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The Bride Finder (St. Leger #1)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 760 ratings · 53 reviews

Chosen by the Bride Finder, a man blessed with amazing insight, Madeline Breton has come to Cornwall to meet her new husband, the enigmatic Anatole St. Leger. But her dream of happiness soon diffuses in his overpowering shadow. Anatole knows only too well the legacies that to him have been more curses than gifts. But as Madeline embarks on an odyssey both otherworldly and...more

Paperback, 416 pages

Published January 30th 1999 by Ivy Books (first published 1998)

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Nov 14, 2011 Dina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Dina by: Fanip

Shelves: historical-romance, paranormal-romance

First things first... Thank you for recommending this book, Fani! Who would have thought I'd enjoy a historical PNR so much? Fani, that would be you! ;)

The Bride Finder is a romantic gothic tale, featuring a dark, tortured and brooding hero who lives in a haunted castle - where else could he live? - and a no-nonsense and engaging heroine.

Anatole St. Leger comes from a long line of ancestors who are cursed - or blessed, depending on how one sees it - with paranormal powers. Anatole's "gift" is, h...more First things first... Thank you for recommending this book, Fani! Who would have thought I'd enjoy a historical PNR so much? Fani, that would be you! ;)

The Bride Finder is a romantic gothic tale, featuring a dark, tortured and brooding hero who lives in a haunted castle - where else could he live? - and a no-nonsense and engaging heroine.

Anatole St. Leger comes from a long line of ancestors who are cursed - or blessed, depending on how one sees it - with paranormal powers. Anatole's "gift" is, he's telekinetic, can see the future, and sense the presence of other people before he sees or hears them. Considering how "unique" they are, every member of the St. Leger family must ask the Bride Finder to choose his/her mate if they want to live a long and happy life. Anatole is well aware of the consequences of forsaking the Bride Finder's services - his parents' marriage was not a match made by the Bride Finder and, as the legend dictates, ended tragically - so he knows better than tempt fate. When the time comes for him to choose a bride, he calls the Bride Finder. He makes a list of what he wants in a wife, but we can't always get what we want... And what we want isn't always what we need...

What Anatole gets is Madeline Breton, who agrees to marry him sight unseen thanks to the Bride Finder's smart and somewhat tricky talking. When she arrives at Castle Leger to meet her husband, she's disappointed to find out that Anatole's nothing like she expected. He isn't thrilled with her either, so the Bride Finder has to smooth things out between the newlyweds. The Bride Finder strongly advises Anatole to come clean with Madeline about his paranormal powers, but Anatole decides to keep them a secret because he's afraid she'll get scared and reject him. And so begins their journey towards their HEA...

I loved both Anatole and Madeline, and I especially liked the fact that they didn't fall in love at first sight. That's very common in PNR romances, where the H/h are usually fated to be together and feel connected to each other right from the start, so it was nice to see a different approach. Anatole and Madeline were meant to be together - that was what the Bride Finder's job was about, to find the woman destined to be Anatole's love for all eternity - but that didn't mean that they fell instantly in love. It was wonderful to watch they find their way around each other and make their marriage work. And when he finally told her about his paranormal powers... All I'm going to say is, I'd have done the same thing she did.

The ending - most particularly, the last paragraph of the last chapter and the 1st line of the epilogue - almost gave me a heart attack. Wow, scary moment there! Thankfully, it was gone soon enough and I closed the book with a satisfying sigh. :)
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Jan 29, 2008 Ana T. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anatole St Leger has to marry soon. According to his family history for him to be happy his bride must be chosen by the Bride Finder.

Madeline Breton falls in love with the portrait the Bride Finder shows her and accepts the marriage of convenience.

Chosen by the Bride Finder, a man blessed with amazing insight, Madeline Breton has come to Cornwall to meet her new husband, Anatole St. Leger---a man whose midnight eyes conceal strange, paranormal powers. As Madeline embarks on an odyssey both other...more

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 24, 2008 Deirdre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fromlibrary

In parts quite a fun paranormal read. Historical romance with a beauty and the beast flavour. The wife, Madeline Breton goes to Cornwall to meet with her new husband (they were married by proxy); Anatole St. Leger. A man who has been hiding out from his abilities and from the world. There are mysterious forces at work who want him dead and misunderstandings that keep them apart.

