The Return of the Stranger

by Kate Walker

Standing high on the windswept moors, the lone figure of Heath Montanha vows vengeance on the woman who destroyed the last fragments of his heart...Lady Katherine Charlton has never forgotten the stablehand with dangerous fists and a troubled heart from her childhood. Now the rebel is back, his powerful anger concealed under a polished and commanding veneer. When ten years of scandal and secrets are unleashed, with a passionate, furious kiss, Heath's deepest, darkest wish crystallises...Revenge - and Kathy - will be his!

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Fiction, Contemporary, Harlequin Presents, Mills and Boon

Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I was born in Nottinghamshire, England, but I didn't live there for very long. The family moved to West Yorkshire when I was just eighteen months old and so I have always regarded Yorkshire as my home. I grew up there as the middle child in a family of five—all girls—in a home where books were vitally important and I read anything I could get my hands on.

Even before I could write I was making up stories. My mother tells the story of me recounting the tale of the Three Little Raindrops — Drippy, Droppy and Droopy to my two younger sisters when I was four. I can't remember a time when I wasn't scribbling away at something, and I wrote my first 'book' when I was eleven, an adventure story, most of it in secret in lessons at school—particularly maths lessons, which I hated.

But everyone, particularly teachers and my parents, told me that I would never make a living as a writer, and I should work towards a more secure career. So I decided instead that if I couldn't write books, I could at least work with them and so I settled for becoming a librarian. On leaving school, I went to the University College of Wales Aberystwyth where I studied English and Librarianship for my degree.

More importantly, university was also where I met my husband who was also studying English there. We married and moved back north, eventually settling in Lincolnshire. Here I worked as a children's librarian until I left work when my son was born.

After three years of being a full-time housewife and mother, I was ready for a new challenge, but needed something I could do at home, and so I turned to my old love of writing. My first attempts at novels were written on the kitchen table, often late into the night when my son was asleep or during a few snatched hours when he was out at nursery school.

The first two novels sent off to Harlequin Mills & Boon were rejected, but the third attempt was successful. I can still remember the moment that a letter arrived instead of the rejection slip I had been dreading. I think I must have read it over and over at least a hundred times before the reality of what it said sank in, and for days I kept checking it just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. In 1984, THE CHALK LINE was published just in time to be one of my best Christmas presents ever.

Fitting in hobbies around working and being a wife and mother can be difficult, but I always find time to read. I love all sorts of fiction, especially Romance, obviously. I also enjoy historical novels, detective fiction and long, absorbing biographies about fascinating people and I can spend hours in bookshops just browsing. I enjoy knitting and embroidery, but I rarely get time to do either now that I'm a full-time writer. I also love looking round antique fairs or junk shops, hoping to add to my collection of Victorian embroidery. During my working hours my four cats, all adopted from the RSPCA, usually keep me company in my study, though they have to be dissuaded from sitting on the piles of papers that they are convinced are there just for them.

I love to travel and visit new places, especially places with an interesting history, and I always enjoy visiting old castles or stately homes and imagining how the people who used to live there spent their days.

I'm often asked if I'm a romantic sort of person because I specialise in writing Romances. Well, if being romantic means caring about other people enough to make that extra special effort, then yes, I am. Romance is about making the important people in your life feel valued and letting them know that you care. But I also write about relationships and the difficulties people sometimes have in understanding each other, or expressing affection, or overcoming problems.

Sometimes—when the right words won't come, or an idea hasn't worked out as I'd thought, I wonder why I don't have some regular nine to five job, but when the story's flowing and the characters come alive, I really can't imagine a

Reviews

[boogenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hottie on the cover aside, this is actually a fairly decent recap of the first part of Wuthering Heights minus a lot of brooding atmosphere and of course Heathcliff and Kathy actually get an HEA on this side of eternity with some passionate smexxing thrown in.

Sorry, but there is no mad rampaging across the moors in this version. Instead what you get is a strangely vulnerable Heathcliff and a Katherine that really does come off more as a sweetly confused innocent than the callously heartless manipulative spoiled brat she appears to be in the original. The rejection that Kathy offers Heath as a young woman is softened into Kat trying to protect Heath from the tyranny and abuse of her brother and her soon to be husband in name only Arthur (org Edgar) by saying Heath had no social standing or charm and therefore wasn't good enough for her. In this version, Kat is lying when she says it, she is only trying to avert her brother's wrath and an understanding, kind and mostly gentle Heath fully accepts it.

