The Bartered Bride [Mass Market Paperback]

I like books that start off with a bit of a bang. This one certainly does.

In the Tower of London, an adventurer is awaiting trial for the murder of his wife, whom he loves quite dearly. For Gavin Elliot life on the seas and dry land has been a long series of hairbreadth escapes, and winning the love of not one, but two women. Now he's lost everything.

We get the heroine, the blond and beautiful Alexandra Warren in the middle of a pirate attack in the East Indies. Recently widowed, and with her young daughter, Katie, in tow, she's seeking to return to England and her family. But captured by pirates from a close by island, not only is she separated from her beloved daughter, she is subjected to a life of horrors.

Noted romance author Mary Jo Putney gives us another entry in her "Bride" series, with the title in this one coming from the events surrounding Alex's captivity by the decadent Sultan Kasan. The Sultan offers Elliot a choice -- to rescue Alex he must win at the challenges of the Lion's Game, or help the sultan build a merchanting empire. The fact that the sultan uses piracy to terrorize local shipping is a little matter here as well -- and Elliot has pressing business in England over a touch of revenge. How he manages to outwit the Sultan and rescue Alex and her daughter makes for one of the more entertaining sections of the novel.

Returning to England, our two main characters have managed to make a marriage of convenience, but further troubles await in persistant would-be lovers, a pack of in-laws (mostly characters from previous Putney novels that I found to be distracting), and that murder charge that the novel opened with. While I don't mind flashbacks as a plot device, sometimes it gets annoying. To the author's credit, her handling of the old tried-and-true "captured by pirates" storyline is here told in an inventive style, and kept my interest until the end of the novel. Both of the characters have emotional baggage that they cart along with them, and Putney handles the sensitive issue of rape and abuse in a dignified manner, much different than the usual "forcible seduction" that's a stock in trade of bodice rippers.

The bad part of the novel is that the villains are pretty much stock characters here, with only the Sultan being at all interesting (enough to make me wonder if Putney was setting him up as a future hero in a forthcoming book), but the others are pretty much one-notes. The really bad part is that the novel could have been more interesting if the extra characters had been cut out -- I kept getting distracted and bogged down with the little tidbits that Putney kept tossing here and there. Still, it's an interesting read for those of you who like their romance novels with plenty of adventure, and Putney has a deft touch in her writing style. Even the erotic bits are tasteful, and that's rare thing to find these days.

Mary Jo Putney is never afraid to tackle more complicated issues in her historical romances (i.e. alcoholism in "The Rake" and depression in "Veils of Silk"), and she takes on some doozies in "The Bartered Bride"--slavery, rape and its aftermath.

The heroine, Alexandra Warren, is a young widow who is traveling back to England from Austrailia with her young daughter when their ship is attacked by pirates in the East Indies and Alex is sold into slavery. Six months later, Captain Gavin Elliott is visiting the island of Maduri and sees Alex being sold in the local slave market and attempts to buy her freedom. The Sultan of Maduri refuses to let him, recognizing that Gavin's concern for the English slave woman may be a way to control the independent Captain. Gavin must risk his own freedom and even his life in a series of tasks known as "The Lion Game" before the Sultan will agree to release Alex.

Gavin is about as decent a guy as you will ever find in a historical romance and Alex is a *very* strong heroine. The story is complicated and the situations heart-wrenching as Gavin tries to help Alex recover from the abuse that she endured as a slave and resume her life. This is definitely *not* light, fluffy romance, but it is different and interesting and very well-written for the most part. (The boiler-plate last minute rescue scene at the end was a bit over-dramatic for my taste, but was fun to read if a bit predicable.)

A well-written book about a complicated subject with a wonderful hero and strong heroine.

I am with those that do not like to start out going backwards when I read - I prefer to read beginning to end. However in spite of that fact Putney creates a truly emotional read with her story of Gavin & Alex. When Alex is captured and enslaved early in the story you truly wonder how she will come out of it not permently scarred. How fortunate she is that Gavin Elliot comes along and becomes her protector and rescuer - He truly is the kind of man women are all looking for. I mean he has only even had one woman in his life - unique to these stories for sure. It will take much patience and trust between this couple to ever find true happiness though. And their horrors do not end with the islands of the East - when they return to London they still have demons to fight. Of course when a couple fears they have lost each other for good that is when they realize the love they have long felt. This is truly a wonderful love story!!