Briar Rose
In nineteenth-century Ireland, Rhiannon Fitzgerald has a gift for healing. When she stumbles upon an injured English officer, she unhesitatingly takes him to her Gypsy caravan to heal him. But Captain Lionel Redmayne's wounds are more than skin deep; his very spirit is heavily scarred from a childhood spent under the control of his twisted grandfather. Rhiannon, who has an affinity for almost everyone she meets, falls in love with the wounded captain and vows to teach him how to love. At first Lionel resists--after all, he's never gotten close to anyone before--but finally he lets her into his heart. Then, when Rhiannon meets Lionel's grandfather face to face, she realizes that he is the man responsible for her father's ruin, and that he is now trying to use her as a pawn to trap and destroy Lionel. Cates' writing is luxurious and introspective, the kind of writing that one can curl up with and get lost in.Ann Bouricius