Reviews

Claiming the Forbidden Bride by Gayle Wilson

cadiva's review

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4.0

After the disappointments of Book Three in the Silk and Scandal series, this one was a return to form. That's not to say I didn't like the previous book, I did, but I felt it had to make too many changes in the characters who had appeared in the other novels to make the story work. This one is a return to form with the anti-hero back on his revenge mission adding depth to the plot for the hero and heroine which are being focussed on in Claiming the Forbidden Bride.
This book concerns a friend of Hal's from the Army (although he's mentioned only in passing), another of Lord Keddleston's godchildren Rhys Morgan, a battle scarred survivor of Napoleon's wars. He's returning home to an uncertain life, keen to avoid the charity of his elder brother and the interference of his sister-in-law when he comes across a gypsy encampment and helps to save the life of the healer's child.
Nadya Argentari is the half-sister of Stephano Beshaly, our series long anti-hero, she's also the tribe's healer and when Rhys's life is endangered, she helps to break his fever so setting up the conflict and romance between them.
I thought this was a believable romance, Rhys is a younger son so, although there is stigma in falling for a gypsy, the outcomes weren't necessarily going to be as difficult for him. Nadya is fiercely independent and determined to not follow in her mother's fate by falling for an outsider.
There were small irritating niggles though, things which weren't explained during the telling of the story and people who suddenly appeared without warning but, overall, it was an enjoyable and easy read.