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The Loving
TORN BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
It was a freak accident that almost cost renowned surgeon Roan Jacob his life --- a near fatal drowning that, in the space of a heartbeat, altered his successful, fast-track life forever. Troubled by strange visions and desperate to put the shattered pieces of his life back together, he fled to New Orleans seeking solitude and answers.
But sprawling Lamartine House was a place haunted by shocking secrets and the spirit of a beautiful raven-haired woman. She beckoned him with tantalizing glimpses of another time . . . and the promise of a passion he'd risk his life and soul to claim.
It was a freak accident that almost cost renowned surgeon Roan Jacob his life --- a near fatal drowning that, in the space of a heartbeat, altered his successful, fast-track life forever. Troubled by strange visions and desperate to put the shattered pieces of his life back together, he fled to New Orleans seeking solitude and answers.
But sprawling Lamartine House was a place haunted by shocking secrets and the spirit of a beautiful raven-haired woman. She beckoned him with tantalizing glimpses of another time . . . and the promise of a passion he'd risk his life and soul to claim.
384 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 1992
20 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Canfield
20 books10 followersSandra Kay Patterson Canfield was born on 21 November 1944 in Longview, Texas, USA. She wrote as Sandra Canfield and under the pseudonym of Karen Keast. She also used the pseudonym of Sandi Shane in collaboration with the writer Penny Richards (alias Bay Matthews). At 58, Sandra passed away on 23 January 2003 in Shreveport, Louisiana.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 13, 2023
The hero has always been arrogant and for good reason. He's got everything. He's got a great job as a heart surgeon. He's got enough money to spend on whatever he so choses no matter how frivolous. And he's got a fiancé who loves him. All of that changes when he nearly drowns while on vacation. Something about that experience has altered the hero on a level he is terrified of. He's restless and itchy and it seems like every sense if heightened to a painful degree. Touch, taste and smell- all are so intense that he feels himself distancing from those around him to avoid it. His fiancé, the woman he knows loves him with her whole heart is irritating to him because she doesn't understand why he's steadily pushing her away. He knows this isn't fair. She's a good woman and she deserves better than the selfish love he gives her. His job is also in danger because somehow the hero feels empathic pains when in the presence of his patients. Generally, it feels like his life is falling apart and that sense of control is rapidly flying out the window.
When he's ordered to spend 2 weeks on medical leave, the hero is offered a trip to New Orleans to house sit for a friend of a friend. He convinces his fiancé that he needs time alone- all the while knowing that at some point things will have to end between them. Arriving in the mansion, longing to return to his life back in Houston, he is instead stunned stupid by the portrait hanging on the wall. The woman is so utterly beautiful, painfully so, but what's truly compelling is the sense of deep and agonizing sadness that he can see in her eyes. From that moment and for the next 2 weeks, the hero's world revolves around finding out everything he possibly could about this woman. He begins to witness scenes of the past late at night and the ghostly images show him the abuse and torture she suffers at the hands of her husbands. He aches with the need to comfort her, to save her but it's useless.... Until one night, she looks him dead in the eye and says without words how much she yearns for his protection. From then on, the hero finds himself in a series of uncontrollable time jumps, spending random time in the past and the present. He tries with everything in his power to be by the heroine's side. To tell her everything will be okay, that he's going to save her and take her and her sister away from that house of horrors. And the heroine, for the first time in a very long time hopes for the future. She can barely live like this any longer as the beatings and the mental torture are turning her up inside. She even begins to lose faith in her faith and her goodness. The hero vows that no matter how impossible it maybe he will find a way to save her and to love if it's the last thing he does.
This book was better than it looks. What with the cheesy cover and the lazy title, I was expecting a filler novel. But actually, it had a tone of darkness that laced through the book and added a heavy amount of angst to it. It took a while for the hero to travel to New Orleans and the setting where the true novel begins and while what happens before that if important to the development of the story I kept wondering, when is this novel going to get interesting? When the hero does enter that fateful house where, 200 years previous, a young woman lived every day of her life in pain, terror and hopelessness- the story really kicked into drive. The fleeting meeting where the hero first begins to travel back are special and the instant sense of oneness between him and the heroine was sweet. There was no love development between them rather a knowing that they were meant for one another. The hero's desperation to save her was only overshadowed by the heroine desperation to be saved. I appreciated the heroine's struggles and while she was extremely religious, even I (an atheist), related to feeling of wanting to be saved. While I was never bored and I did find the book well written and developed, I can't say I was over the moon with the final product. Still, I will confess it was a pleasant surprise.
When he's ordered to spend 2 weeks on medical leave, the hero is offered a trip to New Orleans to house sit for a friend of a friend. He convinces his fiancé that he needs time alone- all the while knowing that at some point things will have to end between them. Arriving in the mansion, longing to return to his life back in Houston, he is instead stunned stupid by the portrait hanging on the wall. The woman is so utterly beautiful, painfully so, but what's truly compelling is the sense of deep and agonizing sadness that he can see in her eyes. From that moment and for the next 2 weeks, the hero's world revolves around finding out everything he possibly could about this woman. He begins to witness scenes of the past late at night and the ghostly images show him the abuse and torture she suffers at the hands of her husbands. He aches with the need to comfort her, to save her but it's useless.... Until one night, she looks him dead in the eye and says without words how much she yearns for his protection. From then on, the hero finds himself in a series of uncontrollable time jumps, spending random time in the past and the present. He tries with everything in his power to be by the heroine's side. To tell her everything will be okay, that he's going to save her and take her and her sister away from that house of horrors. And the heroine, for the first time in a very long time hopes for the future. She can barely live like this any longer as the beatings and the mental torture are turning her up inside. She even begins to lose faith in her faith and her goodness. The hero vows that no matter how impossible it maybe he will find a way to save her and to love if it's the last thing he does.
This book was better than it looks. What with the cheesy cover and the lazy title, I was expecting a filler novel. But actually, it had a tone of darkness that laced through the book and added a heavy amount of angst to it. It took a while for the hero to travel to New Orleans and the setting where the true novel begins and while what happens before that if important to the development of the story I kept wondering, when is this novel going to get interesting? When the hero does enter that fateful house where, 200 years previous, a young woman lived every day of her life in pain, terror and hopelessness- the story really kicked into drive. The fleeting meeting where the hero first begins to travel back are special and the instant sense of oneness between him and the heroine was sweet. There was no love development between them rather a knowing that they were meant for one another. The hero's desperation to save her was only overshadowed by the heroine desperation to be saved. I appreciated the heroine's struggles and while she was extremely religious, even I (an atheist), related to feeling of wanting to be saved. While I was never bored and I did find the book well written and developed, I can't say I was over the moon with the final product. Still, I will confess it was a pleasant surprise.
April 23, 2011
Ami synopsis :
Recuperating from a near-fatal accident, surgeon Roan Jacob rents a house in New Orleans that happens to be haunted by the spirit of a raven-haired beauty, who lures him into the past with a promise of everlasting passion.
Recuperating from a near-fatal accident, surgeon Roan Jacob rents a house in New Orleans that happens to be haunted by the spirit of a raven-haired beauty, who lures him into the past with a promise of everlasting passion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews