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In the epic conclusion of the author's Civil War saga, Tia McKenzie risks her life rescuing injured Rebel soldiers from Union camps, until she is captured by Union officer Taylor Douglas, who finds himself torn between duty and his growing feelings for the passionate and headstrong beauty. Original.
471 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
80 people are currently reading
622 people want to read
About the author
Heather Graham
583 books6,889 followersAlso published as Heather Graham Pozzessere and Shannon Drake.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Heather Graham majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write, working on short horror stories and romances. After some trial and error, she sold her first book, WHEN NEXT WE LOVE, in 1982 and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, romantic suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, and Christmas holiday fare. She wrote the launch books for the Dell's Ecstasy Supreme line, Silhouette's Shadows, and for Harlequin's mainstream fiction imprint, Mira Books.
Heather was a founding member of the Florida Romance Writers chapter of RWA and, since 1999, has hosted the Romantic Times Vampire Ball, with all revenues going directly to children's charity.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages, and to have been honored with awards frorn Waldenbooks. B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, and more. She has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including local television and Entertainment Tonight.
Heather loves travel and anything have to do with the water, and is a certitified scuba diver. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 9, 2021
I read this so many years ago that I can't remember enough to write a review, except that the history that the author inserts into the novels of this series, plus the fascinating characters make it an amazing series.
July 12, 2019
Ok, so this is one review for the whole saga.
The saga begins during the second Seminole war and ends at the end of the secession war. The first two books are about Jarrett (white american) and James his half brother who is half white (same father)/half Seminole. The four following books are focused on their children.
The McKenzies are a close knit family. Then secession war happens and though they are all staunchly against slavery they find themselves politically divided.
Heather Graham has a real talent to weave real History through her romances and each time she gave us both side of the story.
One of my favorite historical saga ever.
The saga begins during the second Seminole war and ends at the end of the secession war. The first two books are about Jarrett (white american) and James his half brother who is half white (same father)/half Seminole. The four following books are focused on their children.
The McKenzies are a close knit family. Then secession war happens and though they are all staunchly against slavery they find themselves politically divided.
Heather Graham has a real talent to weave real History through her romances and each time she gave us both side of the story.
One of my favorite historical saga ever.
February 20, 2008
Good Book but a little hard to follow with all the subplots going on. But still a good read
September 26, 2008
historical, passion, romance
June 23, 2010
This is the last book in the MacKenzie Series. This story is about Tia and Taylor, but it also wraps up Brent, Sydney and Jennifer's story. A great insight to the Civil War.
4.8 on a 5.0 scale
4.8 on a 5.0 scale
August 14, 2023
This review is for the entire series.
Heather Graham is an incredible storyteller and her Florida Civil War series of six books is riveting, full of passion and rich historical details.
The first two books, Runaway and Captive, take place during the Seminole Wars, mid 1830s and the heroes are two brothers, Jarrett and James McKenzie who has a Seminole mother. Both wealthy landowners. Jarrett wins Tara, the heroine, in a poker game in New Orleans.
The rest of the series is about four of their adult children and is set during the Civil War. All the romances mirror the intensity and battles of these wars… they are enemies to lovers… especially during the Civil War books when the McKenzies are divided in loyalty … Union or the South.
This series has much more historical detail compared to Graham’s earlier series about the Camerons… Florida is her home state and was the breadbasket of the Confederacy. At times the actual romances are almost a backstory .., in one book they hero and heroine only meet sporadically until the end, as the battles in the North raged around them. There’s plenty of blood and gore, tragedy, high stakes adventures, all surrounding sex scenes full of slightly purple prose. The state of Florida plays a starring role along with the splendid McKenzie clan who all appear in the final book as the author ties all the loose ends together.
Recommend if you’re interested in reading HRs heavy on history and lighter on the number of pages for romance. Yes, I loved the series!
Heather Graham is an incredible storyteller and her Florida Civil War series of six books is riveting, full of passion and rich historical details.
The first two books, Runaway and Captive, take place during the Seminole Wars, mid 1830s and the heroes are two brothers, Jarrett and James McKenzie who has a Seminole mother. Both wealthy landowners. Jarrett wins Tara, the heroine, in a poker game in New Orleans.
The rest of the series is about four of their adult children and is set during the Civil War. All the romances mirror the intensity and battles of these wars… they are enemies to lovers… especially during the Civil War books when the McKenzies are divided in loyalty … Union or the South.
This series has much more historical detail compared to Graham’s earlier series about the Camerons… Florida is her home state and was the breadbasket of the Confederacy. At times the actual romances are almost a backstory .., in one book they hero and heroine only meet sporadically until the end, as the battles in the North raged around them. There’s plenty of blood and gore, tragedy, high stakes adventures, all surrounding sex scenes full of slightly purple prose. The state of Florida plays a starring role along with the splendid McKenzie clan who all appear in the final book as the author ties all the loose ends together.
Recommend if you’re interested in reading HRs heavy on history and lighter on the number of pages for romance. Yes, I loved the series!
