Salt Bride: A Georgian Historical Romance (Salt Hendon Book 1) Kindle Edition

Lucinda Brant is an excellent writer if this book is anything to go by.I found this DELIGHTFUL because the characters came to life off the page and especially the men all bewigged and powdered. This was so well written that I never forgot as I read that this was a Georgian era novel. No modern references.I sympathised greatly with Jane, a squire’s daughter who falls in love with the Earl of Salt. While she is sweet, kind and sensitive, he is brash, angry, arrogant, filling the page with his overwhelming presence. They have a difficult history, and as the book opens, they are miserable, waiting to be wed to one another, without wanting to.There is a backstory that is cleverly revealed. All credit to the success of this love story goes to Jane who is patient, loving, giving and kind, in the face of Salt’s rancour and contempt. Can her inner and outer beauty charm him and endear him to her? Gosh, I fell in love with Jane myself, how could he resist her?The UNNERVING comes from the slow reveal of the villain in this story. While at first glance this person seems extreme, and therefore easily dismissed as fantasy and unrealistic, I have dealt with such people in my past employment. Therefore, I know such a villain is realistic, insidious and truly scary.So while I read this romance feeling delighted by it, I did so under the shadow of the looming danger posed by the ever-present villain.The love story moved in a satisfying manner from distrust and misery, to incremental changes of heart, to love in such sweet small steps, that I found myself enthralled unable to put the book down. Of course, the villain is dealt with and the romance resolves happily.I recommend Salt Bride. The writing is fresh, witty, clever, the suspense slowly builds and the romance blooms beautifully.Post Script: While reading the next novel in my pile, I could not stop thinking about Salt Bride. As I fell asleep each night, I thought about events in Salt Bride rather than the novel I am currently reading (by another author). This inability to let go of Salt Bride, and the reading experience overall, leads me to give it 5 stars.

The imagery painted by Brant is spectacular. You just literally feel like you are right there with the characters in that time period and you feel what they are feeling right along with them. There is some very intense emotion, a bit of wit and very, very high drama.There is a very unhappy history between the Earl of Salt Hendon and Jane Despard, the daughter of a neighboring squire. And now, years later, they are being forced to marry. Neither of them is happy about the situation, but neither of them has a choice.There is a sinister, dark character in their orbit who wants Jane gone and totally out of Salt’s life and she will – and has – done the most despicable and heinous things to assure that they stay separated. Diana St. John, widow of Salt’s cousin and best friend is fixated on Salt. Diana believes that she will be the Countess of Salt Hendon and that Salt cannot get along without her. As you learn more of what she has done and is willing to do it will make your skin crawl and you’ll want to check under your bed at night. She is truly a chilling villain. You’ll think her eventual punishment is nowhere near enough for the things she did.Jane has a wonderfully sunny outlook on life – even after all the misery she has been through. She is so very kind, loving, gentle, caring, patient, giving. Even Salt’s rancor and utter contempt cannot make her act as he does. She’s beautiful inside and out. Nobody in the household can resist her – not the servants, not the relatives and certainly not Salt, no matter how hard he tries.The dark history is slowly exposed and the misunderstandings come to light and they learn that neither of them ever actually stopped loving the other. Brant’s use of suspense, humor, and love just draws you right in and makes you a part of the story.

I found this book a little confusing initially--who was related to whom, what was Jane's great sin, what was the past history between her and Salt? No spoilers, as you read, the answers do come. I enjoyed Salt Bride as I was reading it and did keep turning the page to find out what would happen next. After I finished reading, though, the drama seemed a bit much. The villainess started out as catty and controlling, but evolved into a cartoonish figure of evil. While I initially found Jane sympathetic, she was too good to be true...too beautiful, too kind, beloved by children and animals, openly admired and gaped at by strangers; she reminded me a bit of Snow White. For such a seemingly intelligent and powerful man, Salt seemed not to be very perceptive.This was a "clean-ish" read, mostly innuendo and not much steam. I only paid .99 for this, and it was well worth that.

Lucinda Brant has a way of writing with tongue in cheek wit with a wink. I loved the banter between Jane and Salt and their slow burn, solid romance. As I read, I was whisked away into the Georgian time period. I could totally picture myself there in the estate of Lord Salt, in the ballrooms, in the drawing rooms and bedrooms. I pictured all the courtiers and the way they dressed, powered their hair, bowed and curtsied. Ms Brant’s characters were all unique and well developed. The drama that slowly unfolded kept me glued to the pages. Sometimes I wanted to shake Salt (no pun intended) and will him to open his eyes to the evil plot right in front of him. And Jane was too good and forgiving to alert him to what she knew of his cousin’s evil machinations. The children pulled at my heartstrings, so precocious, I fell in love with them. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book. It was highly entertaining.

