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Marrying Miss Bright #1
The Bad Man's Bride
He'll leave town when he's good and ready...and when the pretty and proper young schoolmarm consents to be his bride.
A Bad Man's Desire
At first glance, the lovely Easterner Anthea Bright seems woefully unsuited for her position as the new schoolmarm in Haven, Kansas. But behind that fine finishing school polish is a fiery spirit and a determination to succeed. Gabriel Jackson, however, is a different kind of challenge. The intensely passionate, devastatingly sexy man is Haven's most disreputable citizen -- and he's put Anthea's level head and her heart in a furious spin. How can theprim, pretty newcomer hope to stand firm to her principles when she feels breathless whenever Gabriel's near? And though a small voice inside tells her the "bad man's" not nearly as bad as his reputation would suggest, does she dare surrender to this dangerous stranger who is bound and determined to make Anthea his bride?
A Bad Man's Desire
At first glance, the lovely Easterner Anthea Bright seems woefully unsuited for her position as the new schoolmarm in Haven, Kansas. But behind that fine finishing school polish is a fiery spirit and a determination to succeed. Gabriel Jackson, however, is a different kind of challenge. The intensely passionate, devastatingly sexy man is Haven's most disreputable citizen -- and he's put Anthea's level head and her heart in a furious spin. How can theprim, pretty newcomer hope to stand firm to her principles when she feels breathless whenever Gabriel's near? And though a small voice inside tells her the "bad man's" not nearly as bad as his reputation would suggest, does she dare surrender to this dangerous stranger who is bound and determined to make Anthea his bride?
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 29, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 3, 2014
This historical western employs two different "Outsider" tropes: the heroine, Anthea, is a fish out of water as the new schoolteacher on the Kansas frontier, freshly arrived from a more civilized life in Philadelphia, while the hero, Gabriel, has been the town outcast since his out-of-wedlock birth. Gabriel's reputation is further tarnished when he takes the orphaned daughter of the town's whore under his wing, and everyone assumes that he is her father.
I liked the story well enough, though it wasn't especially original. Parts of it reminded me, fondly, of the Little House on the Prairie books I read (and reread and reread) as a girl. I found the main characters likable and relatable. However, much of the story was predictable, and none of the plot twists were especially shocking... though I'm not sure the author was aiming for shocking.
What really troubled me about this book, though, and brought it from a three-star "Meh" rating to a two-star "Nah" rating, is the story's weird, backwards, and kind of convoluted messages about sex. I checked the publication date of this book, thinking it might have been written right on the cusp of the Old Skool (rapey, alpha heroes) romances written in the 1980s and prior, and the more enlightened New School romances of more recent decades, but it came out in 2001, which was later than I'd have guessed.
Anyway, the first thing that bothered me is that Gabriel held off sleeping with Anthea until all of a sudden he learned she was not a virgin, since she'd anticipated her wedding vows with a fiancé who threw her over when her father's death left her and her sisters destitute (which is why she's in Kansas teaching). Upon learning this, Gabriel throws all his good intentions out the window, and immediately sees Anthea as fair game, sexually speaking, though at that point he has no intention of marrying her. I didn't mind that Anthea wasn't a virgin, and I liked that she had her own sexual needs and wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted, but Gabriel could have been more honorable. This is a squick of mine: I really hate historical romances where the lovers become intimate without any intention or ability to marry, and it's not because I'm a prude--it's because in that historical context, a woman took such an enormous risk in giving up her purity and risking pregnancy, that it just isn't honorable for a man to accept that risk without intending marriage. And Gabriel, who has spent his whole life shunned and despised by the townsfolk for his bastardy, should have known that better than anyone.
