Quickie Review: The Bride Hunt

The Bride Hunt by Margo Maguire
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

1.5 stars 

Me being trash for a cover bites me in the butt once again. Sigh. But look at it, so glorious. But also, let me lodge a formal complaint, our main man Anvrai doesn't actually wear an eye patch until the second half of the story. Not quite a bait and switch but still, you know what the people were coming for with a cover like that. 

Anyway, Anvrai is just wilding out with his scarred face in the beginning, which Isabel, the woman we are supposed to be cheering for, has this to say about that: 

Isabel was too exhausted and cold to feel repulsed by the touch of this scarred and barbaric man. She concentrated her attention on the top of his head, away from the ugly scars that marred his visage. 

But, once ole' Anvrai drops trou, Isabel starts singing a different tune: 

Isabel’s face flushed with heat, and she swallowed thickly when he unfastened his belt and dropped his braies to the ground. She felt no fear or revulsion at the sight of his powerful body, the way she had when the Scottish chieftain had stood naked before her. What she felt was something more like wonder—at their differences, at Anvrai’s raw male potency. 

RAW MALE POTENCY strikes again, folks. 

This is kind of a road romance with the most annoying fifth wheel named Roger. Beautiful Isabel is about to choose her husband but Scots attack and she gets kidnapped along with Roger. Anvrai rescues her and Roger (why tho'?) and they are on the run. Isabel is tentative about liking the scarred RAW MALE POTENCY that is Anvrai because she grew up in a convent and Anvrai is way up in his feelings about not feeling good enough for her. Roger fifth wheels harder than any character I've ever read. They manage to pick up a woman and her baby to seventh wheel this and the whole second half is some descriptive sex scenes (more awkward because I didn't feel any emotional depth to characters' relationship), running from danger, waaaaa “I'm not good enough”, and some surprising real historical figures that gave us a setting for the times (I added the .5 to the rating because of this). 

Pretty simple, no depth or chemistry with characters or story.

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