I'm guessing that you have a secret. I mean, not everything about you has been disclosed to your friends and family, right? The first two lines of a song titled "Secrets" by Az Yet is booming through my brain. "Secrets, oh what you kept from me. They make our world go round." And then I think of the classic soap operaÑ I'll use The Young and the Restless for reference. How many secrets has Victor kept from Nikki and vice versa? That show and other serial shows are based on the secrets and miscommunication between the characters. The Hellion Bride, the second book in the Bride Series by Catherine Coulter, is fueled by the secrets kept by both the hero and the heroine.

Ryder Sherbrooke, younger brother to Douglas Sherbrooke of The Sherbrooke Bride, is off to Jamaica to solve a mystery surrounding the plantation owned by his family. When he arrives, he is greeted by a ghostly apparition meant to scare him away, but RyderÑever the pragmaticÑdoesn't scare that easily. Ghosts of any kind can be explained, he reasons. And then he meets Sophia Stanton-Greville, an enigmatic beauty hailed by the islanders as easy and wanton. Yet she is enshrouded in mystery and is just willful enough for Ryder to be tempted to investigate her secrets. For as a lover of women, there isn't a game that Ryder hasn't played or a beauty he hasn't sampled.

Each time she is referred to as a whore, Sophia wilts a little more on the inside and hardens a bit more on the outside. For as long as she's lived in Jamaica she's had to endure the gossip and the speculation about her reputation. But Sophia has a secretÑa secret that exonerates herÑand she'll never be able to tell. Who would believe her anyway? Sophia's had to live up to the reputation, making everyone think she's the easiest game in town. Her Uncle Theo, revered by the high society on the island, will continue to abuse and threaten Sophia and her little brother Jeremy if she doesnÕt kowtow to his wishes. And he wishes to own the plantations that surround his property. So Sophia must target those landowners with her flirtations and succumb to their advances in order to aid her uncle in attaining his goals. Her latest target: Ryder Sherbrooke.

As Ryder and Sophia play cat and mouse with each other, the secrets that surround them move the story forward. Ryder discovers Sophia's secret and rushes to champion her, but fails to divulge his own secret which propels us through the remainder of the story. The Hellion Bride is an enjoyable story with twists and turns. It was an easy read, but at times I found myself bored by the hero and heroine. They kissed and made love so many times that the tension disappeared. And while their secrets were interesting and propelled the plot forward, it seemed so superficial that I didn't feel the connection to their stories. The form and function of the prose was perfection, but the connection to my heart was lacking.

Catherine Coulter is a talented writer. She is excellent at her craft and never ceases to weave stories with interesting characters who have flaws, and to develop creative plotlines. The Hellion Bride, while a solid story with nothing really to critique, wasn't my favorite read. I grew antsy at times waiting for the narrative and tension to drive the plot forward, but never truly felt connected to Ryder or Sophia and their story.

In summation, while secrets seem to catapult a soap opera forward through twenty-plus years of viewing on television, the secrets in The Hellion Bride weren't as satisfying.

Maci Walker
© 2004