Reviews for Ryan's Bride

The average rating for Ryan's Bride based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-12-13 00:00:00 Barbara Behm Reilly is an ex-soldier who goes to Sao Pablo, a tiny Central America in the middle of a revolution, on a mission to rescue the wife and baby of his deceased friend because he promised to save them as his friend died from a car accident. He doesn't expect much from his buddy's wife, he knows his friend's tastes ran to stacked blondes with more beauty than brains but he plans on saving both her and the baby no matter what. Novice Carlie Forest has been in the nunery in Sao Pablo for nine years since she was 17 and her missionary parents were murdered right in front of her. At the nunery she has finally found peace from the nightmares and terror that the outside world brings her. She still hasn't said her vows because the mother superior does not believe that Carlie has a calling to be a nun, she is afraid Carlie is merely running away from life. When fighting gets too close to the nunery, all of the nuns except for Carlie leave for Brazil. Carlie stays behind to care for the pregnant Caterina Mendino, who delivers a healthy baby boy but dies a few days later due to infection. The baby, Timothy, is in danger because Caterina was the step-daughter of the deposed dictator of Sao Pablo and the revolutionaries would kill him merely for being related to the ex-dictator. Reilly shows up at the orphanage and finds Carlie and Timothy. Carlie tries to tell him who she is, but he believes she is Caterina so she goes along with it so she can stay with Timothy to protect him. Carlie is not at all what Reilly was expecting, instead of a stacked blonde she is a small woman with short brown hair who seems innocent instead of a jaded socialite. As they start their trek through the jungle, Reilly sees how much Carlie loves the baby and how much courage and determination she has, all of which are unexpected. Reilly, Carlie and Timothy go through a daring, harzard-filled journey to get to the plane Reilly hid away in the jungle. Along the way, Reilly comes to really admire Carlie and fights an intense attraction to her despite the fact he still thinks she is the selfish Caterina. Carlie has to face her fears of the outside world and come to grips with the violence she experienced so long ago. Reilly eventually finds out that Carlie is a novice nun, which puts a big damper on his feelings toward her because he knows she will leave him when they get Timothy safely out of the country. Carlie has to decide what she really wants - the safety of hiding away in a nunery or risking her heart on Reilly, just as Reilly has to decide if he can trust his heart to Carlie enough to risk declaring his feelings and bringing her with him to his home in Colorado. This was fun, exciting story to read. The setting was exotic and the author does a great job of making you feel like you are racing through the jungle with Reilly and Carlie. The love story was very good, I enjoyed reading about how these two different people came to care for and understand each other. The epilogue was great, they were going to need quite a big house for all of those kids!

Review # 2 was written on 2017-11-22 00:00:00 Mellissa Spens [She'd been trying to erase the pain and horror of witnessing the mass murder of both her missionary-parents and the villagers they'd lived with, and dealing with survivor's guilt. (hide spoiler)]