Bride of a Stranger

by Jennifer Blake

Claire is too innocent to suspect that her marriage is a cruel farce, believing instead that the dangerous accidents that keep appearing in her path are just thataccidents. She wedded Justin Leroux suddenly and silently. He was the tall dark stranger of her girlhood dreams, and had finally come to take her away. She returns with him to Sans Songe, the Leroux family plantation in Louisiana. A near-fatal accident on the road to the plantation does not bode well for her future there. And indeed, many nasty surprises await her at the plantation itself. Voodoo magic, poisoned food, and a murder mystery force Claire into a stalemate. She ishelpless within the bosom of her frigid and isolating new family, while her husband has yet to come to her bed. He may even be hoping for her destruction, as she is drawn into an ever more tangled web of passion and intrigue. In a harsh world where love means danger, Claire struggles just to survive.

Genres: Gothic, Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Ebooks

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

A pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.

Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.

Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.

Reviews

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely one of the better gothic romances I've read. I think I'll venture far enough to say the best pulpy gothic, as a matter of fact. It was very well-written and atmospheric, and for once the heroine wasn't a completely simpering idiot. There were some nice twists, particularly regarding the hero. He starts out kind of dark and asshole-ish, using forceful means to persuade the heroine's family to let her marry him (I guess because he's too proud and ashamed of his facial scar to do it properly). He's pretty respectful of the heroine, except for saying a few mean things because of his own hurt feelings, and those firm kisses forced on the her to make her swoon and prove he affects her (classic gothic hero tactic). However, he isn't totally a bad guy, because he hasn't done the bad things everyone believed he did. Oh, and he "put aside" his mistress, so you know he's upstanding and faithful.

As I've participated in a few conversations about this recently, I will say that since this is a historical novel set in the deep south, it may read as pretty racist to modern readers. There are references to "our people" having built the house and its buildings—slaves, obviously. (At the time this is set, I wasn't clear whether slaves were actually working the plantation or not.) The hero's mistress is often referred to as "the quadroon," but just as often by her name. Also, although there's some jealousy between her and the heroine, I thought she was treated way more fairly than some contemporary books treat the other woman.

So yeah, I was kind of pleasantly surprised by the quality of this book. I'm curious to check out more of Blake's work.

[Naksed · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Louisiana swamp gothic tale of forced marriage, voodoo, and murder had a great, riveting start. Unfortunately, it ended in a whimper, with about twenty concluding pages of all the surviving characters (including the villain!) standing around exchanging long, tedious paragraphs of dialogue that purports to unravel all the minute details of everyone’s motivations, double-crossing, and great, big, terrible misunderstandings. All this and we don’t even get to watch the volcanic consummation of our main characters’ highly charged erotic tension. It all ends coyly behind a closed door, off the page. Come on now, Jennifer Blake, why couldn’t you have given us a little more 🔥 this is after all the reason we pick up books like this!

[WhiskeyintheJar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for the Southern Gothic square for Halloween Bingo

“It’s a death gris-gris, and as its counterpart in the hands of the Voodooienne is unwrapped slowly, day by day, it is supposed to cause the cursed one to sicken and die by degrees."

This started off with so much promise but ultimately didn't deliver on delicious Gothic feel. We started off with a sheltered, innocent heroine who is swept away by a dark scarred hero to his on the edge of the bayou plantation. There we meet his at odds with mother, still wearing black for the death of his years long dead uncle, his maybe jealous vengeful cousin, a possible voodoo using maybe ex-mistress, a creepy overseer, a parental but maybe shady housekeeper, and a paralyzed unable to speak father. The red-herrings are all over the place.

The atmosphere was set nicely with descriptions of the bayou, heat, bugs, and general out in the middle of nowhere. There was a voodoo scene with the slaves performing a ritual that was kind of creepy but other than that, there wasn't enough played around with to make you wonder if the heroine was losing her mind or if the voodoo was real.

The heroine and hero basically spend no time together, which I thought was kind of odd, so you're not reading this for the romance aspect. There wasn't enough creepy, spooky feel for a Gothic either; the mystery has the heroine in bed for most of the book.

Helene, that arrogant, time-ravaged beauty, had been in love with her husband’s brother, so in love that ten years later she could still weep her heart out over a mask of his dead face. Her husband’s brother, a married man with a son, a man who was shot to death in a duel with his nephew, Helene’s one son!

I kind of got the feeling the author was going for a nothing proves more terrifying than family dynamics. I can't really dispute that.

The mystery could have been better if the heroine would have been able to move around more and the characters given more depth, basically this needed a higher page count as the basic storyline and atmospheric writing was there. The ending gave us a villain info-dump as to why and how that gave it super flop feel and red-herring characters simply deflated like balloons. I can't really recommend this one because the Gothic mystery and the romance was severely lacking, maybe if you like your heroines reclining in bed because of bruised ribs and possible poisonings and/or voodoo curses.
*I almost forgot to mention the jaguar! Yes, there is a jaguar that lurks around, two or three mentions but it is there, lol.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bride of a Stranger by Jennifer Blake was originally published in 1990. This book is now available in digital format and is published by Steel Magnolia Press LLC.
This book is part of the Gothic Classics Collection.

Living in New Orleans, Claire has her life planned. Although there has been no formal announcement, it is common knowledge that she will marry her cousin, eventually.
However, when a dark, disfigured man of wealth and mystery sees Claire at a gathering, he makes Claire's aunt an offer she can't refuse. Claire now has no other choice but to marry Justin.

Justin was scarred as a child by a cousin, leaving him with a "C" shaped scar on his face. But, Justin runs a plantation and is wealthy and powerful with a sinister reputation. When he sees Claire, he knows instantly that he must have her.

Claire moves to Justin's plantation home, leaving behind New Orleans. Before they arrive however, there is a near fatal accident and Claire spends her first months in bed recovering from her injuries. But, she is also ill and can't see to gain strength.
Voodoo and Justin's strange family relations, keeps Claire in a nervous state, believing that someone is poisoning her and she believes her new husband is also a murderer.

Determined to keep Justin at arms length, Claire refused to accept her attraction to this man that forced her into marriage.

Written in true southern Gothic style, Jennifer Blake combines the traditional Gothic elements with the cultural history of Louisiana. Voodoo, magic, quadroon mistresses, arranged marriages, family secrets, and large plantations create the backdrop of mystery and romance.
Anyone that knows me, will tell you that if a novel has the word "Gothic" attached to it in any way, I'm all over it.
Jennifer Blake is a favorite author of mine, but I had no idea this book was out there. Thankfully, Steel Magnolia Press has re-released a sizable backlist of these books in digital format.

The more modern reader may not appreciate this type of novel, having completely missed out on the Gothic mystery/romance rage so very popular in the 1960's and 70's. Blake puts her own stamp on the genre by using the Gothic 'rules', but instead of a creepy castle or mansion, the setting is in the south on a large plantation home. But, the sinister occupants of the house with their many secrets and hidden resentfulness and motives, on top of the accurate depictions of voodoo rituals and beliefs make this take on the Gothic novel really unique.
I'm really glad I was able to get this one for my kindle. I don't know if you can still get the old paperback version anywhere, so thankfully we can still read these classics.
Overall this one gets an A.
http://smarturl.it/smp for more great novels from Steel Magnolia Press.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was another Kindle freebie. There's a lot of gratuitous French and a dead rooster and stuff about how her feeble strength was no match for the iron bands of his arms. Which makes it sound like this book was far racier than it actually was. When it fact, it wasn't racy at all -- the hero spent a lot of time plundering her soft mouth, and then letting her go. What, I ask you, is the point of that?

I think setting romance novels in the antebellum south is just a bad idea -- because you can either write characters who are improbably ahead of their time and not racist or you can write characters who are believable products of their time, and then the reader is pretty much going to hate them. These are equally bad options. JB went with the latter, so there's lots of stuff from the main characters about how the faithful house slave is devoted to his master and savage voodoo drums.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad to see so many of Jennifer Blake's titles available as e-books, particularly the kindle bundles which package the books by themes (Louisiana History, Classic Gothics, Louisiana Plantation, Love and Adventure, etc...). Her southern historical romances are well-written with careful attention to historical details. Bride of a Stranger is a fairly predictable mystery set at a remote Louisiana plantation owned by the dark and secretive master, Justin Leroux. He brings his reluctant city-bred bride into a frightening world of swamps and family secrets, ancient rituals, vodoo queens, and murder. Very little romance to speak of here, but those looking for the hard-to-find southern romance/gothic will find this a satisfactory read.

