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Captive Bride

por Bonnie Dee

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2031,091,121 (3.57)Nenhum(a)
San Francisco, 1870 Huiann arrives in America expecting to be wed to a wealthy businessman. She no sooner disembarks from the ship than she realizes Xie is not looking for a bride: Huiann is worth more to him as a high-end prostitute. Though her fate is better than that of other Chinese women forced into the sex trade, she has no intention of waiting for Xie to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. At the first opportunity, she escapes and disappears into the city. When a beautiful woman takes refuge in his store, Alan's life changes forever. He's spent the last five years trying to forget the horrors of war, and had almost given up hope of finding love. He hires Huiann as his housekeeper, and though they can only communicate through signs and sketches, they quickly form a bond that transcends the need for words. But Xie is determined to recover his property, and love may not be enough to protect Huiann from his vengeance. 75,600 words… (mais)
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Enjoyable book that takes place in San Francisco in 1870. It seemed to be well researched and the information was basically imparted as part of the story of this Chinese girl who was imported to be a prostitute unbeknownst to her. When she finds out she runs away and is taken in by a white American man who hires her as a housekeeper and then falls in love with her.

The story develops over several months and you see the two of them learn about each other and fall in love. The plot was fairly tight and the writing as always from Bonnie Dee was well done and flowing. POV from both the hero and the heroine.

I am greatly enjoying Ms. Dee's romances set in very different times and places than the norm in romance fiction. ( )
  Luziadovalongo | Jul 14, 2022 |
(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

This post was an absolute bear to write. I'm not sure why, since I even had decent notes that covered pretty much everything I wanted to write. I just had a hard time putting those notes into reasonably coherent and mostly organized paragraphs. I'd have abandoned the whole thing, except I liked the book enough that I wanted to make sure there was a mention of it on my blog. Plus, the cover image is pretty.

Anyway, the first half of this book really grabbed me. I read a good chunk of Captive Bride in just one day. Huiann was a great heroine – although she had grown up relatively sheltered and suddenly found herself in a very bad situation, she didn't completely fall apart. Instead, she did her best to survive, kept her head, and waited for a chance to get free. Even when she was captured again later in the book and there was a greater possibility someone (Alan) would come for her, she didn't wait to be saved, but rather looked for opportunities to save herself.

I really enjoyed the parts of the book where Alan and Huiann were still getting to know each other and gradually becoming more comfortable with living together. Although they didn't speak each other's languages at first, they still managed to get by. They even managed to benefit from the language barrier – they felt more free to confess their fears to each other, knowing that the exact meaning of their words wouldn't be understood and yet gaining comfort from being able to finally say things they could never say to anyone else. Alan spoke of the horrible, lasting effect being in a Civil War prison camp had had on him, while Huiann spoke of her anger at her parents for sending her to marry a man they had never met.

Although Huiann wasn't technically Alan's prisoner, she was limited in what she could do or where she could go – any time she went out in public, she risked being spotted by Xie or one of his men. Although Alan enjoyed just having her around, I liked that he understood her need to have something to do, particularly something that was truly useful. Her dressmaking filled up her time and challenged her, as she tried to work out how to copy expensive designs. It also gave her a chance to earn money, since Alan refused to take all of the profits. When her talents began to be more in demand, she was able to help her friend Dora out by enlisting her help – working with Huiann allowed Dora to earn a little money for herself that the abusive drunk she lived with didn't have complete access to.

In addition to having to deal with being cooped up a lot, Huiann understandably experienced some homesickness. I loved the gifts Alan purchased for her, a few small Chinese items he thought might remind her of home and give her some comfort. Although none of the book's events took place in China, Dee was still able to work in Chinese cultural details. Huiann's love for and closeness to her family were clear, and I admit to both hoping that she would be able to see them again and dreading the possibility, since, if she went back, it was highly unlike she'd ever be able to see Alan again.

For some reason, I didn't find the second half of the book to be quite as good as the first. Part of my problem, I think, was that, even with Huiann gaining a few slight freedoms here and there, the book began to feel a bit claustrophobic after a while. Every time Alan left to attend parties or speak to people in order to further build up his political career, I worried more and more about Huiann, who seemed destined to become Alan's dirty little secret. The one thing that kept me from disliking Alan and his part in this was that he, too, worried about Huiann and felt guilty about the position he was putting her in. It also helped that Huiann was aware of some of the obstacles standing between her and Alan and knew full well that she might be making a mistake she'd have to pay for later.

Dee did manage to give Huiann and Alan a happy ending, but it wasn't all kittens and rainbows – there was a definite recognition of the fact that their chosen path would have bumps along the way. However, Dee managed to make me believe that, whatever their future might hold, Alan and Huiann would be able to weather it. They were strong individuals and, at the same time, a solid couple.

