To Tame a Bride

Rebel Brides #2

by Susan Fox

Maddie St. John knows that Lincoln Coryell has dismissed her as a spoiled, glamorous socialite. He seems alternately amused and annoyed by her, which infuriates Maddie, as she badly needs his help! Only, pride won't let her admit it--or that she finds his rugged good looks irresistible....

Lincoln Coryell knows he's the first man to stand up to Maddie. He can't believe his bad luck when he's stranded alone with her! Only, to his surprise, this disaster reveals a different side to Maddie. Linc senses the vulnerability beneath her prickly pride and realizes he could be the man to tame her!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Romance, Contemporary Romance

185 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

There is more than one author with this name. When entering books for this particular Susan Fox. The name needs to be entered with only one space between the first and last name.

Susan grew up with her sister, Janet, and her brother, Steven, on an acreage near Des Moines, Iowa, where, besides a jillion stray cats and dogs, two horses, and a pony, her favorite pet and confidant was Rex, her brown-and-white pinto gelding.

Susan has raised two sons, Jeffrey and Patrick, and currently lives in a house that she laughingly refers to as the Landfill and Book Repository. She writes with the help and hindrance of five mischievous shorthaired felines: Gabby, a talkative tortoiseshell calico; Buster, a solid lion-yellow with white legs and facial markings; his sister, Pixie, a tri-color calico; Toonses, a plump black-and-white; and the cheerily diabolical, naughty black tiger Eddie, aka Eduardo de Lover.

Susan is a bookaholic and movie fan who loves cowboys, rodeos, and the American West, past and present. She has an intense interest in storytelling of all kinds and in politics, and she claims the two are often interchangeable.

Susan loves writing complex characters in emotionally intense situations, and hopes her readers enjoy her ranch stories and are uplifted by their happy endings.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the sequel to To Claim a Wife, a two part series about cousins (not identical for all the Hayley Mills fans) who both had terrible parents. The heroine of this story is a poor little rich girl who is bitchy to all because she must reject people before they reject her. Next to her mother, the heroine biggest estrangement is with her cousin whom she blames for the death of a boy she had a crush on in high school. Yes, our heroine is barely living in the present because she is haunted by the past.

The story opens with the heroine receiving a call from her mother asking her to travel from Texas to Colorado to meet her new billionaire husband. Heroine hasn't heard from her mother in five years and is excited to finally show her that she has grown from a skinny "ugly" child to an attractive woman. The only problem is that she can't get a commercial flight that particular weekend. So she ends up begging the hero to take her in his small private plane.

The hero is a former ranch hand of the heroine's grandmother who is now rolling in money and land. He remembers the heroine fondly as a child and is dismayed at her bitchy behavior. This hero does not fit the Susan Fox formula. He might hate her behavior, but he doesn't hate her. This is a big difference from all of those misunderstood SF heroines who must change the hero's mind and heart.

Moving further away from the Susan Fox formula, the H/h are set up to endure the road trip trope and end up in a plane crash in the mountains of Colorado.

Instead of enduring the scrutiny of her accusers, the humbling experience for this SF heroine is to forgo hair and make up and endure the physical challenge of walking to civilization after a plane crash. All of her usual coping mechanisms are useless. Yelling and insulting the hero doesn't help. Money can't get her out of this one.

They endure hunger (hero fishes and snares rabbits), blisters, altitude sickness, bear and cougar encounters, a thunderstorm, and the discomfort of a sharing one blanket while attracted to the other. On the plus side, they are joined by a little stray dog that the hero dubs "skeeter" because she is the same size as Texas mosquitoes. Skeeter is yappy and helpless and lost and a good metaphor for the heroine.

The heroine's change of heart comes about when the hero tells her that no child is ugly and that while she might be more attractive as an adult, her choices have led her to be a less than attractive human being. The heroine is overcome with remorse for all of her past actions and vows to make amends and be a better person.

This is all very touching and well-done, but I kept waiting for the hero to show a similar vulnerability or flaw. But no - he's the perfect hero. Capable, understanding without being judgmental. A self-made man. Only the heroine has to change for their HEA - and that felt a little too condescending to me. That subtle male superiority was hard to take.

