Review on: Scandal’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens
Series: Cynster (Book 3)
Rating: 4.5/5
Catriona Hennessy is the Lady of the Vale, a title that comes along with a great parcel of land known as the Vale, an isolated place filled with prosperity. When her guardian (Seamus McEnery) dies leaving Catriona to the guardianship of his guardian’s son, she is forced to pay her respects to the family and leaves for the McEnery house. Soon after, Catriona receives dreams and visions from “The Lady”, the religious entity that guards and protects the Vale and its people, of a certain young man whom Catriona interprets is the man she is fated to be wed to. It is while traveling to the McEnery house that Catriona meets her fated – Richard “Scandal” Cynster, the complete opposite of the shy and passive man she wishes to be married to. Sparks fly between the two but it’s not until Seamus’ will forces Richard and Catriona together, either Richard decides to marry Catriona in a week, or all his property and money will go to charity instead of to his family.
Catriona is told by The Lady in her visions that Richard will be the father to her children, and she decides to re-interpret this as him getting her pregnant but not getting married to her, as he is in her definition – a rake who won’t be happy being married to just one person. Using her knowledge in medicinal herbs, Catriona tricks Richard into thinking that their first night of sexual intercourse was just a very realistic dream. Unknown to Catriona, Richard doesn’t take her potion for the second and third night that she visits him in his room, and he later traps her by deciding that he is willing to marry Catriona.
It is here – after their sudden marriage, that the passion between Catriona and Richard are tested. As the Lady of the Vale, Catriona has responsibilities to the title, her land, and its people. Is she willing to share her responsibilities with Richard, a complete outsider, and only her consort. Richard on the other hand is a Cynster, so he is by birth passionate and agressive. Is he willing to stay the silent companion who will patiently wait for her or will he fight for her respect and her love?
The third book in the Cynster series focuses on another member of the Bar Cynster – Richard “Scandal” Cynster, the illegitimate son of the 5th Duke of St. Ives with a married woman (Lady McEnery), who was raised as a legitimate son of the Duchess of St. Ives. He is “the scandal that never was” and the younger brother to Devil Cynster, the 6th Duke of St. Ives. Richard finds himself paying his respects to the family of his mother’s husband and meets Catriona whom he finds he must inevitably marry. Being a Cynster, Richard is of course attracted to beautiful women and Catriona is no exception. He finds that he has no other choice but to wed the witch when she bewitches him not only with her beauty and personality, but with a potion that would have left him father to a child whom he would supposedly never know. Catriona on the other hand is a strong and stubborn woman who refuses to bow down to any man, least of all her husband. She finds that her cleverness is not enough when she is faced with Richard Cynster, and that her fate is unescapable.
The story of this book really caught my attention. I liked how there was a sort of mythical influence to their encounter. The Cynster series always underlines the fact that all Cynster men find the woman who is meant for them, but rarely does it include some kind of higher power that shows how the women (who aren’t Cynsters) meet the men. In this book, both main characters are away from any person or rules that encourage or discourage their relationship, besides Catriona’s servant and of course the Lady. They find themselves thrust into their situation, isolated from almost everyone and everything. Even when they move to the Vale, Richard finds himself almost isolated from his family and friends. Of course, the Cynster family somehow make their appearance into the story later on, but I really loved how both Richard and Catriona decided on their future on their own. I especially liked how Catriona decided to interpret the Lady’s message to her and tricked Richard into thinking he was dreaming of her, but I also loved how Richard tricked Catriona into thinking he was under the spell.
Despite Cynsters always being agressive and forward, Richard is very patient and doesn’t force Catriona to do things she wouldn’t want. He gives her time to discover things on her own, like how he waits for Catriona to trust her with matters of business rather than forcing the issue itself. Because Richard and Catriona didn’t have much time to get to know each other in anything more than an intimate manner, you can really see how they had to slowly get used to each other. How at first they resisted each other but found themselves falling in love. I found this book to be a really interesting love story, though their marriage happens quite early on in the book. Also, despite being the man, it’s quite cute to see how Richard sort of marries into Catriona’s family instead of the other way around. I think it gives this novel a unique edge, most especially since Richard is an illegitimate child and though he is accepted by both his family and the ton, his marrying Catriona helps Richard secure something much deeper than just a wife and a title.
One of the interesting things about the story are the people of the Vale. Though isolated from other parts of Scotland, you can see their camaraderie with each other, and how very simple their lives are in their village. It reminds me a little of Harvest Moon, but with the people having a much closer relationship. The Cynster family’s arrival at the Vale was an interesting addition to the story though, it terms of dialogue and sneak peeks into the characters of previous novels.
I would have wanted more dialogues from the supporting characters, especially from one supporting character who has a big role in this story. Also, the villains in this novel didn’t have much gusto to them. I read their parts of the story and felt so cheated, there was so little of them, I didn’t have a chance to understand their characters. I would have wanted to see more conflict between our main characters and them, though I also felt that the conflict between the main characters themselves was really an interesting spotlight in this book.
There’s a lot of potential to this story. If you could make a series out of a book that was part of a series, the people of the Vale would be great characters to it. Wanted to read much more, but happy with what I’ve read.
