The Hellion Bride

By: Catherine Coulter

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Fall in love again - with the second novel in the Bride saga.

Sophia has successfully controlled every man in her orbit until she meets Ryder Sherbrooke, a man she senses is different from the others - a man she sees as one of hell’s own sons.

P.S. Listen to more in the Bride Series.

©2005 Catherine Coulter (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

Coulter is excellent at portraying romantic tension between her heroes and heroines. ( Milwaukee Journal)

Surprised!

Wow. When I read the review of this book, I was not sure that I would purchase it. However, since I like the author, I decided to give it a go. I am very glad that I did. It was very much in the CC style, but beyond that it was better in that it had a unique twist! However, if you don't want sexual content (although not explicit) don't read this.

deeply sexist and awful

I read first book of series and found it sexist and distasteful. The secondary taming of the shrew story and the main marriage both included sexual aggression by husbands against wives but Coulter is so well liked, I tried this second in the series. OMG. I wish I hadn't!!!! the happy goblucky slaves in Jamaica are bad enough but on top of that, the hero is a monster. He has 7 bastard children by 7 mistresses and then decides to "win over" an 18 year old girl who is being constantly physically abused by her guardian uncle -- details of which beatings are detailed. We are supposed to love him because women find him sexually irresistible and he pays for the upkeep and likes all his 7 bastard children. Hero wooing heroine starts with molesting heroine on a number of occasions including stripping her to the waist and nude and fondling her awake and drugged no matter how often she says no. Hero then saves heroine from evil, abusive uncle and tricks her into marrying him by drugging her and making her think he took her virginity, which he didnt. He just stripped and fondled her. Then, once this pathetic abused little girl is his wife, he never explains virginity to her or admits she is still a virgin but instead ties her up and rapes her twice on their first night together. She thinks she may be dying from being ripped apart given the pain and blood. She tries to escape running naked out of the bedroom and runs into her brother in law who sends her back to bed with his brother even though he feels bad about how terrified she seems. He doesn't want to interfere!!! Then our hero promises to tie up and rape our heroine every night until she learns to like sex with him. He does and she seems to learn to like it,although I skipped around and didnt finish because it was all so appalling. I am still nauseated thinking about it and was unable to get through it all or finish the book. I know tegency era was sexist and domestic abuse often accepted, but this was just too much -- certainly for a romance read. We are supposed to like this guy and be titillated by the wife learning to love sex with him because he forces her to orgasm while raping her. Unbelievable and horrifying.Wiill never read another Coulter Regency. I don't look for clean romance but the constant sexual violence in this one made it truly disgusting.

Fantastic!

Well written, hard to put down, creative, enjoyably. the author does an excellent job at making you feel what the characters feel.

Kindly "MASTER" and happy slaves . . . yeah right

Does anyone really believe that women slaves had a choice but to be raped by their masters? What wonderful choices they had, work in the blistering hot fields of Jamaica from sun up to sun down while being whipped if you paused to long; eat the leftover garbage from "Masters" tables; sleep in dilapidated huts while being eating up by mosquito's or scrub floors, empty chamber pots, get smacked around by the lady of the house because she blames you for her husbands infidelity and then at night become the "Master's" sex slave so that the "outside slaves" can look at you with disgust! I am shocked that a women wrote this book by the way that she tried to portray the women slaves as being happy with their lot in life or being happy to being used as prostitutes! Shame on you Catherine Coulter!!

Ryder's story

Interesting, mysterious, and heart rending all at once. It is nice yo have the women as the heroes.

audio very choppy

Not my favorite book but the audio was choppy at best. Sounds like someone did bad clipping the audio together.

Not for me!

I am glad I read some books from this series before this one of I would not have listened to rest of books. While I loved the 3rd book, I found this one distasteful ! I do not know what the author was thinking of ....

Trigger warning!!

THIS doesn't feel like a romantic novel. It's shocking. Full of slaves, beatings, cruelty. There's also forced sexual encounters. Domestic rape... all with a happy go lucky undertone. I tried to finish it but after the heroine saying no for the millionth time, I couldn't take it. Please read with caution.

Another slow moving book

Would you try another book from Catherine Coulter and/or Anne Flosnik?

I will try a modern romance by Coulter, if this author writes them, before I give up. After the first 2 books in the series I'm done.

What could Catherine Coulter have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The men could be a little less dominating, and the women could be more assertive. It's probably a very good portrayal of how men and women interacted in the early 18th century. But for me it's a romance and like a little unrealistic-ness in it.

Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?

I've listen to Anne before and her performance was fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment definitely.

Any additional comments?

Personally for me there were too many sexual scenes in this book. And Sophie's lack of knowledge about sexual pleasure was unrealistic based on her harlot portrayal in the book.

Not her best work, not worth even on sale

Would you try another book from Catherine Coulter and/or Anne Flosnik?

I would try another Catherine Coulter because I have read a couple that were good. This was not. The whole thing was about using a ghost to have sex with men so the main character wouldn't have to, convoluted too. Her rescuer, prince charming tricks her into marriage and repeatedly forces her to have sex.

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

I will read the plot and reviews more thoroughly.

Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?

No, her voice was somewhat shrill for me and she did not differentiate between characters enough.

What character would you cut from The Hellion Bride?

I am not sure, the majority were not like able and somewhat evil.The best character was a very minor character, Sinjin.