Reese's Bride (The Bride Trilogy)

The storyline is fairly typical: boy meets girl, they share mutual attraction, boy and girl part promising the world to each other, girl gets married to someone else while boy is gone, boy comes back bitter and still loves girl. Girl has some series of events and needs the boy. Boy steps up because he is still there and decides it is the "right thing to do". Despite this, Reese and Elizabeth in this story are actually deep characters willing to deal with their flaws as human beings and heal their relationship to make their family work. I found that the characters of Elizabeth and Reese are as deep as their passion for each other and learning to love each other all over again proved to be less steep than learning to trust the other which was at the core of the changes in their intended paths. The secrets that Elizabeth and Reese share help to reignite their lost passion for each other. Reese's Bride is the 2nd book in a series of 3 Dewar brothers.

This fascinating book is filled with sensuality, conspiracy, and enough emotions to make the book impossible to be put down. The characters are complex and unique individuals. Right from the beginning the reader can't help but feel Reese's animosity towards the woman that broke his heart. His pain is so great that it practically transmits through the pages. Elizabeth's need for Reese is just as strong. She's never stopped loving him, but the pain that she had to suffer through in her marriage is more than anyone should have to endure and it complicates things. Her son Jared is the sweetest young boy and will quickly have the reader wrapped around his little finger. While sex is a large part of their relationship, it is not what their relationship is based on. But the sexual chemistry is very strong. The sex scenes are plentiful and yet tastefully done. Add to all of that an exciting plot full of danger, mystery and espionage and this is one book you won't be able to put down until the very end. I greatly enjoyed this book. It is the second in the trilogy, but can be read as a stand-alone without detracting from the story. I definitely recommend this fast-paced romantic read. - Jacquelyn R. Ward

One of the best romances I've read in a while. I liked the side story with Annabelle and Travis and the Oarsmen Club. All the characters were wonderful, and I thought Jared was adorable. I read Kat Martin's suspense/romance, The Summit, which I thought was awful and that I would never read another one of her books again because of the awful writing, boring characters, etc. But this book showed that she is a good writer, may be she should stick with historical romances.

In 1855, Reese Dewar still uses a cane to help him get around his estate Briarwood after suffering wounds in battle in the Crimea. However, the biggest wound he took was to his heart when his beloved Elizabeth Clemens married the Earl of Aldridge eight years ago. Still in a rage over her betrayal, he vowed to never trust a woman again, especially this one who shared a bed with the late Edmund Holloway, her spouse. In the middle of the night widow Elizabeth accompanied by her son Hared seeks sanctuary at Reese's home. She insists Edmund's brother and his wife is drugging her to control Jared's fortune that he inherited form his late father. She fears they will arrange the deaths of her and her child if need be. Reluctantly, Reese lets them into his home, but knows the only way to protect them is to give them his name. However, though Elizabeth knows he is right before agreeing to his offer, she also owes him the truth why she betrayed him and concealed a secret that will send him into a deeper rage. The second Victorian Dewar sibling's Bride romance (see Royal's Bride) is a terrific tense thriller starring two terrific lead characters, a perhaps too precocious son, and two vile villains. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Elizabeth arrives at Briarwood and never slows down until the final confrontation between Dewar and Holloway. Fans will appreciate this superb second chance at love historical tale. Harriet Klausner