GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England/USA, 1808-1814
MY GRADE: C
SYNOPSIS: Orphaned by a tragic accident, sixteen-year-old Amalie Courtland set sail from America for a new life in England with her godmother. What she didn't expect to find was Lady Winford's handsome rogue of a grandson, Robert Holt Braxton, Earl of Deverell. Immediately smitten by Holt's careless good looks and smoldering blue eyes, Amalie's naive young heart fell in love. Little did she know Holt was trying to resist his own temptation --- by having his grandmother take Amalie away.
Years later, Holt is shocked by the change in the one-provincial Amalie. The tawny-skinned enchantress with raven hair and lustrous green eyes has become a cool, composed beauty. Soon Amalie is lost in the arms of this experienced rake as they succumb to the tempestuous passion of their hearts and bodies. Then, when Holt learns of her brother's plot to destroy his business holdings, he suspects Amalie has betrayed him and he vows revenge. But not even he can deny the all-consuming storm of desire that threatens to drown them both ...
MY THOUGHTS: Amalie is pretty passive and I don't like that in a heroine. She is able to stand up to the hero, Robert, aka "Holt", (his middle name.) She's aged 17-23 in here, not sixteen at the beginning like the synopsis says. She has dark hair and green eyes and is tall. Her brother Christian, aka "Kit" is two years older. SPOILER>>>He disappears for most of the story then reappears in the last part, but you can see that coming. He's taken to a life of crime as a pirate.
Holt is eleven years older than Amalie. He has dark hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. He's cold and angry towards her for no reason. He cares nothing at all for her throughout the whole book. He wants revenge on her because he assumes she's involved in something bad against him when there was no reason to think that. She hadn't done anything to him, ever, that would make him think she's that kind of person. Their love for each other came out of nowhere at the very end of the story and we're supposed to believe it. I don't. We saw no signs that they were falling for each other. We're just told that they're in love. He's also verbally abusive towards her, calling her a bitch and slut.
As I always say, I love a villain and there was one in here by the name of Alex. We didn't get to see the bad side of him until the last 100 pages. He's after revenge on Holt.
This story was pretty uneventful after Amalie sailed from Virginia to England, which happened early on, about page 53. Even after 200 pages not much went on. We didn't get to see her life in England at all. She's there one minute and the next, it's 3.5 years later and Holt reappears. The story is divided into four parts and each part jumps ahead 1-3 years. The last 109 pages was basically a history lesson about war and I didn't appreciate so much of that being in a romance book. I had trouble following along and I didn't know how much of it was factual. It took place in Louisiana.
Two things that I did like was Amalie's godmother (grandmamma) Lady Winford and the banter between her and Holt. I also liked the old school feel of this novel.
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