Some additional comments I wanted to make but couldn't quite find room for (which probably contributed to the weeks it took me to write this post):

- There were a few things I felt got kind of...dropped. Dora seemed to just disappear, unless she got another mention that I somehow missed. I'm assuming she found herself another place to live. Also, I wondered why Huiann and Alan didn't seem to be concerned that one of Xie's associates might decide to cause Huiann's family problems, even without Xie around to give the orders. I didn't quite believe that they could be made safe so easily.
- For those of you interested in romance novels in which contraceptives are mentioned: Alan has condoms, and Huiann drinks some kind of horrifying concoction designed to keep her from becoming pregnant. I was kind of curious about how effective condoms made at this time were, and I worried a bit that the stuff Huiann drank might make her sick. ( )
  Familiar_Diversions | Sep 24, 2013 |
It seems that whenever I run across a Bonnie Dee book, the synopsis and excerpt never fail to draw me in, so I was very excited to finally have a chance to try one of her novels. Captive Bride didn't quite reach the heights of perfection for me, but it was a solid piece of storytelling that I really enjoyed reading. I always like a good interracial story, and this one was quite interesting especially in the historical context where prejudice and racism seemed to run rampant. Alan struggles with truly wanting to make Huiann more than his mistress or lover, but knowing that he would receive public censure if he married her. The author also sheds some light on the sexual slave trade that was prevalent at that time in which young Asian women were either kidnapped or taken from their families under false pretenses, shipped to America under horrific conditions, and then pressed into prostitution where they were treated little better than animals. Considering that this type of sex trafficking still occurs in certain parts of the world today, I really have to give the author kudos for addressing this important women's rights issue.

Huiann is a kind-hearted innocent who truly has no idea that she is not bound for America to become a stranger's wife, but instead will be working as a high-priced courtesan. She was nervous enough about becoming a bride, but when she found out the truth, she was absolutely horrified. She may have been sweet and demure in some ways, but even in the opening chapter, I could detect a natural curiosity and spunkiness that definitely served her well as the story progressed. When she discovered her fate, Huiann never gave up on the possibility of escape and was ever vigilant looking for that opportunity. When it finally presented itself, she grabbed hold with both hands and didn't let go, leading her to find an ally in Alan. I admired Huiann for being a hard-worker who showed her gratitude to Alan by doing everything she could to make life easier for him. When they became more intimately involved, she was also very giving and loving toward him, offering herself freely. In the end, when Huiann once again found herself kidnapped, she was at first depressed, but it didn't take long for the wheels to begin turning in her head to formulate another potential escape plan. She was a strong woman who didn't just wait around for someone to come save her, but took her fate into her own hands while still being a gentle soul at her core.

Although Alan was certainly willing to do what needed to be done to save Huiann, he was, in my opinion, more of a beta hero. He is attracted to Huiann from the moment he sees her disembarking from a steamer. Alan was somewhat tortured from his time spent as a prisoner of war at Andersonville during the Civil War. He still has nightmares from that, and interestingly, the authors chooses not to make them magically go away because of Huiann's gentle love. When Huiann coincidentally shows up in his store, obviously running and hiding from someone, Alan can relate even though they initially can't communicate. Alan is a successful business man and one of the good guys who wants to run for political office out of a sense of rightness and fairness and truly wanting to help constituents by cleaning up the corruption in the city of San Francisco. I liked that Alan treated Huiann with kindness, and like an equal, in spite of her being a woman, and Asian at that, in a time when most whites saw people of other races as good for nothing more than the labor they could provide. He always gave her a choice in everything she did, not wanting her to feel like she'd left one “master” for another. I also got the impression that Alan was a little more average looking which is a rarity for a romance hero. At no point, did Huiann think of Alan as gorgeous. In fact, at first, she doesn't even find him attractive, but as she begins to see the beauty inside, it changes her opinion of the outside. Overall, Alan was a great guy who could be strong while also being extremely sweet.

During the early parts of the story, I had a hard time feeling the emotional connection between Huiann and Alan. They were very obviously attracted to one another, but there wasn't quite enough happening between them to make the reasons readily apparent. He had found her beautiful from the moment he first saw her and she was very grateful for his kindness in saving her from a terrible fate, but there was still a little something missing for me. I think part of it had to do with the language barrier. They each speak candidly in their own tongue and glean a certain amount of meaning from facial expressions and gestures, but since they still couldn't really understand one another, these “conversations” didn't seem quite as meaningful as they would have otherwise. I also detected some passivity in the narrative prose which always makes it a little harder to feel things too, because it tells more than shows. Once Huiann starts to learn some English and the story got to the love scenes that all changed though. The first time Alan and Huiann share a bed was very sweet. They may not have gone “all the way,” but they were very loving and giving to each other. The later love scenes remained gentle and truly romantic while still being spicy, very much the physical expression of their burgeoning love. I loved that Alan was always so tender with Huiann, and that he cared about her enough to use protection which is pretty rare in a historical romance.

Overall, Captive Bride was a very enjoyable read with a hero and heroine I could really root for. It's setting and certain story elements were somewhat unusual for historical romance which made it all the more intriguing. This was my first read by Bonnie Dee, and I'm happy to say that she didn't let me down in my expectations of her storytelling abilities. I'm now looking forward to trying some of her other works soon. ( )
  mom2lnb | Apr 12, 2012 |
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San Francisco, 1870 Huiann arrives in America expecting to be wed to a wealthy businessman. She no sooner disembarks from the ship than she realizes Xie is not looking for a bride: Huiann is worth more to him as a high-end prostitute. Though her fate is better than that of other Chinese women forced into the sex trade, she has no intention of waiting for Xie to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. At the first opportunity, she escapes and disappears into the city. When a beautiful woman takes refuge in his store, Alan's life changes forever. He's spent the last five years trying to forget the horrors of war, and had almost given up hope of finding love. He hires Huiann as his housekeeper, and though they can only communicate through signs and sketches, they quickly form a bond that transcends the need for words. But Xie is determined to recover his property, and love may not be enough to protect Huiann from his vengeance. 75,600 words

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