THE REBEL BRIDE by Catherine Coulter

PUBLISHER Signet, 12/1979
REISSUED: Topaz, 1994/2006 Signet with expanded content
SETTING: England, 1800s
HEROINE: Katherine Brandon
HERO: Julian St. Clair
BODICE RIPPER? Maybe
RAPE? Yes, by husband
GRADE: A++

FROM PUBLISHER: Clearly young Lady Katharine Brandon was a beauty, with her rich auburn hair, striking green eyes, flawless face and form. But a beauty was one thing Katharine clearly had no interest in being.

She dressed in a young man's breeches, practiced dueling with pistol and rapier, gambled with cards, defied her father's commands and evaded all suitors.

Imagine Katharine's surprise when the fabulously wealthy, notoriously pleasure-loving , Julien St. Clair, Earl of March, demanded her as his wife. Imagine her dismay when her father asked and received his pricefor yielding her to this man. But no one in all of English society could ever imagine what could happen when a lord who would not be denied and a woman who refused to be mastered turned marriage into a game in which it took far more than love to conquer all ....

SPOILER SUMMARY: Julian is taken with Katherine, whom he calls Kate, from the first time he meets her, having a mock duel with her brother, Harry. She's his neighbor. They develope a friendship with each other. Her home is rundown and she dresses in outdated clothing and Julian decides to offer her marriage. He talks with her father first and despises the man instantly. He visits Katherine at home and proposes to her in front of her father. She turns him down. She's lived with a physically abusive father her whole life and doesn't want much to do with a man. Right after Julian leaves, her father beats her severely and she can't walk. Julian gets wind of it and threatens to kill her father if he ever lays a hand on Katherine again.

Katherine does marry Julian but she's very unhappy about it and they have a marriage in name only. This is where the bodice ripper part come into play. Julian comes up with this terrible plan to abduct his own wife, to teach her about passion. Katherine is out riding in the park one day and Julian, on his horse and wearing a mask and using a fake German accent, snatches her off her horse and takes her to a cabin. He blindfolds her right away and rapes her. He then drugs her, takes her to their home and tells everyone that he found her passed on in the park where she's apparently fallen off her horse.

Katherine, not knowing that her own husband raped her, can't tell him what really happened to her. She ends up getting pregnant and comes up with a plan of her own. To fool Julian into thinking the baby is his, she decides to begin a sexual relationship with him so that she can later pretend that he's the father of the child.

Eventually Julian tells her what happened and their relationship sours even more. She has a miscarriage when she falls off her horse and things worsen. They work things out eventually and Julian helps her remember that she was raped in the woods by several men when she was little. They have their happily ever after.

MY THOUGHTS: This is one of the best books I've ever read and I'm proud to have a personally autographed copy. I first read the expanded, reissued 1994 version in 1995 when I purchased it at a grocery store. I've since read the original version and can't tell the difference even though there's an almost 100 page difference. The abduction plot is exactly the same. Catherine doesn't remove any violence from the original Signet Regency's when they come back into print.

I'd only been reading romance for no more than 2 1/2 years when I read this and its left one hell of an impression on me. I have the original Signet Regency, that's a little under 300 pages. I got rid of my original 1994 paperback when I decided to replace it with a new hardcover. I think this is a pretty unique story, and a true gem, that outshines all the garbage that's being published today.

Todays readers, those who don't like the older stuff, wouldn't enjoy this at all. Even though what Julien did was horrible I can't dislike him for it.

I sent a copy of the original 1979 Signet Regency paperback to the author to sign for me. I can't remember what year but it was probably around 2008. Here's a photo of the page she signed.

TASTE OF TEMPTATION by Cheryl Holt

PUBLISHER: Berkley, 6/2010
GENRE: Historical romance
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Helen Hamilton is a twenty-five-year-old spinster with no income and no prospects who struggles to care for her two orphaned sisters. Destitute and only a heartbeat away from the streets, Helen applies for a position as a governess to the younger siblings of Captain Tristan Odell, the oldest and illegitimate son of notorious philanderer the Earl of Hastings. But when Tristan turns Helen away, her future seems as desperate as her options.

Determined to do whatever it takes to support her sisters, Helen ends up at a brothel, where she agrees to sell herself as a mistress to a client of wealth and prestige. She even drinks a potion to make men desire her -- and is shocked when the man who buys her is none other than Tristan. He too is shocked -- and aroused by the possibilities. He hires Helen, but offers her more than a position as governess. Enmeshed in an affair of unrestrained desire, their passion quickly grows, as does an unexpected danger that could soon destroy them both...

SPOILER SUMMARY: The story takes place in London, England in 1814. The hero is 30 year old Captain Tristan Odell, Earl of Hastings, who has dark hair. The heroine is 24 year old Helen Hamilton, who has auburn hair and green eyes. She supports her two younger sisters, 12 year old Ameila and 18 year old Jane. Tristan lives with his younger, legitimate 18 year old brother, Michael, who is heir to the estate. Michael is tall, blond and blue-eyed. He, Tristan and younger sister Rose have the same father.

Helen applies for a job as governess to Tristan's 12 year old sister, Rose. She's not given the job at first but later is hired. Helen's two sisters move in Tristan's home. Jane begins a sexual relationship with Michael and Helen and Tristan begin one. Not much goes on in this book. Lydia is a house maid who likes Michael. She discovers he's got a relationship going on with Jane and becomes very jealous. She tells on them and Jane, Helen and Amelia get thrown out of the house. They're to live somewhere else until they know if Jane is pregnant by Michael. The book was so uninteresting to me that I won't go into details. It's stated many times throughout the story that Helen is 24 years old yet the synopsis says she's 25.

MY THOUGHTS: What ties each book in this series together is the man who sells the love potions and his sister. They're in this book much more than in the previous one. This book is too similar to the previous one and just as terrible. Both feature a poor hero or heroine who goes to live with a wealthier person and brings others with them. Both books are two 'love' stories in one. Both books have a jealous female who's out to get revenge on the heroine simply because they're jealous of the heroes affection for them. Both sets of hero and heroine get their unbelievable happily-ever-after at the end. I've decided that I won't be reading any future books by this author. I do have most of her other ones and it'll be interesting to see how her first two historicals, which were published ten years ago, compare to this series. Something tells me they'll be better.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.