The Bride Finder

I try to pull together the authors that actually have an original idea in period romance. The story of Madelaine and Anatole St. Leger meets that criteria. Susan Carroll really is a master at emotional writing with a darker edge. This borders on the ghost/fantasy side of this genre. I recommend it highly, she can be flowery in her writing but the story moves along at a good pace. Bride Finder is different, it's original and very well written. If only I could find fifty more writers like Susan Carroll! If you like Kurland, Feehan, JR Ward or Garwood, chances are you will enjoy this writer. Promise!

Creative and charming, THE BRIDE FINDER is a historical romance about a hero who is endowed with magical powers, which he desperately tries to hide from his newly acquired bride, for fear of damning their marriage. I enjoyed this book. The writing was clean, and the major characters stood out as individuals. Anatole is the dark, brooding hero with a tragic past and the ability to levitate objects and see in future. Madeline is a practical bride, a woman who doesn't believe in magic or things that go bump in the night. They offset each other well. Secondary characters like the bride finder and Anatole's family members also stand out, especially Anatole's rival, Roman. What I liked most about this novel was the unexpected twists (mostly humorous) that occurred here and there, especially when it came to Anatole and Madeline embarrassing themselves and each other during their first few encounters as husband and wife. I laughed out loud a couple of times. I recommend THE BRIDE FINDER to anyone interested in a sweet, magical love story with an aching hero and the girl who can save him. Please note this is the first book in a series about the magic-wielding family.

Anatole St Leger lives a solitary life in Castle Leger, Cornwall. He comes from a long line of St Legers who are blessed with special paranormal powers. In Anatole's case he can see the future and sense the presence of a person who is close by. He can also move objects with his mind. His calling has come and he must surrender to his fate and choose his mate. He sends for the Bride Finder to choose his future wife. Anatole makes a list for the Bride Finder and sends him off to find his wife. Madeline Breton agrees to marry Anatole St Leger by proxy, after meeting the Bride Finder in London. She is given a small miniature of the man she is to marry and falls in love with the picture. Her marriage settlement will also help relieve the debts her family have gained. Madeline arrives at Castle Leger, only to be rejected at first glance by her husband. For Madeline is not what Anatole envisaged his wife to be. She has turned out to be a fragile china doll and not the strapping lass that he expected. And Anatole is not what Madeline expected in her husband either. Far from being the poet like romantic the picture depicted, Anatole is a tall, strong, dark haired giant of a man. With encouragment of the Bride Finder, Anatole agrees to take Madeline as his wife. But he is afraid that she will find out about his heritage, of his paranormal powers and of the ghost that haunts Castle Leger. He decides to keep all these secrets from her, for he is afraid that she will reject him. As time passes, Anatole finds himself falling in love with his fragile china doll but will she love him in return. Will he be brave enough to reveal to her his dark secrets. This was a dark and gothic like read. A most marvellous read indeed. The book is full of mystery, suspense, romance and a wee smattering of comedy. A most delicious read to devour in one sitting. Anatole and Madeline made a formidable match. A dark and tortured soul with the bright spark in his life. A very highly recommended read. I cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel The Night Drifter. Lea Ling Tsang

How does one describe perfection...The Bride Finder...would be one way. I sensed by reading some of Ms. Carroll's earlier novels that hers was a rare talent for combining deeply emotional writing with some uplifting sparks of wonderfully humorous dialog.Anatole St. Leger is a very private and lonely man whose childhood left him with more scars than the visible one on his forehead. As head of the St. Leger family, he knows that he must marry and because any St. Leger man whose bride is not chosen by the Bride Finder is cursed he sends for the Bride Finder - a distant relation the Reverend Septimus Fitzleger. Anatole also gives him a list requesting a tall, large-bosomed, horse-loving wife. Well, the resident ghost Prospero - switches the list so that what Fitzleger does find is a tiny petite fairy-like creature that basically scares the hell out of our fearsome hero - the Lady Madeline Breton. The description and dialog of their initial meeting is pricelessly funny! Anatole definitely desires her but having never experienced any gentleness in his young life it was difficult for him to understand what exactly he should do or how to act with this woman who was now his wife. The legends state that the brides found by the Bride Finder would be the `soul mates' of the St. Leger men - passionate and all-loving. Anatole is at a loss and feels a complete failure that he cannot seem to elicit this passionate response from Madeline. Madeline, something of a blue-stocking - possessed of a very sensible nature - had been the one that had kept her family from ultimate ruin so when approached by Fitzleger and offered a huge marriage settlement that would help her family from impending doom, she agreed to this proxy marriage. She had consoled herself with the locket that portrayed an image of a handsome and gentle faced man whom she had halfway fallen in love though she had never met him. The reality of meeting the very fierce warrior-like Anatole was at once shocking and mystifying. Had her family not spent the generous marriage settlement beforehand - she might just have turned and ran as far away as she could.The rest of the novel is spent with Anatole trying desperately to keep his special powers hidden as well as the resident ghosts, from his bride, Madeline. His tiny but very sensible, forthright, and honest wife who does not believe in ghosts or things that have no logical basis in fact. The secondary plot here is the very real danger from St. Legers' archenemies, the Mortmains - whom it is believed all perished years ago. This is the kind of book and story that remains with you long after you turn the last page. I am so happy that I have the next two sequels to this book just waiting for me to dive into. I highly recommend this book to be placed on most everyone's keeper shelf and enjoyed over and over again.

I enjoyed this book. In fact, it's one of the best I've read in a long time. The thorough characterization, the emotional depths of the people, and the chemistry of the hero and heroine worked beautifully for me. The author's treatment of the fantasy element--the hero's unusual powers--is also well done. It weaves smoothly into the tapestry of events and is crucial to the tale.What made this book particularly special for me, though, was watching the slow healing of this huge, forboding man, a brooding lord with immense power that derives not only from his position in the real world, but also from his supernatural gifts. Yet hidden within him, buried as deep as he can bury them, are the heart-breaking memories of a small boy who had to bear a terrible loneliness. It is lovely to see the hero's ability to love come alive as his new wife unknowingly heals him, particularly because he so fears that he will hurt this small but baffling bride who looks more like a fairy queen to him than a human woman. I also found it charming to see how the heroine stumbled through her social clumsiness, always with an accepting, courageous heart beneath her shyness. A few times I found myself wishing she would understand just a bit quicker how much the hero needed her. But this is a minor point that almost becomes lost among the wonderful positives. Their wedding night is also well done. The characters come to each other almost as strangers, fearing they are mismatched, but with good hearts. It's charming the way they both try so hard to make things work out despite the unusual circumstances. The writing is effective; Carroll finds a good balance in love scenes, sweetly sensual without becoming mechanical or drawing out the scene longer than it warrants. I also much appreciated that the author didn't spend the entire book building up to a delayed wedding night, but rather showed two caring people all along struggling to make all parts of their marriage work: emotional, physical, and spiritual. Another positive aspect of the book: =Good= prose. Sometimes the writing sings. The descriptions are also well done. Although many romance books give good descriptions of people, their interactions, and clothes (wonderfully scrumptuous clothes! :-), very few have as high a quality as this one in creating visual imagery for action and the setting of scenes. And of course, all that is reflected in the depictions of the people, clothes, and interactions as well.Nice cover too--it's interesting, different, and fits the story.All in all, this is a lovely story. If you liked Lynn Kurland's ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH, chances are you will enjoy this one a great deal.