The Elusive Bride

By: Stephanie Laurens

Narrated by: Simon Prebble

Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

A second battle-hardened, completely unstoppable, all-male hero, an ex-officer of the Crown, confronts the deadly enemy known only as the Black Cobra. He's focused on his mission, then sees a lady he never dreamed he'd see again - with an assassin on her heels. She secretly followed him, unaware her path is deadly - or that she'll join him to battle a treacherous foe.Through ever-present peril, through passion, desire, and ecstasy, they race to reach England - and their destiny.

©2010 Savdek Management Proprietory Ltd. (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Wrong accent

Male protagonist has an Indian rather than British accent. Very off putting for my enjoyment.

Good reading with passion

The Elusive Bride was great reading. I like how Ms Laurens pulls past books plots and charactors together to make the book familiar and gives it a place within the whole of a story line that is still in work. Can't wait for the next book in this series!

loved this book.

These two were not the usual SL characters and I loved it. Can't wait to listen to book 3

Another fun read

Reading other reviews, I’ve come to realize that people either love or hate Simon Prebble as anarrator. I find that his enthusiastic reading of the love scenes sometimes makes me chuckle, but I really like that the men sound like men and not fops.
I found that Emily was just a little annoying especially this whole plot device of her writing in her diary. It sounded like a teenage girl writing “Dear diary, almost met a painful death today, and by the way I think he likes me!”
I enjoy Stephanie Laurens and plan to continue reading her books, but maybe I’ll get her address and mail her a thesaurus. She really does overwork some words to the point that I’m rolling my eyes with every “evocative” or “blatant,” etc.

She only wanted SEX!

My biggest problem with part of the story is the heroin. The only thing on her mind all the way through the book was getting to have sex, sex, and more sex! She didn't care that this man was trying to complete a mission or that they were in a race for their lives, she just wanted to know when she could get the chance to have sex! Out of all the brides, she was the one I disliked all throughout the story!

The action was pretty good and fast-moving. The story will keep you engaged and interested to hear the outcome. The twist at the end of book 4 was outstanding and well worth following alone to hear. As others have mentioned in other reviews, I didn't understand why Simon Prebble did the hero accent like he was from India. He was supposed to be English. That kind of throws his part off while you listen, but still worth the listen. Overall the story was very good and I did enjoy the complete series.

Heroine was extremely annoying -.Mr. Prebble great

Would you try another book from Stephanie Laurens and/or Simon Prebble?

the narrarator is great. I've listened to Stephanie Laurens other audio books and enjoy them. However, this heroine got on my last nerve! She was so self-absorbed, so trivial and by the end of the book I was hoping she DIDN'T get the guy. She writes in her diary throughout the book and that was annoying. She seemed shallow and there was little character development/back story to her. The only reason I gave it an overall 3 stars is because Simon Prebble is very good. If I was reading this book, I would've put it down and moved onto another one.

Has The Elusive Bride turned you off from other books in this genre?

no.

Worth listening to

I’ve read a lot of bad reviews but I can’t agree. Laurens can’t make all of her heroines have the same personality. If she did so, there would be a lot of bad reviews saying that her books are boring and the same story as all the rest...no win.
Even though this ‘bride’ isn’t to my taste doesn’t mean this isn’t a good book. I’m assuming the ‘Elusive’ part has more to do with him being elusive than her but also the fact that his understanding of her is elusive as well. I hope that made sense. lol (sorry for repeating the word so much)
I really enjoyed all four of these books and am thankful that she made each heroine different instead of, like some authors, all the same.
Simon Prebble is amazing as always though I was confused about Hamilton’s accent. Quite a few times I had a moment of WTH? Maybe a missed a reason for his more Scottish? accent.
So I definitely recommend this book to any and all. Read the first in this series and this second one will make much more sense.

Overall I rated this a 4/5 due to it not being the absolutely most enjoyable of her series books but honestly there are some books in the Cynster series that I just couldn’t read again unless I was paid to.

Hard to get into it w the wrong accent

The main male protagonist is English; he was portrayed w/ an Indian accent.

His accent got less through the story but honestly this was SUPER distracting from the storyline. His indian accent seemed to diminish the closer the plot line took them to England.

Worst female lead ever

Narration: Simon Prebble is not my fav but he was particularly bad with this narration. He gave an Indian accent to the English male lead character and that irked me.

Lead female character was shallow and immature. While the male lead is trying to stop a fanatical cult that is responsible for heinous acts against innocent civilians so of course she decides to to stalk him and attach herself. She then proceeds to complain that he isn't giving her enough attention to determine if he is the 'one.' Dozens of assassins are chasing them and nearly kill then but she's upset bc he isn't kissing her enough. In general I don't love the women in SL's books-they aren't bold, they are spoiled and selfish. I like the overall story...wish the male lead had pushed female lead overboard

No more adverbs for Ms. Laurens.

Really, I don't expect grand literature in bodice rippers, but this was ridiculous. Ms. Laurens' editor should impose a strict adverb limit and redline the use of: blatantly, flagrantly, demandingly, commandingly, evocatively and provocatively, especially all in one sentence. I only stuck it out because I enjoy Mr. Prebble so much. The characters were superficial and badly developed and no reason for a romance existed. The heroine was effectively a teenage girl confiding in her diary and the hero was more milquetoast than Ashley Wilkes. Blech. Double blech. I can't blech enough.