Harper Allen offers another wonderful Avengers tale in "The Bride and the Mercenary." Right before her wedding, Ainslie O'Connell is stunned to see a homeless man outside the church who bears a striking resemblance to Seamus Malone, the man she'd loved and lost two years ago. Throwing caution to the wind, she goes after him. Soon she finds herself on the run with a man with no memory, running from assassins who will stop at nothing until he's dead. Can Ainslie convince him he knows her, when she's no longer sure she knew him at all?
"The Bride and the Mercenary" is a solid tale by this author, though it doesn?t rank with her best. It features most of the elements her fans have come to expect from her: nonstop action, creative storytelling, a strong-willed heroine and a highly romantic tone. Allen fills her story with many inventive touches that make it unique. I loved Seamus's hideaway. I loved that Ainslie was a boxer. I loved that she had an adopted daughter, but that the kid wasn't a big part of the story. It was just part of the heroine's character. I love the attention the author gives to minor characters we meet along the way. Witness how fleshed out the hero's former partner is in a few pages compared to how some authors can fail to develop their characters in entire books.
That said, I didn't enjoy "The Bride and the Mercenary" as much as the first two Avengers books. If those books were fantastic, this one was only very good. It was somewhat disappointing to see the third book in this series be an amnesia story when the first Avengers tale, "Guarding Jane Doe" was also an amnesia book. Seeing amnesia strike twice in such a small group of people, let alone the first and third books in a series, is a little far-fetched for me. Just like in GJD, the amnesiac here is convinced he must be a bad person and a murderer, though this conflict is much more frustrating and exhausting than it was in the earlier book. It's also a little too easy to predict what's really going on and most readers will figure out who the villain is early on, though the road there is filled with unexpected twists and turns.
One of the pleasures of Allen's books is that unlike many romance novels these days, they are romantic. They aren't just two people with a lot of sexual chemistry or a lot in common who get to know each other over 250 pages and decide to get married in the end. Allen's books have such a strong sense of romantic atmosphere that the reader can truly feel these are two people who are meant to be together. This is one author who manages to capture the magic of falling in love. Her heroines are some of the best around and her heroes are strong, honorable men any woman would fall for.
While "The Bride and the Mercenary" wasn't as surprising as the author's other books, it was a pleasure to read, being swept up in the action and emotion of good romantic suspense.
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