Salt Bride: A Georgian Historical Romance (Salt Hendon) [Kindle Edition]

Lucinda Brant (Author), Lisa Smith (Editor)

Book Description

Set in the opulent world of the 18th century aristocracy, Lucinda Brant delivers another delicious 18th century romantic experience. High drama, witty prose, a deft palette of historical detail, and a weave of subplots will keep you mesmerized from beginning to end.

England, 1763. The Earl of Salt Hendon and squire's daughter Jane Despard share a secret past of mistrust, heartache, and misery.
Forced into a marriage neither wants, the patient and ever optimistic Jane believes love conquers all; the Earl will take some convincing.
Enter Diana St. John, who will go to extreme lengths, even murder, to hold the Earl's attention.
Can the newlyweds overcome past prejudices and sinister opposition to fall in love all over again?

ARRA Awards Finalist 2011 Favorite Historical Romance


What readers say about Salt Bride
A high-stakes period drama...   A splendid cliffhanger plot and superb research...   Bold characters, the evilest of villains, and a spectrum of emotions...   Never a dull moment...   A vividly painted world...   A fantastic read for readers of any romance genre...   Addictive, sigh-worthy, intelligent...   Deeply engaging...   Could not for the life of me put it down until I read every last page...   Witty and sparkling...   As wicked as any great female villain can be in a novel...   Enthralling...   I read this book straight through, 9+ hours and no sleep...   Had my emotions running full range on this one; I cried, laughed, hated, loved and was just plain PO'd at times...   Elegantly written...   Standing ovation for this book and its author... I could not wait to re-read it...   Clive Cussler can wait...   Will forever live in my [e-reader]...   If you haven't read a Georgian Historical Romance before, now is the time to start...   Two words: Loved it!

Editorial Reviews

Review

★★★★★  Top Pick All Time Keeper Shelf. Grab a glass of wine, a quiet corner and plan to read the night away. The intricate web that Lucinda Brant constructed with a most amazing cast of characters is sure to keep you mesmerized. As the plot develops and darkens to a place where you can help but start to squirm you realize that the imagery is spectacular. If you have never met true evil just wait till you meet Diana St. John's. Definitely made me a Brant fan. -SWurman, Night Owl Reviews

★★★★★  The rakish, raucous character of the Georgian period is contrasted superbly with the sophistication of the age. The author has created a love story that fans of historical romance will relish. Details of the politics, manners, social mores, and dress are deftly interspersed within the plot lines to fully flesh out the era and the people in it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. -Fiona Ingram, Readers Favorite

From the Author

Variations in grammar and idiomatic speech are used to evoke the Georgian world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 827 KB
• Print Length: 326 pages
• Publisher: Sprigleaf (February 25, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004PLNKZC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,195 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Put It on the Favorites Shelf!! April 18, 2012

By bookworm87

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

So, let me preface my review by stating that I read all types of romance and I am willing to give most books a chance. That being said, most romances have become predictable for me. It is very rare that an author can devise a plot that pulls me in and takes twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. Lucinda Brant has the gift of being able to pull the reader in with only a few pages. As a warning, her books are not the light-hearted, fun romances that leave you gooey when you are done. Her books are heart-wrenching dramas that have a happy ending. I love them!

Salt Bride is by far my favorite by Lucinda Brant. The characters are fully realized in the story through their actions and their words. The love story is strong and real. This is a couple that has loved for years. I appreciate the reality of history in this novel. When the couple is married, they have to move past their differences in order to live in a nosey and ofttimes judgmental society. The conflict in the story is realistic, scary, and well-thought out. I loved that the conflict was not the typical 'I don't like you because I refuse to try to understand you' that so many authors fall back on. I noticed the comment about the grammar. First, I would like to point out that the book is free right now. And it isn't a novella, it is a full-length, plot-driven novel. Second, I have bought books for anwhere from $5-$8 that have less character development and a more predictable plot. So, I hope that you take the time to give this book a chance. Prepare yourself with enough time to read it in one sitting because you will not want to put the book down.

Hope this helped you decide to buy the book!! :)

152 of 193 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Where's the editor? January 3, 2012

By LittleDoc

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I should have known that this would be an aggravating read when, in the first few pages, the hero's grip is described as "vice-like". A vice is a fault, weakness or evil habit. A VISE is something used to clamp items in place. So here the hero would have a weak, faulty and/or evil embrace.