[Camryn Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire de Hauterive is all set to marry her cousin until a scar-faced, yet still attractive stranger, Justin Leroux, blackmails her into marrying him. At Sans Songe, his plantation near the bayou outside of New Orleans, a suspicious accident leaves behind death before Claire even enters the house for the first time. Among the deep, dark forest snakes, alligators, prowling panthers and other predators, both human and animal, surround Claire. Who can she trust?

Shocking family secrets lurk behind each bedroom door at Sans Songe. While forbidden loves, old and new, linger inside the house, outside a powerful voodoo priestess and a jealous mistress of Justin's vow revenge. Yet, someone else harbors even stronger hate while deceiving the new BRIDE OF A STRANGER.

Characters in this classic gothic romance are interesting and unique, their motivations strong, their passions entwined in a riveting plot of mysterious magic, love, hate and intrigue. Jennifer Blake's classic gothic, BRIDE OF A STRANGER, is masterfully written and kept me guessing clear to the end who the devious villain is. I hated to leave Sans Songe when I came to the last page.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, Claire...forced into marrying Justin and by extension, his whack-a-do family out in the Louisiana swamps. 'Bride of a Stranger' had such a Grand Guignol feel about it that I was rolling my eyes some of the time, laughing at other times, and inhaling in semi-shock. In other words, even though it was a bit dated and melodramatic, I quite enjoyed it.

[Susan (susayq ~) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really more of a mystery than a romance. It was dark and sometimes just down right creepy. The family dynamics of Justin's family had my head spinning....strange bunch of people and how they're really connected to one another. At least Justin and Claire will get their HEA ;)

[Doreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Blake does the claustrophobic atmosphere of the bayou so well. There are secrets going back years which pose a threat to the bride in question, and she must find some gumption to help reveal them.

[Army-mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a little everything in it, romance, trust issues, family issue that go way back, lots of secrets, voodoo (New Orleans), wealth, Alpha male type loves a strong women.

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some enjoyable aspects to this novel, particularly towards the beginning, but ultimately there is little to recommend this book. The author goes to great pains to bring to live the rituals and customs of genteel life in 1830s(?) New Orleans but also goes out of her way to ignore the realities of life on a slave plantation. There are a fair number of "servants" through out the book and occasionally it is mentioned that one was "given" to a white character, but I'm pretty sure I only clocked the word slave twice, both used when describing how two white children are playing war with slave children as their soldiers. I get that this is a vintage romance novel for white women and we sell the fantasy by not dwelling on the unsavory aspects of the period but it hasn't aged well and the gothic romance aspects of the narrative aren't strong enough to distract the reader. The narrative is rather muddled, the layout of the plantation house is important but also confusing as hell, and the villain monologue is endless. The romance is perhaps the weakest element but as I type this I'm realizing this book is worth any more explanation.

Just don't bother with this one.

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy… I was with kid 2 at the physio and realised I had forgotten my book. I brought his book instead, curse you Jim Butcher. Kid 2 was happy. So I pulled out my phone and started on a recent download.
I squeal loudly… omg, he’s a rake, and he has a crescent shaped facial scar, and he dances! Squee.
Everyone gives me a very odd look.

Claire sees Justin Leroux at a ball and comments that she feels pity for him for bearing the mark of Cain. Oopsies.
Her cousin tells her Justin killed his uncle in a duel and took his estate.
Justin notices Claire. He is utterly determined to change her mind. After one dance and an inappropriate conversation on the balcony, he says he will ask her to marry him. She laughs, but the next morning her aunt says this:

“This man,” she waved toward Justin, speaking of him as if he were not there, “has taken a leaf from their book. He knows that he cannot approach your uncle in the usual way. His past deeds, the lack of esteem in which he is held, his manner of living, and his too obvious contempt for society would make it impossible for my husband to consider his suit if he should press it according to custom. But he is aware that few men in New Orleans can hope to defeat him in a duel, indeed few of the maître d’armes would care to cross swords with him. And so he threatens to force a meeting upon Jean-Claude, unless you are given to him.”(Kindle Locations 262-266).