This is very much a Wuthering Heights lite kinda book. Isobel, Arthur's sister does conduct a flirtation with Heath but nothing comes of it and after an aborted lunch date she is never mentioned. What Kate Walker chooses to focus on is the communication between Kat and Heath and their mutual failure to get over childhood hurts and rejections. This time around there is very little resentment and a ton of remorse. Kat and Heath talk to each other about their feelings and their past plus share very tender love scenes, and this takes Heath far away from a surly, sulking broody tyrant into a wounded bad boy with a good heart that really detracts from the magnificent scorn and passion that so permeates the original Heathcliff.

The taming of Heathcliff's character makes the love story work and the HEA believable but it does tend to leave a bit of regret for the smoldering aggression of the original and I can't help but wonder what a Charlotte Lamb or Jacqueline Baird could have done with him. I can see why KW made the choices she did and if you must have an Heath and Kat HEA there is a good one here. All in all not a bad book and a great way to revist a classic with a much happier ending.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

After 10 years away, the hero Heath is back in the place he once called home. He has never forgiven or forgotten the way he was treated by the people he once trusted, and has come back to seek revenge. The heroine Kat is both shocked and pleased to see Heath again, but she is surprised by the changes in him. She has also changed dramatically in the 10 years since Heath walked out; she has survived a disasterous marriage and is now widowed but left dealing with the mess her husband left. What she doesn't know is that Heath holds her life in his hands, he is now owner of her husbands estate as well as her brother's farm. Heath had always wanted Kat, but back them she had been too young and vulnerable for him to do anything about it. Now he realises he can finally get what he wanted all those years ago and have Kat come to him. While it's clear that Kat is drawn to Heath, it also becomes clear that Kat is innocent of a lot of the past wrong doings her thought she had done. Nevertheless, he continues with his plan for revenge.

Wow, this one intense book. In her 'Dear Reader' letter, Kate Walker mentions how she wanted her 'Heathcliff' and 'Cathy' to learn about love and have their happy ending that they could never have had in 'Wuthering Heights', she has certainly acheived that. The journey that Heath and Kat go on together is spectacular, making that HEA even more special!
This book does not have a lot of dialogue (just so you know!), it's more brooding, backward reflecting, and dark - as it should be, after all this is a rework of a VERY deep and intense book. I think Kate Walker has done a fantastic job of keeping this book flowing even with all the reflection/flashbacks. The passion and chemistry between the hero and heroine it litteraly sizzling, always bubbling away under the surface and when it explodes, boy does it explode!

The whole book is gripping and passionate from start to finish. A great read.

Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth and final book in a miniseries called The Powerful and the Pure based on Wuthering Heights (one of my most loved books!!) was the one of I enjoyed the most. I read the other 3 – Mr Mischief by Kate Hewitt based on Emma, In Want of a Wife by Cathy Williams based on Pride and Prejudiced and The Forbidden Innocent based on Jane Eyre which I liked but the story of Heath & Kat really got me hooked.



This is an intense story about revenge, secrets, jealousies and betrayal.
Heath Montana, was found on a cold and rainy night after being abandoned by his mother by Kat’s father who decided to bring him to High Farm. Heath & Kat became friends but not Joe her brother, who, on the death of their father, banned Heath from the house and he had to live in a shed.
Heath realizes that he loves Kat but one night changed everything. Kat became mesmerized by the wealth of their neighbor, Arthur Charlton, when she had been taken to the manor after being bitten by a dog. Heath overhears them talking about him, calling him “gypsy boy”, making fun of him. In the end, Kat tells Heath that she does not feel anything for him.

