Customer Reviews

Kiss the Bride

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

 

 

Perhaps I should preface this review by saying that I have very much enjoyed some of Ms.Cabot's previous novels. Portrait of my Heart and Lady of Skye are among my favorite romance novels. This novel, however, was not among one of my favorites.
The story begins in London, 1832. A young lady, Miss Emma Van Court (our heroine), intends to elope with her long time infatuation, the religious and missionary minded, Mr. Stuart Chesterton. Due to a long-running friendship between the two families, Emma plans to alert the head of Stuart's family, James Marbury, Earl of Denham. James is horrified at the idea of Emma marrying his cousin. He warns her that life as the wife of an impoverished curate in the Scottish Hebrides will not be the romantic adventure she imagines. James even goes so far as to physically assault Stuart to prevent the marriage. His efforts prove futile, however, and the marriage proceeds.
We resume the story a year later in the Scottish Hebrides. Stuart has died six months previously and James, Earl of Denham, has come to retrieve the body to return it to the family tomb. He never expects to find Emma still there, still trying to help those not much worse off than she is and still mad as hell at him. His feelings, however, have undergone a transformation. He realizes quite quickly that he has always loved her and that that is what irked him the most about her marrying Stuart.
Without giving too much more of the story away, for the events mentioned previously happen quite quickly, I would just like to outline a few more points. I find that Ms.Cabot can usually write a good love scene. This time, while the scenes themselves seem well written, I didn't really enjoy their place in the novel. The first love scene came up so abruptly it was over before I even noticed. There hadn't been any of those really good `awareness' scenes to lay the foundation. Unfortunately it made the scene feel less like a sudden flare up of passion than the author realizing that she's made it to page one hundred and something without a proper love scene. Despite this problem, the book is still an enjoyable read. There are no major conflicts between our hero and heroine and we get to enjoy a rather odd assemblage of secondary characters. Emma is being courted by an assortment of village gentlemen including the slightly daft neighboring farmer, encouraged by his mother, and the eccentric Baron who lives on the hill. Emma also shows some spunk as our heroine in her determined pursuit for the happiness and betterment of others. James I felt could have been a little more developed as a character. There is some talk of him having been a bit of a rake in London, yet we see little evidence of it. Overall I would deem this a good though not great book. The main characters converse well together and the story, while containing some typical ideas, on a whole proves to be quite original. Unfortunately the sense of humor that Ms. Cabot has demonstrated to such overwhelming success in previous novels, here, seems to have taken a bit of a back seat.
If you enjoy this novel, I would recommend her other novel set in the Scottish Hebrides, Lady of Skye. It is a good example of the aforementioned humor. You might also try her two-part set, Where Roses Grow Wild and Portrait of my Heart. The latter is my favorite book by Patricia Cabot and again displays the humor I enjoy to wondrous effect.

Patricia Cabot wields her magic again in Kiss the Bride, a fluffy romance between the ninth earl of Denham, James Marbury and Emma Van Court who married his sacrilegious cousin Stuart. When James receives the news from Emma that she planned to elope with the impoverished Stuart against the wishes of her relations, his concealed adoration for Emma propelled him to foil the plan. Yet Emma manages to escape and cross over to Scotland Hebrides with the religious Stuart to start life as a curator's wife. When news of Stuart's demise after a manslaughter complicated by the typhus epidemic, James decides to claim Stuart's body to bury in the ancestral hall and is unprepared for the wretched life Emma is subjected to.

He finds himself intrigued by the independent widow who teaches the underprivileged kids, who fends off eager suitors trying to hook her up with a marriage proposal with eyes set on the bequeathed money that is attached to her marriage. James is tenacious to put a stop and marries her in her utmost reluctance. He decides to convince Emma that he intends to secure her to him this time round with wooing and passion....

While Ms. Cabot has a penchance for creating wonderful sub-characters like Lady Denham, Judge Reardon and the meddlesome peasants, her humour in this outing falls short and less furious than her previous efforts. It is nonetheless an enchanting treat when Ms. Cabot imbues a fairy-tale mood and languid sensuality in her narration. The protagonists are as usual captivating in their own rights - a reformed rake and a resilient widow. Kiss The Bride may not be her best effort, but it is a sheer delight.

I read this book because I was a fan of the author's books for teens, and I was not disappointed. Emma Van Court is an orphan raised by her wealthy aunt and uncle. At eighteen, she elopes with Stuart Chesterton, a well-meaning but impractical man who takes his new wife to live with him on a small Scottish island village, much to the anger of Stuart's cousin, James Marbury, the Earl of Denham. Within a year, Stuart is dead, and Emma is struggling to survive on her meager salary as a schoolteacher. Without marrying, she cannot claim her inheritance. So when James comes to the island, he proposes a marriage of convenience. Having always loved Emma, he hopes she will come to love him, and wish to stay married. This book was written in the same clever, funny style as the author's other books. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a romantic and funny historical read.

I love her writing style! I liked Educating Caroline better but This one is very good too! Her books are such quick reads and I find myself getting caught up in them! I already placed orders for her other books off of Amazon - I am going to add her to my must read list!

From the author who brought us the wickedly funny Princess Diaries comes a new historical romance with charm and humor. Though shorter than Ms. Cabot's previous, meatier adult romances, the reader still gets her money's worth in this amusing tale of star-crossed lovers. James loves Emma, but doesn't admit it soon enough. After being left widowed by his cousin, Emma slowly comes to return James's ardor through the course of the novel. It is refreshing to read about characters who aren't perfect for change. I found Kiss the Bride to be just the thing for an engrossing bath tub read.

