"Love the story, but where are her traditional footnotes?"

April 1888, Helena, Montana: Giuseppina (Jo) Attenborough is meeting her father, Jon Hazard Black, for the first time. Hazard and his wife Blaze are surprised to find his old paramour, Lucy, on his doorstep with a young woman with a remarkable resemblance to Hazard. They agree to pay off Lucy debts and provide her with a comfortable living and welcome their new daughter into their social circle. Jo meets Flynn Ito, a tough and wealthy Irish Japanese landowner, while attending a party with her new family. They are immediately attracted and start of illicit affair. When Flynn is called back to his ranch because of murderous attacks from his neighbours, Jo follows him. Will their attraction survive the clash of cattle barons and their own independent natures?

Three cheers! It was wonderful to visit with classic Susan Johnson favourite characters from BLAZE (Hazard & Blaze), BRAZEN (Kit), and FORBIDDEN (Daisy). However, I did miss her trademark footnotes, which always add dimensions to her historicals. I also would have liked to have more background on how Jo could possibly have been trained and worked as an engineer in Italy, but her career was used more as a characterization of her strong independent streak. Flynn is an exotic and outrageous treat. For Susan Johnson fans, FORCE OF NATURE should be an auto buy.

Sexual Content: I'm a real fan of Susan Johnson's frequent and explicit sexual gymnastics. She explains Flynn's remarkable staying power with his samurai training, so I would have LOVED more footnotes about their training techniques.

Reviewed by Karen Williston for Sensual Romance.

Reviewed by Sensual Romance
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted March 22, 2003