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Edith Layton is no newcomer in the field of paranormal historicals, having written stories in the sub-genre before – the novellas Hounds of Heaven and The Last Gift (in A Regency Christmas VIII and A Regency Christmas Present, respectively). So when I picked up Bride Enchanted, I hoped that in the hands of an experienced writer, this mixture between a Regency romance and a paranormal might turn out entertaining and enjoyable. No such luck.
During a ball, the best-looking, most magnetic man she has ever encountered accosts Eve Faraday. Aubrey Ashford dances twice with her and then, to her great amazement, announces that he plans to court her. Now, Eve is well aware of both her strengths and limitations, and it’s just not logical for a perfect man like him – rich, handsome, charming, universally admired – to choose an ordinary girl like her, especially one whom he hardly knows. She tries to find out about Aubrey’s motivations, but learns only that he appreciates her straightforwardness and that she reminds him of a lady he knew a long time ago, before he was old enough to love.
Eventually they get married, in spite of some of Eve’s doubts remaining, and Aubrey takes her to Far Isle, his estate on the border of England and Wales. This, not quite unexpectedly, is a magical place filled with beautiful treasures and surrounded by deep, mysterious woods. They spend some weeks in idyllic isolation, and then they plan a Halloween party with many guests. And that’s all that happens up to page 158. To quote the inimitable Homer Simpson, “Bo-ring!”
Normally I am all for character-driven romances with little external excitement, but this concept only works when there are characters to be revealed or developed, and there aren’t any here. Eve is your generic ordinary, nice girl next door, Regency style. At first I felt inclined to like her, but after a while she got too be much – too much like every reader would like to be herself: clever, with a sense of humour, clear-eyed about herself, able to capture this magican man, but just a touch too little self-confident. There was nothing in her character complex or unusual enough to hold my interest for long.
Aubrey is worse. For the sake of the plot, he must remain both perfect and enigmatic – and so that is about all there is to him. The author describes some short scenes from his point of view, but at first reveals so little about his true nature (in order to keep up the mystery) that these moments do not make him any more interesting. The book is crafted so that any well-read reader will in all likelihood guess very early on what is the matter with him whereas poor Eve, who after all does not know she is inside a paranormal, finds herself confronted with a number of clues throughout the book without catching on. I realize she never has a chance, but this did not prevent her from appearing a bit slow.
Later in the book, a character turns up who has eeeevil written all over her, and a few events actually take place. Unfortunately, the book lost me long before that, and I had to force myself to read the second half. The only good scenes are those following Aubrey’s relevation of his true nature to Eve, because (the only surprise I had in this book) she takes a long time to believe him. Her disbelief and inner struggles give the book some poignancy, but again they are drawn out too long – not in the characters’ lifetime, but in description time.
The general sense of boredom depends a lot on the style Edith Layton uses in this book. Possibly because she wants to create a magical, otherworldly atmosphere, she avoids any of the crispness and conciseness available in the English language, and sticks to a fairly limited vocabulary with lots and lots of repetition. In addition, she describes everything but flowers in very general terms. For example, there are only seven characters individualized enough to be given a name.
Bride Enchanted might actually have worked in a far shorter format – as a novella like the ones mentioned above, for instance. Spread over 370 pages, it is painfully uninteresting. So if you like Edith Layton and want to know how she deals with the paranormal genre, pick up one of her older novellas and give this novel a pass.
Grade: D
Book Type: Paranormal Historical
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 15/09/07
Publication Date: 2007
High school teacher. Soccer fan (Werder Bremen, yeah!). Knitter and book-binder. Devotee of mathematical puzzles. German.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.