The Rebel Bride (Coulter Historical Romance) - A Passionate Love Story Set in the Wild West | Perfect for Romance Novel Lovers & Historical Fiction Fans

I've read all the reviews on this controversial romance novel, and I honestly can't really say any of them are wrong--though I'd disagree with some points, sure. I, for one, found this book to be *perfection* as far as romantic historical novel goes. I love romance, but I don't really read many romance novels, and definitely am not a "bodice ripper" reader. I tend to like good, clean romance with a proper marriage and realistic characters and a good PLOT. I started off as a young adult on the very vanilla Julie Garwood books (though when I read them now, I have a hard time not thinking of Disney Princesses as heroines, they're so saccharine). Then, my first heart-wrenching, turned me upside-down read was Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. I LOVED Whitney, My Love. The end of that book just left me tearfully cheering, after 500 some pages of two complicated, fighting humans learning to love each other. It was one of those tormenting reads, the ones where you have to sit back and cry and laugh and cringe and watch the characters figure things out. So many historical romance novels these days are Mary-Sue meets tender, yet buff, hero and he saves her--once, twice, sometimes thrice--from some crazy "threat" (like a jealous sister or scorned lover from the past) and then they ride off into the sunset at the end. Meh. Since reading Whitney My Love a few years ago, I really haven't read many romances, because I frankly just don't care for a lot of them.Enter Rebel Bride by Catherine Coulter. I loved this book! I read it in two days. Now, I can definitely see why this is not everyone's cup of tea. I can understand how this book--one crazy scene in particular--would turn people off. What is "perfection" for me may not be perfection for you, and I certainly don't mean to play down the dark topic of rape that this book touches on--or rather, that this book punches in the face. Not at all! I get why other readers have been turned off by this scene, and in that light, this book is not for everyone.Rebel Bride starts off with two chapters about Julien, the dashing, confident, devastatingly handsome earl of March, and introduces his character nicely. A couple chapters in, hero meets his heroine, the hoydenish Kate. She just happens to fall dead at Julien's feet while playing out a fake duel with her brother, wearing breeches and everything, and mocking Julien with her wit. Sort of a big deal for a woman of that time period, wearing breeches and playing like a boy. The earl, however, finds her nothing but charming and refreshing, compared to the dull painted ladies in London who swoon at his feet. He embraces Kate's tom-boy side and they become friends easily. Julien decides, rather quickly, that Kate is the woman he must marry. He has to have her, he has finally found a match for his wit and confidence. From there, things don't pan out so well for poor Julien...I mean, this book is a slow, painful rise to it's climax. It doesn't go easy on you. Long? It seems so, yes. Boring? I wasn't bored for once second. I could barely put it down.Without giving away too many important spoilers--this is one of those difficult-to-face reads where the insights and discoveries are so well timed--Julien pursues Kate romantically, only to find her resisting him at every turn. And not just a little resistance. Like, she would like to see him dead and buried rather than marry him. She fights tooth and nail, the way I've never read a heroine to resist before. Hence the "rebel" bride. Except she is not playing the coy virgin role as he first thinks she is, turns out that Kate has some REALLY dark secrets, and Julien has no idea what he's getting into. Things she doesn't even understand. This sets Rebel Bride apart from so many other blah romance novels: Coulter really gets into the nitty gritty with Rebel Bride. Some seriously dark stuff.Julien watches Kate transform before his eyes, from the happy-go-lucky adorable, smiling tomboy she is to the absolute definition of a shrew. His love for her never wavers. Now, I know some reviewers here would say, "Love? You call rape love?"Sigh...so here's my take on that scene (and while that's a spoiler, pretty much every review out there on this book mentions it so I figure you know by now). Is it really rape? Well yes, I'm modern enough to know that anytime a woman is forced and says no, then YES. It's rape. The hero acknowledges it, the author acknowledges it. It's rape, and it's dark and ugly. But that's just the thing: life is dark and ugly. We do things that are stupid, cruel, and regretful. In this way, Rebel Bride is just so much more life-like and easy to read because it's not this romantic fluff. It's a dark read at times! For me, however, that only makes the ending just so much more sweet--because Julien and Kate had to fight so hard for this.It IS technically rape by TODAY'S standards and common sense, except it's not dominating, violent, and horrible the way we'd imagine. Silly Julien get's a hair-brained idea, weeks into their honeymoon, that since his wife is so fearful of consummating the marriage, that it would be a good idea to "kidnap" her and force her to feel pleasure to show her it can be fun--this husband and wife thing. Unfortunately it backfires and the very idea of a husband "forcing" his wife this way is understandably uncomfortable for many readers. The truth is, Julien wouldn't harm a hair on her body and fully intended to--once he showed his wife a good time via foreplay, but before actually consummating the marriage--tear off her blindfold and reveal, "See, it's me! Your