Yvonne
HIS CHOSEN BRIDE
Prince Henri Gasquet is happy to let his father, the king, choose his bride for him, until he meets Monica Latimer.
Monica Latimer is not prepared to risk letting any man close enough to learn about her Gift.
A gift that normally has men running for the hills when they find out about it.
What will happen when both mindsets are challenged?
SHERRY GLOAG
Sherry Gloag describes herself as a ‘transplanted’ Scot, who, after spending her childhood in Scotland, now lives in the beautiful East Anglian countryside of Norfolk, where she is ideally placed for her hobbies of walking, gardening and craftwork.
Like many of us, Sherry does admit to talking to her characters, although she does take a good look around first, to make sure that she is alone!
Visit Sherry at her website
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MEMORABLE LINES
“Fire, like love, can burn or warm. Never let the fire within you go out.”
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“The sight of his brother’s joy filled him with an unknown sense of yearning he couldn’t identify.”
“Can duty and love live as one?”
This story is almost the complete antithesis of its predecessor. ‘From Now Until Forever’, had the King and Queen attempting and failing to reign in their headstrong and rebellious youngest son, Prince Liam and finally having to reconcile themselves to accepting him for the individual personality he had developed and the independent young man that he had become, recognising that their unconditional love for him still overshadowed whatever regal dictates they were expected to conform to.
In this story ‘His Chosen Bride’, the focus is on the Royal Family’s eldest son and heir, Henri. Having suffered and survived the trauma with his brother Liam, Henri’s parents have learned their lessons well and are determined that he should be encouraged to live freely and love a little, before settling down to his Royal duties in earnest, and even then, that he should finally take a bride of his choosing, trusting explicitly in their son’s judgement in reconciling matters of his heart, with the expectations of his duty.
In Henri, Sherry has created a fiercely loyal character, who accepts his future role with great dignity and pride, who is quite prepared to accept an arranged marriage of his parents choice, if it means that there is someone eminently suitable to take her place beside him as the future Queen of his country.
He is therefore totally unprepared for the scheming which his family has been doing without his knowledge and for his overwhelming feelings for Liam and Melanie’s friend Monica, for whom there is an instant, mutual attraction, which has a devastating effect on them both.
Henri tries, with difficulty to maintain his position of detachment and indifference, which only serves to confuse and frustrate him and send mixed messages to Monica, who fears that Henri will eventually come to see her as the ‘stranger’ she is and therefore totally unsuitable as a Royal bride, whilst completely misinterpreting his shyness and aloofness for arrogance. When he is placed in a situation which he cannot control, we see Henri’s stoic facade disintegrate, rendering him powerless to control his feelings and having to decide whether he can accept Monica for who she is, or whether their relationship is purely a ‘fatal attraction’.
Added to this, is the small matter of Monica’s ‘special gift’, which she hopes to hide from Henri, but which cannot be denied when it is most needed and he is in danger. Whilst Monica is quite an insecure and complex character, she is also quite single-minded in her quest to determine whether Henri’s feelings for her are genuine, or simply his token act of rebellion, before returning home and settling down to a ‘marriage of convenience’.
The plot is quite an ‘open-book’ and not overly complicated, with the main emphasis being centred on the development of the characters and their burgeoning relationship, although there are a couple of unexpected twists and turns along the way. The story is definitely character centric, as feelings, emotions and personalities evolve with each passing page, bringing a maturity of mind and spirit, together with a sensitivity and sense of caring which will stand the couple in great stead for the pressures and intrusive focus, which will undoubtedly follow them as they pursue their Royal duties.
As an experienced and accomplished author Sherry has seamlessly combined the two individual stories about the eldest and youngest of the Gasquet princes, whilst managing to keep the separate identities of both books. She has also carefully crafted the two middle princes into this story, thereby leaving the door open for further episodes in the series, at the same time giving herself the option to leave the series at just the two books and move on to pastures new.
This paperback copy was my own personal purchase from a local charity shop.
Any thoughts or comments are my own personal opinion and I am in no way being monetarily compensated for this, or any other article which promotes this book or its author.
I personally do not agree with ‘rating’ a book, as the overall experience is all a matter of personal taste, which varies from reader to reader. However some review sites do demand a rating value, so when this review is posted to such a site, it will attract a well deserved 4 out of 5 stars!
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This is a book that is not my usual genre, but it sounds interesting enough that I may give it a try.
I agree with you about not rating books. Even though you have a choice of (usually) 1-5, it’s still hard for me to pick a number. I think it’s more important to read someone’s thoughts on the book than what number they give it. It’s hard to choose a number if you absolutely loved parts of the book but not all of it.
Hi Vicki,
I couldn’t read romantic fiction to the exclusion of everything else, but every so often it makes quite a nice change from the usual crime thrillers, which I generally tend to select.
I really don’t like having to rate books 1-5, however the likes of review sites such as Amazon, won’t let you post a review without a rating.
I also try not to say whether or not I enjoyed a book, as reading to me, is purely a matter of personal taste and what I may enjoy and recommend, another reader may absolutely hate and be very disappointed with.
I tend to base my thoughts ( I would rather call it that, than a review) on the merits of the writing style, the content of the story and the depth of the characterisations.
Anyway, I did enjoy ‘His Chosen Bride’ for all of the above reasons and together with the first book in the series ‘From Now Until Forever’, this has been a great ‘romantic’ interlude.
Sherry assures me that she is already in the throws of a full length Regency story, which is likely to be ready for publication sometime soon, so I shall be watching out for that.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving such great comments for discussion, I really appreciate it.
I know what you mean about rating a book. I’ve struggled with that since I started blogging but I think it helps some readers get a sense of what types of books you like so I include it — though sometimes I revisit posts and think “I rated that too high or too low.” It is such a matter of where you are at the moment of reading.
This isn’t quite my cup of tea but I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Jenners,
I think the problem with me is that I can’t decide whether fellow bloggers really want to know if I enjoyed a book or not, or whether they want to know as much as possible about the style of writing, the characters and plot of a book, so that they can decide for themselves if it would make a good read for them.
I hadn’t even thought about your scenario of rating a book possibly a 5, then reading something else in the same genre, rating it more highly than your previous book, but then unable to give it more than a 5!
Complicated isn’t it?
I appreciate you taking the time to leave such great comments, despite ‘His Chosen Bride’ not really being your kind of book.
This sounds like something I would enjoy. It seems shyness and aloofness always get mistaken for arrogance. The couple sounds likeable, and the storyline sounds good. Great review.
Hi Naida,
I would certainly agree with your comments, as my actions sometimes get mistaken for arrogance, when really I am quite an under confident person.
I am okay when I am in a group of people who I know, or I am confident in a job I am doing because I am used to it and feel able to tackle a given situation. Put me in a room full of strangers and that’s it! I immediately think that everyone else is better than me, so I clam up, which is where the perceived attitude problem comes in.
Sherry has manged to weave both this and the first book in the series together in a skilled and managed way, yet has been able to keep the unique points of each story separate and recognisable. The characters are well and closely drawn and relate well to one another, with Henri and Monica I am sure, more than able to combine their royal committments, with taking time for the lighter side of life with family and friends.
Thanks for the nice comments, I really appreciate them.