The Lost Heiress of Hawkscliffe

by Joyce C. Ware

Katherine Mackenzie agreed to catalogue the Ramsay oriental rug collection before she realized the drama playing out in the famous painter's mansion. Ramsay's heir, his exotic mistress Roxelana, had been missing for seven years and was about to be declared legally dead. Katherine wanted no part of the intrigue--until she noticed that in Roxelana's portrait, the beauty was wearing the same ring that Katherine had inherited.

Genres: Gothic, Romance, Historical Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

About the author

Hello! My name is Joyce Ware aka Joyce C. Ware.

I just published my first Middle Grades novel as a Kindle eBook. The Dragon Whisperer is a here-and-now story about a boy, a girl and a dragon known as Gwork. The cover is amazing! Take a look at the creepiest little dragon you ever saw, and email me at jware8424@charter.net for the artist's name.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember. The first pieces I had published were articles on travel and camping for a variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times. I made my first foray into book length fiction with, a Gothic novel titled The Lost Heiress of Hawkscliffe. It was accepted by Kensington-Zebra, which published five more of my genre novels, four of which are available as Kindle ebooks by Joyce C. Ware

My interest in oriental rugs inspired me to do research about their care and repair, which I incorporated in a proposal for a book aimed at beginning collectors. To my pleased surprise, this guide, published by Random House, was well received by oriental rug collectors, dealers and scholars and led to contracts for two more updated editions, the last of which was published in 2004.

The publishing business, which has changed enormously in the last ten years, has seen many well-established writers come and go. Writing for commercial publication is an unwise choice for the thin-skinned: the first rejections brought tears, but now I greet them with a shrug and wry smile. Fortunately, the advent of ebooks keeps my fingers tapping and the brain cells percolating. I hope to publish a sequel to The Dragon Whisperer--The Dragon Seekers--in 2012.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm being generous rating this a 3 and that's for Thorn, he was what kept me reading. This was the second gothic I've read by this woman and I did not like either of them, at all. It was also one of the last Zebra gothics I had in my collection for a while that I hadn't read, turns out there was good reason for that. This was only slightly saved due to Thorn's character, he made the book by being charismatic and witty. The heroine Katherine is insufferable for most of the book which I knew she would be from the start since I could tell she was a "men bad, woe is women" type of heroine which is quite possible the least likable heroines of all and also not accurate to the time period. This was confirmed correct when she called domesticity "imprisonment" and "chains"............yea the writing to this entire book gave off such a bitter feminist vibe, so I looked up the author assuming to find that and yet she's lived a good life, was widowed twice meaning both her husbands died prematurely and she has a son so why on earth she's so bitter towards men I'll never know. Going with that theme too all the women in it in general were horrible and of course this is blamed on men, when women make bad decisions that lead to bad outcomes it's not their own fault but men's I guess? right *rolls eyes*. So not one likeable female character among the lot of them. The heroine also just thought she knew everything and always wanted to be right, she needed to just chill. I think Thorn could have done better. So if I had my way I would rate it 1 star lol but I managed to read it till the end due to my like of Thorn so I gave it a 2.5 to 3. There also was a cringe scene in this at the end which I don't usually find scenes cringe in these books but when she goes into his bedroom wearing the dead tramps jewellery/clothing and does some seductive dance lol I'm sorry but I found it cringe. There was also not much happening in this book, it was more about rugs if anything and I can't say I am especially interested in rugs.