Given the threat against her son and husband, Claire’s aunt just throws her at the wolf.
We’ll tell everyone it is a grand passion, she blithely says. The men are out, Claire is alone and Justin is holding her hand. Left together, he points out to her just how fast her aunt threw her away.
Ouch.
They are officially engaged in a week.

and the morning after his return the corbeille de noce, a basket of gifts from the groom arrived. It contained a handkerchief edged in lace as fine as cobwebs, a fine hat veil of lace to screen her complexion from the sun and a fan of white silk edged in lace and marabou tufts and with sticks inlaid with mother-of-pearl. There was a cashmere shawl in a delicate shade of blossom pink, so fine it could be pulled through a ring, two pairs of kid gloves with meticulously set-in fingers, a comb for her hair with gold and mother-of-pearl inlay, a cameo of Louis XVII, and a pair of earrings, pearls shaped like teardrops. (Kindle Locations 345-346).

A wedding basket - a kind of trousseau. And an expensive one.
She was previously unofficially betrothed to her cousin Jean-Claude and she lies to him. She’s happy, she swears, when he asks.
Gossip tells her that Justin has dispensed with his quadroon mistress, Belle-Marie, paid her off well, even as she both threatened to kill herself or revenge herself on him. He could have kept her and just moved her to the plantation, so she’s toast. Somehow a gris gris gets into Claire’s room and Belle-Marie loiters outside of the cathedral after the ceremony. There is no time for a wedding night and the standard five days locked up together, they are off for his plantation.
From then on, things go awry. The carriage crashes, Claire breaks a rib in the accident, then is poisoned, and the family frighten her. The ex-mistress hangs around the plantation. And she’s a voodoo priestess.
Justin’s mother, Helene behaves oddly. His Aunt Berthe keeps every item of her dead husband’s including a bronze of his death mask. Their son Edouard is the one who gave Justin his scar as children. C for captive. He now collects knives. Justin’s father Marcel, has had a stroke and can no longer speak. He tries hard to communicate with Claire but she doesn’t understand. The overseer Ben looks at Claire with lustful eyes and asks Justin if he can have Belle-Marie now.
The only one who is a little okay is Aunt Octavia.
The panther screams in the bayou, the secrets of the house poison everyone.
Oooh… wonderful formulaic stuff.
She keeps secrets from Justin or just doesn’t see him to talk to him. He doesn’t talk to her because he is frightened she will demand to be sent back to the city. He did not kill his uncle but took the blame to hide the guilt of another when it was, in fact, a third party. One who has been trying to kill Claire the whole time.
Finally talking, Claire says this about his scar:

“On the other hand, it could stand for Claire, and I think I rather like having you branded with my initial. A monogrammed husband, just so other women will know to whom to return you.” (Kindle Locations 2711-2712).

Bwahaha - atta girl, Claire.

It is a ‘sweet’ romance (no sex). Justin does not force himself on his wife. Her broken rib, then her illness make it tricky and by then he is, of course, in love with her. He works hard all day so that he falls into an exhausted sleep in his trundle bed across the foot of her bed. Under the same mosquito net but far away from temptation. *Sighs happily*
Like most of these Louisiana Gothics, the slaves are disposable. Problematic, I know. This is another re-release from 1974. (I think these may be my favourite Blake novels.)
4 stars

[Uyen89 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

So my second book from this author and so far my only complaint is there is not enough interaction between the two leading characters. It seem that way in her other book too.

There is a lot more mysteries and a lot less romance. So if that is your thing than this the book for you.

Right now I'm in the mood for a good gothic tail so I'm moving to the next book.

PS, other than the themes (Gothic thriller) nothing else ties these stories together. The two books I read are not even the same time period. So definitely can read as a stand alone.

[Harriet · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I've got to say that this book is currently priced too high. For what I paid, I expected it to be longer, as in a novel rather than a novella.