The second thing that bothered me was a subplot involving the town banker, Philip, and his wife Cleo. Way back years before she and Philip married, Cleo had an affair with Gabriel, and she's been hung up on him ever since, to the detriment of her marriage. Toward the end of the book, there is a confrontation in which Cleo realizes that Gabriel doesn't return her regard. While she is still emotionally distraught over this, Philip hunts her down, finds her sobbing in a stable, and essentially rapes her. The way the scene is written, I had the sense that we readers were supposed to be uplifted by it, as if Philip is finally proving his manliness/worthiness by taking what is his (even though Cleo resists, says no, turns her face away from his kisses, tries to pull away, etc.), and when she ultimately responds with physiological arousal, we readers are supposed to rejoice as if this is a turning point in their troubled marriage, because Cleo's always been a cold fish up to that point. I was deeply troubled by the apparent acceptance of the rape culture myth that a woman can't/won't respond if she isn't secretly into sex, no matter how she may have otherwise expressed her lack of consent.
Obviously, that kind of soured the Happy Ever After for me.
I liked the story well enough, though it wasn't especially original. Parts of it reminded me, fondly, of the Little House on the Prairie books I read (and reread and reread) as a girl. I found the main characters likable and relatable. However, much of the story was predictable, and none of the plot twists were especially shocking... though I'm not sure the author was aiming for shocking.
What really troubled me about this book, though, and brought it from a three-star "Meh" rating to a two-star "Nah" rating, is the story's weird, backwards, and kind of convoluted messages about sex. I checked the publication date of this book, thinking it might have been written right on the cusp of the Old Skool (rapey, alpha heroes) romances written in the 1980s and prior, and the more enlightened New School romances of more recent decades, but it came out in 2001, which was later than I'd have guessed.
Anyway, the first thing that bothered me is that Gabriel held off sleeping with Anthea until all of a sudden he learned she was not a virgin, since she'd anticipated her wedding vows with a fiancé who threw her over when her father's death left her and her sisters destitute (which is why she's in Kansas teaching). Upon learning this, Gabriel throws all his good intentions out the window, and immediately sees Anthea as fair game, sexually speaking, though at that point he has no intention of marrying her. I didn't mind that Anthea wasn't a virgin, and I liked that she had her own sexual needs and wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted, but Gabriel could have been more honorable. This is a squick of mine: I really hate historical romances where the lovers become intimate without any intention or ability to marry, and it's not because I'm a prude--it's because in that historical context, a woman took such an enormous risk in giving up her purity and risking pregnancy, that it just isn't honorable for a man to accept that risk without intending marriage. And Gabriel, who has spent his whole life shunned and despised by the townsfolk for his bastardy, should have known that better than anyone.
The second thing that bothered me was a subplot involving the town banker, Philip, and his wife Cleo. Way back years before she and Philip married, Cleo had an affair with Gabriel, and she's been hung up on him ever since, to the detriment of her marriage. Toward the end of the book, there is a confrontation in which Cleo realizes that Gabriel doesn't return her regard. While she is still emotionally distraught over this, Philip hunts her down, finds her sobbing in a stable, and essentially rapes her. The way the scene is written, I had the sense that we readers were supposed to be uplifted by it, as if Philip is finally proving his manliness/worthiness by taking what is his (even though Cleo resists, says no, turns her face away from his kisses, tries to pull away, etc.), and when she ultimately responds with physiological arousal, we readers are supposed to rejoice as if this is a turning point in their troubled marriage, because Cleo's always been a cold fish up to that point. I was deeply troubled by the apparent acceptance of the rape culture myth that a woman can't/won't respond if she isn't secretly into sex, no matter how she may have otherwise expressed her lack of consent.
Obviously, that kind of soured the Happy Ever After for me.
August 31, 2015
Pues esta historia es de esas que empiezan con 4 estrellas y van perdiéndolas a lo largo del camino. Me cuesta clasificar este libro como romance histórico, no lo he encontrado realista ni adecuado.
Me recuerda a esas series televisivas de los 80 y 90 como Melrose Place donde todo el mundo se acostaba con todo el mundo, nadie era virgen, en fin…cosa inconcebible en el 1800 en el Salvaje Oeste.
