Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Review – The Bartered Bride




Title: The Bartered Bride
Author: Mary Jo Putney
Publishing Date: 2002
Genre: Historical
Rating: B-
Sensuality: Warm

Recently widowed, Alexandra Warren is returning to her family in England with her young daughter Katie when their ship is attacked by Pirates. Alex and Katie are separated and sold into slavery on an island in the East Indies. While on the auction block in a slave market Gavin Elliot notices Alex and is startled to see that a European woman is being sold as a slave. Gavin is an honorable man and is horrified to see Alex treated thusly and resigns himself to free her. Only Alex’s freedom doesn’t come easy and Gavin must make some tough decisions.

This story is told in two parts, the first part deals with Alex’s slavery and Gavin’s rescue. I really enjoyed this part of the book, especially the feats Gavin has to perform in order to win Alex’s freedom. The second part of the book was Alex and Gavin’s adjustment to normal life back in London. Alex has to come to grips with her captivity. It is affecting Gavin and Alex’s marriage on a physical level. There are also evil villains lurking in the corners to add suspense to the story.

Gavin is a Beta hero. He is very patient with Alexandra and allows her the freedom she needs to heal. I personally like my heroes more Alpha. This was a very sweet story. I like a little more passion to my romances. I was pretty impressed with Alexandra, though. She was a very strong woman who didn’t give up under conditions that would crush most people. I really enjoyed her character. The Bartered Bride has a lot of adventure and if you like Beta heroes this is a wonderful story. Putney is a master at her craft.

Here is what others had to say:

Reading is Sexy

5 comments:

Carolyn Crane said...

Great review. I do like beta heroes. I was always wondering about this book - maybe it's the title.

Jill D. said...

Carolyn Jean, Since you like beta heroes, I think you would really enjoy this book. The slow development from friendship to lovers is very well done. If you haven't read Chantal's review, you should. That's what convinced me to read the book.

Chantal said...

I'm glad you liked it :)

(BTW, I've changed blogs, and changed my name.
http://readingbythefountain.blogspot.com/ )

THe feats part was my favourite. I wonder if that was a real game, or something the author made up?

I'm also into alpha heroes. For that, I am shocked at how much I did like Gavin.

Jill D. said...

Hi Seneca,

I was worried about you when you abruptly shut down your other blog. I am glad to see everything is okay now.

At the end of the book Putney had a little note that she did indeed make up the contest of feats in the story. That was my favorite part too.

I like Alpha men in my stories, but Beta men in my real life, LOL!

Chantal said...

Hi :)

I had the audio version and the add on about the feats was not on there.
Great imagination she has.