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Sherbrooke Brides #2

The Hellion Bride: Bride Series

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Fall in love again—with the second novel in the Bride saga, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter.   Ryder Sherbrooke is a fun-loving rake with a secret. When he travels to Jamaica to solve the mystery of the supernatural goings-on at the Sherbrooke sugar plantation, he finds another mystery as well—a sophisticated nineteen-year-old girl, Sophia Stanton-Greville, who wants to bed him. And not, he believes, because she is simply enthralled by his handsome self or his boundless charm.   Sophia has successfully controlled every man in her orbit until she meets Ryder Sherbrooke, a man she knows immediately is different from the others, a man she sees as one of hell’s own sons.   Ryder, confident as only a successful rake can be when it comes to knowing women, sets out to teach her who is in charge. It’s said she already has three lovers. Is she indeed the outrageous tease she appears? A seductress? Or is she an innocent with an ugly and terrifying secret?

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1992

255 people are currently reading
1540 people want to read

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Catherine Coulter

305 books7,165 followers

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5 stars
1,492 (32%)
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3 stars
1,235 (26%)
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83 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
Profile Image for Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves.
1,461 reviews18 followers
May 8, 2020
This book tells a controversial story and doesn’t seem to care if it offends. Lots of triggers and nasty stuff but never a boring moment.
The story is as per the blurb but there’s no hellion bride! Not really. The h’s hellion-ness is over-alluded as the h is mostly vulnerable and on the wrong side of all power equations, and is sorely abused by various men throughout the book. The book can be divided into three parts, more or less.

**Major Spoilers**
Profile Image for Christine.
Author 17 books426 followers
August 2, 2009
I was amused by my re-reading of the first book in the Bride series after 16 years, but not by the second. I vaguely remembered not liking it as much but now I can honestly say I detest it. It's disgusting, not at all romantic. I'm sorry, but raping a woman repeatedly is not going to make her learn, eventually, to enjoy your touch and come to orgasm. Bleh. Who comes up with this crap?

No, seriously. That's what happens. It starts out all right. Ryder goes to Jamaica where there are some problems with one of his properties there. He meets a woman whose uncle has been abusing her and forcing her to pretend to be a whore. (In fact, she drugs the men and a slave sleeps with them. Because of course, it wouldn't do if she weren't a virgin.) Her uncle forces her to do this with Ryder, but he figures out that he's been tricked. Then everything goes to heck when Sophie is beaten to within an inch of her life and shortly thereafter accused of murdering her uncle. Ryder decides that the only thing to do is to marry her and send her to England. (Really, that was the only thing you could think of?)

He meets her back in England weeks later. The poor girl who has suffered abuse at the hands of her uncle and other men, has absolutely no interest in Ryder. So he forces her. He does more than that. He lords over her. He demands control of her body and soul. It is despicable. He seems to think that if he orders her about enough and rapes her enough times, she'll come to see that he is a good lover. That he's generous and tries to see to a woman's pleasure. As if a woman's pleasure has anything to do with being touched in all the right spots! (Which expert men know about and which are identical from woman to woman...ok, that part at least is just another amusing romance novel cliche, but in this book it failed to amuse me.) Of course she does come to enjoy him, but it's insanity, pure and simple. He takes an abused girl and abuses her further. The author tries to throw up the smokescreen of his orphanage for abused and crippled children as if to say, "Look, he's a nice guy!" Puh-lease.

This is exactly the sort of rubbish that gives the entire romance genre a bad name. I've read stories with dragons and elves that were more believable.

I don't recommend this book to anyone, not even romance readers, and not even those reading this series. Skip it.
Profile Image for WhiskeyintheJar.
1,523 reviews696 followers
April 3, 2018
2.5 stars

“I love you, Sophie Sherbrooke . I never thought such a thing existed, but evidently it does. I love you and I will love you until I cock up my toes and pass to the hereafter and I will still love you even as I float about in eternity. And I will continue to force you to pleasure until you accept my love and take me into your heart as well as into your body.”

