The Bride Wore White

 The Bride Wore White (Burning Cove Series)- Amanda Quick

Berkley

Release Date: May 2, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Being Madame Ariadne, Psychic Dream Consultant, wasn’t Prudence Ryland’s ideal gig, but it paid well which was reason enough to do the work—until she realizes that her latest client intends to kill her. But Prudence, a master at reinvention, finds a new job and home as far away as possible and is finally able to relax—which turns out to be a big mistake. Letting her guard down means being kidnapped and drugged and waking up in a bloodstained wedding dress in the honeymoon suite next to a dead man. With the press outside the hotel, waiting with their cameras and police sirens in the distance, it’s obvious she’s being framed for the man’s murder. Prudence knows who is responsible, but will anyone believe her?

It doesn’t seem likely that rumored crime boss Luther Pell or his associate, Jack Wingate, believe her seemingly outrageous claims of being a target of a ruthless vendetta. In fact, Prudence is convinced that the mysterious Mr. Wingate believes her to be a fraud at best, and at worst: a murderer. And Jack Wingate does seem to be someone intimately familiar with violence, if going by his scarred face and grim expression. So no one is more shocked than Prudence when Jack says he’ll help her. Of course, his ideas for helping her involve using her as the bait for a killer, but Prudence feels oddly safe with Jack protecting her. But who will protect Prudence from her growing fascination with this enigma of a man?

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Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the right career. Usually, those tries don't involve attempted murder or being framed for murder, but that's the sort of time Prudence Ryland has been having. Fed up with the attempts to have her murdered/arrested for murder, she calls Luther Pell to find out who has it in for her. Luther assigns Jack Wingate to her case. The two don't exactly hit it off but Prudence doesn't have many options. Now if only they can keep from killing each other long enough to solve the case.

I loved Prudence. She's a great character. Doesn't put up with anything from the men around her, has her goals strictly in mind, and doesn't apologize for who and what she is. Her end goal is to open a bookstore focused on paranormal publications and things like dream reading just pay the bills- until they almost get her killed. Unlike many other main heroines, she doesn't intend to solve the case herself. She's happy to give it to the professionals and expects that to be that. Instead, the professionals keep her involved. Jack wants to use her as bait and while Pru isn't thrilled, she sees the logic. Jack is fascinated by Prudence for a number of reasons and it is a lot of fun watching him deal with it all. He wants to keep things professional and detached, but with every fight they have he gets drawn a little closer to Prudence.

There was something very old Hollywood movie feel about this one. Not just the location, because obviously that's the glitz and glamour of Burning Cove at its finest. The pacing, the characters, the fighting, the dialogue, all felt like an especially fun movie-maybe an old Katherine Hepburn movie. While the mystery itself was pretty predictable as it played out, that wasn't really the point for me. The point was watching Jack and Prudence working together, overcoming their initial reactions to each other, and becoming both an excellent team and couple. Watching both as individuals also sort themselves out and settle into perhaps more of who they were supposed to be as well. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this newest installment of the Burning Cove Series. Fun, fast paced, and enjoyable characters made it a great book to read!