Ten years later, after building his own empire, Heath returns to the place he once called home seeking revenge. He has never forgotten the way he was treated and has not forgiven them for the cruelty he endured at High Farm. He knows that Kat’s brother is an alcoholic, living at the now rundown High Farm alone with his small son. Kat is now a widow after the death of her sick and perverted husband

Kat is pleased to see Heath again but shocked by the changes in him. Dark, brooding wearing an emerald stud in one ear is a stranger to her. She discovers she is drawn to Heath despite having changed since she last saw Heath. Dealing with the debts her husband left her with as well as the problems with her brother and his farm has changed her from the carefree girl she once was.
What she doesn’t realize is that Heath is now the owner of the Manor and High Farm and he intends to throw them all out just like they did to him those years ago.

Despite her betrayal, all it takes is one look at her for Heath to realize that he still wants her and that he can get her to come to him.
But will he be able to walk away from her again?
Can Kat love the brooding stranger he has turned into?

An amazing and powerful love story filled with intense emotions, a wonderful plot and the passion between Heath & Kat is hot and sizzling.

[Virginia Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Kate Walker was inspired by a classic Gothic romance tale when she created "The Return of the Stranger", and she perfectly captured the darker, more brooding elements of the story in her own compelling style. As a young child, Heath Montanha had been rescued from street life by Mr. Nicholls and brought to live on the Nicholls farm in the shadow of the Charlton mansion. He had been close friends with young Catherine Nicholls, but he was always resented and rejected by her brother, Joe. Heath's dark, handsome looks and air of mystery earned him the label of "gipsy", and the local society kept him at a distance. After the death of Catherine's father, her brother Joe took over the farm, and his treatment of Heath became unbearable. Heath soon left everything behind and went to make his mark in the world. Ten years later, a wealthy and powerful man, he returns to the Yorkshire countryside with vengeance on his mind. Thinking that Catherine had betrayed him a decade ago, he wants to hurt her as she hurt him. In his absence, she had married Arthur Charlton, the son of the rich, entitled neighbors of the Nicholls farm. Now widowed, Catherine is facing financial disaster as well as the emotional repercussions of her late husband's debauched lifestyle. Heath and Catherine are both startled by the depth of their mutual attraction, which wars with bitter hurt. Despite Heath's long-simmering desire for Catherine, he remains determined to carry out his plan of revenge against Catherine and her brother, Joe. Heath has secrets which will change the lives of Catherine and her family forever, but will spending time with Catherine and her young nephew soften his hardened heart? Catherine never knew the real reason that Heath left so long ago, and her life has not been the pleasant picture painted for society. Her husband's cruelty and deceptions have left her with little self-esteem--can she trust the love she feels for Heath? "The Return of the Stranger" is a passionate, atmospheric reunion romance with a delicious touch of Gothic darkness.

[Michelle Styles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Walker used Wuthering Heights as an inspiration for this classic Presents tale. I really liked that there were more secondary characters and how she used Bronte's tale as a jumping off point. But the characters are hers and hers alone. Kate has lectured about the Brontes before at the Bronte house and was well aware of the task ahead of her. She stepped up to the plate and crafted a great story using the WH trope.
Although I know she is not fond of the recent ITV Wuthering Heights adaptation, I did keep seeing Tom Hardy as playing the hero -- Heath.
This one has a place on my keeper shelf as Kate Walker is certainly at the top of her game.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Walker's latest release, The Return of the Stranger is another gracefully written brilliant read. Packed full of intense, powerful emotions, a riveting plot and a dark, brooding passionate alpha hero, it was really easy for me to get hooked. Definitely a must-read for Presents fans!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked about this book was that it didn't seem at all like Heathcliff and Cathy's characters - these were two entirely different characters that had their own personalities and a completely different storyline - though the back story was familiar :)

[Lynn]

Hell, I have to get this book for the cover alone.

[Liz Fielding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read from Kate Walker.

[Jo]

(SPOILER)

La heroina no quiso saber del Héroe porque era un pobretón muerto de hambre. Ella prefirió a un idiota rico deslumbrada por su poder y título. Un idiota rico que hizo de la vida del Héroe un infierno.
Me molesta mucho, PERO MUCHO, leer a esta tarada soltarle al Héroe discurso de que, prácticamente se conservó "virgen" porque siempre fue suya, porque no lo olvidó, y no se cuanta chorrada más, cuando si llegó "virgen" (Que ni tanto para mí) fue porque al marido no se le ponía dura, cuando en la cama, entre besos, caricias, trataban de consumar el matrimonio. Que ella lo intentó con todo y nada lograba excitarlo... De ahí que me mosquee su falso discurso de fidelidad y de "inocencia". Más aún cuando parece lamentar cada rato no haber f*llado en los 4 años de separación.
Por otro lado, a la heroina se la ve muy desesperada por echar un polvo. En lo único que piensa tras el regreso del Héroe es en lo húmeda que la pone, que si su marido nunca desató en ella tal reacción cuando trataban de intiman...
Menuda idiota clasista con fogata entre las piernas.
De verdad, me puso de mala hostia.

