The Bride of Spring - Catherine Archer

The Bride of Spring, by Catherine Archer was released by Harlequin Historical's in 2000.

The Bride of Spring is one of those novels I read, I enjoyed reading, but nothing remarkable stands out in the book. It's rare that I read a book, then look back on it, within a few hours of finishing the novel without recalling something outstanding about it.

It's not that Ms. Archer isn't a good author. I didn't throw the book against the wall, which I've been known to do with books that have annoyed me, or where the author has frustrated me with the lack of plot, or foolish characters that have left me with the urge to slap them silly. That didn't appear in Ms. Archer's book.

It's just that there was nothing memorable. Which is a pity because Ms. Archer obviously managed to interest me enough to finish reading the book.

The heroine, Raine, does go about finding a suitable husband to protect her brother in a semi intelligent manner. She checks him out first and is pretty sure he isn't the type to kill her or denounce her for the trick she plays on him. But the entire situation with her brother and the cousin is underplayed. It's there, it's part of the storyline, the evil well, greedy and stupid cousin trying to grab the land through marrying Raine, but if the cousin had been intelligent, even attractive and smooth, it would have made him more memorable to me.

I think that was the problem with the book.

Not one of the characters jumped off the page for me.

Yet Ms. Archer is obviously a skilled author because, despite the lack luster characters, the story didn't bore me off the page, which isn't easy to do.

It could just be me. I might have missed something in the story, or the style of writing, or maybe I just wasn't the target market for the book. I'd like to think that was where the issue is. I wasn't the target market, the characters weren't aimed at entertaining me, and if that is the truth of the situation, which I've fairly certain it is, then it would be unfair of me to trash the book.

It was well written.

It did follow through on the storyline.

It just wasn't for me.

ISBN 0-373-29114-0