April 99
CANADIAN WRITERS Jo Beverley, Claire
Delacroix and Margaret Moore have marketing savvy to go with their writing
talent. They have realized that a great way to grab readers and keep publishers
happy is to introduce a family full of attractive characters, then create a
series by simply telling each of the character’s stories one by one.
Secrets of the Night
By Jo Beverley (Topaz – July 1999, $8.99)
Racy plots are expected of Beverley and
this one’s racy all right. How about a lord being held captive as a love slave
to provide a child to a barren marriage?
This installment is about Lord Brand Malloren, fans will remember him as the
family land manager. Brand is found left-for-dead at the side of a Yorkshire
road.
His rescuer, Rosamunde Overton, is a woman desperate to acquire an heir for her
husband. She decides to mask her identity and claim his stud services as
repayment for her kindness. Turns out however that the couple find out that
there’s more to this relationship. They discover their personalities
complement each other but this plunges them into an emotional guilt that is
unforgivable_ unlike the justifiable physical act.
Although suitably sexy and a page-turner, this Lord Brand doesn’t quite meet
the high expectations of Beverley’s previous work.
The ending seems rushed, perhaps so she could get on with the next project _ her
much-anticipated story of Brand’s eldest brother and Malloren patriarch, the
Marquis of Rothgar.
Although this Beverley story was slightly underdone, it was enough to encourage
high expectations for tale she will spin about the Marquis of Rothgar.
The Damsel
By Claire Delacroix (Dell – March 1999, $9.99)
Anyone familiar with Delacroix from her
Medieval Harlequins likely snapped up The Princess, the first of her Bride Quest
Trilogy, when it arrived in stores a few months ago.
This second installment in the loves of the Fitzgavin brothers is more than a
continuation, the story easily stands on its own.
Burke Fitzgavin is a legendary knight who has been absent for three years. He
has returned to Kiltorren seeking a bride. He is in love with Alys, niece of
Lord Cedric of Kiltorren. But Alys is little more than a servant in Lord
Cedric’s household and wary of Burke’s obvious interest in her. In order to
remain at Kiltorren, Burke must walk a tightrope_ appearing to be considering
marriage to a daughter while wooing the niece.
This is a complicated, empowering Cinderella story with superb secondary
characters. Burke’s mother in this story is worth waiting for.
The Welshman’s Bride
By Margaret Moore (Harlequin Historical – 1999, $5.99)
Ten books on the same theme and you’d
think a writer would become stale _ not a bit of it.
The Welshman’s Bride is the latest in Moore’s original Warrior series for
Harlequin.
This time the hero she offers up is a really nice guy. The bastard son of a
vicious power monger, charming young Baron Dylan DeLanyea has won back the
loyalty of his people with his happy-go-lucky benevolent style.
While visiting his neighbour, Dylan unintentionally wins a wife when he awakens
to find the prim and proper Lady Genevieve Perronet naked in his bed.
However, Genevieve soon discovers that the sweet romantic Dylan, whom she
tricked into marrying her, is responsible for a rag tag band of offspring with a
variety of mothers.
The Englishwoman soon discovers she will need to make her own way in the merry
mess that is her husband’s household.
Harlequin Historicals are not quite as long as the single-title counterparts in
other publishing houses though they often have the absolute best “quick
reads”. Perhaps Moore needs more room for her plots to unfold because Dylan
and Genevieve deserved more time.
Janine Taylor is a Halifax-based reviewer. She
may be reached at romanticleads@hotmail.com
