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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Characters move the story, November 5, 2002
This review is from: The Bridemaker (Mass Market Paperback)
...While The Bridemaker was entertaining, I found the plot and pacing somewhat predictable and cumbersome. The characters, on the other hand, saved the story. Adrian is a complex and compelling man who sees Hester as a challenge. Being a businessman, he enjoys winning and decides to unravel the mystery of the bridemaker. Hester is a kind, moral woman who accepts her mundane life until Adrian enters the picture. The emotions he brings to life are too strong to be ignored and she admits that maybe, just maybe, she wants a man and love and passion in her life. Her vulnerability proves to be her downfall. Adrian unmasks the woman beneath the homely package and hidden beneath, he finds a lonely, misguided person. Love, of course, is both of their salvations. I recommend this read. Regardless of the predictable plot and slowness that the author progresses the story, there is a beauty in the telling....Sometimes, it isn't the story, but how the story is told. This book proves that point.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense and Passionate!, November 14, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Bridemaker (Mass Market Paperback)
We first met Adrian Hawke as a brooding five year old boy in "The Matchmaker" and then as a moody, difficult adolescent in "The Troublemaker". Adrian is the bastard son of Lord Neville Hawke's deceased older brother and as a result has a hard time fitting into "proper" Society. Eventually embittered and disgusted, he leaves for America to seek his future and fortune where a man earns his way instead of inheriting it. He has returned to London to attend his cousin's wedding but also to flaunt his success and wealth in the faces of those who never accepted him before. Hester Poitevant, dull, drab widow, has carved out a successful niche business of her own. She assists those young ladies of Society that need a little extra polish to find acceptable husbands in the Ton. She has been so successful, she has been dubbed "the Bridemaker". But Hester is full of secrets - she is not what she appears to be at all. When her favorite student falls for the scandalously inappropriate (as far as her family is concerned) Adrian Hawke, Hester steps in and asks him to back off. Their encounter shocks them both in it's intensity and ferocity - they argue and sparks definitely fly! But why was their encounter so heated? And why did he almost kiss her? Deciding that Hester embodies everything that is wrong with Society he decides to expose her for the prissy snob he thinks she is. But when he runs into Hester in an unguarded moment, he sees that behind her drab widow facade is a beautiful young woman who would outshine her students. He becomes increasingly intrigued and vows to unravel all her secrets. Bit by bit he tears away at her facade (and at her will to resist him!) and discovers that he and Hester have more in common than anyone would think. This story did have a few slow spots, but once the sparks began to fly between Adrian and Hester I couldn't put this book down! Their relationship is intensely passionate and enjoyable to watch. I enjoy Rexanne Becnel's writing style and would recommend this book highly!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bridemaker sashays in style, January 11, 2003
This review is from: The Bridemaker (Mass Market Paperback)
Hester Poitevant is dubbed the no-nonsense "Bridemaker" where she fashions awkward ladies of the ton to be sophisticated prized catch for the season's marriage cart. Employed by the snobbish Lady Ainsley to transform her daughter Dulcie, she steels her prim-and-proper matronly image to hide her ravishing beauty where no one would recognize her past. When Dulcie's choice is the devastating American merchant Adrian Hawke, she is forced to interact with him and finds her defense susceptible to his curious queries and wicked sexual innuendoes. Adrian is secretly mocked in the society for his less than illustrious birth and thinks Hester is another society's snob but later finds her concealing a deep secret and lusting after the prim mistress of Mayfair Academy. Rexanne Becnel is guilty of portraying her characters with modern sensibilities in this Regency-era romance but it is a guilty pleasure as we indulge ourselves seeing Hester and Adrian in a forbidden tryst. They break the molds of the society while Hester is given a refreshing point of view of her cherished virginity by her astute friend and mentor Verna. The uncompromising characters reveal their dimension through several stunning revelations of secrets such as Hester's birthrights and an elopement. Hester is enigmatic while Adrian is dark and brooding - and the handsome couple sizzles with palpable chemistry. Ms. Becnel has bestowed upon us entertaining Regency that strives to be passionate as it is elegant through the glittering balls and swooning waltzes. The banters and sharp humour; the trysts at Vauxhall is positively scandalous - yet utterly irresistible as the outrageous duo. All these allude to Ms. Becnel as a Regency maverick - sashaying in style.
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