'Okay,' I thought; 'maybe it's just a typo.' No such luck. There are numerous mis-wordings of a similar nature. Just a few examples: the use of "breath" (as in, "she could not breath") where the word "breathe" is clearly needed, or the word "whit" (which means "a small amount") where the word "wit" is needed (as in, "she had not the whit or will to employ a lady's maid"), "clamored" for "clambered" (as in "the child clamored up onto his uncle's lap". What this actually means is that the child is making a loud sustained noise onto his uncle's lap, which is either a bit creepy, or unintentionally hilarious.)

In addition, there are numerous examples of poorly-structured sentences, such as "... the gentleman in the tall toupee, which Jane noticed wore clothes cut from a cloth befitting a gentleman." What this sentence (I hope unintentionally) says is that the toupee is wearing clothes made from cloth befitting a gentleman. For all we know, the gentleman himself may be naked.

Moreover, there is WAY too much made of the heroine's beauty - she is evidently so gorgeous that people literally cluster around her and stare at her in public. She is advised by a perfect stranger that this is acceptable behavior and she owes those staring at her the reward of a smile. I think it highly unlikely that the _haute ton_ of England either behaved this way or found it acceptable (staring is rude in most cultures), and even more unlikely that the victim of such rudeness would be considered to be under an obligation to reward her unwanted admirers with smiles.

Punctuation is marginal, run-on sentences are rampant, the use of adverbs is shaky, and there are many sentences with clauses that seem to have popped in from another paragraph entirely and have little or nothing to do with the sentance in which they appear. The author has included some of the appropriate slang and idiom of the day, but there is quite a lot of intrusive modern slang and idiom. All servants are blank-faced. The heroine is not just stunningly gorgeous but so perfectly kind and brave and gentle and forgiving and charming and brilliant (we are told, though there is little to support this other than the author's assertion that it is so) that it's nauseating. Behavior is inconsistent; someone will fling themselves into a passionate embrace and then "cooly" offer their paramour a glass of wine.

I admit I've only read about 20% of the book; maybe it gets better. However, up to this point, I'm having a hard time understanding why this is getting such high reviews.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sparkling Georgian Romance October 23, 2011

By Fiona Ingram

Format:Hardcover

The Earl of Salt Hendon, with good looks, fortune, and the reputation of a lover par excellence, could have any woman he pleased just by crooking his little finger. So when he seemingly lost his reason and married a squire's daughter, Jane Despard, Society is aghast. Despite being a noted beauty, Jane's reputation is clouded, an incident in her past having cast a shadow over her marital prospects. What Society does not know is that Jane and the Earl share a dreadful secret: a past encounter that brought them both nothing but misery, misunderstanding, and mistrust. Their marriage four years after that encounter is sealed so that the Earl can discharge a promise to a dying man and Jane can save her stepbrother from financial ruin. Jane holds out the hope that the Earl will finally come to love her. Her husband, alas, is deeply influenced by the scheming Diana, Lady St. John, widow of his cousin and the mother of his nominated heir, his young godson. Can Jane's love prevail and will the Earl finally open his eyes to the Machiavellian maneuvers of the wicked Lady St. John?

It is the year 1763 and King George III is on the throne. Georgian aristocratic life is synonymous with elegance and a devil-may-care pleasure, and the upper classes enjoy a kind of amorality in their love lives. Men, and women, are inclined to take their pleasure where they choose. It is this angle, the tawdry underbelly of high society that the author captures so brilliantly in this eminently readable novel. The rakish, raucous character of the Georgian period is contrasted superbly with the sophistication of the age. The author has created a love story that fans of historical romance will relish. Details of the politics, manners, social mores, and dress are deftly interspersed within the plot lines to fully flesh out the era and the people in it. The author's characterization, even with secondary characters, is accurate and believable. The plot is complex and interesting; the author guides the reader though the maze of misunderstandings without ever giving the game away. The dialogue is witty and sparkling, with the characters' words often belying their actions and vice versa, thus further adding to the love confusion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.
First reviewed for Readers Favorites by Fiona Ingram

More About the Author

NEW TO MY NOVELS?
I write Georgian historical romance and crimance--crime with lashings of romance. All my books are set in the 18th Century, spanning 1740 to early 1780s England, with occasional crossings to the France of Louis XV.


ARE THEY FOR YOU?
If you love BBC Classic Drama, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, 18th Century history, or romances with plenty of wit and adventure then give my books a try. You'll find a world of determined heroines and heroes, an eccentric character or two, and a weave of subplots to keep things interesting. They don't conform to genre formulas and have been described as "a throwback to the Golden Age of romance, but with a modern voice" and "heart wrenching drama with a happily ever after".

Historical detail is important to me but above all I want you to be entertained.

'Quizzing glass and quill, into my sedan chair and away! The 1700s rock!'