Firebrand Bride is one of those books in which the title is repeated over and over throughout the book, just in case you missed it the first time. The heroine, Lucina Cavendish, is holding aloft a torch when the hero first sees her, and he thinks of her then and always as a firebrand. Lucina is spunky, and the hero has his moments, and I occasionally liked both of them. But I never really got into their story, which is laden with sentimental prose and an overabundance of secrets. Parts of the book are interesting, but its no page-turner.

John Alexander Malcolm Graham, also known as Black Graham, has one cherished dream - he wants to bring peace to the Scottish border country and stop the constant raiding for cattle and horses. His clansmen are not as eager to give up the old ways, and one day his cousin Will takes off to pillage the neighboring clans. In order to stop Will, Graham leaves his prized mare in the middle of a difficult birth. As luck would have it, one of Will's would-be victims is Lucina Cavendish, who comes riding into a valley brandishing a torch so she can save her stallion. Graham notes Lucina's skill with horses, and decides to take her captive so she can help with his mare.

Lucina has come to Scotland to claim some land left to her by a deceased friend. She is annoyed to be Graham's captive, but eagerly helps him with his horse. Helping the mare through her difficult birth forges a bond between Lucina and Graham, and when the political situation forces Lucina to remain at Graham's castle, she rises to the occasion. She challenges Graham constantly, even as she befriends many of the castle's inhabitants.

What happens next is hard to explain. In a nutshell, Lucina and Graham are involved in an endless stream of intrigue and secrets. If you really love secrets, then this is the book for you. There is a "ghost," a secret passageway, a charm stone, babies switched at birth, and corpses switched at death. All these secrets are explained one at a time in a somewhat silly scene at the end, long after the reader has figured them all out. On top of this, the main characters have to rescue Lucina's kidnaped brother, maintain the peace between warring clans, and save King James VI from death. Oxymoronically, all this excitement gets to be a little boring after a while.

For the most part, the characters are likable, and they are the bright spot in the book. Lucina is forward-thinking, and she constantly battles with Graham to get him to include her in his plans. Graham is believable as a medieval hero; he really acts like a man from that time period. His love for Lucina develops gradually, and it takes a while for him to really trust her. His only real flaw is his complete lack of a Scottish accent, which is very noticeable since every other Scottish character has one. The secondary characters are also good here; Graham's sort-of-senile Great Aunt Isabel is the best of the bunch.

The other main flaw was really a reflection of my personal taste. I thought the prose was too melodramatic, particularly during the love scenes. Some of the dialogue verged on corny, and the repeated use of the metaphor of running a race as a euphemism for sex got to be too much after a while. If you like a lot of mushy sentiment, this may not bother you.

At the end of the book, the author's note explains that Firebrand Bride is fourth in a series of books about the Cavendish family. This completely surprised me; I would never have guessed that this book was part of a series. So if you are looking to join a series midstream without having to play catch up, you might like this one. If you are looking for lots of secrets and sentiment, you might also like this one. Otherwise, you might want to steer clear.