Darcy Jensen is the president's daughter, and at the start of this book, she is kidnapped by four men. After attempts to escape, she is humiliated to find that she wasn't even the daughter they meant to take and they dump her back at the kidnapping site. As a result of the kidnapping, Darcy and her older sister Lauren are sent into hiding. Darcy's location is the Marcelli winery, and after a mishap with his SEAL team and because his family owns the winery, Joe Larson is sent as the liaison. Joe is reluctant to go because he has been pushing the Marcellis away for three years now and does not find joy in the idea that he will be spending an indefinite amount of time with them. Likewise, Darcy is reluctant to show up at the winery because she's not only hurt and angry, but she feels like she is an imposition on the Marcelli family.
However, when she gets there, the whole Marcelli family welcomes her with open arms and immediately embraces her with love. Even though Joe remains cold and distant, Darcy instantly begins to bond with the family he refuses to claim, particularly Brenna, Mia, Grandma Tessa, and Grandpa Lorenzo. During her time at the hacienda, Darcy starts to feel like she has finally found a home and she starts to learn about the wine and appreciate it in the same way that Brenna and Lorenzo do. Meanwhile, Joe continues to brutally push his family away and reject the destiny they want to pass onto him. However, he starts to become closer to Darcy and begins to care about her.
One night when the whole family is gathered for dinner, Darcy and Lorenzo go for a walk together. In a sad, intimate moment, Darcy is with the patriarch of the family when he finally passes away. A few days later, she's informed that all four of her kidnappers have been caught and put in prison. She's free to go home now. However, the Marcellis are not ready to let her go and she's not ready to leave them and the love they freely give to her.
Her sister comes to visit the hacienda now that the kidnappers have been caught, and everything seems to be going great. Until the night when a fire is set in the vineyards. Too little too late, they realize that it was only a diversion. A diversion so that Ian, Mia's seemingly harmless boyfriend, can kidnap Darcy right under their noses.
In a moment of complete and total clarity, Joe realizes that he was only hurting himself and those he loves by rejecting the Marcellis as his family. On the tail end of that realization is the epiphany that he loves Darcy. He refuses to lose her and forces his way onto the rescue team, forces his plan on those in charge. As one of the SEAL divers sent in to rescue Darcy, he is there to hold her when she is found and tells her that he loves her. She isn't given time to respond, though, because they are taken back to see everyone that was waiting on the shore for Darcy's safe return.
A few hours later, Joe is summoned by the president and questioned as to his intentions towards Darcy. He tells Ryan Jensen that he loves Darcy and intends on marrying her, intends on making her the happiest woman alive. When the question is posed to Darcy, she accepts and expresses her love, and they live happily ever after.
The Marcelli Bride is the third of the Marcelli books that I have read and I loved it just as much as the other two. It was just as eloquently written and just as humorous as the others. I came into this book fully expecting to love it and I was not disappointed in any way.
This is the third book in which Joe Larson is present and I can't tell you how glad I am that he was brought into the series. I completely adore his character, even when he drives me to insanity. He drove me crazy and broke my heart with the constant rejection of the Marcelli family and I was so happy when he finally accepted that he loved them that I actually made a little squeaky noise in the middle of class. I wish, though, that his past with the SEALS had been described in more detail. I'm sure he's seen horrific things in his life and it seemed odd that none of them affected his everyday life. However, I am still very happy with his character and continue to love him, the adorable bastard.
I loved Darcy Jensen. She was intelligent, insecure, loving, confident, and helpful. I loved the deep connection that she formed with the Marcelli family and that she felt Lorenzo's loss almost as deeply as the Marcelli family. I loved the juxtaposition that is emphasized in her relationship with her sister: on one hand, Darcy loves her sister more than anything, but on the other, she sometimes resents her sister for the life Lauren seems to lead. I was touched by how much she tried to help Joe accept his family and see everything wonderful that he had in his life.
I hated that Ian kid from the beginning. He talked too much and there was something suspicious about him from the beginning!
I enjoyed seeing more of Brenna in this book and I loved how close she got to Darcy. I loved seeing her pregnant and going into labor. I knew she was going to have twins and I giggled in class when I read that she did have twins.
Like with Brenna, I enjoyed seeing so much more of Mia and I look forward to reading her book whenever I can get my hands on it. I was intrigued by her finally accepting the proposition to be a spy and look forward to seeing how that plays out.
I was upset not to see more of Nic. I mean, with as much as Brenna was in the book, I was really hoping that my love would have more of a presence in the book. Also, I felt that his brief appearances didn't show too much of his personality and I'd been looking forward to more of his humor. However, the little glimpses that I got of him were very exciting and make me want to reread The Seductive One!
I thoroughly enjoyed the subplot involving Secret Service Agents Paige and Alex. It was nice to see another relationship developing and reigniting alongside the blossoming relationship between Darcy and Joe. In a way I wish that Paige and Alex could have gotten their own book, but maybe it's a good thing that they were only a subplot because their story could have been too drawn out if they became a book.
Again, this was a fantastic book and I look forward to continuing the series.