This is a compelling romance between two people that were profoundly hurt. And they'll make mistakes along the way, but i twas rewarding to see their HEA.

This was a typical story of trust. The two leads both had issues with trusting the opposite sex and they come together to overcome this and develop an emotional connection.

Tainted Bride was certainly not the best historical romance I've read but it wasn't the worst. It started off fairly slow and took a while to get into but by the halfway point I was into it. The ending was a bit too much especially considering the events leading up to it but, again, it was alright. Average.

Sophia had a lot of strength to her and it really shined through. Her and Daniel had to overcome both external society issues as well as internal issues causing conflict in their blossoming relationship. They were really well developed despite their interactions being a tad stilted at times. My only real issue was with Sophia, just a part of her personality. She had a serious self-loathing streak going on that started to grate on my nerves after a while but was otherwise I enjoyed her character.

Fenichel also did a good job of providing details here and there, seemingly irrelevant, that would come up later, tying everything together. The pacing wasn't always great, irregularly fast and slow, but the story was fairly engaging.

I mean, in general, this book didn't wow me by any means but it's perfect for fans of the genre looking for something new to read. I think this is a series with potential to be great.

Sophia and Daniel are wonderful together. They went through a lot to find their HEA.

Love this book and can't wait for book two to release

I really enjoyed this story! Sophia had gone through something very traumatic before coming to England that made her dead set against getting married. But the aunt she was living with had other plans for her. Luckily Sophia met Daniel and he was her perfect match in every way.

Most people didn't know the real Daniel. After having his engagement broken, he never thought to find love again until he met Sophia.

I loved watching Sophia and Daniel find their HEA as Sophia learns what the real Daniel is all about. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Foolish Bride, where Elinor and Michael (whom we meet in this story) will hopefully find their HEA.

Sophia has been hurt by a man, and her reputation suffered a lot after that. Since the attack, she finds it really hard to trust men, and can't see herself getting married to one. She thinks they just care about their own satisfaction and nothing else, and she can't stand the thought of having a man touch her.

It's really sad to see that Sophia is blamed for what happened, like she was responsible for such a thing! And I have to say that I liked Sophia very much, she's so nice and wishes to help people who are in a similar situation as hers, which is actually very risky, since she could be once again involved in a scandal. But because of this, Sophia makes two great friends, and I love the relationship between these three girls. They really stick up for each other.

Daniel was a very nice guy, but for some reason I wasn't too crazy about him, I think he was a bit immature at times.

And I'm still not sure, but I think I might've liked Thomas better than Daniel, he was incredibly nice to Sophia and didn't judge her straight away without having any proofs, like Daniel did. Thomas met Sophia first, and was also captivated by her, although I don't think he actually fell in love with her, just appreciated her and admired her a lot.

Something really interesting about this book is that the pace was just perfect, and it was like the whole thing contained only good parts! No, seriously. You know how, when you're reading, you might find yourself wanting to read like crazy to get to the good stuff? This book was pretty much all good stuff, I didn't feel the need to rush through things to get to the cool parts. Not bad, not bad!

And it was very sweet to see how badly Sophia wanted children and to form a family, but, since she didn't wish to marry, she didn't think she could have that in her life. And that awful man who hurt her wouldn't go away! I just felt so bad for her...

I hate the double standards from that time, since it's rumored that Sophia might have shared her bed with a man, Daniel gets mad and runs off to his former mistress to make Sophia jealous, rub it in her face or whatever... And seriously, it just makes me so mad that men expect women to remain virgins until marriage, but they can fool around all they want (even after getting married), while saying awful things about prostitutes, their mistresses and such. Stop being such hypocrites!!... Ugh, I can't...

But oh well, can't change the past now, can we?

All in all, a very entertaining read if you like historical romances and a female lead to admire, it's also very nice to see how she gets over her fear of men step by step.

Oh and can we also talk about how stupid Michael is? You don't ruin the reputation of the girl you like and then run off without saying a thing... I wonder how that story's going to end.

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