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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This author has been added to my Must Buy list., September 15, 2009
This review is from: To Catch a Bride (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
Rafe Ramsey is the younger son of the late Earl of Axebridge. Since George, the current earl, is unable to produce an heir the task falls to Rafe. Rafe is furious about the marriage of convenience his brother is setting up for him. Rafe decides to leave England for a bit and perhaps cool off. As an excuse, Rafe offers to do a favor for his late grandmother's oldest friend, Lady Cleeve. Until recently, Lady Cleeve believed her son and granddaughter had died several years ago in Egypt due to plague. Now she has hope that her granddaughter may still be alive. Rafe goes to Cairo in search of the missing heiress. However, instead of a frightened young girl, Rafe finds a beautiful woman who is in hiding from something far more serious than an unwanted betrothal.
Ayisha has been orphaned and living on the streets for over six years. No longer is she the wide-eyed and innocent child she once was. She has managed to pass herself off as a young male street urchin. Should certain people learn of her gender or who her parents had been, Ayisha would find herself sold into a harem or worse. But this time Ayisha is being hunted down by an Englishman who is as determined to locate her as she is not to be found.
***** FIVE STARS! I cannot think of how to explain exactly how much I love this story. Should it ever become available in hardback, such as through a book club, I will instantly snatch it up. This couple clashes will against each other very often. It is a marvelous sight to behold. Author Anne Gracie has been added to my Must Buy list! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really fantastic, loved so much about it, October 20, 2009
This review is from: To Catch a Bride (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
There's a point in To Catch A Bride where the heroine strikes off on her own. She thinks to herself, "well, the last time I started my life over I was a child and I succeeded. Now I'm a grown woman, things should be fine". This is normally the point where everything goes to heck and she requires the sudden intervention of the hero and his cadre of friends to swoop in and unravel the dastardly plot that befuddled her. Except, she doesn't. She is a grown woman, and it is fine. Let me repeat that - she's a grown woman and she acts like one. The mistakes she makes, the choices she makes, the actions she takes, all are from a place of adulthood.
I really loved that.
Rafe is a bit sketchy - he's got the required Daddy Issues that make him rebel. He sets off to retrieve a long lost granddaughter with all the skill his military background endowed him with. She, of course, isn't terribly interested in being found or she wouldn't be lost in the first place. While Rafe makes a ton of assumptions about her that would be proven true in most romance novels, Ayisha goes about her business. Rafe is required to do the same. To Catch A Bride has strong secondary characters, a nice flip on the 'long lost' and 'spare to the heir' tropes, and a great pace. Somehow Anne Gracie has taken everything I dislike in a Regency (eastern locales, high seas adventure, forced marriages) and flipped them about into something fresh and engaging. The relationships between all the characters are based in respect and maturity - there is no whiff of 'exotic' in their use or depiction. This belongs on any top romance of 2009 list.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very nice story., November 30, 2009
This review is from: To Catch a Bride (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
The setup is pretty improbable: the destitute daughter of a deceased Englishman living in Cairo makes her subsistant way disguised as a young man for 6 years. Once that is accepted, the characters are attractive people, behaving with intelligence and grace, at least most of the time. This is the first Anne Gracie story I've read since her "Perfect" series, which is also delightful. I loved it and will buy the others as time and budget permit.
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