I really liked the first half of this, the leads snapped, sparked, and challenged each other. The heroine had numerous great quotes about the crap women have to deal with and calling out the injustices. The second half went downhill for me. There were some forced and feeling pointless plot points but the biggest disappointment was the lack of romance I felt between the two.

The heroine has well deserved trust issues with men and needed time to learn to trust Ryder, heal, and become confident and comfortable with not only her own sexuality but being intimate with Ryder. The above quote is moving and all but the last sentence is the problem I had with the whole second half. Ryder decides and forces Sophie to sexually accept him on his timetable and what he thinks is best for her. No, dude. The sex scenes were awful, a book club would need more than one meeting to discuss the consent and emotional issues.

I ended up not believing in their romance, the murder-mystery plot fizzled, and two pointless zombie lusting characters make a pointless appearance.
Enjoyed the first half and was disappointed in the second. Rounded up because of the heroine and her truth bombs she liked to drop.

For more quotes, comments, and discussion - Buddy Read The Hellion Bride
Profile Image for Gloria.
1,141 reviews111 followers
May 18, 2024
2.5 stars

Well…um…

The good news: those seven illegitimate children we found out Ryder had in book 1 of the series? Turns out only one is his. The rest are children he rescued. So there’s that.

The rest of this book was various degrees of unpleasant. And preposterous. Then unpleasant some more. I still might have rated it three stars except that Ryder forced Sophie to have sex with him. The author’s intention seems to be showing Ryder gaining emotional maturity by having to be gentle and understanding with Sophie, by having to work for something, by putting Sophie before himself, leading her away from the trauma of her past into a loving future. Bullshit. Sophie was stiff as a board with tears running down her face. How is this okay? If this could be presented in a better way, and I say “if,” the author didn’t go that route and I was uncomfortable with it, no matter that Sophie eventually came around.

This book was not boring, but it wasn’t enjoyable either.
Profile Image for Denisse.
348 reviews15 followers
February 27, 2023
La novia maliciosa corresponde al segundo libro de la serie de “Sherbrooke Brides”. Aunque no leí el primero y tenía mis dudas de leer este sin el anterior, decidí sumergirme en la lectura confiando que no necesitaría leerlo en orden.

Para sorpresa mía le doy gracias al cielo que no leí el anterior, pues este libro me disgustó enormemente.

Para empezar, la historia trata sobre Ryder, el segundo hermano de la familia Sherbrooke, quien decide ir a Jamaica a resolver unos asuntos que están ocurriendo en las plantaciones de su familia.

Allí conoce a Sofía, una joven hermosa que goza de mala reputación y que para Ryder será todo un desafío.

El primer encuentro entre los protagonistas para mí fue un desastre, y así continúa en todo el libro. El romance entre ambos fue forzado sin ninguna química. Entiendo que en esa época muchas cosas se hacían de esa manera, pero la verdad no me gustan las relaciones obligadas.

La intimidad entre ellos también fue de lo peor, mejora al final, pero como dije anteriormente todo por un tipo de coacción.

Le doy dos estrellas y no una por los personajes secundarios que me dieron mucha ternura como Sinjun, Jeremy y los niños.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Cristina.
122 reviews7 followers
June 27, 2024
Este libro aunque tiene cosas buenas y es fácil de leer también tiene cosas muy desagradables. El tio de la prota le pega palizas brutales que se narran en el libro. Todos piensan que es una puta porque si tío la obliga a hacer creer a los hombres que se acuesta con ellos pero en realidad los droga y se acuestan con una esclava.
Y luego el prota después de todo lo que sabe que ha sufrido y sabe que es virgen y que está traumatizada cuando se casan la obliga a tener relaciones sexuales. La viola por lo menos 2 veces pero no de esas "violaciones" que ellas acaban disfrutando aquí no yo no sé en esta serie o si la autora hace lo mismo en todos los libros pero por los menos los dos protas que he leído tienen problemas para controlarse y se comportan como bestias en la cama y más en la primera vez de ellas y por lo que he leído en Goodreads pasa lo mismo en toda la saga.

