The Perfect Bride

This is one of the loveliest romances I've read in a long time. For once, the hero and heroine actually fall in love with one another, rather than just fall in lust, declare love, and get hitched. This is a love story. So refreshing! The heroine, Blanche, is marvelously drawn. She is sweet, generous, mature, and truly lovely. She doesn't stamp and pout like other heroines, she isn't mean and cruel to her hero to keep the tension going, she isn't silly, she isn't stupid. She's a fantastic character. Sir Rex is also extraordinary, to me. He truly is the tortured hero, brooding and dark, but unlike other "tortured" heroes he does not sulk or do inexcusable things and then blame them on past traumas. He is honorable and respectful and intriguing, kind and thoughtful, and very, very passionate. I think what I like so much about this book is that the main characters are ADULTS, who act in a mature manner. And they truly respect one another, as well, and treat one another with kindness and courtesy. There's one plot point in the book where Blanche does hurt Sir Rex, but she doesn't do it out of selfishness or cruelty. There are some problems with the book: historical inaccuracies, and there's an Other Woman of sorts in the book, which seems weird and out of place in this novel, to me. Typos also clutter up the pages. There are a few words and phrases that get repeated a little too often (people "breathe," "startle," and "cry" a lot in this novel, while "wide-eyed," and so forth) but it doesn't hurt the book for me. But I do love this novel. Rex and Blanche are so good together, love each other so much, and are so good to one another. The plot is actually very melodramatic, dealing with hidden sons, murdered mothers, scheming maids, insanity, and combined with the bleak Cornish backdrop, it's very Gothic. It's a testament to Brenda Joyce's writing that I love every melodramatic aspect of it, and it doesn't actually feel melodramatic at all. Wonderful novel!

I'm surprised to see some of the bad reviews of this book, but I guess you can just chalk it up to different people having different tastes. I LOVED this book. This is the third book I've read from Joyce's de Warenne family series (having read Cliff's story and Devlin's story), and it is by far my favorite. I have to disagree with the other reviews that claimed that this book was passionless. It might not be the soft porn that some romance novels are, with torid and graphic sex scenes in every chapter, but there is a definite sexual tension between the main characters from practically the very beginning, which leads to actual sexual encounters (tender, but full of passion) in the last third of the book. This book delves deeply into the emotions of both characters, which is why I cared so much for them. That's the type of romance I'm looking for when reading a novel, not a book full of nothing but "pounding flesh and quivering thighs." Not everybody will agree with me on that, however, which is why I say it is a matter of personal taste.

A wonderful historical romance. This is my third Brenda Joyce / DeWarenne book, and so far my favorite, (I have also read Stolen Bride and A Lady at Last.) I really felt the love and admiration between Sir Rex and Blanch, and as they got to know each other I became so enthralled in this story I couldn't put the book down as I needed to know what happened next. Some reviews have noted that this isnt a highly passionate story, but I believe that is because there wasn't a lot of the lusty, steamy bedroom scenes that so many of today's historical novels include. (However, there were a few steamy scenes.) This is more of a love story from the heart, not the more typical storyline of lust-that-turns-into-love. I really have new respect for this author. After I read Stolen Bride, I wasn't sure I would ever read another Joyce book again. But I did recognize her great writing style, although I did not care for the plot of Stolen Bride. I think Joyce's talent really shines in this books. This is a believable, plausable action romance story between two very different people who are so perfect together.

After eluding marriage for eight years, wealthy Lady Blanche Harrington knows she will have to wed one of her two hundred twenty eight suitors as she muses whose counting. However with the recent death of her father she has no protection as the aristocracy of 1822 is fraternal when it comes to money. Still not one of these perspective grooms makes her heart beat; most make her heart want to stop. Napoleonic war hero Rex de Warenne may be a hermit, who avoids society like the plague, but he likes Blanche a lot and always has; in fact before his military time he thought of courting her, but since the horrors of combat he feels she can do much better than a mental cripple like him. Still he agrees to help her make a good match. Rex is there for Blanche as she finally moves on past her mom's death while she is there for him as he finally heals from post battle fatigue syndrome. However, as love blossoms between these two friends, one must take the chance of proclaiming their deepest desire. The lead couple makes this deep late regency romance into a powerful emotional read. All that will matter to sub-genre fans is whether the likable pair makes it together as he must overcome demons haunting his soul while she finds all others imperfect. Brenda Joyce's latest De Warenne tale (see THE MASQUERADE and THE PRIZE) is the best in a strong historical series. Harriet Klausner

It's 5 pm and I just finished it. I was in love with the hero 3 pages after I met him! I really liked the heroine who was so graceful and behaved wonderfully throughout the novel. I was never once annoyed with her--which hardly ever happens when I read romances lately. I was so sucked into the story I read it one sitting. It had a somewhat unusual plot, but it was just so well-written with characters so life-like, it could have had any plot and I wouldn't have cared because WHEREVER the plot was taking these two characters...I wanted to be there. This is one of my favorite books of the de Warren dynasty. Of course, The Conqueror is #1, then the Prize, A Lady at last and the rest are a blur. If you want an absorbing, satsfying read where you're rooting, gasping and crying, get this one. I wouldn't steer you wrong! My only wish was that we could have seen Blanche return to the ton and prove all those people wrong about her. I'm sure we'll see more of them in the next books about the next generation of de Warrens. I can't wait for Ariella's story!