Review: Intense, enjoyable read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 22, 2013
Jo is one of my favorite authors and this book lives up to some of her best works. Justina is intent on revenge for Lucky Jack, her dead fiancee's commanding officer and the only man to survive the ambush that killed her fiancee during the war. Instead of the black-hearted traitor that she has imagined, she meets a flesh-and-blood, likable man who is scarred both physically and mentally from his war experiences. He recognizes her eventually from a miniature portrait that her financee used to carry and asks her to marry him point blank, understanding that part of her heart will always belong to the dead financee. There is a love-making scene though not particularly graphic.  I enjoyed this novella. The only thing that made it less than 5 stars for me was that Justina's intensity and determination to hold onto her hatred of a man just because he survived when her fiancee didn't seemed unrealistic, particularly when her fiancee had written about Jack and considered him a close friend.