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Playing With Fire
During an eventful voyage back to England with her spoiled and selfish cousin Amanda, Tansy Richardson, a young orphan, finds herself falling for Martin Ballard, the handsome British spy who rescues them from a shipwreck and pirates, but the seductive machinations of her sly cousin could destroy their budding romance. Original.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
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41 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Heath
87 books24 followersSandra Heath is the ever-popular author of numerous Regencies, historical romances, novellas, and short stories. Among other honors, she has won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Best Regency Author and for Best Regency Romance. She lives in Gloucester, England, and can be contacted at sandraheath@bluey onder.co.uk.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 2, 2016
This is one of those little read-'em-in-two-hours romance novels, the kind they publish four of every month and send them out to subscribers. I usually quite enjoy these, though they're generally pretty forgettable. This one.. is interesting, because I enjoyed it, but I don't think it's a very good romance novel at all. More on that anon.
Playing With Fire follows a young lady named Tansy Richardson and her beau Lieutenant Martin Ballard as they contend with shipwrecks, French soldiers, cats, lost heirs, ancient Egyptian magic, and worst of all Tansy's cousin Amanda. Honestly, Tansy and Martin are pretty bland characters. Tansy's your typical long-suffering poor relation, and Martin is, well, he's a romance novel hero. Fill in the blanks, you know? Amanda is a raging bitch, her fiance is too, Tansy's uncle and chaperone are both scholarly types, even the guy who helps out at the beginning of the book is Helpful Native. They're all straight out of central casting, and you always know what they're going to do.
The reason I enjoyed this book is that the actual story is weird. I mean, weird. There's a convoluted plot that is, as far as I can tell, based off an ancient Egyptian legend about a prince deprived of his birthright and saved by a cat that Sandra Heath just made up. Tansy's scholarly uncle has a longstanding feud with some other guy, who died not so long ago, and also had an affair with that guy's wife, which is only plot-important because the wife sent Tansy's uncle a plot-important letter that we don't find out the contents of until the very end of the book, but they're fairly easily deducible. Oh, and Bast shows up. Literal Bast. Literal, actual Bast. I kept reading because this book was so entertainingly weird.
Oh, yeah, and Martin gets shot in the head? And they find the Rosetta Stone? Look, this book is weird.
I honestly think it's worth reading, but I don't think it's a very good romance novel. The characters are too bland and stereotypical to hold my interest. It doesn't even really feel like it's set in the Regency. It's a much better adventure novel, maybe along the lines of Amelia Peabody, and maybe even aimed at kids, if you take out the affair and Amanda's indiscretions. It's an adventure novel, where the plot is fun and meant to hold your interest, and the characters are stand-in for the readers. So if the plot sounds like fun (and it is), absolutely pick this up! But don't go looking for a heartwarming romance, because you'll be disappointed.
Playing With Fire follows a young lady named Tansy Richardson and her beau Lieutenant Martin Ballard as they contend with shipwrecks, French soldiers, cats, lost heirs, ancient Egyptian magic, and worst of all Tansy's cousin Amanda. Honestly, Tansy and Martin are pretty bland characters. Tansy's your typical long-suffering poor relation, and Martin is, well, he's a romance novel hero. Fill in the blanks, you know? Amanda is a raging bitch, her fiance is too, Tansy's uncle and chaperone are both scholarly types, even the guy who helps out at the beginning of the book is Helpful Native. They're all straight out of central casting, and you always know what they're going to do.
The reason I enjoyed this book is that the actual story is weird. I mean, weird. There's a convoluted plot that is, as far as I can tell, based off an ancient Egyptian legend about a prince deprived of his birthright and saved by a cat that Sandra Heath just made up. Tansy's scholarly uncle has a longstanding feud with some other guy, who died not so long ago, and also had an affair with that guy's wife, which is only plot-important because the wife sent Tansy's uncle a plot-important letter that we don't find out the contents of until the very end of the book, but they're fairly easily deducible. Oh, and Bast shows up. Literal Bast. Literal, actual Bast. I kept reading because this book was so entertainingly weird.
Oh, yeah, and Martin gets shot in the head? And they find the Rosetta Stone? Look, this book is weird.
I honestly think it's worth reading, but I don't think it's a very good romance novel. The characters are too bland and stereotypical to hold my interest. It doesn't even really feel like it's set in the Regency. It's a much better adventure novel, maybe along the lines of Amelia Peabody, and maybe even aimed at kids, if you take out the affair and Amanda's indiscretions. It's an adventure novel, where the plot is fun and meant to hold your interest, and the characters are stand-in for the readers. So if the plot sounds like fun (and it is), absolutely pick this up! But don't go looking for a heartwarming romance, because you'll be disappointed.
August 22, 2018
A mystic regency
I’m normally not a fan of “magic” or anything supernatural. So, I am glad I wasn’t really aware of those type of elements being in this book or I would have definitely skipped it.
Although there are magical type happenings, it isn’t too overwhelming and is woven into the story so seamlessly that it is believable.
I’m normally not a fan of “magic” or anything supernatural. So, I am glad I wasn’t really aware of those type of elements being in this book or I would have definitely skipped it.
Although there are magical type happenings, it isn’t too overwhelming and is woven into the story so seamlessly that it is believable.
April 12, 2020
This was almost a DNF, but because my library no longer allows me to pick up actual books, I finished it out of desperation.
September 5, 2016
A tricky book to rate, this seemed well researched, though I know nothing about the study of ancient Egypt, which these characters were interested in.
It was also well written in terms of the pacing. I was intrigued during the first half - Tansy's initial adventure was interesting with being shipwrecked during their capture, but that was all before the start of the book, so the initial intrigue of the story was quickly over. The writing was good, so I continued, but I became increasingly annoyed with the cartoonish characterization a of both antagonists. And, thus was far less intrigued by the end.
The characters of Tansy and Martin were also far less interesting by the end, even as the growth of their romance was well paced, because they had no real faults. I liked them but I didn't engage with them, emotionally, as I had at the start, and it made for an anti-climactic ending.
Also, the ending deflated because Tansy and Martin were together too soon and the rest of the story offered no surprises.
While I love cats, there was too much mention of them, which I found distracting as the story progressed.
It was also well written in terms of the pacing. I was intrigued during the first half - Tansy's initial adventure was interesting with being shipwrecked during their capture, but that was all before the start of the book, so the initial intrigue of the story was quickly over. The writing was good, so I continued, but I became increasingly annoyed with the cartoonish characterization a of both antagonists. And, thus was far less intrigued by the end.
The characters of Tansy and Martin were also far less interesting by the end, even as the growth of their romance was well paced, because they had no real faults. I liked them but I didn't engage with them, emotionally, as I had at the start, and it made for an anti-climactic ending.
Also, the ending deflated because Tansy and Martin were together too soon and the rest of the story offered no surprises.
While I love cats, there was too much mention of them, which I found distracting as the story progressed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews