49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rape is never romantic., March 7, 2002
In a genre which has produced more than a few "bodice-rippers" in both heroes and villains, I have come to expect a one or two rough tumbles between characters. Sometimes such scenes become a necessary part of the character or plot development of a given novel. But in a novel published in 2000, I also expect almost all "love" scenes to have some degree of love and understanding reached between the characters by the time it ends. I do not relish such "love" scenes where one character is left completely bereft of self-worth. At the very least, I expect only one such scene, which is then fully resolved by the end of the novel (although to be honest, *any* "romance" novel with a rape scene between the hero and heroine will never make my keeper list).
In GABRIEL'S BRIDE, the hero sets out to marry a woman whom he knows his father will loath and have no respect for besides. As is often the case, this means Gabriel (the product of his father's coldness and still very much his father's son) has little if any respect for the heroine himself, regardless of how "spirited" or "feisty" she is. He knows her as a thief, a whore, and a manipulative liar. She is, in fact a virgin, her thievery is justified by abject poverty and degradation, and she tells him the flat out truth about most things. In fact, the only thing she lies about is Cassie, herself. Cassie is scared to tell him the truth, as she realizes her corrupts status in Gabriel's eyes is the only thing keeping her in wealth and warmth, such as she has never had in her sorry life.
In the first "love" scene, Gabriel is motivated by suppressed lust, ill-founded jealousy, and simple rage that Cassie still refuses to succumb to his "charms." Cassie's final words before the imminent deflowering are "No. Damn you, stop - stop!" He does not. Nor does he stop when he knows the truth... his lust is too strong. We are told he feels "self-disgust," but it is soon turned on to the heroine as her fault for not telling him of her virginal state. But more appalling to me was his treatment of her very near the end of the novel. After the birth of their son, he again grows jealous and "furious that she would refuse him, something snapped inside Gabriel then... he drove home with one fiercely burning thrust... through dry, tender tissue unprepared for his... invasion." This is not the way any hero of mine should be acting on pg. 345 of a 388 page book. The skipped-over words make things no better. Though amends are quickly made, mostly because Cassie is happy to receive *any* kind of acknowledgement from him, it was not enough to set my mind at ease and give me any satisfaction that this couple lived "happily ever after."
That the heroine puts up, and indeed falls in love with the hero who meets out such treatment speaks to two possibilities. One, she is a two dimensional character, on one hand, "spirited and proud" to stand up to the hero and his father, on the other a meek and innocent miss who takes this as her due as the plot calls for it. Or two, she is deeply scared psychologically from her mistreatment by her mother (a whore herself) and is the perfect model of an abused woman. I liked her character, and hoped she would find the love she needed, but I have no assurance that she truly found it in Gabriel.
Yet another peeve of mine is the obviously derogatory nickname Gabriel bestows on Cassie from the beginning. He is still calling her "Yank" at the end of the novel, but if it is meant to have developed into a sweet pet name by that time, no confirmation can be found in the novel. The one and only time we know Cassie's mind on the name, she says she does not like it and asks Gabriel to call her by her name. He refuses. While the ploy of making Gabriel use her given name at time when his "love" is brought to the foreground (generally when he fears for her life...) is interesting, I'd much rather have a hero who learns to call her Cassie, as he begins to view her as an actual person, and who, perhaps, learns to whisper "Cassandra" in a darn sexy way just to see her blush. But then, Gabriel's version of foreplay differs vastly from mine.
As for the plot and secondary characters... they all shined out compared to the darkness that is Gabriel, which is not saying much. The villain was visible a mile away, very one dimensional and easily vanquished once unmasked. Lady Evelyn and Christopher were sweet. I wished that the book was more about them, or at least focused more on their Pygmalion attempt to shape Cassie into a proper tonish young matron.
I ordered this book and three others by Samantha James after reading her delightful novel, "One Moonlit Night." I'm not ready to give up on Ms. James yet, and truly hope the other novels prove more like "One Moonlit Night" than GABRIEL'S BRIDE. I'd defiantly recommend avoiding GABRIEL'S BRIDE as your first entry into Samantha James.
In conclusion, only read this if you like your heroes very, very dark and not much for sweet talk. And even then, I suggest you buy it used.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Makes You Want to Run From Marriage...., December 30, 2005
This is the third novel by SJ I have read. I also read "A Perfect Bride" (very good) and "His Wicked Promise" (so-so). I like this author for the most part as she is very good at being detailed in her plot lines and descriptive in her characters. Unfortunately, this book did not work for me at all. It appears this is one of her earlier works - around 1994 - about the fourth book she did - and it was not one of her best.
The plot wasn't bad - poor American girl working as a bar maid as all her family is dead or abandoned her meets up with rich, wealthy and handsome Brit who needs to find a wife to take back home. Our hero Gabriel picks our heroine Cassie as she is all that his father would hate and since Gabriel and his father detest one another - he chooses the worst bride possible. A dream come true for Cassie as she needs food, a home and clothes - until she gets to England and not only does the father dislike her but, her new husband Gabriel embarrasses her, treats her poorly and reminds her constantly of her low birth origins. Thus....a dream turns into a nightmare.
It was frustrating that page after page Gabriel remains the same cold, aloof, self-fish and nasty man he was from day one. I kept waiting for him to slowly thaw and become the warm, kind and thoughtful man he could be but, alas...it wasn't until the last few pages of the book he finally redeemed himself. Once in a great while he would get a normal thought in his head to be kind or nice but, he even talked himself out of that. Regardless of his poor upbringing...he should have had the common sense not to treat everyone like dirt. Gabriel clearly finds Cassie attractive and she slowly wins over people like her neighbors, the local high ranking duchess in the city, Gabriel's friends, etc.. Even with all of her growth over time, it is still not enough for Gabriel to see her as anything but, an attractive wench he can bed since she is now his wife. A few times he even forced her into the sexual encounter - mind you - she always gave in - but, he began some passages with force and that wasn't appealing at all. One reader called it rape and as much as I don't want to agree - some scenes did come close to that. No hero of mine would go that far...hopefully not yours either.
Cassie certainly had spunk and grit but, she often caved when it came to Gabriel. She stood up for herself, kept herself in high regard most of the book but...sometimes, she lost her confidence and seemed weak willed. Like when she needed to tell him she was pregnant and they were both shocked---ya, that happens with dozens of sex scenes!!!
It was more than irritating that he constantly called her "Yank" - even in heated love scenes. This was not sexy, romantic or appealing for a hero. One passage he made it sound like he didn't like her name thus...he rarely used it.
Cassie in turn would yell at him, tell him she hated and detested him and even when he showed her little tenderness or kindness, she still found a way to fall in love with him. Why? Who knows? Guess since he gave her a house, clothes and a new life - he looked more appealing to her even when he wasn't very nice. His friend Christopher was much more appealing but, alas...she never fell for him.
The story line of someone trying to kill Cassie so, Gabriel could wed another was not all that creative or interesting either - seemed tossed in there to keep things moving. The mystery of the possible killer was a weak point for me.
As expected, the end of the book cleaned everything up and everyone suddenly saw the light of their bad ways and all worked out neat and tidy. Too tidy if you ask me. I could not root on these characters as they just didn't work for me - I never felt they were meant to be soul mates. They met and married for all the wrong reasons. I just didn't buy that this love story would bloom and last forever. I simply wished the story would be done halfway through the book.
This author is good and I'll look to her later works to find more enjoyment from her writing. This one was a bomb.
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