Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Fugitive Bride

Rate this book
Leah was young and innocent when she married Gerard Woodward. The perfect candidate to be seduced by his charm and ambition. Until one night she learned the truth about her husband. Leah fled, fearing that Gerard would do everything to find her and still she would fall back into her arms.

Six months later, Leah's worst fear is realised, when she meets her handsome husband again. Only he says he's not Gerard, but Gareth Woodward, Gerard's identical twin brother!

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

23 people are currently reading
367 people want to read

About the author

Miranda Lee

815 books236 followers
Maureen Mary was born on 1945 at Port Macquarie, a popular seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her sister was the novelist Wendy Brennan (Emma Darcy). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside, much closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers. Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training, as well as horse and goat breeding, but was left dissatisfied.

Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money. When her sister suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. She could do it at home, and it might even be fun! It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published. At that time, Miranda, her husband Tony, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle once again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series entitled, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months. Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and to clean, two invaluable household skills. Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms; passionate, real-life characters; and enduring, memorable story lines. She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader! Millions of fans world-wide agree she never does.

Miranda was the sister of the late author, Emma Darcy.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
48 (14%)
4 stars
57 (17%)
3 stars
119 (36%)
2 stars
74 (22%)
1 star
26 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews884 followers
October 29, 2019
Re Fugitive Bride - Miranda Lee takes a trip to the Whacktastic - I can only say TYPHOON OF TACKINESS ALERT!

This one is where the h overhears her hubby claiming he only married her cause she was biddable and hot - he sees her as a bed toy/potential broodmare, but he doesn't love her.

So she does what every self respecting HP h does when faced with the unrequitedness of her love - she runs off to work on a tour boat. (The Australian equivalent of London menial jobs and a grotty flat.)

She does leave a very scathing letter for her H, but she is pretty intent on divorce.

As this is HPlandia, the H shows up on the tour boat a little while later, but SURPRISE!

It supposedly isn't the H, it is his twin brother and the h promptly starts a flaming purple passion affair with him.

(The Tacky Typhoon Alert Sounder is working overtime at this point.)

Eventually, the truth comes out and the H confesses that there is no twin, but the h is convinced he loves her now.

So all is well in the Miranda Lee Shire of HPlandia and our erstwhile H and h can get back to their regularly scheduled boudoir bouncing activities.

This one is highly readable, but extreeemly silly and I give it a three.

Cause while it is a negative gadzillion for the brother thing, it is a five on the whacktastic - which every HP mathematician knows means it is firmly in the middle for an outing to HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Aou .
2,045 reviews215 followers
August 22, 2019
If he'd loved her, he would have come cap in hand and his heart on his sleeve with honest apologies and a million means of retribution. But, no, he'd come with even more deception, more lies, more manipulations.
I don't know why the heroines of romances have never listened to the voice of reason. On the other hand, that should be why I'm reading a lot of these. Lol
Profile Image for seton.
713 reviews323 followers
March 23, 2015
Without going into spoilers, I'll say that I dont like stories where the H totally manipulates the heroine and plays her for a fool, even in the name of Twu Wub. I also dont like it when the h shags all the family members.
Profile Image for Romance_reader.
233 reviews
August 20, 2016
mostly undecided about how to rate this book. It was fun in some parts and downright creepy in others. Leah (the h) is estranged from her husband Gerard, but hasn't had the courage to ask for a divorce in six months. Instead, she works on a tourist boat (or similar) in different part of Australia, hoping to never get discovered by her ex. Here, she meets her husband's 'twin' Gareth and finds herself falling for him. And that's where it really creeped me out. The fact that she's constantly comparing the new guy to Gerard- even when they're making love- though, she's professed to hating him. So even though, she's not completely over her hubby, she has no compunctions getting it on with someone else, even as she thinks of her ex. It was a bit much for me.

