"Emotional Reconciliation Historical Romance"

Susan Kerslake, the housekeeper at Crag Wyvern, is content with her lot in life. A spinster at twenty-six, she's known love and destroyed it. Now her goal is to keep her brother and the village below Crag Wyvern safe as they continue the time-honored tradition of smuggling. With enemies on all sides, both other smuggling gangs and officers of the law intent on arresting the offenders, it's not an easy job. Her one hope is in the gold, rightfully the property of the smuggler's gang anyway, that lies hidden somewhere in the cliffside fortress.

Things become more difficult, and not only in terms of logistics, when the new Earl of Wyvern arrives without warning. George Con Somerford, who hasn't been to the Crag since that idyllic childhood summer when he took her heart and dashed all her childish dreams. And now Con is back, older, more mature, and still as dashing and attractive as ever.

Susan knows that they cannot have a real relationship. Honor ties Con to another woman and Susan has secrets of her own. But days slip by and familiarity steals over them both with its seductive ways. Is it possible that they could have a second chance?

THE DRAGON'S BRIDE, a historical romance novel, is part of two of Ms. Beverley's series —- it touches both the Company of Rogues and the Georges books. It is completely readable on its own, though those familiar with the Rogues and Georges may get an extra kick out of the recurring characters.

Using the familiar themes of childhood romance gone wrong and heroine protecting her family, Beverley weaves a tale that is emotionally powerful and breathtakingly different. We have a war-torn hero, a blighted estate, smuggling, lost gold, lost heirs and lost lovers, all combined beautifully. Some readers may be a bit put off by the description of the hero and heroine's (consummated) childhood love at the tender, mutual age of fifteen, but those details are memories, not flashbacks. Unlike the usual revenge for slighted love, both the hero and heroine are aware of their still-powerful attraction, and also aware that their lives have changed. Complications keep them apart and are resolved in a brilliantly emotional climax -— complications of a kind that cannot be solved by talking, as both characters are very prompt at discussing their relationship and why it cannot work. There are sexual encounters that are emotionally pleasing and well written. Sensually satisfying and delightfully different, THE DRAGON'S BRIDE is a top-notch historical romance that shows just how Ms. Beverley earned her place in the genre.

Reviewed by Ann Leveille
Courtesy Sensual Romance Reviews
Posted May 31, 2004