When the H/h return to civilization, the heroine goes about reforming her evil ways. I really liked the reconciliation with her cousin. It was a genuinely touching scene. The heroine is upset that the hero hasn't contacted her once in months, but that changes when the H/h (now married) from To Claim a Wife throw her a party and the hero shows up. Turns out there had been a lot of gossip about the H/h's wilderness journey and that the heroine's personality change came about because she finally had sex and the hero tamed her. (They didn't - only a few kisses) The hero didn't like this gossip and decided to stay away for the heroine's reputation. (And to give this author credit - the hero was a catalyst - the heroine did all the heavy lifting of change by herself. There really was no "taming." )

But now they're at the same party and after some hard words in the stable, the hero throws the heroine over his shoulder and takes her to the hayloft for some lovin'. Skeeter slips her bonds and cozies up with her horse friend.

There is an epilogue/ author's note that doesn't set a scene, but just reports what happens to the characters in the future. The cousins each deliver a daughter within days of each other. The daughters become best friends. The h from To Claim a Wife also has twin boys a few years later and the h from this story has two more daughters. The heroine never does reconcile with her mother, but her children heal her heart. Skeeter lives a long life and is loved by all.



This was a very good two part series, although I thought the first book had the stronger romance and a more well-rounded hero. I wanted to see why this hero needed this particular heroine to be happy. I could see why the heroine needed him - but not the other way around. I would hate to in a position where I had to apologize for my life and then be stuck with the perfect, superior man. I need a little more equality in a relationship. Still, the heroine's journey was fascinating and certainly worth your time.

[*CJ* · Rating 3 out of 5]

"To Tame a Bride" is the story of Maddie and Lincoln.

We met this heroine as the best friend to the MC of the first book- the snooty heiress who abandoned the sad waif/cousin in her darkest hour and blamed her for the unfortunate accident that killed her boyfriend.
Here she starts the book by being rude, abrupt, temperamental and condescending. But soon, the ice cracks, and we see a vulnerable young woman, STARVED of love and going to desperate attempts to get a smidgen of it from the people, who honestly don't bother about her. The hero vaguely knows her, and as expected, does not think highly of her. A surprise invitation leads to a plane ride, an unfortunate crash and a race to survival. Majority of the book takes place whilst our MC is stranded in a forest and trying to stay alive. Truths are revealed, the curtain is lifted, unlikely love blooms and they have their HEA.

Average on angst but it was just sad- especially the heroine's past. Ending was rushed, but I probably gave the book an extra half star for the dog's perspective. I mean dog>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>(*infinity)humans. Wonderful combined epilogue for the series.

SWE
3/5

[Chantal ❤️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I have one complaint here it's that we never read about their final joining!!! Ah man! I really wanted to after all that free forest foundling. That would have made it perfect however because we got all the loose ends tied up in the end I have to give it 5 stars. The first book was just as awesome. Great two parter by Susan fox.

[Yesmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

By looking at the cute cover you wouldn't have known that the main trope is "survival-romance" which is one of my absolute favorites (I blame Transcendence of Shay Savage for that particular kink, knowing that I wouldn't last a minute in the wild)

[BarbarAzza Brioscina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh amò gli incidenti

[Tia · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

I was probably 20 pages away from the end and just gave up. The whole novel is stupid. I mean seriously. The heroine was apparently a wealthy mean girl, when her plane crashed she had a go to god experience and apologized for being nothing but what her grandmother and parents made her. It was bullshit.

[Lakshmi C]

Rtc.

[MissKitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heroine is the usual Susan fox tortured heroine. In this case, she is a poor little rich girl who was never wanted by her parents nor her grandmother, who raised her, so she has a lot of angst. The Hero is pretty decent. When they figure in a plane crash and are forced to survive together in the wilderness, he takes care of her and is generally decent to her. This makes her come to terms with her victim complex and he makes her see that her anger towards the people who loved her, should not make her take it out on others.

[Bea Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh I loved this one! Ice queen and a gruff Texan couple, plane crash and wilderness survival setting with a taming of the shrew story. And I loved that Maddie had actual character growth, she was wonderful. I thought she was a bit like Willie from The Temple of Doom when she was a princess in the mountains.

[Agathajross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this author's books. I have read most of them over the years. I enjoyed them being lost in the forest and finding the dog! SF's style of writing is easy to read. I like both the hero and the heroine and loved the dog.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maddie and me were so alike and this book had only made me realize how shallow the relationship I had with this man I just met. So yeah, I just said my goodbyes to him a few minutes ago. Thanks Maddie!

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite type of romance where h has to redeem herself after acting like a witch. But SF develops these characters enough.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taming of the shrew redux. Plane crash forced spoilt rich heroine to spend time with self-made millionaire/rough cowboy hero as they trekked back to civilization. Guy's a decent bloke.