Review: Another new HR writer to look out for.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2012
Wow!  The sexual attraction and tension in this is so thick you can cut it with a knife.  The romance is so satisfying it's worth reading the book just for that, but the plot is interesting too and skillfully presented.  It grabs your attention from the beginning:  Heroine Mazie Chetwyn is looking out the window of the room where she is being held prisoner and riding up the drive comes hero Lord Radford "as if the hounds of hell were slavering at his heels".He bursts into her prison room (which is in the garret of his own home) to learn from her what she knows about her supposed accomplice, the Midnight Rider, a bit of a Robin Hood who has been terrorizing the rich in this Nottinghamshire area.  From this first interaction the chemistry between H and h is quite something, visceral and palpable, and that's a feat many established HR authors can't get across.Well, Mazie has secrets, who she really is, what her relationship is to the Midnight Rider.  And Lord Radford has a mistaken view of all that has been going on in the area, since he has been spending all his time in London and relying on misinformation from his estate manager.We gradually learn Mazie's secrets, Radford gradually sees what conditions are really like in the area.  Mazie is still being kept prisoner (although in more guest-like conditions with Radford's sister as chaperone) but a courtship of sorts develops between H and h although neither one trusts the other.  Mazie stubbornly refuses to reveal any info about the Midnight Rider, so it's up to Radford to learn whatever he can on his own.The sexual tension!  Did I mention the sexual tension?  In addition, the realistic fall into love is well done.  All in all, this is a very good romance, the characters are well developed and have depth, and the story itself held my interest and never once did I want to skim or skip parts.  Even the love scenes were not as cliched and boring as I usually find them to be in most HRs.Radford's sister Cat has her story in a novella included inThree Weddings and a Murderbut I found it to be a bit flat and disappointing.  We'll find out more about the Midnight Rider (Roane) in a December 2012 novella and I hope that one will be more satisfactory.  This particular book about Mazie and Redford, BTW, is only available on Kindle at the moment and will be released in book form in February 2013.I do hope that LaValle will be releasing more stories that are book length.  She shows a good deal of promise as a writer and I prefer the longer story development in books to that of a novella.