The Elusive Bride

Stephanie Laurens so far has always been one of my favourite authors but somehow I cannot quite appreciate her newest series about the Black Cobra. Already the first book "The Untamed Bride" wasn't quite as brilliant as the Cynster Books or the Bastion Club Books. To me the second book in the Black Cobra Quartet was even more disappointing than the first. The elusive bride and niece of the Governor of Bombay, Emily Ensworth, has spent some months in India to find a suitable husband for a love match. Her older, married sisters have always told her, she'll know he is the one, as soon as she'll meet him. And Emily feels exactly that when she first puts eyes on Major Gareth Hamilton. He is involved in a secret mission to reveal the identity of an English aristocrat involved in the machinations of the Black Cobra Cult. Therefor he has to take a compromising letter (original or copy?) from India to England, always in danger to be brutally stopped by some cultists. Emily, who has just made his aquaintance and wants to make sure he really is the one for her, sets out to follow him, not knowing the danger he is in. As their parties join on their way back to England, both, Gareth and Emily, become targets for the numerous attacks of the Black Cobra Cultists, who are ordered to prevent them from reaching their destination. No part of the book, neither the love story nor the adventure story, were really convincing. The two main characters, Emily and Gareth, remain somewhat obscure and why they instantly fall so madly in love will always remain a mystery to me: there is nothing sizzling between them at all. Although they are always on the run, the reader hardly feels the danger they are in, because everywhere the protagonists arrive they find instant friends and helpers, so no matter how many fights they are in, they certainly end up victoriously with hardly a scratch but lots of victims on the Black Cobra side. If you are a real Stephanie Laurens fan you will certainly not want to miss this book either, if you haven't read one of her books before I advise to better start with one of her Cynster Books, they are a lot better and worth while.