Lady Emma Van Court is a young, orphaned 18 year old who has fallen in love with a pious, rather self-righteous curate, who happens to be the cousin of the Earl of Denham. She marries Stuart, the curate, and goes to live on a little Scottish island to do "the Lord's work." She soon learns the hard way that her husband is not what she was looking for in a husband and her life takes unexpected twists and turns when her husband dies and the Earl, who is secretly in love with Emma, appears to take his cousin's body back to England. From there the high-jinx begin.

"Kiss the Bride" is...well...cute. It's a quick, pleasant read that does not tax your brain at all. The romance is sweet, but kind of juvenile and predictable. If you like your romance novels light and uncomplicated, this is the book for you. It lacks what I look forward to in a book: STEAM. Don't get me wrong, I really like Patricia Cabot's books, but she hasn't written one that has really interested me since "An Improper Proposal." Her earlier books like "An Improper Proposal" had stronger stories, characters, humor, and the prerequisite steam. Moreover, the hero's were sexier. In particular, Jeremy from "Portrait of My Heart." Very charismatic, masculine, and downright sexy.

The love stories in her earlier books were more absorbing and the attraction between hero and heroine was clear. They had chemistry. The characters in this book lacked chemistry. As a matter of fact, Emma just seems dumbfounded most of the time when it came to the Earl, James.

On a side note, when, Ms. Cabot, are we going to see a book about Peyton's brothers from "An Improper Proposal?" When, when, when? You can't throw great characters out there like that and not follow up. It would be very cruel, indeed.

What do you do when the girl you love is going to marry another and move out of the country? This is the predicament James finds himself in at the beginning of the story, when Emma Van Court comes to ask him to help tell Stuart and her guardians that they plan to marry. Instead of taking the information rationally James ends up attacking Stuart.
Stuart and Emma elope and run off to the Hebrides, where Stuart meets his death six months later. When James recieves the message a year after the pair married, he goes down to receive Stuart's body. There he finds Emma living in the cottage Stuart and she shared, alone and with suitors chasing after her.
Emma is less than happy to see James and tries to get him to take the ferry back home. Instead James stays and finds out about O'Malley's will and part of the truth about Stuart's death.
James does what he thinks is the best way to keep Emma safe and to get her to fall in love with him, and proposes for them to temporarily marry.

All his life James Marbury, the Earl of Denham, has been treated with the care and dignity due the scion of a noble family. In other words, he's had everything handed to him on a silver platter. His one soft spot has been his childhood friend, lovely Emma Van Court. When Emma asks for his help in securing her guardians' permission to marry his cousin Stuart and move to an isolated island in Scotland where Stuart has accepted a curacy, James flies into a rage and reveals the pair's plans to their respective families. The pair responds by eloping and nothing else is heard of them for a year.

When word comes that Stuart has died, James goes to Scotland to arrange for his remains to be returned to England. Assuming that Emma had returned to the bosom of her family, he is taken aback to find her still living on the island, working as a schoolteacher and acting highly secretive. To make matters worse, James finds out that Stuart was killed by an angry parishioner, and to make amends before he was hanged, the man left Emma his fortune. A fortune she can only inherit if and when she remarries. Now, James must uncover Emma's secrets even as he protects her from her motley assortment of suitors.

All Emma Van Court wanted out of life was a husband and a family of her own. She thought all her dreams would come true when she married Stuart Chesterton. Now, Stuart is dead, she's hounded by the island's bachelors both young and old, and the Earl of Denham is back in her life asking all sorts of questions. Until the day she asked him for his help in marrying Stuart, James had been her hero. When his actions had led to her being cut off by her family, Emma had sworn never to forgive him. But now James is back, wanting to make amends and certainly acting differently. Emma is soon looking at James in a totally new light and when a debacle forces them into a marriage of convenience, James knows this is finally his chance to win the woman he's always wanted.

Patricia Cabot's KISS THE BRIDE is a romantic confection filled with charm and humor. Not only is the interaction between Emma and James a delight to read, the secondary characters are interesting and certainly varied, from the lovestruck Cletus MacEwan to the strangely Yoda-like youngster Fergus MacPherson. The scene where young Fergus doles out love advice to a clueless James is a classic. An especially interesting twist is the fact that readers get a full sense of one of the characters, Stuart Chesterton, even though he never once makes an appearance in person. The true star of this tale, however, is the clever, quirky narrative that will keep readers entertained to the very end.

TheSchemer

i agree with the previous reviewer who said she has not read anything worthwhile from cabot since an "improper proposal." the characters from the books following "improper proposal" were very boring and the story lines were extremely bland and this book is no exception. i don't think i will be investing any more time with her work.

The toast of the Ton just last year, Emma Van Court married Stuart Chesterton because of his compassion and sense of community activism. Stuart needed to help the poor so he accepted a curate's job in Scotland. His cousin Earl James Marbury angrily cut Stuart off with no money. However, neither James nor his bride cared as they knew he was doing the right thing. Six months later Stuart died leaving his widow without funds residing in a dilapidated Scottish hut.

When James learns that Stuart died, he performs his duty as the head of the family and visits the widow. He is appalled by Emma's living conditions and feels guilty that he not just allowed that to happen, he enabled it to occur. He also realizes that the locals are courting Emma because she inherits a fortune if she marries soon. Trying to correct his error and protect Emma, James realizes he loves her, but wonders how to prove it to his skeptical beloved. Though she loves him too, Emma also feels guilt over the memory of Stuart and struggles with forgiving James for his maltreatment of her deceased spouse.

KISS THE BRIDE is an engaging Regency romance that uses humor to ease the tension of a sensitive character driven tale that focuses on a romantic triangle of sorts. The lead couple is a delight and their insight into Stuart makes the deceased man seem as if he is still alive. Though the concept has been often told before, Patricia Cabot shows her talent by providing the audience with an enthrallingly vigorous historical romance.

Harriet Klausner