Bride

TEST

With strong measures of intrigue, danger, true love, and meddling relatives, Stella Cameron whips up a book with more substance than many other trifles set in and around the Regency period. Nothing and no one is as it seems, and a strong-willed spinster is about to stir the pot and bring things to a boil.

The book is set in Scotland in 1824, and the bride is Lady Justine Girvan, an elegant, refined woman who has been brought up to believe that no man would want her because of an injury she suffered as a child that has left her partially lame. She becomes determined to take one last chance at romance, and heads to Scotland with a half-baked plan of writing a book on courtship and the marriage-bed for young gentlewomen. But she needs a teacher – thus begins her seduction of her brother’s best friend, Struan, Viscount Husingore.

Struan is not only her brother’s friend, but a true gentleman filled with honor and passion. He believes no gently bred woman, especially Justine, would want him if she knew the dark secret from his past. A secret, that even today, threatens the tranquility of his home and the security of his family.

Struan is no alpha male. He is a combination of strength and sensitivity. If, as I do, you enjoy books where the main conflict is outside of the heroine/hero’s relationship, this book is for you. There is none of the all-too-typical love/hate relationship here – each feels strongly for the other from the beginning. The conflict is external and is what brings them together.

But each of the characters carries emotional baggage that makes it difficult to trust in themselves and others – Justine has been told by her overbearing and cruel grandmother that she is a deformed cripple, and doesn’t realize until the end that her grandmother was simply trying to protect the family fortune, leaving Justine to believe that she has never had suitors. As a result, our heroine does not believe herself to be desirable – especially to her hero.

Struan’s baggage is no less weighty – not only does he not trust himself, he believes no one should trust him. He feels he must keep himself at a distance for Justine’s own protection. The author uses Struan’s honor to turn traditional sexual stereotypes upside down; Justine is the seducer and Struan the seduced.

Though meddling relatives are determined to prevent her scandalous book from being written (much less published!), Justine convinces Struan to assist her. As he teaches her “the dance,” “the kiss,” and more, he realizes he means what he’s saying. Poor Justine believes only he’s doing a cripple a favor with his favors.

Watching Justine write her book while seducing Straun with her innocence, is heartwarming, funny, and more than a little spicy. Cameron seduces her readers as deftly as Justine seduces Struan. We want more, as does Struan, who becomes committed to further study. Their passion is based on true love, and we are subtlely reminded that lust without love can be coarse and cruel. These two make a great team, especially in adversity. You’ll be amused, then titillated at what these two do on what might be their last night on earth, locked in a dark, damp cave with nothing but each other and you’ll cheer them on as they battle back their enemy and emerge bloodied but victorious.

Bride is the third of the Rossmara series. Having not read the previous books, perhaps some of the questions that remain unanswered were answered in them. Still, this reviewer found this installment to stand well on its own, and intrigued enough by Struan’s brother and best friend to read their stories, which came first. After all, Lady Justine’s book is dedicated not only to her husband, but these two other gentlemen as well, who “have tirelessly dedicated themselves to the greater gratification and enlightenment of women”.

Reviewed by Laurie Likes Books

Grade: B

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date: 10/01/96

Publication Date: 1995

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Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

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