Katherine Sutcliffe

An historical romance with incredibly dark overtones, this novel opens with Maria defying her abusive and quite possible mentally deranged father and accepting a position as nurse to the Duchess of Salterdon's grandson. In accepting this way out of her father's home (and hopefully the means to earning enough money to save her mother as well), she doesn't inquire too closely into her charge and his malady. And it turns out that she is not to be nurse to a sickly child but to a very virile, by show more turns comatose or violent adult man who has been retreating into his own world ever since he was beaten badly during a robbery a year or so prior. Trey had been a man about town when he was set upon by thieves and paralyzed and he has slowly been slipping into insanity, abandoned by the same society that once toasted him. But with the advent of Maria, there is something that pulls him back from the edge. And he's not happy about stepping back from the brink, thinking, no knowing, that he's not a complete man. Maria masters her fear of the mercurial and dangerous Trey, proving incredibly devoted in nursing him back to health and ultimately falling in love with the man she knows instinctually is in the shell he so despises.

Sutcliffe tells a different story than so many, making her characters work incredibly hard to overcome their tortured pasts and then still putting the stumbling block of being of different classes in front of them. That she doesn't completely resolve the plot in the end is frustrating but if it had stood alone, that wouldn't have been as infuriating as it is to find that you must read a later book in order to find out how Trey and Maria's desire and devotion are rewarded. This is the second book in the series so perhaps I would have been happier having read the first one before this. As it is, the ending felt hurried and unfinished and left me feeling unsatisfied with the book as a whole. show less

hero with a growth arc, great heroine. Angsty emotionally, if you're invested, with a real jerk of a hero. By the end, it was nicely done wiht lovely acts for one another but somewhat undermined a cartoonish villainy.

Australia/New Zealand is one of my favorite settings and this one is another good one to add to a couple of Candice Proctor's books (Whisper of Heaven, Night in Eden). This historical is set in New Zealand in 1861. Nick Sabre has been exiled to NZ after being tricked by the woman he loved into killing his rival in a duel. He now runs a sheep station and just wants to be left alone. Red-haired Summer O'Neile shows up at his door claiming to be his proxy bride. But Nick doesn't remember show more signing the proxy form since he was drunk at the time and has no use for any woman but he decides to let her stay until the sheep shearing when he can dispose of the wool and his unwanted bride. Summer struggles to be loved and accepted by him but Nick treats her very badly. Some reviewers complained that she was too much of a doormat but I didn't see that. I loved her character and shed some tears for her. Summer falls in love with Nick but he fights his feelings. Eventually, Summer worms her way into Nick's heart and it was an emotional roller coaster ride but I really enjoyed it. (Grade: A) show less

1. Our heroine calms herself after a nightmare with a Virginia Slim and a Fuzzy Navel Cooler. Um, no.
2. Our hero has beaten up a judge.
3. A sixteen year old boy listens to Creedence Clearwater Revival on his "walkman." In 2003. Um, no.
There are several other anachronisms and examples of reasons I, personally, do not connect with these characters, but these three are the most egregious. About halfway through the book, I completely stopped caring who was murdering the hookers. I admit I show more skimmed the rest just to find out, and I was not surprised. Horrified, and grossed out, but not surprised.
Oddly, the author does the best job when she is narrating from the killer's point of view. That's a little disturbing as well.
It seems to me that I've liked books by Sutcliffe before, but this one really misses the mark. Skip it. show less