En el primer libro también el prota era un bestia pero parece que a la prota le gusta que sea así salvo la primera vez y el libro se me hizo divertido y ameno y le di 3.5 estrellas. Pero este se me ha hecho difícil de digerir.
Es verdad que el prota intenta por lo menos que disfrute pero no está bien que la obliga y más sabiendo el trauma que tiene. Y bueno luego han salido los niños que resulta que no son hijos de el salvo una pero a él le encantan los niños y ha hecho creer a todos que son suyos.
Y bueno pues está autora para mi gusto ha envejecido mal no me dan ganas de seguir con la saga. Y ahora tengo la duda si la autora en todos los libros que tiene serán así osea con una primera vez horrible para las protagonistas. Porque tengo varios pendientes de ella. Pues eso una decepción.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1 review
April 13, 2014
The 'hero' in this book is a horrible person. He rapes his 'hellion bride' repeatedly as his method of making her be less afraid of men. Where is the logic to this? The woman had been beaten by her uncle repeatedly and made to pretend to be mistress to several men. The result is quite understandably that she does not trust men, and for good reason. Why, then, is it ok for her husband -- who gave her no choice about the marriage -- to have no regard for her feelings and ignore her when she clearly doesn't want him touching her? And then suddenly everything is ok because it turns out that the guy loves kids, and loves giving head. This is not the sort of man who should be called a hero, and the resultant Stockholm Syndrome turned my stomach. A man can love kids and still be a despicable human being, and Ryder is clearly that sort of man. If it were possible to give this book zero stars, I would. No one in their right mind can call abusing a woman a romance. What the actual fuck is wrong with the author and publishers, that they thought this would be an okay thing to publish?
Profile Image for Jena .
2,313 reviews2 followers
dnf-try-again-later
November 30, 2022
DNF 25%. Might try again some other time.

I was hoping for a trainwreck, but this book was just a bore.😑

There is no chemistry, no attraction - at all - between the MCs. Men on the island thinks her beautiful but the H finds her “pretty enough,” he’s seen better so her looks are common to him.

Then there’s the uncle who slaps her around. I felt bad for her, but if the author had done some character development before showing this girl getting abused, I might’ve felt it more.


This was boring…characters - the heroine mainly - were flat, and uninteresting.




Safety spoiler
Not safe lol😬

Didn’t read enough to say, but I know H rapes the h eventually.

- H is also raped.
After MCs shared a few kisses, and he had fondled her breasts,
the h drugs him so another girl could have sex with him. The h listens to them having amazing sex. He and the ow are yelling and moaning all night long.🤢


In the morning, he wakes up still kinda drunk but totally sated thinking he had sex with the h, “God, she'd been incredible, her skills beyond the ability of any woman he'd ever bedded before.”
Then he marries the h who ends up being frigid.
She is a man hating, virgin, who was forced to help rape other men on the island.
The H should’ve married that slave girl who gave him such amazing sex of his life. Instead H marries the h who is afraid of sex.

Scene with ow is off page but you get every detail from the H’s pov, btw the h doesn’t have large breasts…

“He remembered kissing her at first, then he could almost feel again her mouth caressing him expertly and he shuddered with the memory. He remembered her riding him hard and fast, his hands kneading her large breasts, caressing them, lifting them, and he'd screamed like a wild man when his climax had hit him.
She'd screamed as well. And she'd spoken to him, urged him on, telling him what she liked, telling him what a man he was. He remembered it quite clearly,…..”

“The more he tried to remember each detail of the previ-ousnight, he found he simply couldn't call it forth.
Except that he'd spewed his seed in her mouth, his back arcing off the bed the release had been so powerful, that and her sitting astride him, riding him hard, her hands busy on his body, pushing him until he couldn't bear it, and again, he'd screamed his release.”