El protagonista tuvo en su juventud relaciones con medio pueblo (increíble, sobre todo por las mujeres que no podían permitirse ese lujo si querían convertirse en esposas de…) y la protagonista no se queda atrás:
Ah! Y la hija de la prostituta del pueblo, cuyo padre es es reclamada por el protagonista sin más…
Cambia el año en el que transcurre la historia, clasifícala como contemporáneo y listo…tendrá su público o no pero al menos será realista…
Y para más inri, la frase con la que empieza la descripción del libro NO es cierta. Aquí hay más de lo mismo, él no es lo suficientemente bueno para ella pero son amantes. Sexo, sexo y sexo, y en ningún momento aparece la palabra matrimonio hasta muuuuy al final de la historia, y por supuesto, por las razones equivocadas, .
Sigo sin entender cómo una persona no sabe que está enamorada de otra hasta que alguien de “fuera” le abre los ojos, para mí eso no tiene ningún sentido y la pena es que es una fórmula de la que abusan los autores…una pena… Esta historia no es creíble, no en la época en la que transcurre.
En fin, que más que un romance histórico me ha parecido un romance erótico con más melodrama de lo aceptable.
This story is one of those which begins with 4 stars and lose them along the way. I find it impossible to classify this book as a historical romance, I've not found it realistic or appropriate.
It reminds me to those TV series in the 80s and 90s like Melrose Place where everyone slept with everyone, no one was a virgin, etc… anyway, something inconceivable in 1800 in the Wild West.
The hero in his youth had intercourse with half the women in the town (incredible, especially for the women who could not afford that luxury if they wanted to become the wives of...) and the heroine is not far behind:
Ah! And the daughter of the whore´s town, whose father is is claimed by the protagonist in a heartbeat, no explanations at all...
Change the year in which the story is set, classify it as contemporary romance and ready!... will have its public or not but it will, at least, be realistic...
And to make matters worse, the sentence that begins the blurb is NOT true. Here are more of the same old, the hero is not good enough for her, but they become lovers. Sex, sex and sex, and never appears the word marriage until at the very end of the story, and of course, for the wrong reasons,
I still do not understand how a person does not know that she/he is in love with another until someone from "outside" open her/his eyes, to me that doesn't make any sense at all and the worst is that it is a formula which authors use all the time... a pity... This story is not credible, not at time that is set.
In short, this is more an erotic romance than an historical one and with more melodrama than is acceptable.
Me recuerda a esas series televisivas de los 80 y 90 como Melrose Place donde todo el mundo se acostaba con todo el mundo, nadie era virgen, en fin…cosa inconcebible en el 1800 en el Salvaje Oeste.
El protagonista tuvo en su juventud relaciones con medio pueblo (increíble, sobre todo por las mujeres que no podían permitirse ese lujo si querían convertirse en esposas de…) y la protagonista no se queda atrás:
Ah! Y la hija de la prostituta del pueblo, cuyo padre es es reclamada por el protagonista sin más…
Cambia el año en el que transcurre la historia, clasifícala como contemporáneo y listo…tendrá su público o no pero al menos será realista…
Y para más inri, la frase con la que empieza la descripción del libro NO es cierta. Aquí hay más de lo mismo, él no es lo suficientemente bueno para ella pero son amantes. Sexo, sexo y sexo, y en ningún momento aparece la palabra matrimonio hasta muuuuy al final de la historia, y por supuesto, por las razones equivocadas, .
Sigo sin entender cómo una persona no sabe que está enamorada de otra hasta que alguien de “fuera” le abre los ojos, para mí eso no tiene ningún sentido y la pena es que es una fórmula de la que abusan los autores…una pena… Esta historia no es creíble, no en la época en la que transcurre.
En fin, que más que un romance histórico me ha parecido un romance erótico con más melodrama de lo aceptable.
This story is one of those which begins with 4 stars and lose them along the way. I find it impossible to classify this book as a historical romance, I've not found it realistic or appropriate.
It reminds me to those TV series in the 80s and 90s like Melrose Place where everyone slept with everyone, no one was a virgin, etc… anyway, something inconceivable in 1800 in the Wild West.
The hero in his youth had intercourse with half the women in the town (incredible, especially for the women who could not afford that luxury if they wanted to become the wives of...) and the heroine is not far behind:
Ah! And the daughter of the whore´s town, whose father is is claimed by the protagonist in a heartbeat, no explanations at all...
