The Hellion Bride

2.5 stars

“I love you, Sophie Sherbrooke . I never thought such a thing existed, but evidently it does. I love you and I will love you until I cock up my toes and pass to the hereafter and I will still love you even as I float about in eternity. And I will continue to force you to pleasure until you accept my love and take me into your heart as well as into your body.”

I really liked the first half of this, the leads snapped, sparked, and challenged each other. The heroine had numerous great quotes about the crap women have to deal with and calling out the injustices. The second half went downhill for me. There were some forced and feeling pointless plot points but the biggest disappointment was the lack of romance I felt between the show more two.

The heroine has well deserved trust issues with men and needed time to learn to trust Ryder, heal, and become confident and comfortable with not only her own sexuality but being intimate with Ryder. The above quote is moving and all but the last sentence is the problem I had with the whole second half. Ryder decides and forces Sophie to sexually accept him on his timetable and what he thinks is best for her. No, dude. The sex scenes were awful, a book club would need more than one meeting to discuss the consent and emotional issues.

I ended up not believing in their romance, the murder-mystery plot fizzled, and two pointless zombie lusting characters make a pointless appearance.
Enjoyed the first half and was disappointed in the second. Rounded up because of the heroine and her truth bombs she liked to drop.

For more quotes, comments, and discussion - Buddy Read The Hellion Bride show less

I wish I could like this book as I do the others in this series. Alas, while I know the two decades of rape in romance fiction has only in recent years come to a well-needed close, this book takes it to such extremes as to make it unbearable. Ryder thinks that as long as he uses "cream", sex with his unwilling wife is a necessity to overcome her brutal past. And the convolutions necessary to have given Sophie a past of sexual abuse but kept her a virgin are ludicrous.

I keep this book in my collection for completeness only.

Helping out his brother by going to Jamaica to handle a supposed supernatural disturbance on their plantation, Ryder Sherbrook made many surprising discoveries, none of them had anything to do with the supernatural. Having been forced by her uncle to act a part of mistress to several island men, Sophia Stanton-Greville was not surprised when she was tasked to seduce Ryder. The problem was that Ryder was different, he was not as easily swayed by her beauty and charms like all the others had been. Sensing that something was not quite what it seemed to be, Ryder took things carefully even though he really did want what she offered. Finding out just how far the uncle would go to get what he wanted would not be the last of their show more problems.

Book 2 ….. While in the first book, Douglas was arrogant, I started to like him in the end of that one. I do like Douglas in this one, I don’t like Ryder. Start to finish I found him to be an arrogant idiot. Yelling at all his stupidity did me no good. Disappointing that even after his big revelation (that a-ha moment) that he didn’t change enough for me to like him at all. Really liked Sophie, Jeremy, Alex and of course Sinjin. Always great to see characters from previous books, still looking forward to ‘meeting’ the other brother but for now I am looking to the next book which I believe is Sinjin’s (this one should be fun) - The Heiress Bride. show less

The “hero” acts like an ass for most of the book. He keeps saying he’s paying her back for being a whore. Really, he’s just playing games with her. I don’t like games, thus the 3⭐️s.

Ryder Sherbrooke is a fun-loving rake with a secret. When he travels to Jamaica to solve the mystery of the supernatural goings-on at the Sherbrooke sugar plantation, he finds another mystery as well - a sophisticated nineteen-year-old girl, Sophia Stanton-Greville, who wants to bed him. And not, he believes, because she is simply enthralled with his handsome self or his boundless charm.

Sophia has successfully controlled every man in her orbit until she meets Ryder Sherbrooke, a man she knows immediately is different from the others, a man she sees as one of hell's own sons. Ryder, confident as only a successful rake can be when it comes to knowing women, sets out to teach her who is in charge. It's said she already has three lovers. Is show more she indeed the outrageous tease she appears? A seductress? Or is she an innocent with an ugly and terrifying secret?

As to Ryder's secret, you will see. You will also meet Douglas and Alexandra Sherbrooke from The Sherbrooke Bride; Sinjun Sherbrooke; and the Virgin Bride. The Heiress Bride will feature Sinjun Sherbrooke and Colin Kinross, an impoverished Scottish earl, who does his best to sink the unsinkable Sinjun. show less

Good not great. Fairly typical historical romance.

Ryder Sherbrooke was a marvel. I loved his humor and extreme sensitivity. Sophie could definately "read men well." At age 19, she knew a bit too much about the males anatomy, but Ryder's inquisitive sister tied in the knowledge well. The mother was fabulous and the children thrown into the mix was delightful.