Midnight Bride
Grade : B+

Kate Fitzleger has been in love with Dr. Val St. Leger since she first laid eyes on him. There’s only one problem: the legend of his family is that any St. Leger who marries someone other than the person chosen for them by a Bride Finder will find tragedy. The current Bride Finder has announced that Val is doomed to life alone and that there will be no chosen bride. So despite whatever Val may feel for Kate, he will never return her love.

Kate, not one to be swayed by pesky legends, decides to take matters in her own hands and seeks out a spell from Val’s ghostly ancestor Prospero, a powerful wizard who was burned at the stake. Kate hopes the spell will cause Val to ignore the legend and marry her. She is thrilled the morning after to have Val come charging up to her on horseback, apparently not only in love with her, but cured of an earlier crippling injury as well. Kate is happy at first until she notices a change in Val’s personality. He’s become possessively jealous and violently bitter. Fearful, Kate again seeks Prospero’s help to undo what she’s done.

Unfortunately, while Kate was practicing black magic, an old enemy was visiting Val. Rafe Mortmain, whose family has feuded with the St. Legers for centuries and who has a personal vendetta with Val, visits him the same night Kate casts her spell. Rafe’s plan goes wrong, and Rafe collapses near death on Val’s floor. Despite the enmity he feels for all Mortmains, Val cannot ignore anyone’s suffering and uses his magic power to take on Rafe’s pain. Only Val takes on more than Rafe’s pain: he also takes on part of his soul.

Midnight Bride is a moving tale about fighting for what you want, but at the same time accepting what you can’t have. Each of the main characters grows and learns something about themselves as the story progresses. Each learns what is really important in life and how to let go of the past.

Kate, a foundling, believes deep down that because her parents abandoned her, no one can love her. Lacking this one area of self-confidence, she turns to magical forces to obtain the love she so desperately craves. Kate is quite enjoyable and feisty in the best sense of the word. She goes after what she wants, but not to the point of stupidity, and when her actions go awry, she admits fault and tries to correct the situation. Also believable is that Kate is in love with someone thirteen years her senior, because she is shown to be mature beyond her years. The reader sees how her early childhood forced her to grow up quickly for her own safety, in part because of her flighty foster-mother, whom she had to parent more often than not.

Val is a classic tortured hero. He was crippled in Spain when his power went amiss as he tried to take on his twin brother’s pain and instead took on the dreadful wound. Val has tried to suppress his regret at the loss of his mobility and the ability to ride, hunt, fence, etc. He also tries to hide his anguish at being told he shall never marry or have children. When the story begins Val is tired of life, tired of being denied a love of his own, and tired of the pain he must take on each day to heal people. So when he is healed and a sense of freedom and control is returned to him, it’s little wonder he doesn’t want to go back. The reader sympathizes with Val being torn apart as his darker side is brought to the forefront. The reader cheers him as he’s finally able to say all the things he’s kept bottled up, but at the same time worries about his downward spiral into madness.

Readers may find it hard to enjoy a hero who takes on traits of a villain, but author Caroll handles this deftly. Those who have read the previous books in this series may well consider Midnight Bride a Desert Isle Keeper. If I get the chance to read them and change my mind, I'll let you know.

Reviewed by Jennifer Schendel
Grade : B+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : May 27, 2001

Publication Date: 2001

Review Tags: 

Recent Comments …

Jennifer Schendel

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
What's your opinion?x
()
x