Change the year in which the story is set, classify it as contemporary romance and ready!... will have its public or not but it will, at least, be realistic...
And to make matters worse, the sentence that begins the blurb is NOT true. Here are more of the same old, the hero is not good enough for her, but they become lovers. Sex, sex and sex, and never appears the word marriage until at the very end of the story, and of course, for the wrong reasons,
I still do not understand how a person does not know that she/he is in love with another until someone from "outside" open her/his eyes, to me that doesn't make any sense at all and the worst is that it is a formula which authors use all the time... a pity... This story is not credible, not at time that is set.
In short, this is more an erotic romance than an historical one and with more melodrama than is acceptable.
July 10, 2019
The bad man is more misunderstood and maligned for his parentage. Really drags in places. so-so.
July 14, 2013
A nice quiet western romance.
July 30, 2018
This was my very first HR book that I bought from Borders when I was in high school. I could have sworn the front cover had a man and woman in an embrace. Maybe that was the inside cover. *shrugs* Well, unfortunately, I don't recall what happens in the story besides the fact that the heroine is a schoolteacher whose student is the daughter of the hero. But it's nice to find it here on GR and add it to my Read list.
January 7, 2011
Anthea Bright moves to Haven, Kansas to become a small town's schoolteacher. She meets Gabriel Jackson who is raising as his own,a nine year old girl when her mother, a prostitute, dies. Although everyone claims the child is his, she is not. Very cute story, heartwarming.
April 1, 2019
I enjoyed the leads quite a lot. Their individual characterizations, their honesty with one another, and their relationship arc. They lie to themselves just enough to keep you going /oh but no you love her you dolt/ but also capitulate to the truth before things get contrived. The hero has a lot of openness and genuine affection for the heroine and his young charge and she has a lot of backbone and humor and neither of them are cutouts.
I'm not sure why -- other than an author's take on historical mores -- the heroine wasn't a virgin. Her saying such felt most convenient as well. Suddenly the hero was free of his moral shackles! and they could bone unfettered! But given his past as the town bastard, and his young charge that brought them together, and how tender and forthright he'd been to that point, I was unconvinced of his motivations. It's not a Regency; it's post wild west Kansas, a place he reminds her isn't given to convention so don't worry. If I frame it as him holding back and lying about why, and then plunging in head over heels, it works. Otherwise not quite. This is a long paragraph about a minor quibble.
The plot is really uneven. There's a lot of weight on some things that aren't fully realized, big moments played small, and secondary characters and relationships that LOOM LARGE through the whole book but then more or less evaporate based on a single [overheard] conversation. The gun left on the mantle does go off, but feels like one of those little POW flag popguns.
The "resolution" for the secondary romance made me cringe. Not quite recoil, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. I would even TW for rapeyness in general.
tbh I needed nothing of the secondary romance. They added no insight to the leads (they each had history with the hero) or conflict to the main romance. Excise that and give better pacing to the romance arc and more pages devoted to the ending.
Because whew, was that abrupt and ?? and threw me out right as I was expecting a satisfying read on the whole. Suddenly there's a fire, but it's not clear what happened or why as the action is all off-page and it's not explained. And the fire involves where the secondary romance resolution took place so you're reading thinking oh-noes terrible spoiled wife threw a lantern in the hay or whatever but no, by context I guess she & her kind-of-reconciled husband are fine? but it just doesn't matter to go into. And the hero is who takes charge of the rescue but we don't see this, and then he returns to the town-that-shunned-and-hates-him dance and is pretty out of character in a publicly demonstrative ending that involves things way better said on their private secret trail to the school and with a mention of young Lily at the least.
I'm not a big proponent of epilogues, but this is a book where one would definitely work. I wonder if that was held back to tease in between the stories of the other sisters in the following two books. I can't say I'll ever find out as I don't feel a great urge to get those to read.
idk, the end it just hit a real clanger with me. It was rushed, the fire was unnecessary as heretofore there'd been no setpiece drama and no need for one suddenly and suddenly gone, and it robbed the leads of fulsome HEA promises. There's the hint the in-public declarations is 'who even cares what the world may think it's always been us against the world' vibe, but I think I'm reading too much into that.