(...) (...) (...)

"Nunca había sentido algo así con Arthur. Había pensado que la pasión nacería con el tiempo y con la amistad que había creído compartir con él. Pero no podría haber estado más equivocada.
Lo había intentado todo: ropa interior sexy, perfumes, cremas para suavizar su piel… pero no había servido de nada. Nada hacía que Arthur la desease como ella quería, como necesitaba ser deseada. Y nada la había hecho sentir lo que sentía en aquel momento. En presencia de Heath se sentía como una mujer, devastadoramente consciente de su feminidad."

"Sin darse cuenta, Kat se llevó una mano a los labios que Heath había besado. Recordando ese momento, y la dura evidencia de su deseo, no tenía la menor duda de que era heterosexual. Y solo con recordarlo sentía un cosquilleo entre las piernas…
En la cama con Arthur, cuando la besaba o la tocaba, nunca había sentido eso. Aunque lo había intentando. De verdad había creído que la relación con su marido podía funcionar, pero Arthur nunca la había deseado. Teniendo en cuenta dónde lo habían encontrado la noche que murió, en la cama con otro hombre, su cuerpo lleno de heroína, ni a ella ni a ninguna otra mujer.
Eso despertó recuerdos de las largas y tristes noches en las que intentaba consumar su matrimonio con Arthur, que era incapaz de tener una erección y, sin embargo, la acusaba a ella de ser frígida, de no una mujer de verdad."

[Malvina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Revenge as a motivation for conquest always makes me uneasy. I didn't realise this was a modern rewrite of Wuthering Heights until I began, and if you've ever read a book with revenge as motivation for conquest, that would have to be The Best. Lots of seething and brooding going on. Happily this book has much happier ending than WH, but the ending felt rushed to me, probably because there was still a lot of seething and brooding going on. However, well written.

[M White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

I enjoyed this book but have to say that although the characters and story line were worth five stars i felt it was very slow to start and I wanted more about what was happening to be in the present.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tags: Kate Walker, romance, England, wealthy, lies, hatred

Review:
Heath was a homeless gipsy boy when Kat’s father brought him home. Heath and Kat grew up together as brother and sister. Everything changed when their father died and Kat’s biological brother returned home to take over the family estate. As Heath became a man, he realized that his feelings for Kat were romantic but she was still too young and naïve for the type of relationship he wanted. Due to the cruelty of Kat’s biological brother, Heath left the family estate one day without a word to anyone. The story starts 10 years later when Kat is trying to heal after a horrible marriage to a horrible man who died and left Kat in horrible debt. Heath is now wealthy and powerful and he is back for revenge.

I really wanted to love this book. The description was so intriguing. The author’s website was really nice. The cover was lovely. Unfortunately, by the end of the first chapter I was struggling to want to continue reading. Was the book bad? No. Was the writing weak? No. Was the story silly or ridiculous? No. I simply didn’t like the writing style. I struggled to find the rhythm. I searched for a reason to like the main characters or care whether or not they found happiness. I tried to find something about the side characters to hold on to. The reality is that Kat is almost too stupid to live. Heath is a hollow shell. The story ends up feeling more like an exercise in writing rather than a joyful explosion of two people in love.

Quotes:
It was Heath. The same and yet not the same at all. Page 12
She didn’t know how to behave in front of this man who was and was not Heath. Page 20

He could hardly breathe either, and the red mist of desire that threatened to swamp his eyes blinded him to everything else around him except her face. Page 67

“…she felt alternately as if she were in the grip of a burning fever or the cruel grip of ice. Ice that melted into a pool of heated honey…” Page 106

Rating 2 out of 5 stars

Book received by author from giveaway

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started to read this book, I had no idea that it was a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights until I read the letter the author wrote to the reader. I got really excited because Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite classics, so I had high expectations for this book. The story itself was sizzling and fun, but there were some problems I had with the book. First off, I really couldn't tell when this book was supposed to take place. The author used words like "trousers" and said he would "journey" to her house. This old language made me think it was more around the time Wuthering Heights was written, but then they used phones and cars, which made it seem like it was more recent, so I was really confused. The other thing that bugged me was how the author mainly used paragraphs describing thoughts and descriptions with not a lot of dialogue and action. So not a lot actually happened in this book aside from the romance between Katherine and Heath and even when things did happen, a lot of time was spent on describing how they felt and thinking about what the other person just said or did. If you ignore these two things, though, it was a nice read that was really quick to get through.

[Nas Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER is the latest enthralling presentation by author Kate Walker for Mills & Boon Modern and Harlequin Presents line.

Heath is back. But why? To take revenge on Kat’s brother who had thrown him out to live in the shed, and her husband who had always derided him? He is more powerful and wealthier than any of them now.

But coming back, he also comes face to face with his childhood friend and teenage love, Kat. Would he be able to walk away again?

Lady Katherine Charlton, now a widow, missed her childhood friend. But can she welcome back this dark, brooding stranger he has turned into?

His very nearness entrance as well as terrifies Kat. Is she frightened of him or of herself and her own feelings?

Author Kate Walker’s own unique take on the classic story of Wuthering Heights makes this into a happily ever after love story. It is a gripping tale of past secrets, scandal, and is full of sizzle and mesmerizing emotion.

A wonderfully written and richly layered love story from one of Harlequin Presents’ most popular authors, THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER is another keeper from the always fabulous Kate Walker!

[Michelle Fayard · Rating 4 out of 5]

With her latest release, THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER, veteran romance author Kate Walker takes the classic tale found in Wuthering Heights and lets it inspire her to create a modern take on the powerful story.

STRANGER is part of a series, The Powerful and The Pure. In this title, Heath Montanha left England as an orphaned gypsy and made a new life for himself in Brazil. Now he’s rich and powerful, but he’s missing something. He thinks it’s revenge on the two men who kept him poor and powerless. What he’s soon to learn is it’s love in the form of the one woman who always believed in him, Lady Katherine, sister to one of Heath’s former tormenters, widow to the other.

STRANGER might be inspired by a classic, but rest assured that Walker has taken the characters and atmosphere and brought them into the 21st century to make the story her own with high-voltage intensity. If this book could be described in only one word, it would be “chemistry.”

[Amara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wuthering Heights retelling? No. That would've been lovely had this been that. This was two characters named Catherine/Katherine/Kat (whatevs) and Heath. Some parts were vaguely familiar, but this just lacked the romance of the original. The love they had felt forced because the original WH characters loved each other, therefore these retold characters did too. I needed to see the love!! Further, this couple barely spoke to each other, and then she suddenly realized she loved him? Why? When?

[RomLibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Standing high on the windswept moors, the lone figure of Heath Montanha vows vengeance on the woman who destroyed the last fragments of his heart..."Lady Katherine Charlton has never forgotten the stable hand with dangerous fists and a troubled heart from her childhood. Now the rebel is back, his powerful anger concealed under a polished and commanding veneer.

When ten years of scandal and secrets are unleashed, with a passionate, furious kiss, Heath's deepest, darkest wish crystallizes: revenge--and Kathy--will be his!

[Luisa B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustó que fuera como una versión alternativa y moderna de cumbres borrascosas, con personajes como Heath y y Kat. Pero sigue siendo un romance predecible, normalillo y medio apresurado. Una lectura para unas cuantas horas...

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Powerful and the Pure

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Powerful and the Pure

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

a modern re-telling of the classic WUTHERING HEIGHTS, only this time with the requisite HP HEA. and a much better effort than some other remakes of the classics by HP.

[Ajitabh Pandey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like it. Read only first 20 or so pages and then left it.

[Claire Gamblin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*s

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Though Wuthering Heights references don't do much for me.

[Sylvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lectura romántica para disfrutar en unas horas. La trama no tiene nada especial, es como las clásicas de Harlequin.