Simon St Bride is planning to return home to England from Canada along with evidence of wrongdoing in Indian affairs by some British officials. He becomes entangled in a duel that goes wrong and he is forced to marry the niece of a friend. Jane has had a crush on Simon since she met him, but is living a life of lies; she's not who she says she is. Rather than confess she marries him anyway, somehow reasoning that she'll tell him the truth when they reach England and everything will work out. Of course, they fall in love along the way.
I was never quite sure why Simon fell in love with Jane. She's kind of whiney and a liar. I thought Simon deserved someone better. I did enjoy the Canada setting and reading about some of the other Rogues. ( )

I have been a fan of Beverley for ages...but I couldn't finish this book.

What bothered me was a disconnect in the kind of relationship being portrayed and the way that Beverley wrote about it. Simon St. Bride and Jane Otterburn are forced to marry; they have had a cordial relationship but no more. Both appear to be pretty mature, self-controlled people; willing to make the best of their circumstances. The romance that follows is therefore, by necessity, of the slow but steady kind; they learn to trust one another, they learn to love one another. A lot of the bonding occurs, for example, while they are clearing out the house of Jane's deceased uncle, or suffering through a long sea voyage.

What really bugged me were the moments where really extreme, dramatic emotions were inserted into this fairly quiet plot - when Simon said something about a "thunderbolt" revealing his love for Jane I kind of gave up on the book. It is just not a thunderbolt. Really awkward insertions of sexual heat hit me the same way.

I didn't like Beverley's last book (Shattered Rose) either; I hope she isn't heading downhill. ( )

Perfectly good, but not exciting. The characters were interesting and well-presented, the situation was interesting - a clever way to force a marriage. Jancy's great secrets annoyed me, mostly - if she didn't care about him or believed he didn't care about her, she'd have reason to keep quiet, but as it was she should have told him much earlier. And she got off way too easily. The blackmail attempt was almost funny - blackmail him right back! The one wrong note was Simon's father's reaction to his offer - crying just seems out of character for him and in that situation. Whatever. Not bad but it didn't catch me. I'll look for others by her, though - another story may ring the right bells and she certainly can write. ( )

This book started out really well with an interesting plot/premise but didn't carry through as well as I would have hoped. It was still very entertaining, but the abrupt ending, seemed to be forced rather than really thought through. ( )

Simon St. Bride has been in Canada fighting the War of 1812--but the war is over now, and Simon is ready to come home. Before he leaves, however, Simon must defend a young woman's honor. What does her past hide?