decent romance ( )

great ( )

A Malory novel. When Katey Tyler flees her boring Connecticut life she travels first to England in an attempt to reconnect with her dead mother's family. Along the way she rescues a precocious young girl from kidnappers but is mistaken for the kidnapper herself by the girl's American uncle, Boyd Anderson (the same man who captained the ship Katey came over on - and felt a strong attraction to). Once the mistake is resolved, Katey forces Boyd's hand when she rents his ship to sail the world, only to be stopped by the Malory men when it is discovered that she has a connection to the family that no one ever knew of. Entertaining, though the cast of characters became somewhat unwieldly, the plot was a little thin and the connection between Katey and the Malorys never really resolved to my liking. ( )

Boyd Anderson, a ship owner with an embarrassing secret, first notices Katey Tyler on the dock in Bridgeport, CT as the ship was preparing to set sail to London. Boyd had begun thinking it was time to settle down and get married and thought Katey might be the kind of woman he'd want. Except she was already married. Or so she said.

This book is part of the Mallory Family series, and Boyd's brother and sister were married to Mallory siblings in earlier books. Chapter one of this story begins at one of the Mallory family's households in London with a notice being delivered to the wrong address. One of the Mallory children has been kidnapped, but because of the mix-up delivering the note, the girl's parents aren't aware of the fact for some time. They are, however, quite frantic at her disappearance. Boyd arrives on the scene, still thinking about the woman he met on the dock who travelled to London as a passenger on his ship, and becomes involved in the effort to locate the missing girl. Meanwhile, Katey is travelling through the countryside, returning to London to continue her newly begun world tour, when she hears strange sounds coming from the room next to hers in the inn. Upon investigating, she discovers a girl gagged, bound, and tied to the bedpost. She frees the girl, takes her back to her own room and she learns she (the girl) is a kidnap victim.

Of course, it's obvious that Boyd and Katey, who had been thinking of him as much as he her, will have a chance to meet again. But, due to a series of misunderstandings and misinformations, they remain at odds for quite some time. The rest of the story is quite lively, and includes a night spent in jail, a pirate attack, the discovery of long lost relatives, and an interlude on a deserted island.

Any fan of romance novels, especially those who like historicals, will not want to miss this one. Perhaps a little far-fetched at times, but definitely lots of fun and a very nice ending. ( )