I absolutely loved this novel, my first by Lucinda Brant, but definitely not my last.The period was well researched, but more importantly, the plot was good and didn't have the predictably of a lot of romance novels. The storyline just drew me in and kept me captivated from the start to when I finished in just a few days.The wealth of characters, and there are many weaved into this novel, could only be achieved by a talented author, and was a challenge just remembering who was who I truly enjoyed. Oh I loved Squires daughter Jane Despard, the heroine who was beautiful both inside and out, but more importantly for me was, she was straight talking with no malice or cynicism.The sexy Earl of Salt Hendon, Lord Magna Salt, described as a bear sized Earl, such a refreshing change from the slim hipped hero of most romance novels just increased his desirability. I started off hating him but soon grew to love him.But Lucinda Brant doesn't stop there, all the characters are well crafted and believable from Diana St. John like a pantomime baddie. Her wonderful children Ron and Merry St. John to Jane's kitten Viscount Fourpaws - his fluffy lordship! Just brilliant.There are so many aspects of the storyline which I absolutely loved but I don't want to give any spoilers. So, what I will say is this is the best and most enjoyable novel I've read in a while, (I read many) and I highly recommend this book and author.

I am reviewing both Salt Bride and Salt Redux here. I really enjoyed Salt Bride, a different slant on the usual historical romance stories - the author's knowledge and attention to historical detail was impressive and although I have read this type of author for many years, there were words from the period that I had not come across before. This story was tight, with a very real malevolent character in Diana, Lady St. John, and believable because of the antipathy of the Duke of Salt towards Jane, the woman he loved and thought had wronged/shamed him - thanks to the machinations of Diana. The rediscovery of their love and respect for one another, and the villain's diabolical schemes to drive them apart, both at the time of their estrangement and at the time of their enforced marriage, came across as entirely plausible and the ending was satisfactory, with the villain being unmasked and banished. I liked it very much.Salt Redux - a very different book, and I still enjoyed it but it didn't read so much a sequel as a completely different take on the story-telling, more of a detective thriller. The hero was an admirable character, fighting his own addiction to alcohol and returning to London when he realises that his sister, the villain, is on the loose! However, his love story, which was revealed to us in the first book, was sidelined, and there were so many distractions from the main theme - his love, Caroline, having discovered a crusading spirit for the welfare of animals and her brother-in-law's involvement with her schemes, were just plonked in without any explanation or enlargement of this part of the story, which could have been very interesting. The hero's determination to deal with his sister in his own way was handled well, but despite having been shown that the household staff of the Duke of Salt were completely loyal and trustworthy, and despite them being in the know about their duties on the night when everything comes to a head, we have a butler giving out information which seemed entirely out of character and only served to bring the story to the end point. Diana, who seemed entirely believable in the first story, was so delusional in this story that one couldn't actually imagine her carrying through her plot, which seemed to be a rather vague one, not at all like her clever scheming in the first book. So I would recommend reading both books, which are different from the norm, but be prepared for two quite different types of story. [Having looked up 'Redux', I couldn't understand how it was relevant to this title, particularly since is relates to 'Salt']

I picked this up when it was free and it was okay. There was enough here to keep me reading and the premise was a good one. I just didn't love it. Lord Salt was just too much of a jerk for my taste. The author did too good a job of vilifying him early on and it meant he wasn't very likeable. Also, it was one of those books where all the trouble would have been over if they'd just spoken to each other, so it got a little frustrating at times!Still, overall, it was an okay read and reasonably enjoyable.

Lucinda Brant is one of the best writers in this genre. She captures the Georgian period beautifully and the story of Jane and Magnus's love is told well. Their romance spans several years, a thwarted marriage, revenge and desire. The interference of the seriously disturbed Diana, who is clearly a "bunny boiler" of the first magnitude adds a thrilling element to the book but ultimately, their love overcomes all. I do not like to give the plot synopsis when I review a book, others will do that but I can assure youthat this book is an excellent read and you will certainly not be disappointed by the sequel Salt Redux. Brant's Roxton Family books are equally wonderful and if you like your hero's dark and brooding try her Alec Halsey series. I love them all and each book is redolent of thperiod and background history of England and European history.

This is a book which had me on the edge of my seat, and I just could not turn the pages fast enough! The story is a cracker, a love story, yes, but more than that. A thriller maybe? The characters are believable, and the villain - well I hated her from the word go! The story unfolds piece by piece. I found myself trying to guess the next bit before it was revealed; sometimes I was right sometimes not. It certainly kept me enthralled and I even had to stay up late to finish it.If I have a reservation, it is a small one, and that is that one or two American words crept in, words 18th century English people would not have used. However, it did not spoil my enjoyment of a really good read. Well done to the author and I look forward to the sequel, already sitting on my Kindle.