The Brazen Bride (Black Cobra Quartet, 3)

This book was nothing but sex scenes strung together with boring events. I think SL has been cranking them out too often b/c she's not really writing anymore. The heroine in the book was horrible and what a waste of a great character like Logan Montieth. He deserved better. As a matter of fact the reader deserved better. What a waste of money! I'll never pay full price for SL books again! If you want romance, a "buildup" to "the big moment", if you want your characters to genuinely care about each other don't buy this book, it stunk!

I think that this book managed to get published simply because of the author's name. It is so horrible I couldn't even finish it, and skipped to the last two pages when I realized this was a stupid book that made no sense. I bought this book thinking it was about a bride and her new life in a rugged location with her husband. There is no bride in this book. And not only is there no bride, but the scenes make no sense whatsoever. For example, near the book opening, the man is the perfect, consumate lover but he is doing so while in a coma and the female keeps checking to make sure his eyes are shut so she knows he's still comatose. Isn't that the most stupid thing you have ever read? Has the author done any research on what it means to be comatose? At all? Oh, and I forgot to mention that the man has a large head wound, a gash down his side that exposes ribs and continues in a curved shape across the abdomen, where someone had tried to disembowel him. Ms. Laurens is a talented author, it just isn't evident in this book.

I love romance, especially when placed in a different context, be it futuristic or in a castle and from centuries ago. Here we have a hated Black Cobra cult that attempts to prevent our heroes' mission from success, challenges that must be overcome with the help of amazing and extremely competent women who just happen to be beautiful yet who are NOT seeking love or a relationships.

I find this to be an amazing series; captivating given the mission of the four heroes to deliver an incriminating letter to their superior. Knowing the risks these individuals would face, the superior had devised a scheme that had three of the four messengers carrying only copies of the actual letter, with each person taken a very different route to their leader's location.

Interestingly, the story is about much more than the mission itself. It is also what a particular messenger, Logan Montieth, encounters along the way and the beautiful, resourceful and capable companion the messenger comes to know, admire, and respect along the way. This book opens with the messenger, Logan on board the ship Helois Leger as it travels the English Channel. Unknown to Major Montieth, three assassins of the Black Cobra cult are on board. The three assassins attack the major. Although he kills one, he fails to kill the others. He takes a deep sword slash and ends up overboard clinging to a piece of the ship that has just sunk. The two surviving assassins also end up overboard. There was no debris for them to cling to and neither of them could swim.

This is the third book in the Black Cobra Quartet but only the second I have read. Previously, I read the previous book in the series, Elusive Bride. That book compelled me to follow the remaining swashbuckling books in the Quartet. One thing I loved in this book and the previous book is how the woman companion is portrayed. As people become aware of the progress of the four former military people who serve as messengers, the people learn there is a woman accompanying the messenger. Without knowing anything about the woman involved they question why would the messenger take on the "burden" of having to protect a woman as they carry out the mission! I like the portrayal of the women because, in truth none of these women are a burden and actually protect and occasionally save the life of the messenger. Each woman plays a critical role in the messenger's success. Each woman defends herself and protects her man. Each woman is inventive and intelligent. As a character in the book indicates, none of these women fit the mold of "conventional ladies". Linnet Trevission, the heroine of this book, fits the "non-conventional" description perfectly; not only does she have medical skills, fighting skills, leadership skills, and; the reader is very surprised to learn, she is also captain of an outstanding crew and wonderful ship.

Our hero in this book is Major Logan Monteith. He (and the other messengers) is challenged at every turn by the Black Cobra, the vicious cult of assassins that are sent after each of the messengers but on a larger scale wreaks havoc in India. This cult is led by a powerful, vicious, and titled (but unknown) set of individuals from England. The letter is important because the messengers' leader believes the letter contains the name or names of the Black Cobra himself.

Many adventures occur on land and sea and several people die in the various battles. Without giving away the book's outcome and resolution of the book, I will say the book is a wonderfully entertaining read. Many questions will come to mind as you read on. Will Linnet overcome any doubts she has on every needing a man, let alone the possibility of marrying one? Will the Black Cobra succeed in obtaining Logan's letter? Is the letter he carries the original or a copy? Will Logan and Linnet live to overcome the many traps the Black Cobra set to ensnare them? What becomes of the remaining three messengers and those women who accompany them? I look forward to reading the fourth and final book in this series so that I can answer some of these questions!

Stephanie Laurens is one of my favorite authors but in writing this series of books I felt the story fizzled out in the third book. I am not interested in going further and reading the last book in the series just from reading all the reviews of that one. Book four seems to suffer from the same problem, wasting the readers time through half the book before going forward with the story. The fact that "The Brazen Bride" had 176 pages (half the book) of the two main characters making love wihout any other plot "action" going on was disappointing. The storyline was slow after that and the ending did not lead me into wanting to read the last book. Definitely not a "keeper"!

I have never been so disappointed in a read as I was with this book. I found it so tedious to read through all the plotting and useless conversations that continued chapter after chapter. There was enough to the plot that I felt compelled to finish this book only to be let down in the final sentence. There was no closure, no satisifaction of having read a good story. It was 405 pages of frustration to be continued with a chapter of the next installment "The Reckless Bride" as an addition to the end of this book. I am not that interested nor do I want to muddle through another mess by this author. Sorry I bought this book.

I can't even give a decent review since I could not finish this book. It was absolutely ridiculous...

The lead lady was TOTALLY unbelievable in every aspect of her life: work, sex, etc. The lead man was a total wimp...

The story was STUPID - but I was also pretty dumb to actually buy this book. However, I have learned and will not bother with any more books from this author.

I enjoyed the other two books in the Black Cobra series; twist and turns abound. This book fell so far short, that it was hard to even read. It was filled with the ahhh bedroom and not filled with substance. I liked how it began but then after Logan woke up, things went down hill quickly. Linnet and her complaining drove me crazy and Logan with his being used and ignoring his honor, spoke little about his character. Then throw in the Captain thing, and Linnet holding off trained assassins, it went way over the top. Once Stephanie, the author, got into the reason for the mission, it was so confluted that I lost interest. Oh I hope she ends the series well! I would not buy this book.....also didn't tie in the other characters well, the men all seemed whooped by their spouses, not partners like she partrayed them in her other books.

I selected this book from a retail store and I have not read SL for quite a while as I primarily read Highland romances. As there was a mention of Scotland in the introduction, I purchased the book. I had to skip most of the sex scenes, which consisted of at least 3 to 4 pages worth, (I may be exagerating, but it seemed that many),
and after the first description of the enemy, I found I wanted to skip that also, but wasn't able to for needing to know what was going on. (I found that disgusting), and I am a very open minded person, I thought. There were several parts of the book that did not seem consistant to me, such as when the enemy thought that Logan had been lost at sea, but somehow the enemy's minions knew where and what ship he was on and just started attacking thier particular ship. It just didn't add up. I also thought that they built Linnet up too much as a Superwoman. Tell me how can such an adept, smart, woman that has it so together and has had sex three times with three different men, not worry or even THINK about getting pregnant until after a considerable amount of time and sexual encounters; and he finally makes it known he wants to marry her?! It seems to me that Ms. Laurens, as well as her editor are just pumping out these books one after the other without even considering what she has written. Oh well, read at your own risk, as it is not a terrible book, just disappointing.

I absolutely love this series; good reading, good entertainment. She does not repeat the same story over and over as she tells it from the four main characters. Very creative in how each character approaches their story. I've read all three and am looking forward to the fourth.

I love this series! Stephanie Laurens is amazing!