Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Boi Bride
SERIES: Treaty Brides #1
AUTHOR: Samantha Cayto
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 208 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 3, 2022
BLURB:
BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LGBTQIA ROMANCE SAMANTHA CAYTO
Book one in the Treaty Brides series
Being a bride is a state of mind, not of body.
The Kingdom of Moorcondia and the Marshlands have been warring for years. Now a treaty has been negotiated, but it needs to be sealed by a marriage between the ruling families. But the bride has bolted, leaving her brother, Taryn, to fill the role. There is nothing in the law of either country that says a bride has to be female.
Forced to dress in his sister’s gown and marry Soren, Taryn faces his fate with anger, resolve and frightening anticipation. While the Moorcondians are flexible in their sexuality, the Marshers are more prudish, plus Taryn has learned the hard lesson that an attraction to men is unnatural and wrong. His desire for Soren frightens him.
As a prince, Soren knows his duty and executes it without hesitation. As a widower, he looks forward to a new marriage, and his unexpected bride is very fetching. If only he can convince Taryn to put aside his fears and accept the pleasures of the marriage bed.
Taryn struggles to fill the role of a wife in the royal family, even as everyone else tries to adjust to the notion of a male bride. As the days pass, Soren comes to appreciate his bride more, and Taryn tries embrace his new role with enthusiasm instead of resignation. But politics is a treacherous place to navigate, putting their blossoming love in jeopardy.
REVIEW:
Part of an ungenerous brutal family, Taryn’s brother, Hobart, offers him in place of their sister to ‘seal the deal’ with their enemies. Despite no love lost between their family, Taryn is both scared and angry at his forced marriage. He also fights his attraction to Soren, which he has been raised to believe is wrong.
Boi Bride is the first book in the Treaty Brides series, and each looks to have a featured couple take up the journey to their happy ever after. The story is told in the third person from the viewpoints of Taryn and Soren. Technically, it is on the money. Worldbuilding has the right balance of picture building without overdoing the detail.
The blurb attracted me to this book, but upon reading it was different from what I expected – which can often be a good thing. Taryn has been brought up in the world of the prudish Marshers – effectively a homophobic race. Therefore, despite Taryn’s inner feelings, a lifetime of teaching takes a while to be undone and come to the understanding that being bi-gender is nothing to be feared. I found this aspect of the story lovely and interesting.
The opening chapters make for (rightly so) uncomfortable reading while Taryn is subjected to the expectations of a new marriage. This story is sexually based, and Soren is just about anyone’s wet dream of a man. Yes, I get that the hefty proportion of men are sexual beings. But, upon reaching 30%, where hardly a page was without sex or the mention of it, my interest in the story waned and continued that trend.
Yes, sex sells, and in this story, the bedroom encounters measure how their marriage is progressing – from treaty to love. To this end, I have no doubt plenty of people will enjoy the drama. But my personal reading tastes prefer less sex and more story or at least more events between the sex – hence the rating. Nevertheless, I adored some areas and would love to have read more of the elements that were skimmed over in favor of another tryst in the sack. These included palace hierarchy (bitches and all), family encounters, and territorial conflicts. Towards the end, I felt cheated of some drama – I was tormented by the opening scenes of an episode then denied the event in favor of skipping to the result.
Boi Bride is different, I like different, and I wanted to like this book more. The overall effect of Soren and Taryn’s journey was good, but the events the author chose to highlight left me bereft.
RATING: 
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