Anais de Rohan is our heroine, we meet her at the beginning of the story as a little girl in a deeply gifted family. Anais’ great grandmother reads her tarot cards and prophecies regarding her surprising future: she’s to train to be a member of the St. James Society.

The St. James society is an all male English brotherhood of gifted men otherwise known as the Fraternitas Aureae Crucis, which has gathered to protect others and defend themselves. When Anais is shockingly presented as a new recruit in their secret underground chambers, Lord Geoff Bessett is stunned. He takes Anais out of the chamber, determined to get rid of her.

Lord Bessett soon realizes that Anais’ years of training and knowledge of their society could make her an asset to his latest Brotherhood mission, and that’s better than turning her into their enemy. He offers to have her travel with him, pretending to be a married could, and try to save a little girl with a very big gift.

Anais agrees to go, thinking that this is a way into the Brotherhood and to fulfill her great grandmother’s prophecy. She doesn’t expect that it will be so challenging to live day in, day out with the magnetic Geoff, and she soon finds herself fighting her blistering attraction to him. Geoff finds himself similarly entranced but it really isn’t the right time to indulge, given that their mission is growing more complex by the second. It turns out that they just can’t help themselves, and their relationship grows deeper as the plot thickens.

The Bride Wore Scarlet had a great beginning and a good premise, but it really went off the rails for me and stayed there.

The enigmatic great grandmother’s prophecy had me at hello, and Anais’ presentation to the society was very well written and surprising. I loved it. However, that magic never came back to me in subsequent pages.

Geoff seemed like a good hero, nothing to write home about. His chemistry with Anais flared occasionally but since it seemed so hot and cold I had a hard time believing it.

The story line definitely didn’t hold my attention, either. While it seemed like a good premise, the writing became really flat after the first few chapters.

I’m sorry, I didn’t love The Bride Wore Scarlet and I’ll have to recommend that you pass on it.

--Amy Wroblewsky