Recent Reads {Falling In Love Again}

Falling in Love Again by Marie Higgins - Once again, the mention of a pirate tempted me to read a book I may not have noticed otherwise. This is actually the second in a trilogy of Colonial Romances by Marie Higgins, but was certainly able to stand alone as well, since I had not read the first installment.

The story is about a pirate turned highwayman that is trying to uncover secrets from the Royal Navy. Marcus Thorne lives a double life, going back and forth between his shipping business in New York and leading his gang of highwaymen. As the story opens, his gang has taken a group of travelers prisoner, including Isabelle Stanhope. Marcus recognizes her as the daughter of an enemy and decides to exact his revenge through her. Some Stockholm Syndrome thing happens, and the two begin falling in love - after she has tried to kill him, no less! Isabelle even determines to win the highwayman because she prefers hopes to marry him rather than the suitor her father had planned for her. Happy ever after is interrupted when Marcus suspects that Isabelle is actually a spy.

In the next twist, Marcus finds himself pretending to be his recently deceased twin brother, hoping to uncover the identity of spies and his brother's connection to the Royal Navy. In so doing, he also finds that it was his brother who was Isabelle's betrothed. He goes through with the marriage, hoping that Isabelle doesn't recognize him through his disguises - at least until after he has found the spies. And won her love.

Overall, this was fairly enjoyable light reading, even though the writing isn't of the highest quality, and the plot had elements that stretched credulity, and that didn't quite make sense. Marcus's motives in trying to find out who is spying are unclear, the only explanation being given is that it somehow is tied to his desire for revenge against his father. The secret plot is never explained at all. The undercurrent of what would become the American Revolution is used vaguely as a backdrop for the romantic storyline, but to be honest it took me until almost halfway through before I was clear that the author intended this to take place somewhere in the colony of New York in the mid-1700s. The highwayman aspect of the story read more like Marcus was a stagecoach robber in the Old West, despite frequent references to his past as a pirate and to the Royal Navy. The cover art is also misleading, as the young lady in the picture is certainly not dressed in colonial style! I did find that the editing errors increased in the last third or so of the book, with incorrect word usages (except rather than expect, etc), grammatical errors, and awkward sentences. Some of these I can attribute to formatting errors rather than poor writing or editing, but certainly not all. 

In summary, this is a relatively clean and slightly fluffy romance, with interesting plot twists; but be willing to ignore inconsistencies in the details of the plot and setting.

(Book #17 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/