Granted, Leah is very young; she comes across as a flighty and fanciful female in this book. And the hero Gerard, is only marginally better with almost 'schizophrenic' tendencies. However, the book itself wasn't a complete disaster, owing to the author's writing style and so definitely worth a couple of stars. But is it a keeper? Methinks not.
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,948 reviews299 followers
September 2, 2021
I know this is a silly plot, more fantasy than reality, but I love this writer.
Her heroes make mistakes but their groveling knows no limits.
Here we have a heroine who, after 9 months of marriage, hears her husband telling a friend he carefully chose her because she's perfect wife material: young, naive and in love with him. Of course he doesn't love her but keeps her satisfied with all material things she could want (and we know he uses sex to manipulate her, but at least he doesn't tell)
The heroine is shattered, and leaves him.
Six months later she meets a man who claims he's her husband's identical twin (really??? yes, really!)
He also shows her a scar that her husband doesn't have.
He acts very differently, he's so sweet and caring, and the heroine is so happy that she finally has found her dream man, with the body and the sensuality of her evil husband, but with a loving and gentle heart, that after a couple of dating she has wonderful sex with him and decides to go back to her husband and asks for a divorce (and marry his twin, of course)
Of course we all have understood that the twin doesn't exist, but we are all so delighted that a man could stoop to such a silly plot to win his wife back, making a fool of himself, that we forgive him everything.
Yes, he really loves her.
Yes, he's loved her all along but arrogantly thought he was a strong and brute man who didn't do emotions.
Yes, when she run away, and he couldn't find her, he panicked and almost killed himself.
Yes, he also cried. Repeatedly.
I loved this book, with his low angst level, with a hero who was not so bad to begin with, only a little conceited, but I appreciated his little staging and the fact that he really tried to change.
I appreciated that he was really jealous and distressed when he thought she was having an affair with her business partner.
What a nice reading. Entertaining and very light.




Profile Image for Susan.
14 reviews
December 7, 2025
Fugitive Bride wants us to root for Gerard but Leah spends most of the book

We don’t know what the author knows and aren’t clued in. We learn everything along with Leah and that means we believe

The problem is Leah doesn’t know either, and we see her fall in love with someone else because of the ways Gareth is or isn’t like Gerard. And in the end, there isn’t enough time to show why these two are good together.

To add salt to the wound, Gerard dangles a more interested plot at the end of the book, Not only would this have been a more fun read, it also perfectly shows how Gerard had more to answer to than we got in this book.
Profile Image for MissKitty.
1,746 reviews
July 16, 2017
SPOILERS

SPOILERS - be warned.

I must confess, I read the other reader reviews beforehand so I already knew about the major spoiler coming in. I must admit that it influenced how I read the book. So because I did that, I already know that....

there is no twin brother. The heroine leaves her husband since she overheard him speaking to a friend of his, basically admitting that he didn't love her and was merely manipulating her, since she was young, in love and malleable.

Six months later, while she is working in another town, her brother in law, "identical twin" of her husband (whom she has never met) shows up. She falls in love with him, since he looks exactly like her husband but embodies all the qualities she admires, totally different from her ruthless manipulative husband. They start an affair, even if she is not divorced yet.

She finally goes to confront her husband and ask for a divorce, then finds out it was all a scam. The "twin" brother was her husband all along.

Actually, I did find it despicable how he tricked her this way, I don't even know why the author used the "evil twin" plot device. The erring husband could just as easily have tried to make amends and win her heart as himself.....but whatever, maybe we wouldn't have had a story.

Knowing this it colored my reading of the story, since I didn't really feel the conflict the heroine was going through in cheating her husband. It also influenced how I responded to the courtship, knowing that the guy was really her husband.

Author's explanation; the husband wanted to turn himself into a better man for his wife and wanted her to fall in love with him all over again. At the same time, turning her into a cheating adulteress!!! I don't get it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Daisy Daisy.
706 reviews41 followers
August 20, 2019
This is not my first time reading this I had the paperback many moons ago and read it more than once.
Rereading it now that in allegedly all grown up I can see how implausible it is to pretend to be your own twin and for your wife who hates you to have an affair with said twin but man I loved it back in the day. Maybe my sentimental feelings for the book mean I can't score it lower but it really was a guilty pleasure.
Our H is a real idiot before the wife ran off and his lying doesn't help but if we can forget that, he actually tries hard to win his wife back and thank goodness he wasn't a cheater during their separation which I dislike when married.
The h sucks it up and grows a spine during the separation and really lets rip but I find it hard to believe she believed his twin lies and was happy to shack up with him and try for a baby after about a day!
Great last chapter/epilogue with the HEA though I kind of wanted Enid to end up with the boat dude though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for iamGamz.
1,549 reviews51 followers
December 16, 2017
Two and a half Stars for this one ✨

Why would a grown man pretend to be someone else to win over his runaway wife?! Why not just man up and say “I was an ass, please forgive me. Let’s fix our marriage?”

The entire premise of this book was absurd. It was a well written story. The characters idiotically interesting. But the damn concept had me questioning the author’s sanity through the entire book.

Yes, I finished it cause I needed to know how the hell this mess turned out. It was ok. It was sometimes amusing. It was “meh”.
Profile Image for Gavi Figueroa.
Author 9 books160 followers
August 5, 2022
Madre mía, me debato entre 3.5 y 5 estrellas. Eso no es normal.
La historia la disfruté mucho, este rollo del hermano gemelo que no se cree nadie (de las lectoras, en el mundo de esta historia todos es como OH SI, SU HERMANO GEMELO), o te lo pasas o simplemente esta novela no te va a gustar.
Me encantó el detalle de la colonia y el intento de recuperar a su esposa haciendo de todo, pero el problema para mí es el final.
Él no merecía una indulgencia tan sencilla. Me hubiera gustado más que ella supiera desde el inicio que era su marido y le siguiera la corriente para ver a dónde quería llegar. Pero él sostuvo la mentira hasta el condenado final y me vale 3 cacahuates que la pasara mal al separarse ¡Se lo buscó!
En fin, que este detalle me desinfló la experiencia :( pero como también me gustó... pues ala, no lo sé.
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
June 3, 2021
Leah was young and innocent when she married Gerard Woodward. The perfect candidate to be seduced by his charm and ambition. Until one night she learned the truth about her husband. Leah fled, fearing that Gerard would do everything to find her and still she would fall back into her arms.
Six months later, Leah's worst fear is realised, when she meets her handsome husband again. Only he says he's not Gerard, but Gareth Woodward, Gerard's identical twin brother!
Profile Image for Se Mcgregor.
87 reviews8 followers
May 7, 2016
3.5 stars. Hit and miss with this author but I was surprised with this book. Very, very different to her other work. I enjoyed it!
Profile Image for Mudpie.
861 reviews8 followers
May 21, 2017
3.5* rounded up to 4*

SPOILERS ALERT! ! !

But honestly if you cannot see through the plot...LOL

Gerard's ploy was so asinine and daring it made me LOL just like Leah did haha!

I REALLY didn't like it that he made love to Leah without coming clean...and for Leah to sleep with her husband's 'brother'...icky. But Gareth was the one who kept harping on her to forget Gerard since she's determined to divorce the latter.

Gerard was pretty much an a$$ in the beginning but what he did after showed a man desperately in love with his wife he thought he'd lost for good. Nothing short of pure desperation would make a man like he was come up with such a ridiculous plan to just have a chance to woo Leah again.

Gareth was indeed the perfect man and Leah was right to say if only she had met him first...but without Gerard there'd be no Gareth and vice versa...

I'm surprised I liked this 1998 book so much. It does seem a bit dated because Leah had to run out of the house to use a payphone down the road! It's now 2017 most people have mobile phones! Then again it's in Australia so I love reading about local areas.
Profile Image for Bea Tea.
1,198 reviews
January 7, 2024
I rate Mills & Boon (Harlequin) on how much of a crazy blast I had while I was reading it. I certainly had a crazy blast here, hence the high rating.

The plot of this book is like something from 'Days of our Lives', but on crack. The heroine is without a doubt the stupidest person I've ever encountered in a genre that is rife with idiocy, and the hero was... well he was odd to say the least. Yes there were a whole lot of silly twists and turns, and the heroine's overwhelming obsession with sex at times had be wondering if a man wrote this book, but you know it had heaps of heart and kept me laughing throughout.
Profile Image for fay.
480 reviews
February 21, 2021
Twin brother ,no just no
I stopped many times thinking what the hell I am reading .

You need to be really in a good mood to enjoy the fully ridiculous ride of this story , it's so unbelievable , it's quite funny .

But the twin brother business is so sleazy even knowing from the beginning that there's wasn't any twin .

I felt disgusted and annoyed and didn't believe that the heroine ever loved the hero , lust maybe but not love .

Hero wasn't better either. Manipulative is putting it mildly.
Profile Image for Leyns.
3,055 reviews
October 13, 2017
I liked the letter - “may God forgive you because I never will” (or something along those lines) definitely caught my attention. However, I really wasn’t a fan of how the hero and heroine got back together. Was the heroine really that gullible? And why was she okay with hooking up with her husbands twin brother? Ew.
343 reviews1 follower
April 23, 2021
2.75 stars
I'm not a fan of someone sleeping with a set of twins
Profile Image for Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
275 reviews198 followers
June 17, 2008
Buku ini... gimana ya? Pas baca, ceritanya aneh buat saya. Anyway anyhow, Leah kabur dari rumah suaminya setelah tidak sengaja mendengar suaminya berkata bahwa Gerrard tidak mencintai Leah, Setelah kabur, Leah bekerja di kapal pesiar.