These details are with the ow.🤮
Profile Image for Lauren.
153 reviews5 followers
April 21, 2011
I have always loved this book. But since I haven't read this book for a really long time, I had forgotten how much I did love this book. One of the main characters, Sophie, is, I believe, hilarious. Some of the situatiosn that she gets herself into are funny. Overall, there is stuff that is funny, serious, sad, and romantic. This is my kind of book.
Profile Image for Maureen Feeney.
171 reviews15 followers
February 28, 2010
WAS THIS THE SAME RYDER?

After reading some of the other reviews that are shocked at the abuse in this book, be warned when you pick up a CC novel there is ALWAYS some form of cruelty in it. Knowing this, the wedding night rape was no surprise to me and does not factor in my rating.

I liked "fun" Ryder in the SHERBROOKE BRIDE, but I honestly couldn't see him falling for a girl like Sophie when she was so cold and stubborn towards him. He came across too patient one moment and overly cruel the next? I felt his character was lacking and not as interesting as originaly protrayed.

The heroine Sophie is physically and mentally abused but after being rescued she still held out being stubborn to the end of the book, far too long than the story needed,it got so annoying I wanted to shake her myself. I found myself pitying her but just couldn't like her.

The story has some great moments and has some wicked and interesting characters, it is still a good read but I preferred the previous novel. IM Halfway through The Heiress Bride now and so far it is better.
Profile Image for Nelly.
477 reviews13 followers
January 23, 2019
I loved the 1st book because it was so funny and the characters extremely likable...

I decided to read Ryder's story because he was so funny and in the 1st book and it seemed promising... But I don't know what Coulter did to him, he lost his appeal. He wasn't funny anymore nor likable or even charming. Book 1 said he was blond but in this book he had light brown hair. Just to show how much she changed the character lol, so annoying...

Sophie/Sophia wasn't really likable. I didn't like her acting like a slut even if she was threatened by her uncle. I just didn't like the role Coulter gave her. She started as a dazzling courtesan but then, once freed she was so cold and ugh, didn't like it.

Even Melissande who made me laugh to tears was different. Still a airhead but not in a good way.

And way too much sex in that book. That was ridiculous!


DNF at 90%. I tried really hard but at the end I just couldn't care about that romance...
Profile Image for Jen Warren.
61 reviews8 followers
October 23, 2014
Catherine Coulter and I have, I'd say, a 50% compatibility. I always love the first half of her books. I love the way she isn't afraid to tackle uncomfortable issues even in a historical romance. What I don't love? The WAY she tackles those issues - which is usually in the second half of the book.

Here, again, we have a heroine with serious intimacy issues...and again, we have an awful, AWFUL resolution. I won't go into details now, as I'm still aggravated enough by what happened that rehashing it doesn't help. What I will say is that the deeper issues here were brushed aside for convenience sake, to tie up loose ends with a pretty bow (in the form of an obnoxious plot device that didn't fit the heroine AT ALL). The whole thing could've been handled - and written - one hell of a lot better.
Profile Image for Eileen.
129 reviews
October 22, 2020
This should be rated a zero. In addition to having the romantic hero rape his wife on repeated occasions, the male protagonist is also a slaveholder. I’m guessing Coulter is excusing him because “he doesn’t whip his slaves”. However the fact that he enslaved men, women and children doesn’t seem to be wrong in her book? There are so many things wrong in this book that it would take too long to go into all of them. Needless to say it did not age well. It’s so despicable. I always donate or recycle books but this one I literally threw in the trash.
439 reviews2 followers
June 30, 2024
This book is a Carry on story from the first book, this is Ryder and Sophie's story. The storyline is interesting and draws you into the book, keeping you invested into the outcome. The characters are well developed and very dynamic, and their story is a rollercoaster that keeps the book alive. I love this writers ability to cover so many twists within the storyline covering so many emotions and still adding enough humor to take the edge off and make it such a good read.
Profile Image for Rose.
48 reviews
June 25, 2017
Much better than the first book. Gripping and funny at times. I love the way we revisit Douglas, Alex and Sinjun back at Northcliff.

