Lost and Found Bride is part old-style gothic mixed with early Danielle Steel. If both of those components are appealing, Modean Moon’s tale of a young woman’s amnesia and eventual recovery should be somewhat satisfying. For the rest of us, however, this book leaves something to be desired.

Our story begins when wealthy and mysterious Richard Jordan rescues a frail, frightened, and emotionally fragile young woman from a mental hospital where she has obviously been mistreated. The young woman turns out to be Alexandra Jordan, Richard’s estranged wife, whom he has not seen since she left him some months ago after he was injured in South American while on a rescue mission.

Though Richard is in pain over Alexandra’s leaving him in his hour of need, he and his sister-in-law, Melissa, who is a psychiatrist, are aghast at the state she is in. They take her back to his estate to recover and hopefully regain her memory. Richard’s instructions from Melissa are clear – he is not to reveal any information which might aid in her recovery. Apparently it would be healthier for her to remember things for herself.

Alexandra is surrounded by hostility from nearly everyone once she is returned to her former home. Melissa and her husband, the wheel-chair ridden Greg, who is Richard’s half-brother, the household staff, and, in particular, Richard’s mother. It is this portion of the book that is reminiscent of an old-style gothic novel, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve moved beyond those.

As Alexandra works to recover, Richard is hard at work investigating what really happened to land her in a mental institution – he doesn’t believe she admitted herself, nor does he want to believe all the horrible things she is supposed to have done since he last saw her. It is this portion of the book that is reminiscent of an old Danielle Steel novel – The Promise. Remember the one where the hero’s mother tried to buy off the heroine, who subsequently had an accident, had plastic surgery, and then later met up – through happenstance – with the hero again? Although I may have the order mixed up, you get the idea. As you read through this book, The Promise’s scenario will not seem particularly far-fetched.

The style of Lost and Found Bride is ethereal and rather dream-like. What’s real, what’s remembered, what’s dreamed – it all reads rather the same. While the growing closeness between Richard and Alexandra is nice, the psychiatric underpinnings regarding her recovery seemed cruel and unnecessary. And, the truth regarding her leaving Richard and her institutionalization is melodramatic and unrealistic.

Somewhere in this book there is an interesting story dying to be told. It simply needed a different vehicle.