When sea captain Kyle Ramsey met Selena Markham on a moonlit beach, her ethereal beauty left him stunned. But when he discovered that she wanted him to make love to her he was flabbergasted.
Their lovemaking carried them to the heights of passion, but society's response was predictable. Forced into marriage, the unexpected lovers charted a stormy course rocked by bitterness and anger. Were they destined to spend their lives in misery? Or could the moon bewitch them once again -- for good?
New York Times bestselling author Nicole Jordan spins delightful tales that simmer with passion and sensuality. In her former life, Nicole grew up as an Army brat, moving frequently and attending high school in Germany. She later earned a civil engineering degree from Georgia Tech and spent eight years as a manufacturing manager making disposable diapers and toilet tissue! Currently Nicole lives in the Rocky Mountains of Utah with her real-life hero (her husband) and beloved kids (her horses).
With over two-dozen historical romances to her credit and four million books in print, set in numerous eras and locales, Nicole now enjoys chronicling the sparks that fly when Regency lovers play the matrimonial mating game.
One of her novels had the dubious honor of being humorously spotlighted by Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show." On a more serious note, Nicole's romances regularly appear on numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today, and have earned such honors as RITA finalist, RWA's Favorite Book of the Year, the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Historical Romance, and the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence, presented by a group of over one hundred romance reviewers.
Pretty Good... I'm not really a fan of Harlequen novels, but this one was actually pretty good. It is labeled 'historical' but I'd probably call it more a 'period' piece. When I think of 'historical novel' I usually come away having learned something about the history or culture and a desire to google for more info. That wasn't really the case here. But the story itself was pretty good. Sure, the hero and heroine took and instant dislike to each other, there were complications along the way, and the ended up in love...but there was a lot of 'side' interest too, in the sisters, the former lovers, accidents, etc. Good character development. I'm not real likely to run out and look for another Harliquen, but this one was laying around, so I picked it up....and enjoyed it.
I've been a bit afraid lately of picking up these older Nicole Jordan books. Some were wonderful and sit on my keeper shelf (planning a reread one of these days) but others felt terribly dated and without interest. I'm glad to say this one stands in the middle. Not as good as some but still much better than others.
Selena Markham discovers her fiancé is cheating on her with another woman and shocked and desperate searches for captain Kyle Ramsey whom she had encountered earlier and been kissed by and they make love. She tries to break her engagement and as the fiancé is not interested in that (he wanted a marriage of convenience to get her lands) she devises a plan and pretends to be secretly engaged to Kyle Ramsey. Ramsey is not interested in marrying and refuses to be a part of her plan. How ever Selena's stepmother (who is her fiancé's lover and wants to marry him) publicly humiliates her at a party they all attend and to save her from public humiliation Kyle steps forward and agrees to marry her. It does sound like a big cliché so far but this is really the beginning and the good part is yet to come.
After they leave the Caribbean where the action starts to the Mississippi where Kyle lives Selena starts to get to know Kyle. Eventually she finds out he has 4 sisters, is an orphan and the reason he didn't want to marry her is because he fathered a child with another woman and was planning to ask the mother of his child to marry him just to be near his son.
I really liked the characters, they were interesting and complex especially Selena. She is the one who has to adapt to a new reality, new people who have their own problems which she does her best to help with, she tries to bring her husband's child closer to the family by inviting his mother to visit, she even has a hand in bettering the slave's working conditions and she manages to seduce her husband in the process. Come to think of it she sounds too good to be truth. The book also has some funny moments, for instance the scene where she goes to the brothel to find Kyle and ends up receiving advice from a prostitute on how to seduce him.
Una gran decepción xq realmente me gusta esta autora pero en este caso, esta historia no se desarrolla. Simplemente no ocurre. Empezamos bien con la traición y el encuentro en la calle y luego en la playa. Tomamos impulso con el viaje en barco y de hecho lo de la tormenta - y lo q vino después - estuvo pero muy bien con los sentimientos en conflicto y la tensión sexual; pero después fue algo así como un souflé q termina chaflado. La historia se vuelve completamente lineal, no hay un personaje antagonista q se haga el malo y ponga un poco de intriga y q justifique el héroe le de su merecido. Todo lo q sigue no pasa de un gran y enorme malentendido. Selena es un producto de su tiempo y su educación, entiendo q pase todo lo q pasó y las decisiones que tomó. Pero se supone q es un personaje valiente, con personalidad y coraje. La mujer maneja una plantación y perdió su virginidad con un desconocido con una dignidad de olimpiada! Y q hace cuando se tropieza con las pelirrojas ex amantes de su marido? Las invita a tomar el te y se hacen amigas. En serio? Ni una peleíta de nada? Alguna escena épica? Noop. Y Kyle... es el sueño húmedo de cualquiera y se supone q tiene la personalidad correcta. El problema es q es taaaan perfecto q, cuando deberías querer pegarle una bofetada (xq en serio: con el juego del un día si la quiero, otro día no se pasa), terminas perdonándolo xq al fin y al cabo también es un producto de su tiempo y al fin y al cabo él solo quería hacer lo correcto. Pero sinceramente creo q Selena se lo puso todo demasiado fácil. La historia es q tenía potencial pero no llegó.
No es el mejor que he leído del género pero la verdad es que me ha gustado mucho. Se me ha hecho ameno y me ha parecido ligero; me lo he leído en apenas dos días. El tipo de narración de la autora también me ha gustado mucho, aunque hay un par de palabras que sí me he fijado que repite mucho. La verdad es que me encantaría saber más sobre algunos personajes 🤔 No sé si habrá más libros de esta saga
This was a good story. There was nothing mind-blowing about the book but it was just a nice quick read. The back of the book is a bit mis-leading. There is not a great deal of bitterness between the H and h. They get upset with one another but don't spend the majority of the book at odds. There is no "yes-no-yes-no" from either character.
This was a good one, and it's refreshing not to have a H and h constantly at odds, quarreling, saying crummy things to each other and acting hateful, while at the same time expecting to be loved. Instead, you have a couple that got together under reputation saving circumstances (the H doing the right thing after the h surrendered her V Card when her fiancé and stepmother betray her), make the best of things, realize they love each other and make a good life together.
There's the usual misunderstanding: the h thinks the H regrets marrying her, after she was ready to tell him she loved him, so she holds back her feelings, making him think she's the one with regret. And there's the shadow of the OM (the H thinks she's still carrying the torch for her ex), as well as the very present OW (newly widowed and the mother of the H's child.)
There are some funny moments, like when the h pays a trip to a bordello to get instructions from the madam on how to be seductive for the H, and when she tries to become a redhead like the OW and ends up with pink hair! (Today she'd be fashionable!)
I like the way both the H and h tried to do something about slavery, a way to run the plantation successfully without having to depend on it, and how the h had good business acumen and the H appreciated it.
In short, it's worth reading!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The heroine (h) was genuinely likable, and the hero (H) was just okay. Overall, it was a decent read, and I initially wanted to rate it 3 stars. However, a few issues held me back:
The h was overly accommodating – At times, her willingness to forgive and adjust grated on my nerves. She made things too easy for the H, which meant he rarely had to put in any real effort.
Too much focus on past liaisons and the OW – The constant interactions with the Other Woman and the hero’s past flings became repetitive and irritating.
The ending scene was frustrating – When both the h and the OW are distressed, the H rushes to comfort the OW and leaves the h to be escorted home by someone else. Later, he justifies this by saying he knows the h is “strong,” unlike the OW. But that’s no excuse for disregarding the h’s feelings. It came across as emotionally tone-deaf.
The hair-dye scene felt off – The h tries to change her hair color to match the H’s preference, which might seem sweet in another context. But coming right after a scene where she believes he loves the OW, it felt more like desperation than affection.
The imbalance in effort – At no point did it feel like the H actively worked to win the h’s heart. It was always her making the sacrifices, reaching out, and trying to bridge the gap.
Girl meets hot Captain (Sailor not Pirate), gets smooched within an inch of her life on a public street by Captain back in ye olden days of yore when that kind of thing was cause for shunning. Later they have awkward sex on a beach, get married and move to America.
Entertaining book that was enjoyable to read but I probably won't remember that well in a few months time. I did like the setting for the beginning of the novel and really want to find some other books with a historical Caribbean setting or maybe I should just re-watch Pirates of the Caribbean again.
Selena will sich an ihrem Verlobten rächen. Dazu wendet sie sich an den Kapitän Kyle. Er hat nicht die Absicht, sie zu heiraten, wird aber dazu gezwungen. Obwohl Kyle eine andere liebt, versucht Selena sein Herz zu erobern. Das ist durchaus amüsant zu lesen, doch auch nicht wirklich neu. Fazit: da geht noch mehr!
3.5 Definitivamente se nota cómo han pasado los años entre este libro y los anteriores. Es definitivamente el mejor de ellos, sin tanta vuelta y con personajes muucho más definidos que no se perdían en medio de las descripciones ni situaciones absurdas.