THE BRIDE TRILOGY by S DOYLE

Trilogy – friends to lovers/older man, younger woman

THE BRIDE TRILOGY can be purchased below 

The Bride Book One – amazon us | amazon uk
The Wife Book Two – amazon us | amazon uk
The Lover Book Three – amazon us | amazon uk

Reviewed by Jenny & Gitte

4 Stars

‘We were Ellie and Jake, Jake and Ellie.’

S Doyle is a new to us author, and the synopsis for this trilogy immediately sucked us in! It sounded angsty, gripping and we were told from readers who had read the first book it had a Kristen Ashley ‘feel’ about it, so we couldn’t wait to dive in! We’ll be honest and say we didn’t get the KA vibe at all, with neither the story nor the writing bearing any resemblance to the KA books we’ve read, however each reader feels a story differently.

This coming of age drama was laden with drama and angst. Boy did these two make life difficult for themselves as they adapted to living together. At first, we struggled to get into the story, however we soon found our groove and needed to know how this was all going to play out.

Because of Ellie’s age, we will disclose that there is no underage sex in this story, in fact, Jake shows a tremendous amount of restraint with the hormonally awakening Ellie, respecting her age and their platonic predicament implicitly and Ellie wanting to give herself over to love, settling for nothing less.

The trilogy is told in dual POV’s with Ellie’s side of the story was told more in the way of a memoir and so it read as a naïve, hormonal, confused 16 year old, so the immaturity of her voice was to be expected. We loved that Ellie remained strong, sticking to her guns about her worth, with Jake’s pov bringing a balance to the story.

“Jake. I deserve to be loved as much as I love you.”

At nearly 17, Ellie Mason, is left an orphan and a multimillion dollar cattle ranch in Montana, after her father’s death. With no legal guardian, the only option available for Ellie is to go into Foster care. However, this option doesn’t suit Jake Talley, the family cattle hand who lives in the bunkhouse on their ranch, was right hand man to Ellie’s dad and really, the only ‘family’ Ellie now has. Jake decides the best solution and to avoid the foster system, even if it is for sixteen months, is to marry Ellie, divorcing when she turns 18. There’s a 10 year gap between the pair and Jake looks upon Ellie as a little girl, he hasn’t yet noticed to maturing woman before him. So, he can do this for sixteen months can’t he? Stay in a platonic marriage to keep the ranch and Ellie’s dad’s legacy. Except, Ellie is blossoming before his eyes and Jake wants to make sure Elllie’s virtue remains intact so as not to draw town gossip to their relationship.

‘What if I married Ellie thinking I could save her, but instead ruined her life because people though she was the type of girl who could be seduced?’

The story takes us from Ellie being the bride, the wife, the lover as is evident from the titles and in that process we see the growth of Ellie’s character as she comes into her own from young innocence to womanhood.

“You are the most important person in my life. I’m the most important person in yours. I don’t want you to end up hating me.’

This is one angst ridden ride. The kind that makes you want to throw your hands up in frustration whilst at the same time flipping to the next page to see what happens. Jake and Ellie’s relationship is a whirlwind of emotions that’s for sure. An entertaining read tracing the trials and tribulations of a friends to lover’s romance.