October 27, 2018
Tia McKenzie is the daughter of Jarrett, and the Civil War is raging. Jarrett is trying to maintain neutrality at his Florida plantation although he's sympathetic to the North. His oldest son Ian is in the Northern calvary. His 2nd son Justin is a Confederate doctor in FL. Tia is helping his as a nurse. While leading a group of wounded Confederate soldiers to a safer location, she's found bathing in a river by FL native, cousin to her cousins, Taylor Douglas - a Yankee officer. Not knowing who the other is, they temporarily help each other. The next time they meet is at a prisoner negotiation at her father's home. The 3rd time Tia is again found without her clothes and Douglas marries her to keep her from prison. The war rages on and all of her cousins and siblings (from previous books) are brought into the story, find happiness with a spouse and the war concludes. Epilogue takes us 10 years after the war. Conclusion to the series. Great Civil War info. Some sex. Ties of LOTS of loose ends.
March 3, 2020
A family divided & A family reunited
Last but not least is God's story. What a challenge she is and what prize. Few men can contain vibrant spirit and passion, except for Taylor Douglas.The intensity of their battles mirrors in many respects the civil war. Set against the last 2 years of the civil war, the brutality of the carnage is unbelievable. Yet, through it all is the unbeatable McKenzie family.
As I read the epilogue, what struck me the most was even after 10-11 yes how young all the characters were. It is unimaginable even today, the display of courage and love. I almost never re-read a series of even a book.This series haunts me and that a second read will reveal a treasure.
So to Heather Graham and the Clan of McKenzie - bravo.
Last but not least is God's story. What a challenge she is and what prize. Few men can contain vibrant spirit and passion, except for Taylor Douglas.The intensity of their battles mirrors in many respects the civil war. Set against the last 2 years of the civil war, the brutality of the carnage is unbelievable. Yet, through it all is the unbeatable McKenzie family.
As I read the epilogue, what struck me the most was even after 10-11 yes how young all the characters were. It is unimaginable even today, the display of courage and love. I almost never re-read a series of even a book.This series haunts me and that a second read will reveal a treasure.
So to Heather Graham and the Clan of McKenzie - bravo.
November 4, 2022
Another great read
I am so sad. This us book six and the final book in the series. I have so enjoyed each and every book in this series and have learned so much about Florida history. I have lived in Broward County in Florida for over 60 years and didn't know half of its history. Thank you Heather Graham for the hours of enjoyment I have gotten from these books.
I am so sad. This us book six and the final book in the series. I have so enjoyed each and every book in this series and have learned so much about Florida history. I have lived in Broward County in Florida for over 60 years and didn't know half of its history. Thank you Heather Graham for the hours of enjoyment I have gotten from these books.
December 5, 2018
OMG!
I love this author. This is the last book of the series and it took my breath away! so passionate, so beautifully written story woven with the stories of the secondary characters... H and h were fantastic! and ending just... made me cry...
I love this author. This is the last book of the series and it took my breath away! so passionate, so beautifully written story woven with the stories of the secondary characters... H and h were fantastic! and ending just... made me cry...
November 4, 2018
Too long.. too many plots... not worth the read
March 18, 2021
Fantastic Series
Will definitely read this series again. Had lots of history about the Civil War and the people who were involved with it.
Will definitely read this series again. Had lots of history about the Civil War and the people who were involved with it.
November 4, 2023
Contexte historique intéressant mais livre très long avec énormément de personnages (un peu trop par moment)
February 24, 2012
The Civil War Saga Concludes with a Wonderfully Complex Tale
In a time when few have real families, when fathers are often no longer the patriarchs they once were, this story...this series...will speak to your heart and give you a vision of what family can mean.
This is the 6th and last in Graham's 19th century Old Florida's McKenzies series--romances that tell the stories of the men and women who shaped the great state of Florida from the Seminole Wars to the Civil War. Graham takes care to give us the history of the times (it's her home state after all!), as she weaves tales of love in the Eden that was early Florida.
Like the last three books (see list below), TRIUMPH involves a Yankee-Rebel pairing (more than one, actually with Sydney and Jesse who could have had their own book!), and takes place during the Civil War. The prologue begins in 1864, as Cimarron, Tia McKenzie's family home in Northern Florida, is under attack by Rebels. Lying on the ground, apparently wounded, the confirmed Rebel remembers what led her to that day; she remembers a year earlier when she was discovered naked at a creek by the Union Calvary officer, Taylor Douglas, the man she would come to love. Then we are immersed in the last years of the war and the terrible devastation it wrecked on the nation. At this point in the war, the South is reeling as the North tries to starve it. Florida becomes critical as the breadbasket of the Confederacy.
Graham had a lot of loose ends to tie up with the last installment so there are many lives intersecting. (You really don't want to start with this book.) I loved being a part of Jarret and James McKenzie's families. We get to see more of Jerome McKenzie's siblings, Sydney and Brent, who each find their loves. The last of Ian's siblings to wed is Tia. The writing is excellent and will keep you turning pages as Graham weaves a complex tale with many threads. I congratulate her on being able to bring them all together in the end. And I love that it ended at Cimarron...the family's headquarters. Every family should have one though in today's world it rarely happens.
