SEIZE THE FIRE by Laura Kinsale

SEIZE THE FIRE
LAURA KINSALE
Historical Romance
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Sensuality Rating: Sexy
583 pages
ISBN # 978-1-4022-1396-0
$7.99
Print book – Available now

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

Olympia, Princess of Orleans is ready to start a revolution. She believes she can help the people of her homeland oust the current government, her uncle, a ruthless tyrant, who has chosen to marry Olympia off for his political gain. Olympia is having none of that, she's thought of the prefect plan to foil her uncle. And she's found a hero to help her.

Captain Sheridan Drake isn't heroic, he's lucky. Even when he's doing his best to tarnish his reputation, he still ends up the hero. No matter what he does, he comes out smelling like a rose. When the princess asks for his help, he jumps at the chance, not to help her, but to take advantage of her. He's in a tremendous amount of debt, and figures he's found a plumb pigeon ready to be plucked.

Things do not go as planned for either of them. Olympia discovers that planning a revolt and being in one are two completely different concepts. When she finally learns her hero is a thieving scoundrel, she is forced to face reality and try to save herself. Is there any possible redemption for Sheridan? How can two people with such different personalities, find any common ground to base a relationship on?

I was so excited to finally find a historical romance that moved away from Great Britain and into more exotic locales. But, when I began this book I was a bit daunted by the size, it's been a long time since I've read an epic saga of any kind.

It didn't help that I was a bit disgusted by both Olympia and Sheridan for about the first quarter of the book. Olympia was a princess. She was spoiled, idealistic, and very naive in the matters of politics and the world in general, which she was so sure she could take over. Also, the gushing infatuation she felt for Sheridan was nauseating. Sheridan on the other hand, was a penniless knave, whose main concern was himself. He rarely did anything that did not benefit him.

When Olympia was rudely introduced to the reality of life, things seemed to finally pick up and get rolling. I soon found myself unable to put this book down! Soon I had an interesting heroine, who was spirited, independent and finally was not going to put up with being taken advantage of again. Sheridan turned around and truly decided to be a better person. As their mutual attraction became harder to avoid, I greatly anticipated them falling in love and wanting a future together. The danger that surrounded them kept the story hopping. I felt myself so emotionally entwined in the book that on more than one occasion I felt tears burning my eyes. The love they felt for each other and the trials they went through to get to their happily ever after made this a worthy read.

I can't wait for her new book LESSONS IN FRENCH coming out in February 2010.

Laura Kinsale is a New York Times Best-selling author. You can learn more about her http://www.laurakinsale.com/.


Aemelia
Enchanting Reviews
September 2009