husband! Isn't this fun?" And if we must call that rape, then so be it, but I think we all know--it's not the same as bloody, violent, modern day RAPE. It is not brutal, it's actually a very amusing sort of comedy-of-errors scene. The irony is that this book actually contains very few graphic intimate scenes, it's really not a bodice ripper or very descriptive. Besides the "rape"/I-faux-kidnapped-my-wife-to-woo-her scene, there is one other brief scene and the rest of the book is rich with plot.The truth is, Julien disguises himself and takes his wife by surprise. And yes, a husband can rape a wife, but in those days, do remember, it was not considered rape--I think we have to remember the historical setting here too--for Kate might have been more understanding of him doing this considering that she was probably raised by the times to think it was a "husbands right" and that wives simply weren't to say no. Still, we do see Julien call it rape and express deep remorse when he realizes it was not the tender introduction to intimacy that he'd hoped for. Julien kidnaps and ties her up. Sounds awful doesn't it? You'll have to decide what you think about "rape scenes" in romance novels. I found it acceptable in that it was a desperate act of love to try and get his wife to FEEL--twisted, yes, because it scared her and gave her no choice--but not the controlling, power trip we know brutal rape to be today. Julien did not kidnap and rape his wife to try and dominate her, he was trying to get her to feel. He'd been married for weeks, during which she wouldn't let him come anywhere near her, and was so desperate to show Kate that intimacy is not scary. He felt his only way was to force her into feeling pleasure, and that he does. He also realizes Kate is not the virgin she's been implying she was (through her intense fear of him), and thinks she was trying to pull one over on him by selling herself as the virtuous virgin while knowing he would discover that she'd already lost her virginity if she were to consummate the marriage.It was not that simple, however, and Julien rather quickly realizes that Kate is quite psychologically traumatized by her past. She is devastatingly broken--despite his initial assumptions that she is a breeches-wearing chit. You might not like her for a good chunk of the middle of the book, but I don't think the author really wanted you to completely like her. You also might not like Julien after he foolishly takes her by force. On the other hand, this is why I love these types of romance novels: they are just so honestly human and imperfect. I'll take complicated romance over mushy romance any day.For this love story to work out in the end, Kate has to do a bit of growing up and coming face-to-face with some terrifying ghosts from her past. Julien, on the other hand, has to survive the violent storm that is Kate coming undone, after he unknowingly entangled himself with her crazy side by pursuing her.Yes, it is QUITE the can of worms at this point in the novel. Everything spinning out of control, seemingly irrepairable damage done to their marriage. Can they survive this? Will they both learn the truth about each other? Can Julien still love Kate "the shrew" and can Kate learn to allow him to love her? All this plot drama mixed with Regency goodness: fancy ball gowns, the Ton, Almack's, horse drawn carriages, horse rides, fencing, and gossiping servants. This is the formula for a page-turned for me.This novel is OH SO HARD on you and pulls on your heartstrings and that's what I loved about it. Not what you'd call ooey-gooey romance here, no sir. Besides the complicated, heavy hard plot, the book was well written, in my personal opinion. I loved the dialogue, Coulter does a fantastic job of capturing Regency era speak and setting. I loved the flashbacks during scenes, explaining something that happened earlier, but at just the right timing. The hero and heroine have some delightful verbal swordplay--as well as some real action swordplay! Like Whitney My Love, I so enjoy a historical hero who embraces his love's scandalous side as well. By scandalous, I mean like how Julien teaches Kate some fencing skills, and he gets close to her by letting the gender restrictions of their times be of no importance to him. He enjoys and encourages her feisty side. That's the kind of romance novel I like. A hero and heroine fencing each other amidst a crazy amount of physical tension? Yes please!Although Julien effectively takes over Kate's life very early on in the novel, not surprising considering the Regency setting when men were quite in control of every aspect of their wives/daughters lives and choices. In doing so, he "saves" Kate from the hands of her abusive father. Kate hates the lack of control over her own life. While she resists Julien and hates him for it, it's quite romantic to see him go to such lengths to please her and make her happy. Sure, she makes him jump through hoop after hoop and chase her like crazy until he finally gets her cornered and desperate enough to agree to marry him--but Coulter writes Julien in such a way that it's impossible not to swoon over how much he cares for his bride. Despite the misunderstood "rape scene", I found Julien to be so perfectly masculine, confident, and sweet.It's just a story, just a romance novel. I happened to find it highly satisfying. It is no bodice ripper, be clear of that. In fact, this romance has the least amount of sensual scenes in it out of all the romances I've ever read. It's romantic more on the emotional level than it is on the physical level. There's a little bit of physical in there too, but comparatively not much.So, you'll have to judge for yourself if this is your type of romance. It certainly left me happy.