Review: My Favorite Book by Regan Walker!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 26, 2014
Here’s a book that will keep you up all night, wondering what happens next! I’ve been reading romance for decades and back in the 70s and 80s, cut my teeth on works by early romance novelists such as Laura London, Rosemary Rogers, and Beatrice Small. These were writers whose stories were rich, sweeping, memorable tales that really took a reader to a time and place which is long-gone and forever romanticized. Today, with publishers being reluctant to publish anything in settings other than the “tried and true,” about the only place one can “escape” to in historical romance is Regency England, Scotland, or maybe the Wild West, so one can imagine how excited I was when I learned that Regan Walker had penned my favorite kind of story: a sea romance!WIND RAVEN, sporting Ms. Walker’s meticulous research and keen attention to detail, is set in the early 19th century between English sea captain Nick Powell and tomboyish American Tara McConnell. Tara, who needs to return to Baltimore to see to her sick father after visiting her aunt in London, has no intention of marrying an Englishman, and certainly not the maddeningly domineering, authoritative, and irritating one who commands the schooner on which she’s about to set sail. Likewise, Nick is not in the market for a wife; he’s got orders from the Prince Regent to set sail for the West Indies to spy on and gather intelligence about (real life) pirate Roberto Cofresi.  The last thing he wants is a woman on board, and the last thing he needs is that woman showing seafaring skills equal to any in his crew . . . and causing his reluctant admiration for her to eventually grow to love.I greatly enjoyed this book. There are not many seafaring romances published anymore, and the ones that are are dreadfully lacking in authenticity, with the ship and mariner’s world a mere stage on which to base the story. As a sailboat owner and historic ship aficionado, I must say that Ms. Walker’s thoughtful, careful attention to detail and research made this one of the few seafaring romances I've ever read that felt authentic to me, and it was a real delight to read this and not get thrown of the story by poor research and unlikely events. I’ve read several of Ms. Walker’s works, and this one is by far my favorite; I hope she continues to set books on the sea, and look forward to reading them!