THE BASTARD – Brenda Novak
Amazon Digital Services, Kindle Edition
ASIN: B005Z4ZX94
November 2011
Historical Romance

Cornwall, England, 1794

French Count Lumfere, his wife, daughter, and son made it out of France ahead of the revolutionaries with little but their lives. They took refuge with an English cousin, Lord Darby, who arranged an advantageous marriage for eighteen year-old Jeannette.

Baron St. Ives is far from the stuff a young woman's dreams are made of, but Jeannette agrees to the union for her family's sake. But after the ceremony, she learns from her brother of St. Ives's nefarious plans for the wedding night. She's horrified! She sees only one recourse…escape. The chase is on! St, Ives is not one to let go of what is his.

Cold and hungry, Jeanette manages to get to the port of Plymouth and a tavern where she hears some sailors talking about sailing to London on the morrow. Desperate, she waits her chance and steals a sailor's clothes. After meeting and escaping Lieutenant Crawford Treynor in the dark, she gets away from the tavern, cuts her hair and joins the short-handed crew of the Tempest as a thirteen-year-old boy.

Treynor's aristocratic mother gave him to a poor farmer to raise when her husband returned from America too late for her to pass the child off as his. The man was brutal, so the boy ran away to sea. Through hard work and diligence, Treynor has risen to become third in command of the Tempest . When he meets “Jean Vicard” on the docks, he doesn't recognize the woman from the tavern.

Jeannette has no idea what trials she will face on the “two-day” sail to London . Neither does Treynor nor anyone else, though he is soon told that instead of making for London , they are to join other ships of the Royal Navy in a blockade of the French coast.

THE BASTARD is a romance after all, so eventually the hero must learn the boy is a woman, and a beautiful, fiery one at that. An intense relationship develops between these two. In spite of her innocence, Jeannette recognizes she's attracted to Treynor. More than a little bit bitter toward women, Treynor is sorely tempted by Jeanette, but he's more of a gentleman than many born to that state. Her maidenhead must remain unbreached if she ever has a chance to have the marriage annulled. Understandingly, this results in frustrating sexual tension.

THE BASTARD, however, is more than a romance. It's an exciting adventure novel full of human hardship and danger. Minor characters are plenty, some likable, some definitely not (especially so the first lieutenant), but all are realistically portrayed. The suspense and conflict in the plot crescendo throughout until the spectacular climax and sweet ending.

Don't miss this highly entertaining second historical romance from a masterful author of contemporary romantic suspense.

Jane Bowers