The paranormal in this story falls into the Psionic end of the scale and it's quite well dealt with, not only the power...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 02, 2009 Sheree rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance, reviews, read-in-2008, own

This beautiful story gets 4 1/2 stars from me, it pushed all the right buttons. I was caught up in the vivid tale of ghosts, mysticism, love, family tradition, legend & vendettas.
The men of the St Ledger family must accept the partner chosen for them by the Bride Finder, to do otherwise risks disaster. Practical Madeline Breton arrives in Cornwall to meet her husband, the tormented Anatole St Ledger and the story that follows became a page turner for me (which pleasantly surprised me.)
The s...more

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Dec 23, 2008 Evelyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, highly-recommended

After wedding Anatole St. Leger by proxy, Madeline Breton finds her new home haunted and her new husband possessing supernatural powers.

Spellbinding. Creative. Clever. A quick and fun read. Likeable characters. Well-paced. Similar to the Beauty and the Beast tales. Very satisfying. Has a paranormal feel. You might also like The Ground She Walks Upon by Megan McKinney.

1 like · like · see review

Feb 26, 2013 Kate Dirty Girls' Good Books rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: blaze, historical

When I was 19 or 20, I ran across The Bride Finder in the check out lane of our local Shopko. The title alone fascinated me. I bought it without even reading the back. It turned out to be my first romance, one of my best impulse buys, and still one of my favorites to this day.

Anatole St.Leger comes from a rather strange family. Some of his ancestors have been conjurers, clairvoyants, exorcists, sorcerers, etc. Anatole's own powers include seeing visions of the future, sensing a person's presence...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Lauren Marrero rated it 4 of 5 stars

I spent all night devouring this book. What's not to love about a brooding, gothic hero with a sword, a castle and telekinesis? The misunderstandings between the characters were frustrating, but understandable -the hero had serious emotional baggage to get through and didn't know how to love. The first two bedrooms scenes were surprisingly awkward for a romance novel. Usually you find the hero possessed of awesome talent and the heroine swept up in an instant conflagration of desire from the fir...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Rane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Rane by: Dina's review

Shelves: paranormal-pnr, georgian-romance, keeper, fantasy

Born with unusual gifts Anatole St.Leger comes from a long family whose powers and legends are known by many, through stories and whispers. Anatole powers have caused him more heartache then happiness. The time though has come for him to have his bride found. But, only the gifted Bride Finder can find the chosen mate of a St.Leger to insure happiness and love throughout their lives.
The task doesn’t seem to be difficult for Madeline Breton who trades marriage to help her family out of debt. Ho...more Born with unusual gifts Anatole St.Leger comes from a long family whose powers and legends are known by many, through stories and whispers. Anatole powers have caused him more heartache then happiness. The time though has come for him to have his bride found. But, only the gifted Bride Finder can find the chosen mate of a St.Leger to insure happiness and love throughout their lives.
The task doesn’t seem to be difficult for Madeline Breton who trades marriage to help her family out of debt. Hoping to find a man who may love her for herself, she’s in for many surprises along the way as she learns of the great secretes of not only the St.Leger family, but of her new husband.

The Bride Finder has magic, romance with a fast paced plot all wrapped up into this amazing book I couldn’t put down.

Anatole first comes across as beastly type of man with wild look about him who lives in a creepy (haunted) castle and rather bellow out orders then ask for anything. Living as a feared recluse he tries to live with the pain of being outcast by his own parents and to hide away to protect others and himself from his dark gifts. Anatole was a tragic hero who wanted to be loved by his mother, who was to weak-willed to understand her son, his father was also to much in love with his wife to spare a thought to what he was doing to his own son was wrong. Anatole somehow grew up strong, but with a deep fear of rejection, he still held out hope that one day he’ll be accepted and loved as he is. I really loved Anatole more and more as the beast mask he worn broke apart to see just a man behind the mask, hurting and alone, waiting for that someone to love him.

