The Elusive Bride

This second in the Black Cobra series follows Major Gareth Hamilton as he tries to get home to England with a letter which can be used to finally end the Black Cobra's reign of terror in India.

Emily Ensworth is the governor of India's niece. She has been spending time in India in the hopes of finding a husband. She's very picky and none of the men she met in England pleased her. She gets involved in the Black Cobra problems. But she also takes a look at Gareth Hamilton and thinks he's the One for her. However, with him leaving India to bring the message to England, she finds it necessary to chase after him to see if he is actually the One she's been searching for.

The two join forces largely because the Black Cobra's minions have show more targeted both of them and the race is on from India through Egypt and France to England fighting the Black Cobra's forces all along the way.

And Gareth is fighting his own feelings too. As a man without family, he isn't sure how to relate to the charming and bright Miss Ensworth except to protect her. Emily wants more. There were quite a few love scenes in this one along with battle scenes.

I enjoyed this historical romance/romantic suspense title. show less

The Elusive Bride
3 Stars

The focus in this installment is on Major Gareth Hamilton and Miss Emily Ensworth as they travel across Egypt and Europe on their way to deliver the decoy letter containing the identity of the leader of the Black Cobra Cult. The events in this book occur in parallel with those of book #1.

While the overall suspense plot has potential, and it is entertaining to trace Gareth and Emily's journey via Google Maps, the repetitive episodic pattern of the narrative serves little purpose other than to fill the pages. Moreover, the insipid entries from Emily's diary interspersed throughout are childish and immature. She is more interested in learning whether Gareth is worthy husband material than the fact that murderous show more cultists are trying to kill her.

Gareth and Emily's romance falls flat as compared to Del and Deliah's. Emily's decision to chase after Gareth as she believes he is the "One" (i.e., the man she can love and marry) is exceedingly foolish. Her non-sensical pursuit together with Gareth's reticence with regard to the possibility of a relationship undermines what little chemistry they have.

The cameo appearances by the various members of the Bastion Club and their spouses are entertaining, and it is good to catch up on the various couples' lives.

The next book focuses on Logan Moncreith who has apparently lost his memory. It should be interesting to see how this affects the decoy letter plot device. show less

The heroine of the book is described as having "soft brown hair" but the cover illustration shows a beautiful blonde. I have a problem with that.

The book itself is more of a departure from Stephanie Laurens' normal storyline than any I can think of, in that there are scenes variously in India, with a Berber tribe, and in a harem, as well as in France and England. That being the case, you would think that there would be great opportunity to really explore different cultures -- but no, everything is reflected through the single lens of the heroine's determined pursuit of her intended (on her part) groom. The Berber tribe is chafing because it does not allow for social intercourse between unmarried men and women. Being chased all around show more the world by fanatic cultists is an inconvenience because it makes for less time and leisure for dalliance and romance. On the one hand you have to admire the single-mindedness of the heroine; on the other, it almost seems that the author has squandered opportunities to expand her usual boundaries.

This is the 2nd of a series of 4 books. The first two have featured mad chase scenes across various land and seascapes. It will be tedious if the 3rd book in the series does not vary the routine a bit.

This is still a must-read for fans of Laurens work, but I found it a tad disconcerting. show less

Emily Ensworth knows what Gareth Hamilton's mission is, after all she is the one who delivered the original to him and his comrades. She is the one who had to ride away from his friend and leave him to die. She also feels a certain something towards him, an attraction that she wants to explore. She discovers his route and decides to follow him but the cultists after him are also after her and the two of them have to use their wits to survive. He has to also learn to trust her and her instincts as well as trust his feelings for her.

it was a fun read and I do wish I had read it better in sequence but the stories are almost simultaneous so it didn't really make that much difference in my enjoyment. A good series with strong male and female show more characters who are determined to find love and their own places in the world. show less

After Emily delivers an incriminating letter written by the head of the Black Cobra to Delborough and his men, she decides that Gareth Hamilton might be her "one". When Gareth suddenly leaves India to return to England, she follows.

I'm not quite sure what to think of this. At first, it was fun in an RKO pictures sort of way - breezy, adventurous, a little goofy, and with cultural expectations that, while not fitting contemporary worldviews, lacked malice.

About halfway through, after Emily and Gareth had left India and were racing through North Africa and then France to evade the Black Cobra cultists, the story slowed down. That's when all sorts of questions began to disturb my enjoyment - who is Gareth Hamilton and why is he so show more resistant to being loved by and loving Emily? Who are the Black Cobra cultists? They're described as a mixture of farmers and assassins, but how was that mixture of people drawn together? I can't even tell if they're Hindu or Muslim, and I would think that that distinction would be very important for people traveling through Egypt and Maghreb North Africa.

Anyway, these sorts of questions really derailed the story for me. It picks up again at the end with a surprise twist and I'll probably read more in the series, but I think the lack of full character development and world building has moved this series from "to buy" to "to borrow" for me. show less

I really liked the hero and heroine but was disappointed in the plot of the book. The entire plot featured chase scenes that were incredibly repetitive . How many chase/attack scenes do you need in a romance novel? Additionally, the last few chapters were very similar to the first book in the series. I would rate this a 5 for the characters but a 1 for the plot.

This is the second book in the Cobra Quartet series and while I am a fan of Stephanie Laurens I found this book to be disappointing. In this story we follow Major Gareth Hamilton on his perilous journey back to England with the Black Cobra dogging his every step. Emily, the woman who first brought crucial evidence to Hamilton and his friends, decides after one meeting that Hamilton might just be “the one”. So she determines that she needs to spend more time with him and comes up with a scheme that ends with her journeying back to England with Hamilton.

Neither Emily nor Hamilton’s character grabbed me. I found them to be relatively boring and predictable. I also found Emily to be quite silly with her preoccupation with determining show more if Hamilton is her one while they are under constant attack. Reading this book was like reading The Untamed Bride, the first book in the quartet, all over again which made it feel like it was dragging on and on. After reading this I am almost dreading reading books 3 and 4 and hope they bring something unique that The Elusive Bride is missing. show less