I think a lot of the negative reviews on this one are a bit over the top with all this crying and deeming Ryders action as rape. Sophie is his wife and back in 1803 women were more submissive to their husbands. He took her all but three times until she had her first orgasm and then she never looks back! He didn't force her in a malicious way, Ryder truly loves his wife and did it so she would discover the pleasures to be had in love making and it worked.
These negative 'he raped her' reviewers have failed to mention that it is Ryder that actually gets raped first. He has been decieved and drugged and another woman takes him when in actual fact he was wanting Sophie.

I didn't give this 5 stars as the 'well hell' is annoying, English aristocrats in 1803 wouldn't say that. That's American slang and shows the Authors routes (not meaning it in a horrible way as I love Americans)
Profile Image for Ollie Z Book Minx.
1,820 reviews18 followers
August 5, 2015
This is a rape story - pure and simple. Reader beware! Forcing her to take it cuz it's good for her and you love her makes it no less rape. Bewildering really - the first book in this series was misogynistic but only mildly, this one is blatant. Ugh and painting him to be such a sympathetic character, an upstanding guy truly - loves and rescues children for gods' sake - and the bullshit about how normally he's such a good lover but she gets him so hot that he has to be brutal with her. Is that victim blaming supposed to be sexy in some way? He has total power over her, it's even kind of played up as a joke since clearly he'd never abuse that power - except when he constantly does, of course. Then she can't help but be totally in love with him - her saviour. Total tripe and insulting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Carolyn.
2,233 reviews
August 26, 2017
Well, re-reading this years later and after having read hundreds of historical romance novels certainly gave me a different perspective. If I was reading this now, for the first time, I never would have finished it. There were many parts that were downright offensive to me. As a huge fan of Catherine Coulter, knowing this was one of her early series, and knowing that her current work is nothing like this, I am not upset about it. It is interesting to note how our reading palate has evolved.
Profile Image for AND 1515.
1,280 reviews15 followers
December 30, 2020
By and1515
Jamaica, was as beautiful as he'd hoped it would be however Ryder had sailed all this way not just amire the beaches but to check out there plantation.
Sophie was in pain again and it all his fault just like it was his fault he missed hear about that man's arrival on the island.
Her uncle wasn't a man to be trifled with he held hers and her little brother's futures in his greedy little hands and he wasn't above using her brother to make her do as he bid her.
After all it was her reputation that had been ruined no one blamed her poor uncle for having such a niece like her they all pited him.
Ryder didn't waste anytime in making the aquentance of the lady whom everyone said drove men wild with desire.
Sophie hadn't expected someone quite like him; he was to forward and wasn't shy about making his feelings known.
Ryder wasn't willing to play like the others had no he was completely different she wasn't going to be able to manipulate him at all.
And of course her dear uncle didn't want to hear the truth.
Sophie would do what ever she had to get him drunk and to the darn cottage before her uncle added more bruises.
Ryder awake alone and quite naked of course she'd left and he really didn't care for that at all.
Sophie had never been so confused in her life and couldn't figure out how she ended up where she had and on the condition she was currently and she was afraid.
But even worse was her horrible uncle who unfortunately didn't want to hear the truth and then he let her have his temper even when she tried to defend herself it wasn't enough.
Ryder had thought to play another round with her until he saw her and nearly came undone.
He would make sure they were well protected from their vile uncle and his evil henchman.
All he wanted was to strangle that dasterly fool Mr. Cole because he did care for the truth as long as he could say that Sophie was responsible for her Uncle's demise.
Nevertheless he would have the whole truth about the whole ugly affair but even as she answered his aweful questions she wasn't even sure she really cared if he believed her or not.
Marriage or possibly death of course she'd choice Ryder who wouldn't take a chance to keep breathing.
Oh her new mother law was never going to accept that her son had married someone like her.
Ryder finally discovered the truth for himself once and for all and he'd never been so relieved or overwhelmed but he wasn't about to stop now.
He'll have to explain his own secrets that he's held near and dear to his heart.
But when dirty secrets and nasty fellows take aim at his wife Ryder will stop at nothing to reach her before it's to late.
Profile Image for Susan Ross.
Author 8 books7 followers
July 13, 2021
This is the second book in the Bride series. I loved it 20 yrs ago. Now, not so much. In the first book Ryder was all charm and laughter. In this book his is a boor. When Ryder travels to Jamaica to investigate trouble on his plantation the first thing he hears about is the woman who supposedly has multiple lovers. Sophie is being forced to play the harlot by her uncle who brutalizes her and uses threats against the well-being of her younger brother to keep her in line.
Ryder treats her appallingly from the first, fondling her and insulting her. When Sophie and her uncle drug him so another woman can take Sophie's place for the sex, he figures out what has happened and takes revenge.
Sophie ends up being beaten within an inch of her life by her uncle. Ryder discovers her and takes her to his home and takes care of her. He tricks her into marrying him and sends her to England.
Sophie has been traumatized by her treatment by her uncle. She's been traumatized by having to play the harlot and being pawed by various men. She has an extremely low opinion of men and sex. So what does Ryder, the supposed excellent lover do, when he returns to England and she won't cooperate sexually, he rapes her. Again, he is supposed to be an excellent lover. Rape seems to be an on-going theme in this series.