On the negative side (and there isn't much): I thought there was a bit too much retelling of the great debate that led to the Civil War, the whole states' rights vs. slavery issue, presumably to make this a "stand alone" romance, but I really think you have to read these books in order. Then, too, you can skip the repetitive parts if they are too familiar. There was a fair amount of conflict between Tia and Taylor merely because the two failed to have a meaningful conversation. I know that happens a lot in romance novels but it seems a bit contrived. In real life they might have screamed at each other but they would have got the truth out. I did not understand why Sydney continued to be "friends" with the free black Sissy, who betrayed her, but I suppose it was essential to Sydney's becoming involved in the Underground Railroad. Frankly Sissy's diatribe got old. Poor Sydney couldn't get a brake. At one point I just wanted to slap her husband, Jesse Halston, when he ruined both her wedding night and her Christmas, all in one day because he (unfairly) mistrusted her. Lastly, as another reviewer noted, the epilogue seemed to get Tia and Taylor's children wrong, suggesting they had a girl after 4 boys when in fact their first child, Hope, was a girl.
While not quite as good as Graham's Cameron saga (6 books telling of the generations of Camerons, beginning with Sweet Savage Eden and concluding with a Civil War trilogy...see my reviews), I liked this series and recommend it.
The series in order:
RUNAWAY
CAPTIVE
REBEL
SURRENDER
GLORY
TRIUMPH
In a time when few have real families, when fathers are often no longer the patriarchs they once were, this story...this series...will speak to your heart and give you a vision of what family can mean.
This is the 6th and last in Graham's 19th century Old Florida's McKenzies series--romances that tell the stories of the men and women who shaped the great state of Florida from the Seminole Wars to the Civil War. Graham takes care to give us the history of the times (it's her home state after all!), as she weaves tales of love in the Eden that was early Florida.
Like the last three books (see list below), TRIUMPH involves a Yankee-Rebel pairing (more than one, actually with Sydney and Jesse who could have had their own book!), and takes place during the Civil War. The prologue begins in 1864, as Cimarron, Tia McKenzie's family home in Northern Florida, is under attack by Rebels. Lying on the ground, apparently wounded, the confirmed Rebel remembers what led her to that day; she remembers a year earlier when she was discovered naked at a creek by the Union Calvary officer, Taylor Douglas, the man she would come to love. Then we are immersed in the last years of the war and the terrible devastation it wrecked on the nation. At this point in the war, the South is reeling as the North tries to starve it. Florida becomes critical as the breadbasket of the Confederacy.
Graham had a lot of loose ends to tie up with the last installment so there are many lives intersecting. (You really don't want to start with this book.) I loved being a part of Jarret and James McKenzie's families. We get to see more of Jerome McKenzie's siblings, Sydney and Brent, who each find their loves. The last of Ian's siblings to wed is Tia. The writing is excellent and will keep you turning pages as Graham weaves a complex tale with many threads. I congratulate her on being able to bring them all together in the end. And I love that it ended at Cimarron...the family's headquarters. Every family should have one though in today's world it rarely happens.
On the negative side (and there isn't much): I thought there was a bit too much retelling of the great debate that led to the Civil War, the whole states' rights vs. slavery issue, presumably to make this a "stand alone" romance, but I really think you have to read these books in order. Then, too, you can skip the repetitive parts if they are too familiar. There was a fair amount of conflict between Tia and Taylor merely because the two failed to have a meaningful conversation. I know that happens a lot in romance novels but it seems a bit contrived. In real life they might have screamed at each other but they would have got the truth out. I did not understand why Sydney continued to be "friends" with the free black Sissy, who betrayed her, but I suppose it was essential to Sydney's becoming involved in the Underground Railroad. Frankly Sissy's diatribe got old. Poor Sydney couldn't get a brake. At one point I just wanted to slap her husband, Jesse Halston, when he ruined both her wedding night and her Christmas, all in one day because he (unfairly) mistrusted her. Lastly, as another reviewer noted, the epilogue seemed to get Tia and Taylor's children wrong, suggesting they had a girl after 4 boys when in fact their first child, Hope, was a girl.
While not quite as good as Graham's Cameron saga (6 books telling of the generations of Camerons, beginning with Sweet Savage Eden and concluding with a Civil War trilogy...see my reviews), I liked this series and recommend it.
The series in order:
RUNAWAY
CAPTIVE
REBEL
SURRENDER
GLORY
TRIUMPH
March 10, 2010
I enjoyed this book although it involve a lot of supporting characters related by marriage and or by cousins – some Yankees, some Rebels (some within the same family – hard to keep track of)...sometimes a little confusing. But after a couple of hundred pages you fell into the family and the wartime. It was a enjoyable, very historical with a little bit of romance.
November 8, 2014
I love those love-making descriptions. Well done. I hated to get to the end of the book, but where else could it go? All the McKenzies are married and the Civil War is over. Of course, there is another generation now . . . .
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews