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Bonded Heart
A nineteenth-century Cornish romance - Circumstances have forced once-respectable Roz Trevaskis to turn to smuggling. When she is called on to nurse local Justice Branoc Casvellans brother, Roz sees a chance to improve her lot, not anticipating the effects of such close contact with her handsome employer. But how will Branoc and his family react when the truth about Rozs past, and her involvement with the local smuggling trade, comes out?
220 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
About the author
Jane Jackson
53 books24 followersA professional writer for over 30 years, Jane Jackson has had 27 books published with world-wide sales topping ten million. Shortlisted twice for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, she has also taught the craft of Novel Writing at every level from Writers’ summer schoolsand Ad Ed to the MA in Professional Writing at University College Falmouth.
Eight of her students are now (traditionally, not self-) published novelists.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 5, 2013
This is ultimately the story of two dysfunctional families. A young woman leaves the comfort of her wealthy (but cold) family to find her prodigal mother who is living the life of a gutter rat in a nearby village. She gets a job working long hours in a local tavern, cooking and serving tables in an effort to care for her mother and younger brother, but in many ways becomes an enabler. Unable to keep food on the table, rent and court fees paid she turns to smuggling for needed cash.
The other dysfunctional family comprises a self centered matriarch and her three adult children. (the father led a dissolute life and has since died). The oldest son is in the legal profession, is tall dark and handsome and you guessed it. Sparks fly between the young woman and the oldest son but they're worlds apart so the question is can they come together when all the odds are against them, especially when her secret comes out?
I thought the story was well written and the characters real. Sometimes with Jane Jackson I find that the secondary characters have more dimension than the primary. That was somewhat the case here. The drunken mother was well played and true to the character of an addict. The younger brother also was both good and bad and you could understand his rebellious escapades. But while I could understand why the hero was intrigued by the heroine, (she has a lot of depth of character and was unusual), I couldn't QUITE feel the attraction to HIM. Yes, he looks good galloping a horse along the shore and he's handsome and a fair judge in his profession BUT.. he prides himself in keeping his emotions SO well hidden that I couldn't fathom how she saw them. A flicker in the eye, the warmth in a handshake, I wasn't feeling it. I would hope for a bit more personality in my hero...
And while I'm talking about the hero, there's a character named Devlin in another JJ book (" Devil's Prize") and that individual makes a few appearances in this novel as well. Anyway, when the author introduces our hero at the beginning of "Bonded Heart", instead of making our hero unique she tells the reader that 'you remember Devlin? Well this guy looks just like him, they could be twins'. How. Very. Original...I guess the author liked Devlin's character so much she wanted to use him again. But it seemed a bit lazy to me and for this reason ~and for the general lack of personality of the hero~ I took a star off my rating. (However if you're fond of the "Darcy" or "Mr Thornton" type characters this hero won't bother you).
For suitability I would rate this book PG-13 for thematic elements. There is an attempted rape in one scene and in another a character is punished by the law by being dragged through the town square while being whipped. There is mention of alcohol abuse and talk of possible prostitution when someone gets possession of alcohol while having no money to her name.
There are no sex scenes in this book and minimal cussing.
There is some passionate longing between the H/H but the characters are controlled and remain clean.
Jane Jackson's writing, in my opinion, is similar in style to Catherine Cookson but not as coarse, which I appreciate. I only discovered this author a month or so ago but she has quickly become one of my favorite authors.
The other dysfunctional family comprises a self centered matriarch and her three adult children. (the father led a dissolute life and has since died). The oldest son is in the legal profession, is tall dark and handsome and you guessed it. Sparks fly between the young woman and the oldest son but they're worlds apart so the question is can they come together when all the odds are against them, especially when her secret comes out?
I thought the story was well written and the characters real. Sometimes with Jane Jackson I find that the secondary characters have more dimension than the primary. That was somewhat the case here. The drunken mother was well played and true to the character of an addict. The younger brother also was both good and bad and you could understand his rebellious escapades. But while I could understand why the hero was intrigued by the heroine, (she has a lot of depth of character and was unusual), I couldn't QUITE feel the attraction to HIM. Yes, he looks good galloping a horse along the shore and he's handsome and a fair judge in his profession BUT.. he prides himself in keeping his emotions SO well hidden that I couldn't fathom how she saw them. A flicker in the eye, the warmth in a handshake, I wasn't feeling it. I would hope for a bit more personality in my hero...
And while I'm talking about the hero, there's a character named Devlin in another JJ book (" Devil's Prize") and that individual makes a few appearances in this novel as well. Anyway, when the author introduces our hero at the beginning of "Bonded Heart", instead of making our hero unique she tells the reader that 'you remember Devlin? Well this guy looks just like him, they could be twins'. How. Very. Original...I guess the author liked Devlin's character so much she wanted to use him again. But it seemed a bit lazy to me and for this reason ~and for the general lack of personality of the hero~ I took a star off my rating. (However if you're fond of the "Darcy" or "Mr Thornton" type characters this hero won't bother you).
For suitability I would rate this book PG-13 for thematic elements. There is an attempted rape in one scene and in another a character is punished by the law by being dragged through the town square while being whipped. There is mention of alcohol abuse and talk of possible prostitution when someone gets possession of alcohol while having no money to her name.
There are no sex scenes in this book and minimal cussing.
There is some passionate longing between the H/H but the characters are controlled and remain clean.
Jane Jackson's writing, in my opinion, is similar in style to Catherine Cookson but not as coarse, which I appreciate. I only discovered this author a month or so ago but she has quickly become one of my favorite authors.
December 18, 2013
4 1/2
It wasn't always like this, Roslyn could remember when life had been easy. She had told her self that her mother had had no choice.
Roz, abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandparents feels sure that her mother still needs and loves her. But Mary-Blanche has a strange way of showing her daughter love.
No matter what Roz does, her mother makes life a never ending struggle. How is she to pay for food, bills and… Fines. It seems like every week she has to go before the Justice, the Justice who she respects above all others. Cornered by her mothers drinking habits and wild behavior, Roz turns to what every shady character in the village does, Smuggling. Now it is Roslyn who is on the wrong side of the law.
Then there's the one smuggler in the village who will stop at nothing to have her.
I had a hard time getting into this book. Whille the writing was five stars, Roz made me want smack her upside the head to give her some common sense. About half way through I got to liking her. So I am glad I didn't just toss it back onto the shelf. I think I started to like Roz best after the whistling whip…
I was hoping it would be more like Heart of Stone and Eye of the Wind, but it turned out to be not quite what I was looking for. I wanted a bit more adventure sort of like Tide Of Fortune and Dangerous Waters. However, it was told in Jane Jackson's usual atmospheric way.
I'd give this a PG-13. if you are British and count the three B's, you may want some white out. otherwise it's not loaded. There is an attempted rape, (not detailed), and other than someone getting their head cracked open there is no violent details. Even the head cracking is not gory.
It wasn't always like this, Roslyn could remember when life had been easy. She had told her self that her mother had had no choice.
Roz, abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandparents feels sure that her mother still needs and loves her. But Mary-Blanche has a strange way of showing her daughter love.
No matter what Roz does, her mother makes life a never ending struggle. How is she to pay for food, bills and… Fines. It seems like every week she has to go before the Justice, the Justice who she respects above all others. Cornered by her mothers drinking habits and wild behavior, Roz turns to what every shady character in the village does, Smuggling. Now it is Roslyn who is on the wrong side of the law.
Then there's the one smuggler in the village who will stop at nothing to have her.
I had a hard time getting into this book. Whille the writing was five stars, Roz made me want smack her upside the head to give her some common sense. About half way through I got to liking her. So I am glad I didn't just toss it back onto the shelf. I think I started to like Roz best after the whistling whip…
I was hoping it would be more like Heart of Stone and Eye of the Wind, but it turned out to be not quite what I was looking for. I wanted a bit more adventure sort of like Tide Of Fortune and Dangerous Waters. However, it was told in Jane Jackson's usual atmospheric way.
I'd give this a PG-13. if you are British and count the three B's, you may want some white out. otherwise it's not loaded. There is an attempted rape, (not detailed), and other than someone getting their head cracked open there is no violent details. Even the head cracking is not gory.
September 13, 2009
I hated given this book such a low amount of stars... I tried really hard to like it and enjoy it. This book just didn't work for me. I usually find something to relate to in all books, and genuinely love to read. I guess I just didn't like the characters much, and it was just drab-
September 5, 2009
I really enjoyed this story. It's a romance, but still a decent story. I'll look for more books by this author when I need a fun read.
April 6, 2016
A pretty predictable read that I only finished because I was mildly interested in the culminating pairing. Otherwise, the main characters were more annoying than anything else.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews