Emily French (1)

This book was good and different from other Indian romances. It hurt that my enjoyment kept getting dampered as I remained pissed off for the majority of the book. Jeanne is captured at the beginning after her father dies, and it is an all out unnecessary attack. The Indian guide she is with is attacked and her companion is shot in the back with an arrow. One Indian dies in the capture and she is brought back to the village along with her dying companion. She is made to feel shame for the dead Indian like it's somehow her fault. This pissed me off - she was acting in self-defense and this is never defended nor let up on with the book.

Jeanne as a character worked well - she's surprisingly high spirited (although she felt bad the guy was dead), stubborn, resilient, and likeable. The hero of the tale was likeable once I got past some of the annoyances of the attack. He's more stand offish for the majority of the book than normal. In the end all the characters and the changes turned out incredibly likeable. The relationship seemed genuine and sweet (after my anger was slowly releasing anyway...)

I also in one way enjoyed her ambition for the warrior angle - in other occasions it started getting annoying and too much. This was the first Harlequin type Indian romance I've read. French's style with words rocked and shied completely away from melodrama or cheesiness; she writes well. The plot was different enough to remain interesting, but some of the situations grew tiresome. There were multiple layers in the story beyond their romance, more of a lifestyle exploration, which I enjoyed.

… (mais)

After waiting 10 years to hear from the man she loved, Caitlin Parr was eager to follow Samuel Jardine to America regardless of the fact that he mistakenly wrote her sisters name, Caitryn on the personal letter that accompanied the marriage proposal. Maine 1842 - Waiting on the docks for his soon to be bride, Sam was momentarily shocked to find that the wrong sister had accepted his offer. Making the best of the situation and not letting on that he had made a mistake, the marriage went forward, then he took his new wife to the lumbering camp.

The characters in this story where good, the story was good, the description of Maine’s forest and timber business was good, some of the writing was confusing though. Very repetitive on some points while other things seemed to get lost in the descriptions. This book was apparently named before it was written, while once or twice calling Caitlin a ‘Bogus Bride’ would have been ok, it didn’t stop at that. Also, ‘Bogus’ didn’t seem to fit, it was a misunderstanding, a mistake, and they made a few bad choices, but I would not consider it fake, the feelings were real for both of them, not intentionally deceitful. A decent historical romance, a few minor writing style quirks to overlook, but a good story in general.… (mais)