Customer Reviews

The Copeland Bride

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Wow! What a Great find. This book might be twenty some years old
but it still rates at the top of Historical's I've ever read.
They just don't write them like this anymore and that's a pity.
Nowadays romances have to be "correct" which makes them very dull. Quinn and Noelle fight their feelings for each other til
the bitter end. It's edgy and frank but that's what makes this
story so absorbing. The plot is fascinating...the heroine, Noelle and her mother, a would-be actress, are strapped for money. Noelle is only eight when her mother takes her from her bed to escape debt collectors. They end up on the street and eventually in a hovel where the only work her mother can get is
selling her body to men who sometimes pay and sometimes don't.
Noelle sees and understands what's going on and when her beloved
mother dies and Noelle finds herself alone she swears she will never become a whore. So she becomes a pickpocket! The best.
That is until she tries to lift a pocketwatch from the friend of
Quinn Copeland, heir to a shipping empire. Quinn and his father
are at odds and since his father has been insisting Quinn marry
a girl from a upstanding family what better way to get back at
him by marrying this little guttersnipe and depositing her with
his father and then leaving for a year.
Thus begins Noelle's transformation from Ugly Duckling to a beautiful woman. When Quinn returns and realizes the woman he
thinks is his father's mistress is really his wife the sparks fly. The passion is seething as these lovers brutally battle
each other. And there's so much more. Get this book if you can.
You won't be dissapointed especially if your sick and tired of all the lukewarm romances being offered now a days!!

The writing is good, all perspectives are explained well. But the story has too much abuse. You can easily believe when she says with words and actions that she fears him, but cannot believe how the fear turned into love. For a third of the book, hero disappers. When he gets back, things take a turn for the worse. In fact, at every turning point, I was waiting for their relationship to turn positive, but it only became more miserable. Even towards the end (chapter 36 out of the 39), there is whipping and rape. It is a good thing that I already love SEP. I am naturally looking for good points about this book and hence the three stars. If this was written by some unknown author, I would have given a one star.

Seriously, Rapey Rapeness. Lots of rape, hitting, verbal abuse... I think the heroine falls in love because she confuses violence with love? Or has a mild case of stockholme syndrome? OMG. I just can't get over it, the heroine rationalizes that the hero loves her after he rapes her. Gee, I wonder if she sodomizes him he'll feel the same way.

I had to scouge through websites to find this book for the cheapest i could find $40 because i had become so desparate to read SEP's now priceless piece. This story is nostalgic of a lot of her latter works, most notably Just Imagine where the heroine, Noelle, starts as grossly unappealing to the hero, Quinn in the book then transforms into a stunning vixen in a couple of pages in the book - May i add that Quinn is unbelievably rough. I cringe when SEP blatantly uses the word rape and like the other review, almost dont understand how Noelle flls in love with him. Dont get me wrong SEP has a such a compelling way of writing and i think thats what hooked me through to give her 4 stars, a worthwhile piece if your a mad fan.

This book is not politically correct but it is still a book that reels you in and doesnt let go till the last page. Yes its not the typical romance where the hero treats the heroin like a porcelain doll...its the complete opposite but she actually explains her point of view, which although sounds like a massochist she admits it to herself and to the reader...its a very entertaining book and a wonderfull read. Im glad i bought it!

from beginning to end that novel is a big disaster, its a very abusive relationship from beginning to end, i lost count of how many times he raped her or hit her or did something equally terrible. The heroine was constantly abused and violated physically as well as emotionally and psychologically eckkk it was bad all over. The hero kept a grudge over something his father did, yet he kept doing things much worse than the father

After many months (years?) of trying to obtain this novel - even going so far as to contact SEP - I finally obtained this novel through Amazon. And yes, it was worth every penny.

What interested me was that it was apparent from this novel that SEP was obviously very talented, if not as gentle as she haas later become. The book was well written and a study in characters that grew to understand themselves and each other. Quinn and Noelle grew up in different worlds, yet the same. Quinn's father, Simon, was himself a tormented soul and Quinn could not recognize that fact until the end. As Noelle put it "I am human and not perfect".

This was truly a fantastic historical that was well worth the time and effort to find and read.

I just began my appreciation for romance lit, and would have to say Susan Elizabeth Phillips is my favorite author of this particular genre. As her first book, it is very well done. I would not have expected anything less! The only complaint, a very minor one, would be the number of pages dedicated to turing the pickpocket into a lady before the story returns to Quinn and Noelle. I very much enjoyed the characters as well as the plot. Unfortunately, this book is a small fortune. I'm not sure why it hasn't been republished. It's a shame it is not available to the masses. I didn't see anything inappropriate about the story, perhaps not as politically correct as it could be, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Would I buy it again? Yes, but I enjoy reading and collecting books. If you enjoy Susan Elizabeth Phillips, it is definitely worth reading.

My rating for this book is like a 30+ it was so wonderful. I lost my copy about 10 years ago and I've been searching for a new copy ever since. I hope that I can find it soon.