Product Description

When her eccentric naturalist father dies on the upper reaches of the Amazon, young Lady Tess Collier sets out to follow his last wishes: return to England and marry well. But Tess, who had accompanied her father on his expeditions since childhood, is as unconventional as she is beautiful.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #389674 in Books
• Published on: 1986-04-01
• Released on: 1986-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
When her eccentric naturalist father dies on the upper reaches of the Amazon, young Lady Tess Collier sets out to follow his last wishes: return to England and marry well. But Tess, who had accompanied her father on his expeditions since childhood, is as unconventional as she is beautiful. She falls in love with Gryphon Meridon, a sometime privateer and blockade runner who is afflicted with a serious lack of selfworth that stems from a childhood tragedy. Although he and Tess share one rapturous kiss, he believes himself unworthy of her. Tess then turns to Stephen Eliot, who has more than enough skeletons rattling around the closets of his estate. Gryphon eventually returns to save Tess from Stephen. And once Gryphon sheds his neurosesalong with his clothesthis book proves most satisfying.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Laura Kinsale is a winner and multiple nominee for the Best Book of the Year award given by the Romance Writers of America. She became a romance writer after six years as a geologist -- a career which consisted of getting out of bed in the middle of the night and driving hundreds of miles alone across west Texas to sit at drilling rigs, wear a hard hat, and attempt to boss around oil-covered males considerably larger than herself. This, she decided, was pushing her luck. So she gave all that up to sit in a chair and stare into space for long periods of time, attempting to figure out What-Happens-Next. She and her husband David currently divide their time between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Texas.

Customer Reviews

Not a good book
Sadly, I have to agree with some of the negative reviews about this book. One of my biggest pet peeves is Big Misunderstanding in a book. It's even more irritating because the Big Mis leads to long separation and a deep emotional scar to both Hero and Heroine. Had I known this from the beginning I definitely wouldn't have picked up this book. To think that all of this could have been prevented by a simple dialog between Hero and Heroine. Grrr..!!Add to that the hero's treatment to Heroine that really leaves me cold. Throughout the book, I can't see a single reason for the heroine to fall in love so deeply with the hero. When the book finally comes to an end (a rather simplified ending considering what they've been through), instead of the satisfied feeling I normally get after reading a happy ending in a romance novel, I feel sorry for the heroine for always being the one who gives and gives and gives in their relationship. Not a happy ending in my book.

Try it, I think you'll like it.
I wasn't entirely sure that I would like this book. I picked it up on the strength of the authors name, and like every other Kinsale book I've read- it didn't dissapoint.

As a first work there are some minor pacing issues and a lot more torturing of the tortured hero than is typically accepted... but I give full props for characterization and plot. Even as I say this is not her best work- It is still stronger, by far, than the VAST majority of authors out there, and could easily be the crowning achievement of a lesser author. It is only in comparison to some of her later works, in particular Petals from the Storm (Which I highly recommend.), that this novel drops even one star.

It's not often that I read a scene in a book that grips me right in the heart and makes me absolutly understand a character that is so far removed from my own life. This book was peppered with them. Scenes that made me smile a little smile as I fell head over heals in love with the characters through thier own eyes, and capped with a scene in the end (with the parrot, you'll know which one when you read it) that moved me sufficiently to actually come here and sing the books praises.

Thier happily ever after is a long time coming, and the wait is fustrating... but it is all the more real and heartwrenching when it happens. It's not a light read, and shouldn't be read if you're looking for a lark of a story (Julia Quinn is great for books on a lark) curl up in a cozy chair for a few hours with a box of chocolates and let yourself get involved.

Highly recommended. If you think the plot is a bit out of your field of interest- give it 2 chapters in the bookstore- you'll be hooked.

Note to Tormented Hero: get counseling.
It's one thing to protect your feelings, Tormented Hero. But when you protect yourself by tormenting your lover, you're not a hero anymore. You're just a jerk.

A sexy one, though, and worth saving. But frankly, some of the "hero's" actions were so cruel I couldn't finsih reading those scenes. I don't mind a few tears and a touch of anguish, but the payoff had better be worth it and in this case, I thought our boy deserved to be made to grovel a bit before all was forgiven.

A likeable heroine and exotic settings including the Amazon and Tahiti set this book apart from most English historicals. There's a lot to enjoy, but keep in mind that the Sustained Anguish Quotient is a 9 out of a possible 10. (Only Julia Ross and Meagan McKinney have achieved Sustained Anguish Quotients of 10, for which the only known outpatient cure is a pint of Haagen Das Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream.