
And if possible, please try to explain why you’re recommending that book as a starting place. Y’all make wonderful recommendations.
Based on the Alice Coldbreath love around here, I read HER BASEBORN BRIDEGROOM and HIS FORSAKEN BRIDE. I really liked the first one (somewhat bossy alphahole but in a good/sexy way!) but I LOATHED the second one.
I’m not one who usually goes in for grovel (I generally prefer more emotionally fluent characters such that groveling is not necessary) but that book needs 1000000% more grovel. I was going to DNF it but there were some interesting political intrigues (that, regrettably, ended up going nowhere) and I thought finally! finally! the hero was going to apologize when his brothers told him he was being an ass, but no. I was literally shouting, “THE PHRASE YOU’RE LOOKING FOR IS ‘I’M SORRY’!”
I love many of AC’s books. While I enjoy how the books in the series connect, nothing in any book particularly depends on anything that has happened in past books, so I would browse the descriptions and read the set up that is your particular catnip. No order necessary.
That being said, A SUBSTITUTE WIFE FOR THE PRIZEFIGHTER is one of the best books in the world. Everyone should read it. The other books in the series are great, but the way the characters are initially not impressed by each other, then fascinated, then it deepens into love is so masterfully done. And I love the setting – living in a caravan with a traveling fair. So, so, realistic yet whimsical! I could not love this book more.
I think I have read almost all the medieval books, too. Some I love, some not my thing, but no question they are worth a look.
Thank you, Alice Coldbreath!
I read “an inconvenient vow” based on the smartbitches review and there was a great “prequel bait” for “her husband bought and paid for” since the timelines for both books aligned so I read that next, enjoyed both and was not at all disturbed by the reading out of order. I think brides of karadok books work well as stand alones.
@Big K how fun that you mentioned the caravan setting in A SUBSTITUTE WIFE FOR THE PRIZEFIGHTER since both the Karadok books had a “staying in a tent at tournaments” elements that I really enjoyed. I guess Alice Coldbreath likes camping ?
I enjoy Alice Coldbreath’s medieval stories, but have never read any of her Victorian novels in spite of the praise they’ve gotten on the site. I’m not a huge fan of the Victorian era or boxing. Thanks to @Big K, I may try A Substitute Bride for the Prize Fighter.
As for her medieval romances, while I read the Vawdrey brothers
books in order, most of the Brides of Karadok books stand alone pretty well. The most memorable one for me was the second one, The Unlovely Bride, about a young woman noted for her beauty who is brought low by the”red pox” only to discover her true mettle.
For new readers I would note that these are not true “historicals,” but more medievalesque. Also. they are quite hefty, though I wouldn’t call them slow reads.
Finally, I just want to say how happy I am to see the return of this feature. Thank you so much, SBs!
My first AC was Her Bridegroom Bought and Paid For, Book 4 of the Brides of Karadok series purely because the synopsis drew me in. An unusual starting point but it worked for me and I’ve read everything but the paranormal.
I read “Wed by Proxy” and started “The Unlovely Bride”. Ultimately I DNFed it because both books had too much bedroom action and too little character/plot development for my taste. The synopsis of both were very interesting, but the execution just didn’t work for me.
I’m reading Her Baseborn Bridegroom now; it’s fun!
Thank you for this post! I’d been eyeing Coldbreath’s medievals and this got me to finally read one, and I DEVOURED it in one sitting. An Inconvenient Vow had all my catnip: grumpy/grumpy, socially awkward virgin hero, main characters actually communicating reasonably (if awkwardly and grumpily) with each other. I read Her Bridegroom Bought and Paid For next and it was also enjoyable even though it had a bit of insta-love which is not my jam; and it was fun getting glimpses of Jeffree’s (the hero from Incovenient Vow) hijinks in the background of Bridegroom.
One thing I really like about the two books in retrospect is that even the characters who you think are the villains are more than just two-dimensional background dressing.
Keep in mind, Karadok is a medieval fantasy world, it’s not the actual Middle Ages. Her books are super tropey, so I would just start with the ones that have your favorite tropes. They can be gobbled up like potato chips. No one has mentioned the 3rd prizefighter book, A CONTRACTED SPOUSE FOR THE PRIZEFIGHTER, but I quite enjoyed it.
Oddly enough Rakuten Kobo seems to have only the Audiobook versions(at least that is where the links go to)? I have an older Nook and might try that one.