| Date: 12 April 2011, 02:30
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Setting - Pennhyll Castle, Cumbria, 1812 --- Captain Sebastian Alexander, of His Majesty's Royal navy was home, recuperating from wounds received in battle, and from the summons that had finally reached him notifying him of his father's death and his bother's murder. Sebastian, `the spare' was now the heir and as such, the Earl of Tiern-Cope. It was his duty to marry, yes marry and set up his nursery - and to his mind get back to the sea, the only thing in his life he loved.
His very good friend James had assembled a house party along with a bevy of prospective brides for him to choose from, including James' sister Diana, whom he assumed Sebastian would marry. Included with this group and to even out the numbers, was another `spare' Olivia Willow who is the only witness and sole survivor at the scene of the murder that claimed his brother and sister-in-law's lives. The only problem being, Olivia had been so traumatized that she'd lost all memories of the day before and the two days following the murders. Sebastian was determined to `break' her, to probe within the mind that held the secrets and bring the killer to justice. What he was not ready for was Olivia, with her red hair, and her irreverence towards his arrogance and animosity towards her. While staying in the castle both Sebastian and Olivia were being assailed with visions of the ghostly Black Earl and themselves in sensual occupations, neither was ever sure what was real and what was not, except for the intense physical attraction that both felt and were trying to ignore.
This was quite an unusual love story with two very original lead protagonists. Sebastian was determined to uncover the murderer, always thinking that Olivia was involved yet fighting his escalating feelings every day for a woman whom he clearly felt had probably had an affair with his brother. Sebastian is clearly one of the more arrogant male leads I've encountered with very little finesse in courting the female sex, particularly after having led a sailors life for the past twelve years. Olivia on the other hand, was a delightful heroine, who on top of all the injustices she'd endured in life still had a positive outlook. The secondary characters were all well drawn out as to their parts in the story, and the ghostly apparitions were a fun touch adding a lot of depth and interest to the plot. I admit to reading this in one sitting, it certainly was an exciting page-turner and the `imagined and dreamed' sexual encounters were extremely hot. The only reason I have for not giving it a higher rating though, is that I believe it would have been nice to have seen a bit more reaction of James and Diana to Sebastian's abrupt marriage to Olivia, especially since James was his best friend and had himself offered marriage to Olivia. Bottom line, the story is terrific with an original plot that fans of this sub-genre should truly enjoy. --- Marilyn Rondeau, Official Reviewer at www.historicalromancewriters.com
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