But again, for me the leads were charmers and were well-suited. I was glad the hero got love after all he'd been denied it since childhood. And I was glad the girl who headed into the frontier to help her sisters and push past the fray of grief and a life upturned and mild heartache got her happy ending.
I'm not sure why -- other than an author's take on historical mores -- the heroine wasn't a virgin. Her saying such felt most convenient as well. Suddenly the hero was free of his moral shackles! and they could bone unfettered! But given his past as the town bastard, and his young charge that brought them together, and how tender and forthright he'd been to that point, I was unconvinced of his motivations. It's not a Regency; it's post wild west Kansas, a place he reminds her isn't given to convention so don't worry. If I frame it as him holding back and lying about why, and then plunging in head over heels, it works. Otherwise not quite. This is a long paragraph about a minor quibble.
The plot is really uneven. There's a lot of weight on some things that aren't fully realized, big moments played small, and secondary characters and relationships that LOOM LARGE through the whole book but then more or less evaporate based on a single [overheard] conversation. The gun left on the mantle does go off, but feels like one of those little POW flag popguns.
The "resolution" for the secondary romance made me cringe. Not quite recoil, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. I would even TW for rapeyness in general.
tbh I needed nothing of the secondary romance. They added no insight to the leads (they each had history with the hero) or conflict to the main romance. Excise that and give better pacing to the romance arc and more pages devoted to the ending.
Because whew, was that abrupt and ?? and threw me out right as I was expecting a satisfying read on the whole. Suddenly there's a fire, but it's not clear what happened or why as the action is all off-page and it's not explained. And the fire involves where the secondary romance resolution took place so you're reading thinking oh-noes terrible spoiled wife threw a lantern in the hay or whatever but no, by context I guess she & her kind-of-reconciled husband are fine? but it just doesn't matter to go into. And the hero is who takes charge of the rescue but we don't see this, and then he returns to the town-that-shunned-and-hates-him dance and is pretty out of character in a publicly demonstrative ending that involves things way better said on their private secret trail to the school and with a mention of young Lily at the least.
I'm not a big proponent of epilogues, but this is a book where one would definitely work. I wonder if that was held back to tease in between the stories of the other sisters in the following two books. I can't say I'll ever find out as I don't feel a great urge to get those to read.
idk, the end it just hit a real clanger with me. It was rushed, the fire was unnecessary as heretofore there'd been no setpiece drama and no need for one suddenly and suddenly gone, and it robbed the leads of fulsome HEA promises. There's the hint the in-public declarations is 'who even cares what the world may think it's always been us against the world' vibe, but I think I'm reading too much into that.
But again, for me the leads were charmers and were well-suited. I was glad the hero got love after all he'd been denied it since childhood. And I was glad the girl who headed into the frontier to help her sisters and push past the fray of grief and a life upturned and mild heartache got her happy ending.
December 14, 2017
This book is... odd? Based off of the summary, I thought this was going to be a book about Gabriel trying to convince Anthea to marry him. It's not really. Instead, there is a much more interesting plot surrounding Anthea's teaching/students, and a side plot with the "villain" of the story.
I enjoyed this book! I found it to be well-written, nicely paced, and the character's interesting. Gabriel is really open and honest about how much of a screw-up he was in his youth, which was a refreshing change from the usual "I was the town golden boy" stories I see in a lot of westerns. Anthea was also refreshing. I'm not a huge fan of the second part, but it was realistic in this story and didn't serve to change my opinion of the book.
I enjoyed this book! I found it to be well-written, nicely paced, and the character's interesting. Gabriel is really open and honest about how much of a screw-up he was in his youth, which was a refreshing change from the usual "I was the town golden boy" stories I see in a lot of westerns. Anthea was also refreshing. I'm not a huge fan of the second part, but it was realistic in this story and didn't serve to change my opinion of the book.