In Jamaica, only the father of her former friend, Emile, believes her to be unsoiled. The book talks about how she won't look at Emile but never goes into why. One assumes it's because he didn't stand by her but it's never clarified. Emile is supposed to be a nice guy but he has a 15 yr old slave as a lover who he ignores during the day, even when she becomes pregnant.

I gave it 3 stars because I really liked Sophie and I liked the banter between her and Ryder.

Ryder, by the way, saves children. I guess, that way, we really know he's a good guy. But the book could have been so much better if it has concentrated on this aspect of Ryder, told about the children, and the circumstances from which they'd come. And then there's Ryder's biological daughter, who lives with the other children, not Ryder. What? All in all he did not come across well.
Profile Image for Alecia D.
33 reviews
June 28, 2021
This book was so lousy, it took me four days to slog through it. The writing was rough and sloppy, and the story unbelievable and boring. There were very few sexy parts, the characters were dull and lifeless, and the romance just didn't happen.

I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough concerning the issue of Sophie's sluttiness, the whole premise was just not believable in any way. It caused the whole story to fall on its face, and made the romance impossible. The way Ryder behaved about the issue, and how he treated her because of it was irritating enough, but by the time I reached the halfway mark of the story I was so tired of Sophie's behavior toward Ryder, I didn't care about his sexual treatment of her. In fact, I though he was too nice. She could have made an effort to be pleasant to the man who had saved her life.

The ending wasn't satisfying, either. It just petered out pointlessly. If it weren't for the tiny bit of sizzle here and there, it would have gotten only one star.
Profile Image for TIMONY.
47 reviews2 followers
April 16, 2024
I enjoyed the first book so I bought the entire series and after reading this one I'm worried I'll regret it. SO BAD! The first one was fun, a kind of Shakespearian romantic comedy of errors, but this one is just off the rails bizarre. The plot is so ridiculously convoluted and well...just ridiculous. I don't really see any character development, the romantic interest between the two main characters is just...weird. The whole nonsense about getting guys drunk and drugged and having them sleep with someone else is such an unappealing element to the whole story. There was very little "romance" for it being a romance novel. The sex scenes were super rapey and cringy. Ryder is just running around naked for half the book. They never explain the whole voodoo light show nonsense at the beginning. I just felt a lot of sympathy for the heroine the whole time. Really hoping the rest of the books are better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Anna McFadden.
1,016 reviews8 followers
Read
June 4, 2017
Ryder Sherbrooke travels to Jamaica to solve the mystery of the supernatural goings-on at the Sherbrooke sugar plantation. Ryder loves many women and is lable as a fun-loving rake. He has a secret that he even keeps from his family Ad he is investigating the supernatural mystery he finds another and that is in the former of a sophisticated nineteen-year-old girl, Sophia Stanton-Greville, who already has 3 lovers and wants to bed Ryder. Sophia has successfully controlled every man in her orbit until she meets Ryder Sherbrooke, a man she knows immediately is different from the others. Ryder, confident as only a successful rake can be when it comes to knowing women, sets out to teach her who is in charge. he discovered the truth and tries to teach Sophie how to trust a man even through he goes about it the wrong way. the both have to teach each other something that will make life better.
1,115 reviews17 followers
November 14, 2019
If this is Catherine Coulters idea of romance she needs serious therapy. The h is severely beaten and sexually exploited by her uncle who threatened her 9 year old brother with beating and death. The supposed hero marries her and even though he knows she was coerced by her uncle who threatened her he continues to call her a whore and a slut. He takes her home to his brothers house where he repeatedly rapes her. Terrorized her. Tied her up. Refuses to even let her wear a nightgown to bed or bath without him observing her. His joy in humiliating her knows no bounds. She begs to be left alone but he ignores her and can't understand why she isn't enjoying be raped and used. A dnf. Somehow I'm sure at the end the poor h falls in love with this monster and I don't want to throw up before bed. As it is I'll have a hard time sleeping. If you think a woman has a right to say no even to her husband deduct a star.

