A review by cleocleveland
The Bride Wore Scarlet by Liz Carlyle

3.0

3/5*s really. I really liked Geoff and Anais and once they got on the road to Brussels I enjoyed their story. I have to admit to being confused by some of the cast of characters in the beginning. I did read the first in the series but it was a little while ago. I'm usually pretty good at recalling characters once reintroduced but some of these left me perplexed. I remembered the couple from the first book but not really any one else from the FAC. Names kept being thrown out as though I should know who they are and I found that a bit frustrating. That's why my enjoyment picked up once Geoff and Anais were separated from the others.

I loved Anais as a heroine. She knows what she wants and she goes for it. Anyone who is really into the naive, innocent historical miss probably will not like her. She's strong in character, physically well trained and intent on her goal. At the same time, she's not just trying to make a point about women joining the group. She's been brought up by her family to feel it is her destiny to join. Geoff is probably a bit less of a well formed character. But again, he is the offspring of a couple from a previous Carlyle book so I felt like his backstory was sketched in but that I may know more if I had read that book.

I like Carlyle's way with a story and I've enjoyed the couples in the books I've read but I've also felt like there's backstory that I'm missing. I know that a lot of her books feature intertwining families and I'm beginning to feel like I should go back to the beginning to read them in order to see the full picture.