I also really loved his morbid sense of humor toward his dead family members.
When Madeline and Anatole marry, Anatole’s explains why his ancestress are buried under the church floor…

“ St.Legers have long been buried here instead of in the churchyard,” Anatole said. “The hope being that the added weight of the building might keep them in their graves.”

Madeline was smart with common sense and duty ruling her mind, much like Anatole, wanted to be truly accepted as herself then some stuffy doll to sell off to the ton’s marriage market. Holding out hope throughout the book, she healed not only Anatole’s heart with her love, but with her understanding and acceptance of him and his powers. She became stronger and risked her life for him and I just adored her to bits!

Many of the secondary characters moved the story along wonderfully, but two really caught my eye were the ghost Lord Prospero who still haunted his castle and tower, always up to some sort of mischief that gave Anatole another major headache. He was a smooth charmer even as a ghost. There was also Anatole’s cousin Marcus who was not only a doctor but a strong empathic, after the tragic death of his own soul mate bride, he waits for his own death to be reunited with her, I hope it doesn’t take death for him to get another second chance at love.
There was some great villains in the story that added to the book’s pace and excitement, but the focus was always on the romance and growing love between Madeline and Anatole, sparks don’t fly in bed for them, as it takes time (and a few tries to get it right) but for me it only added and fueled the need to understand each other, showing a great character growth and development and a true bondship between the leads.

Overall: a magical and deeply beautiful book with an ending that is sigh-worthy in it’s happy ever after between Madeline and Anatole
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Aug 15, 2008 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book took me a little while to get into but I loved it. Anitole is such a deep character that it was interesting to read of his adventures. And here again we have some magical elements with the St. Ledgers. This is really a fun book.

1 like · like · see review

Sep 02, 2009 K. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to K. by: Fani

Shelves: dead-tree-books-i-still-own, 5-keepers

”The Bride Finder” by Susan Carroll (published paperback edition 2006 (1/30/99 original publication))

Anatole and Madeline
(Gothic setting romance believed to be set in the Georgian period (probably more toward 1800), Cornwall, England (no actual date noted.))

Anatole St. Leger comes from a long line of men that hold a menagerie of mystical powers – anything from Anatole’s psychic abilities to know the future and levitate objects, to one of his cousins being able to “see into the true soul” of ano...more

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Feb 26, 2008 Christel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book very much. To me one of the ones that was very hard to put down. Matter of fact stayed up till 5 in the morning reading it. This is actually the first paranormal I have read.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 04, 2012 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: broken-heroes, historical-romance, paranormal-romance

Oh, Anatole St. Leger. You are so emo. It is so very hard to take you seriously, but I love you anyway.

This book has the feel of a Gothic. Young innocent girl moves from the big city to a mysterious castle. There are servants who don't like her much, and the master of the castle, our hero, kind of reminds me of the Beast in the Disney movie. Only more emo.

Basically, Anatole had a terrible childhood, which, combined with his being a St. Leger *thunder boom* means that he feels he is just too uns...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Jenny Q rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance-faves, my-favorite-reads

I loved this book! I first discovered Susan Carroll's Dark Queen series and was impressed, so I decided to go back and read her earlier works. The Bride Finder is the first and best of the St. Leger trilogy. It's a beautiful, original love story between two wonderfully drawn characters: the dark and wounded Anatole St. Leger, and the smart and spritely Madeline Breton. Bound by a magical legacy, Anatole dispatches the Bride Finder, who comes from a long line of Bride Finders charged with helping...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Summer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ghosts, historical-romance, magic, paranormal, romance

The Bride Finder is about the St. Leger family, specifically Anatole St. Leger the current head of the family. The St. Leger family however is not your typical family. It traces it's lineage to a particular man who's as mysterious and enigmatic as his successors. Almost everyone in the family is gifted with a strange power or ability including Anatole. His particular gifts include dark visions of things in the future and the ability to move people and objects with his mind. He's managed to live...more