PS The story starts out on the hero's plantation in Jamaica. It's his first time visiting. The fact that the black slaves are whipped or the black women sexually assaulted is all considered the norm. No eyebrows are raised at the 15 year old pregnant "mistress" of one of the supposed good guys in the book. As his father (another good guy) explains to the hero " everyone keep a black slave mistress here". He does of course. Apparently in a Catherine Coulters book all the men are pigs and all the women victims.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for ANGELIA.
1,377 reviews12 followers
March 4, 2022
This is without a doubt one of the stupidest books I've ever come across (and I've come across a lot of losers)!

When page after page after page is nothing but the TSTL h trying to decide whether or not she's a virgin, and the equally vacant brained H can't make up his mind either, I'd say they should both either hit the sheets to hopefully get the answer, but unless there was a ton of blood on the sheets they mist likely still wouldn't know.

Also, I didn't like the h getting badly beaten by her sadistic creep of an uncle, even if he paid for it.

At any rate, it was DNF for me! And since this was my first Catherine Coulter novel, I think it'll be my last.

Never mind, it will be my last! Unlike those two dolts, I can make a decision!
53 reviews1 follower
February 29, 2020
This book is the perfect example of “Your Kink Is Not My Kink” but that’s still okay. The book was published in 1992, and shows its age. If your kink is men talking down to women and dubious consent, then this is the book for you. If you like enthusiastic consent, this book may raise so many eyebrows you’ll need to pencil more in. The other thing that set my teeth on edge was the point-of-view shifts. Coulter hops briefly into the heads of minor characters and back out, when surely there must be some other way to explore their feelings and motivations.

Otherwise, the plot was intriguing and I liked the ending. I just cringed at most of everything in between.
944 reviews42 followers
December 19, 2022
Tldr review: uneven book that's too rapey for my tastes -- although neither hero nor heroine nor their contemporaries would consider the scenes that most bother me rape, since they're within a marriage.

Coulter has a sense of humor that I recognize but do not share. Which is fine in theory -- I don't share goodly chunks of Johanna Lindsey's sense of humor and still get a kick out of most of her novels -- but this is the second Coulter book I've read in this century (pretty sure I read some in the 1990s), and it didn't do much for me. In the first book of the Bride's trilogy, Coulter found it absolutely hilarious that the hero, who viewed himself as a great lover, inevitably lost control while having sex with the heroine and took her in a white heat. That is not something I personally find amusing, but I found the fact that Coulter did intellectually interesting, and it didn’t hurt my interest in the book any.

But in that book, although the heroine had dealt with some minor abuse, mostly her problem was having dealt with emotional neglect resulting in a poor self-image, so the hero was not hitting her in her weak spot, if you will. In this book, however, the heroine has dealt with serious past abuse of all kinds – verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual – and the first night they have sex, the hero loses control and hurts her. Twice. (He takes a nap in between.) I don’t find that funny or intellectually interesting; I find that cruel.