I never would have expected a Gothic romantic mystery to be set in the US South. But it worked thanks to the usual suspects -- poison and weird in-laws -- combined with voodoo. :) A good option for when you want a quick Gothic read if you can get it from the library or inexpensively elsewhere.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partly, good somehow I feel like the end of the plot is lacking. The story was focused on other people around them mostly, and the protagonist sound like helpless. I know he's trying to accommodate his new wife, but leaving her in the house without asking her whereabouts. The killer plotted to get rid of her, which living in the midst of them, and Leroux the protagonist doesn't have any idea at all, until his bride was going to get slaughtered.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful! If it's Gothic, it's in this book. Plantation house in the middle of the swamp? check. Brooding dark husband with family secrets? Check. Panthers, poison, Voodoo? check, check, and check!
Pure Gothic Romance with a mystery and very little kissing.
I was a fan of Victoria Holt when I was younger, and this book is right in that field. Pure escapism. I kept reading the prose out loud to my spouse for his enjoyment too ☺

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring and predictable. Didn't hate it but there wasn't enough sexiness to make it interesting. There is no reason to believe that the two main characters have any reason to fall in love. All of a sudden they just admitted their love for each other. Strange.

[RebeccaL · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books is more on mystery than romance. It is interesting enough to keep me reading till the end but sorely lacking the romance department.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was actually a well written gothic mystery/romance that kept me guessing until the end. And, no gratuitous sex scenes! Entertainingly light reading for little time invested.

[Linda Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read.

[Susan Hutchinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointing book! This is a murder mystery story. There is no romance. Can't believe I finish this, but dont recommend it.

[P C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I get this book recommended to me? Yes
Was I still surprised it turned out to be an awesome light read? Yup!

Gothic HR with a last minute forced arranged marriage between two people who know little about each other than some malicious gossip and some simmering attraction, fucking count me in!

Picture this: The Bayou's mystical scenery, stormy weather and a wedding is taking place, the bride is getting ready for the ceremony but- Oh no! There's a voodoo doll picturing her found in her armoire?!!! She has been feeling ill just now, whatever could hold the blame?
Aaand it all goes downhill from here lol
Superstition, doubt, jealousy and fits of mentally unstable people take place in this story and make it the prize that it is, however the author managed to fit so much in such a short book I will never understand. Maybe it's her own voodoo mark maybe it's Maybelline but I enjoyed the heck out of this story.

A- because I'm salty asf for the fade to black ending, never blueball a woman who grabs a historical piece we live for the passion and the steam 🫠

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very dated. The descriptions of the voodoo-practicing slaves and their behaviors are cringe-worthy. Another problematic issue for me is that the hero and heroine barely spend any time together. Honestly, we barely get to know the hero at all. I know in a gothic the hero is supposed to be mysterious and brooding, but I would prefer he not be almost completely absent. I have been scouring the genre for some satisfying gothic romances and this unfortunately did not fit the bill.

[Cindy Woods · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too tame!

This book gets all worked up in a bunch of over dramatized suspense. The addition if voodoo makes it seem rather silly. And I want to know how all these plantation slaves have all this freedom to speak and act as they do. For God's sake! It's 19th century Louisiana bayou country.

I object, too, to the idea of slaves being so well taken care of and happy! Really!??

No recommendations I can think of.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for a gothic suspense that would help me revisit my early teens, when I devoured books like this one. I wasn’t disappointed; it’s the kind of old fashioned, dated and unrealistic but wonderfully enjoyable, undemanding nonsense that soothes the heart. It isn’t art but it’s lots of fun and fantastic nostalgia.

[Isobel Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely Gothic rather than historical romance - all kinds of mystery and danger, with the romance element just a subplot. It definitely feels a little dated now, but it was still very atmospheric, and an enjoyable read.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

clean mystery that grabs you from the beginning and leads you into a story with a reluctant romance and voodoo too. loved it!

[Reader_for_LifeTLG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire was forced to wed a scarred stranger. Taken to his remote estate, she is surrounded by his seemingly harmless family and slaves. So who's trying to kill her? And why?