Di kapal pesiar itulah Leah bertemu dengan seseorang yang sangat mirip dengan suaminya. Pria tersebut mengaku bernama Gareth, saudara kembar Gerrard. Perbedaan signifikan dari kedua orang ini adalah ada parut/bekas luka di muka Gareth.

Gareth bercerita bahwa Gerrard, sangat kehilangan Leah. Tapi Leah yang terlanjur sakit hati terhadap Gerrard, menolak kembali pada suaminya. Pertemanan mereka berkembang menjadi perasaan cinta di hati Leah. Dan Gareth pun jatuh hati pada Leah.

Siapa yang sangka bahwa sebenarnya tidak ada saudara kembar, bahwa Gareth adalah Gerrard sendiri, hanya saja dia mengalami kecelakaan yang menyebabkan parut luka di mukanya.
Profile Image for Yulia Anggraini.
419 reviews
July 4, 2012
Ceritax agak g biasa...Dri awal aq yakin pria yg mngaku2 bukan suami leah tp kembaranx,stelah 6bulan bpisah it emang benar suamix...Tp bukti n fakta mngatakn tidak...Ap lg waktu gareth kembaran gerard,suami leah m'perlihatkn bukti fisik/tanda dbadanx yg tdk ad pada gerard...Tp yg mbwt aq ttp g pcaya klw it kembaranx yaitu pertanyan2 yg gareth ajukan ttg ap yg salah d dalam perkawinan saudara kembarx...Seakan2 dy ingin memperbaiki ap yg salah it,ingin tw kenapa leah tidak bahagia...
Ekspresi gereth bener2 merana wktu dy mkìr leah punya affair dgn bosx...
Ebat ni gerard ap pun akan dy lakukan utk mendpatkn lgi istri yg sangat dcintaix it...
Semua orang it bsa brubah ap lg klw yg sudah k'ilangan orang/sesuatu yg sangat b'harga bagix....
Luv gerard...He3h...
Profile Image for Brilliant Hermione.
174 reviews5 followers
March 11, 2016
Salah satu novel Harlequin lama yang butuh usaha keras untuk mendapatkannya. Hasilnya, saya benar-benar puas, tidak percuma buang-buang uang, tenaga dan pulsa internet untuk menguprek-uprek online shop demi novel ini.

Ceritanya bagus, sederhana tapi terjalin memikat. Btw, out of topic sedikit, kadang-kadang suka heran sama pembaca yang mengkritik gaya romansa Harlequin yang katanya dangkal-lah, singkat-lah. Well, hello ladies and gentlemen, namanya juga Harlequin, tak jauh bedanya dengan serial cantik yang gampang ditebak. Nikmati Harlequin dengan hati lapang okeh, jauhkan segala harapan tentang percintaan rumit atau alur cerita dahsyat yang biasa terangkum di novel suspense^^
832 reviews16 followers
May 14, 2013
Standard M&B dare, read in an afternoon.[return][return]He: career driven man, viewing marriage as a business transaction[return][return]She: naive 19year old, who after 9 months of marriage, gets a rude awakening as to how her husband sees marriage, and escapes. 6 months later, and his previously unknown - and completely different - identical twin brother hires the boat she is working on and she falls in love/lust again. Only to find out the truth....
Profile Image for Deasy.
164 reviews
May 15, 2013
Ga tau mood aku yang jelek... ga tau emang buku ini kurang menarik....

Ga bisa komen banyak deh.. bacanya aja sambil terheran-heran, lho kok bisa kayak gitu... ga kenal suami sendiri? Jadinya buatku buku ini non sense...

Tadinya mau kasih rating 1.5 tapi karena gr ga ada 1.5, yah sudah aku masukin 2 aja deh. Kalo 1 kesannya kejam yah heheheh...^.*

Profile Image for Melania Ramona.
613 reviews24 followers
January 4, 2016
It was pretty entertaining... once I left half my brain sleeping while I read the book.
She could just have asked for his identity card, no?
But I liked the writing, even if I wasn't so fond of the plot. 2.5 stars
Profile Image for Samatha Delancy.
17 reviews
July 31, 2012
oh this was a good on. it let see what a man would do to get what the wanted. give it a read you'll like it to.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.