Author: Loreen Augeri
Genre/Age: Historical Romance/Adult
Series: None
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Format: ebook via The Romance Reviews
Rating: ✺✺✺✺
Links: Goodreads
Synopsis: When Juliana Stevenson’s father dies under suspicious circumstances, her greedy uncle betroths her and her sister to vile men for his profit. They refuse to be part of his plan and flee, but her uncle hires an arrogant, demanding man to bring them back.
Needing money to care for his brother and sister and repair a manor in disrepair, Nicholas Blackstone agrees to find the women. He captures Juliana but not her sister and imprisons her in his manor until he can discover the whereabouts of her sibling.
Juliana’s body calls to Nicholas, but she can never be his — her life is already mapped out. Can they fight the passion pulling them together while her father's killer stalks them?
Nothing will stop them from escaping. Not even love?
Juliana has done everything in her power to save herself and her sister from being married off to husbands that neither of them want. One is much too old and the other is dangerous. To prevent the nuptials, the girls have fled their uncle's home with no intention of returning. It's too bad that there is someone on their trail. A man who intends to bring them back.
Nicholas needs the money that this job promises in order to restore his newly inherited home. The estate is in dire need of repairs. He also has a pair of younger siblings to support. Having served in the military for the past several years, he just isn't in the financial position to do anything without the help of this bounty. One that seems easy enough. Find two girls and return them home. How hard can it be?
He soon learns just how difficult his task will be. The two women will do anything it takes to stay out of their wicked uncle's clutches. If it means splitting up, so be it. And if Juliana has to risk her life to ensure her sister gets away, she will do it. Even her growing attraction to Nicholas isn't enough to stop her from trying to flee to keep her sister safe from harm.
Historical romances have really grown on me in the past year. I read them when I want a 'sure thing' because I've rarely found one I didn't enjoy. I picked this one to read and review because the idea of an abductor falling for his captive intrigued me. I sensed there would be an enemies-to-lovers sort of dynamic, filled with sexual tension. I'm happy that I was right.
We're thrown right into the middle of the action in the first chapter. There isn't a lot of backstory given at first but we soon catch up with little bits of information added as we go along. I liked this approach. It sucked me into the story and I flew through the first part of this book because of it.
I loved how calculating Juliana was. This is one smart cookie with balls of steel. She even surprised me by how resourceful and courageous she could be. I was immediately drawn to Nicholas too. He had a dominating trait that we see first off and then his softer side is shown, little by little, making me like him even more. He was a well-written hero to match our feisty heroine.
The romance was nicely done as well. The sexual tension was quick to form, leaving me glued to the pages. The emotions were slower to develop as our pair is caught in several situations that require them to work together. I loved watching them grow closer and begin to realize they made a really good team. The love scenes were full of spice and variety.
My only problem with this book was repetition. I'm not sure if you can blame it on the length of the book, since it was supposedly only 254 pages long, but the story hit a bit of a lull around 60-75%. It became a repeat of Juliana's failed attempts to flee and I started to grow tired of the story not really going anywhere. It did eventually pick up, but some people may not be as patient as I am to wait it out. Other than that, this was a pretty great read.
In closing...
It looks like Juliana's sister might get her own story? At least, that's the way it seems since there is some mystery surrounding her absence. I would definitely be up to reading her story. Four suns!
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