THE UNTAMED BRIDE

Author: Stephanie Laurens ISBN: 9780061795145 11/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: AVON
Time Period: Regency 1822

....four officers of the Crown are fighting against a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra. This is the first of their stories... A strong, sexy hero... who has faced deadly peril in the service of his king and country. A scandalous lady....bold, beautiful, a bit mysterious. Together...they vanquish their enemy, while encountering the greatest of them all—love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Stephanie Laurens begins her historical romance THE UNTAMED BRIDE (The Black Cobra Quartet: Book 1) in India and then transports the first of the four officers, Colonel Derek Delborough (Del to his friends), back to England where he and his companions endeavor to take down an evil killer and thief known as The Black Cobra. Del’s quest is treacherous enough, but when he arrives on England’s shores he finds that his elderly aunts have complicated his mission by signing him up to escort one of his former neighbors, Miss Deliah Duncannon, back home. The beautiful, strong, smart, independent, red-headed Deliah Duncannon. The Deliah Duncannon who has spent the last seven years in Jamaica, trying to live down the blot on her character while learning everything her uncle can teach her about investing in cotton, silk, and fabric manufacture. In her first moments after being introduced to Del, Deliah brilliantly and heroically saves his life from one of the Black Cobra’s assassins, and now her life is in danger as well as his. Can they possibly make it to their mission’s finale without losing their lives? And will they ever find out that there is a traitor in their midst?

Laurens fans will cheer out loud as we begin a new collection of Regency era stories that combine our favorite Cynster heroes and their spouses with the same from the Bastion Club series. With Wolverstone (Dalziel) leading the hunt for the dastardly Cobra, mayhem and suspense are the watchwords of the day. And of course, Deliah is in the thick of things, proving again and again that the fairer sex doesn’t have to be a pushover. She always has Del’s back in battle, and his front… well, you know. She’s sure, though, that as she begins this torrid dalliance with Del it will go no further, because as her family has drummed into her, she is not worthy of a husband, much less a gentleman like Del. Del, of course, is beside himself as Deliah keeps throwing herself into the fray which causes him no end of heartache as he worries about her safety. He’s concerned he won’t be able to keep her alive long enough to escort her home, much less offer for her hand. I truly love how Deliah learns from the Cynster wives that it’s okay to be too outspoken, too loud, too bold, too everything.

In addition to the start of a new quartet of stories, THE UNTAMED BRIDE includes an appendix that is priceless. It shows the Cynster family trees, a tree of Bastion club members and which novel corresponds to each hero/heroine, as well as a brief synopsis of each novel including the main characters, setting/dates, and characters who stumble in from the other novels. One of my favorite features in the appendix is a question and answer set that gives a glimpse into the world Laurens has created. It helped me realize that I am not really crazy—the books in the two former series were not written chronologically. I kept trying to figure out why people were married in one book, then not in one written later. This appendix is a brilliant resource for fans who want to get all the threads sorted out.

THE UNTAMED BRIDE is another example of Laurens’s ability to bring together two strong characters, fight off an evil criminal, put a match to the blazing love scenes and impart a few bits of historical information in a most satisfying way. I am now on pins and needles awaiting the next three novels in this series.

Susan Barton