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Oct 30, 2008 Angie rated it 3 of 5 stars

If anyone other than me has read this book you will understand when I say, Holy cow I am a bit embarassed. So let me start off by saying this book was on a list of recomended books by the Salt Lake County libary as a book you might like if you liked Twilight. So I thought what the heck. The story was really cool and I fell in love with the characters, until it hit the middle of the book. That's when the sex scenes came in. Now I don't read modern romance books (for that very reason), and I had n...more

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Oct 13, 2008 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: series

Anatole St. Leger who has special powers is a descendant of some interesting family members. Anatole carries some emotional scars from his childhood along with the visible scar on his forehead. He knows he needs to marry and contacts the Bride Finder, who selects all the St. Leger

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Mar 11, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: This historical romance/fantasy set in a spooky castle along the Cornish coast was a total escape. The story of brooding lord and magician Anatole and his new wife Madeline was well-written and compelling. I would definitely read the next two books in this series.

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Apr 02, 2011 Mel rated it 3 of 5 stars

A gothic bodice-ripper with the supernatural thrown in. It was fine to read if there's nothing better around, but it suffered from the usual "plot complications because no one will talk to each other" device. Characters were interesting, though, if a bit one-dimensional.

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Jan 06, 2011 Cassie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was well written. I was hooked from the beginning (of course that doesn't take much). The only warning I have is that there are a two or three parts that are a little descriptive/too personal that you might want to skip through. A great read, though.

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Feb 04, 2011 vra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Too much of a fairy tale for my taste. I read the book for the theme, but the storytelling reminds me of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, with an added touch of fleeting adult scenes. Neither here nor there. If you want light-reading, it will do.

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May 15, 2011 Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-want-to-own, good-reads, favorites

This book was so awesome I actually loved the romance and thought it was so interesting! Carroll is a fabulous writer and I love this work by her, she's made me such a fan. Reading this can never be a disappointment!

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Aug 04, 2011 Gayla Champenois rated it 5 of 5 stars

What can I say, i'm a sucker for this type of book. I got hooked on SuSan Carroll in the Dark Queen. Who cares that it's "chick lit". Love the mystical nature in these books. Love found againstall odds. I also love that The hero is not some Adonis and the maiden is willing to look past that to find her True Love.

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Aug 16, 2011 Khristine rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! Though the actual true feely-feely-lovey-dovey stuff came much later, I adored it all the same!

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Jan 09, 2009 Jabenami rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: guilty-pleasure, sci-fi-fantasy

I spend an almost shameful amount of time on the lookout for readable romantic fantasy novels. This one definitely isn't bad. It was a good story, decently plotted, although it suffered from the usual problem of manufacturing a majority of the drama because the characters don't speak to one another. Also, the premise for the characters falling in love was a little weak (yes, everyone wants to have really good sex with a tall, dark and brooding man, we know).

Still, it was a fun read and I'm glad...more

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May 02, 2010 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

A great romance. It has magic, love, beauty and the beast flavor, and ghosts. Must not forget the ghost.

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Nov 26, 2009 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this story a lot. I thought the ending was really good and because of this I would give it 4 1/2 stsrs.

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Feb 10, 2012 Faye rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was just okay for me. Not sure whether I will buy another book, by this author

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Apr 21, 2009 Siobhan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sf

A hoot! semi-gothic, slightly supernatural romance.

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Dec 27, 2009 TJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-romance

Good overall story but the plot plodded along a little to slowly for my taste.

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Jun 30, 2009 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this mystical historical romance with a complex hero.

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2009/06/b...

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About Susan Carroll

Born Susan Carol Cute in 1952, Susan Coppula obtained a Degree in English with complementary studies in History in the University of Indiana. Since 1986, Susan has published books under three different pseudonyms: Susan Carroll, Susan Coppula, andSerena Richards

More about Susan Carroll...

Books by Susan Carroll

The Dark Queen (The Dark Queen Saga, #1)

The Silver Rose (The Dark Queen Saga, #3)

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The Bride Finder (St. Leger #1)

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