Tangled Destiny

by Shirley Smith

Beautiful heiress, Sophia Winterton runs away on her wedding day, defying her hateful Aunt Harriet and her less than loyal fiance, Lord Devenish. Still in her wedding gown, Sophia decides to take the stagecoach to London and seek sanctuary with her godmother. On the long walk to the Eight Bells coaching inn she meets the devastatingly attractive Sir Paul Maunders, who has the reputation of being a rake. However, in spite of his reluctance to get involved, he escorts Sophia to her godmother's house in Islington. But for the difficult and rebellious Sophia her troubles have barely begun. Her evil Aunt Harriet is bent on revenge and Sir Paul is determined to have his own way.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Sariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts out with a normal historical romance dilemna - a heiress running away from her wedding and a hero relucant (yet immured to his duty) to help the beautiful girl. While it was obvious to the reader the eventual ending, this knowledge did not detract from the plot. In fact it sparked my interest to read the different maneuvers the hero and heroine would face in the pursue of "true love".
I did find it amusing and relaxing to read like the other 3 Shirley Smith romances I have enjoyed.
If you had asked me to rate this book before the last 20 pages or so, I would have rated it 41/2 stars. Yet towards the end, for some unknown reason, the author decided to use 2 of the endings of Georgette Heyer books to resolve the issues. Using paragraphs almost similiar to the ending of "The Black Sheep" and "Lady of Quality" the hero sees the heroine in her sickbed and then kidnaps her to marry her.
This is a disappointment Shirley Smith --- you have done better!!