Topping the list of recommendations this month is a new novel by Julianne MacLean of Sackville, N.B. who has officially started her career as published romance author. Also recommended for relaxing in the shade are two thought provoking contemporary romances taking on modern issues. The fourth book reviewed is a light-hearted 18th century tale. 

Prairie Bride
By Julianne MacLean (Harlequin Historical - August 2000, $6.99)
How can a Maritime Canadian author write about a Kansas mail-order bride? The answer in a word: beautifully. 
Arthur Brigman, nicknamed Briggs, meets his mail order bride Sarah MacFarland for the first time. Unfortunately, she is everything he didn't want.
She is lovely and inexperienced at the type of hardship she will face living with Briggs on the Kansas prairie. To his further dismay, Briggs finds out on their wedding night that Sarah is no innocent.
On the other hand, Sarah is shocked to be contending with undreamed of adversity, living underground and collecting dry cow dung to burn as fuel.
Briggs is a taciturn character at the best of times and Sarah is fearful and guilt-ridden, so the road to their happiness together is bumpy but precious.
With characters that make you ache with empathy, MacLean's debut novel is a tender triumph.


Close Encounter
By Sandra Kitt (Signet - July 2000, $9.99)
Interracial relationships are exciting new ground in mainstream romance and Sandra Kitt, the first African American to be published by Harlequin, has all the right stuff to forge this new path.
Carol Taggert is walking her dog when she is injured in a botched police bust. As she heals she develops a bond with the white policeman who might have mistakenly shot her. Lee Grafton is already at a critical career crossroads when his close encounter with Carol leaves him further unsettled by their growing attraction.
Poignant, forthright and practical, Close Encounter shows Kitt at her best.
This book provides a welcome bonus. At the end is an enlightening interview about Kitt's take on interracial relations.

Harper's Moon
By Suzanne Hudson (Berkley - July 2000, $9.99)
Hudson's warm detailed characters will evoke profound empathy. Hudson balances the dark despair of spousal abuse with city slicker in the country comedy relief. 
Annie Taylor is an intelligent quilt artist who is shocked to realize she is trapped in an abusive marriage. She decides to take the reins of her life back but fearing for her safety she flees Manhattan, ending up in the North Carolina hill country.
The cosiness of the tiny town wraps around her and allows her to heal but her citified reticence makes her an intriguing mystery to her neighbour, travel writer, Jed Harper. Jed, like other of the residents of the backwoods community of Burnsville has a few dark secrets of his own. 
This one is full of heart.

The Black Knave
By Patricia Potter (Jove - July 2000, $9 .99)
The Black Knave is a Jacobean Scarlet Pimpernel. This enjoyable layered tale of 18th century Scotland vividly paints faces on the facts and fantasies about the Scottish exodus.
Rory Forbes, the reluctant Marquis of Braemoor in Lowland Scotland, is a foppish wastrel inheriting only after his father and brother die fighting the Highlanders at Culloden. He is also a Jacobite hero dubbed The Black Knave, smuggling the helpless to safety.
To secure his wealth and position he marries Bethia MacDonell, a Jacobite lass forced into the marriage by the King and the vicious Duke of Cumberland.
Bethia hates her wastrel husband and plots to free her young brother from the Duke by calling on the legendary Black Knave.
The insecurities and strengths of these characters are endearing.


Janine Taylor is a Halifax writer. She can be reached at romanticleads@canada.com or http://ajaninet.tripod.com 

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Copyright © 2000 Janine Taylor