Coulter also finds it hilarious that this heroine, while believing she hates the hero, responds violently to the sight of him talking to his various former lovers. Coulter thinks this is funny, I assume, because the heroine’s jealousy is indicative of the fact she’s secretly in love with the hero every bit as much as he is with her. But jealousy is not always grounded in love. And even if it is, it doesn’t have to be grounded in the heroine’s love of the hero; extremely selfish people are often jealous out of love for self!

Jealousy can also be purely territorial; the interloper endangers the security of the jealous person by threatening an unstable relationship. There doesn’t have to be any love for that to happen, and frankly, that seems to be what’s happening with this heroine. She doesn’t like the hero or her situation, but she accepts it, and recognizes that she has few other options, meaning another woman – particularly one the hero already has a close relationship with – is a serious threat, and she responds as if this is the case. Then she realizes she’s acting irrationally and settles down.

The author wants me to see things differently, and probably many romance fans do see it the way the author wants them to, but I don’t. I am odd as a romance reader because I do not perceive romantic love as some irrational force that just takes people over despite themselves. I understand that’s how some people experience it and I even think the heroes of Coulter’s books that I have read are generally that sort of person, but as someone who doesn’t perceive it that way, I see romantic love as grounded in something different and don’t buy some of Coulter’s assumptions about it.

The hero continues to force sex on the heroine, intending to bring her pleasure, and while the heroine clearly does not appreciate it at the time, she is also fantasizing that he do everything to her she sees done by the sleazy statues in the “secret” garden, which makes no sense at all. Romances are not known for reflecting reality, but this book is ridiculous. Eventually the hero’s magic cock cures all, which is annoying, because that’s not how abused people work.

I don’t mind tormented heroines, but when an author puts her heroine through so much, I expect a serious pay off in the sense of a loving, considerate hero. This hero has his moments (most of them consisting of unbelievable mindreading), but he continues to treat the heroine terribly in the bedroom pretty much until she unrealistically ‘self-heals’ after he finally manages to give her an orgasm. The reader has to take the HEA on faith because the story isn’t particularly convincing.

Aside from the relationship between the hero and heroine (which is, of course, the core of the book), this book was readable enough, with various mysteries and shenanigans going on to keep things moving. But it’s a kitchen sink plot where new and (mostly) unrelated trials arrive as necessary, rather than a coherent and cohesive story where things neatly interconnect. And while the characters have personalities, those personalities seem to shift a bit from book to book and situation to situation, sometimes in ways that make sense (people who were strong in an abusive situation can indeed become oddly sad and passive in a safer environment as they deal with the pain they set aside before), but often in ways that puzzle me (the hero going from right rude and nasty to impossibly saintly).

One thing that did amuse me was the hero's never fail move "that made every woman he’d ever known squirm and moan when he caressed there," because if he tried that move on me I would crown him. That's one of the few spots on my entire body that are absolutely off limits to hubby, because I cannot stand to be touched there. If there really are any male "great lovers" out there (having talked to a lot of woman with partners in the dozens I have my doubts), the great lovers are guys who are attuned to the woman and follow her lead in what is and isn't pleasurable, not the guys who've developed various techniques they routinely fall back on.
Profile Image for Laura.
588 reviews1 follower
July 11, 2024
I felt so involved in this book for the first half or so then I felt like it petered out. Sophie was getting beat by her Uncle and involved by his coercion to pretend to sleep with a few different men to wipe them out of land titles, money etc. During this part of the book and Ryder coming onto the scene it kept me so engaged. Then she went to England and the book took a downward turn for me.
Things weren't as suspenseful or even lusty and it became a little boring when compared to the first half. Still, it's a good, no minded read that can whisk you away for a few hours and there's no harm in that.
Profile Image for Lobna.
410 reviews22 followers
March 28, 2018
it was better than Sherbrooke bride defintely!
I do believe that there's a potential for a good book but I don't feel with the characters u need to feel it; be angry, sad and passionate but these are flat characters I feel like reading a newspaper not a book but I will read sinjun the next book cause I am intrigued and there's progress maybe it will get better
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