December 16, 2018
A young woman goes west to work as a school teacher after the death of the father leaves then in a dire financial state. While to trying to adjust to very different living conditions and get the school together she encounters a man who is considered an outsider in the community because of the way his mother had to earn a living to support him. The young man had taken in a young girl who was left alone under similar circumstances too raise. This was a very heartwarming story about finding love and also about not judging a book by its cover.
February 21, 2019
Wonderful
I read all the time. I am not too picky but this was a fun read. Sweet and romantic. I love historical romances.
I read all the time. I am not too picky but this was a fun read. Sweet and romantic. I love historical romances.
June 15, 2019
As the new teacher of Haven, Kansas, Anthea Bright has come from the East; she knows manners and deportment, as well as the 3 R’s. Gabriel Jackson confronts Anthea at school one day; he wants his daughter to be taught school subjects, not etiquette and fancy manners.
Folks in Haven are scornful and afraid of Gabriel; Anthea is not. She gives as good as she gets. Gabriel also senses that his daughter really likes her teacher. In the weeks to come, Anthea learns all the gossip about Gabriel – he’s the ‘bad man’ of the title.
In the middle, the story sagged a bit. However, this was an interesting tale. The main characters were unique and charming. The little girl of this story is quite compelling; she’s an outcast (her mother was a prostitute who died and Gabriel took her in). Some of the story is told from her point-of-view and it was chilling to see how illegitimate children were treated by adults and other children.
Folks in Haven are scornful and afraid of Gabriel; Anthea is not. She gives as good as she gets. Gabriel also senses that his daughter really likes her teacher. In the weeks to come, Anthea learns all the gossip about Gabriel – he’s the ‘bad man’ of the title.
In the middle, the story sagged a bit. However, this was an interesting tale. The main characters were unique and charming. The little girl of this story is quite compelling; she’s an outcast (her mother was a prostitute who died and Gabriel took her in). Some of the story is told from her point-of-view and it was chilling to see how illegitimate children were treated by adults and other children.
September 10, 2015
Cute little story of spunky Kansas schoolteacher, Anthea Bright, who must deal with Gabriel Jackson, a known bastard "bad man" in the town of Haven who has enrolled his "daughter" Lily in school. Lily, a shy young thing tugs at Anthea's heart strings. She takes her under her wing and in so doing, she and Gabriel become closer while she privately tutors the girl. The usual trials and tribulations occur, and they find romance and marriage. Not bad of this kind of story.
3.5/5
3.5/5
August 31, 2016
I don't read many American historicals so this was a fun change of pace for me. I enjoyed the main characters but was put off by the secondary romance, especially its resolution. I got all of this trilogy on a recommendation from the Smart Bitches newsletter so I look forward to reading the stories of the other sisters.
August 23, 2013
Loved this book. Felt like there was a meeting of equals.
The secondary story of Philip and Cleo was okay, but I spent most of the story want to bitchslap her. The final scene with Philip and Cleo skeeved me out. Trigger warning for peeps: RAPEY.
The secondary story of Philip and Cleo was okay, but I spent most of the story want to bitchslap her. The final scene with Philip and Cleo skeeved me out. Trigger warning for peeps: RAPEY.
September 20, 2014
This was a cute story. The beginning started off a bit slow and I wasn't sure if I'd like it but I did. I liked Gabriel and Anthea and Lily. I wanted to continue reading about them and finding out what else happens in their life.
June 12, 2012
Smidge under 4 stars
November 21, 2011
*** 3 1/2 stars ***
May 10, 2012
New tchr Anthea frm Philly 2 rural twn, meets 'bad man' Gabe & dghtr Lily, whom she defnds frm twnsppl bec thyr bstrds. Pssn, lv, gd 2nds
July 15, 2013
I LIKED THE ANTAGONIST PHILIP BETTER THAN I LIKED ANTHEA!!!! I hated that she wasn't a virgin.
July 31, 2014
4.5 stars!!
May 11, 2014
My first frontier romance. It was pretty sweet.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews