In My Wildest Dreams

by Ellen Tanner Marsh

Fiery-haired Rowena de Bernard had been exiled by Napoleon's conquests from the luxurious French chateau of her birth to the snowy moors of Scotland. Then Captain Tarquin York, a handsome British cavalry officer, took her on a perilous journey back to France, matching her defiant spirit with a will of steel and claiming her heart with the all-consuming heat of his kisses. But Napoleon's armies, maddened with vengeance against the English, would turn their odyssey to the lush vineyards of Southern France into a flight from death. Soon Rowena would be caught up in the fight for freedom that would end at Waterloo. And amid the ravages of war, her innocence would end in flaming desire, and the passion of a woman hungry for everything love can bring.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction

442 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Even though Ellen was born in Germany, she was raised in New Jersey (insert Jersey joke here). That’s probably why she suffered extreme culture shock when her family moved to South Carolina when she was sixteen.

After all, it's hard to be uprooted from a pretty colonial town, say goodbye to lifelong friends, and be dragged 800 miles south by your parents. Ellen freely admits that the transformation from Jersey Girl to Southern Belle was a rocky one.

But steeped in history, the Lowcountry of South Carolina is the perfect place for a writer to live, because Charleston’s gorgeous historic houses, cobblestone streets, and moss-draped gardens serve as the ultimate “romance laboratory.”

So 40 years later has Ellen acclimated to living here? "Heck yeah, y’all."

Reviews

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rowena de Bernard and Captain Tarquin York first meet, they each believe the other person is someone else. Tarquin thinks he has been hired to accompany a young girl to her family home in France. Rowena believes the soldier assisting her is going to be an old man. They begin their journey in Scotland at the start of a very cold winter. With a widowed chaperone along for the ride, they continue through England with an awareness of war looming on the horizon. By the time they arrive on the outskirts of Spain, Tarquin, 'Quinn', informs Rowena that the roads into France are closed and their party has landed in the middle of Napoleon's armies.

Light on the romance, this historical piece of fiction portrays a grim way of life. Burned-out towns, ill-clothed soldiers, and the chill of the rainy cold weather fill Rowena with nightmares. Quinn, the consummate soldier, is in and out of her life while fighting Napoleon's troops. Young and naive, she only begins to understand the devastation that comes with battles when she finally sees the loss that they bring. And always, Rowena believes Quinn will return to her.

Containing plenty of angst, I had a hard time with the actually chemistry between these two. Yes, there was lust and hunger but there was also jealousy and some anger. It took quite a long time for Quinn to realize how important Rowena was to him. I would recommend this story if you want a truer understanding of the effect Napoleon had on the people of this time period. Often when you read a Regency romance everything is glorified. Not here. If nothing else, you will come away with a more realistic view of the madness of war.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected jewel. I learned more about the history of Europe from 1813 to Waterloo than I even knew there was. Once again I was able to clearly see the parallel between Napoleon and Hitler, even to the school boys taken to defend a tyrant when they had depleted their regular armies. Those who still think Napoleon a heroic figure need to read this book. I read it expecting a historical romance, and found so much more. A good romance with some sex, but it did not dictate the plot of the book, which so many do. Those who read regencies, romances, and history, would love this book!

I just reread this book and I’m taking it down a star. These people were not going to have the Happy ever after promised. At every opportunity one of the other would get pissed off and break it off and I cannot see this pattern stopping just because they said they were going to stop when they had already said they were going to stop doing it several times and they didn’t.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My very first book purchase - and I still have it today.

[Dona Krueger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sultry cover has little to do with the 400 pages of small print within. It's about the best wrapup of the last two years of the Napolianic wars that I have read. So many small details that were glossed over in other novels, yet were so significant in this excellent read. I now want to go to Waterloo and see where the ball, the battleground - probably done in a diarama as at other famous conflicts -and spend some time thinking about the tremendous loss of more than a generation of young men in Europe. As my sister says, Napolean was truly the forerunner of much of Hitler's atrocities - which he commited not only on his enemies, but his own people.