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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL, TENDER AND ROMANTIC LOVE STORY *** SIGH ***, October 7, 2008
This review is from: His Captive Lady (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
It is without a doubt that Anne Grazie has to be one of the most amazingly talented romance writers today, able to create novels brimming with heart wrenching emotion, humor and tenderness and characters that revolve around the human spirit.
With HIS CAPTIVE LADY - she has done just that.
While traveling to see an old dilapidated estate for sale, Harry Morant spies a woebegone and thoroughly soaked woman sitting at the back of a cart. One look at her soulful and beguilingly griefstricken gaze and he is lost. He removes his hat and gloves, hands them to her for protection against the elements and rides off.
Lady Helen Freymore (Nell) is a fallen woman returning home. She has lost everything - her self respect, her virtue, the child she has given birth to illegitimately and now her father is dead as well. On a quest to return to London to look for her lost infant, a stranger's unexpected kindness gives her hope in her otherwise hopeless world.
Upon arrival at her home - she realizes that the stranger on the road, Harry Morant is now the new owner. He has purchased her father's crumbling estate with hopes of starting his stud farm and breed priced race-horses.
When Harry sees Nell in the stables, as she is helping her mare birth a foal, he is instantly captivated - as he realizes that "Lady Nell Fraymore" was the bedraggled, wet waif at the back of the cart in the forest. Harry impulsively proposes marriage to the destitute Nell - he already feels a powerful attraction to her and an inexplicable need to protect her.
What follows is the start to a really beautiful, tender and powerful love story. The circumstances that have befallen Nell will bring tears to your heart for her plight and anguish over her lost child. Not to mention the cruel and heartless childhood that Harry has suffered. How he has retained any semblance of kindness after such an abusive childhood is amazing. These two souls come together under amazing circumstances, each starved for affection in their own way. Being a bastard, Harry has received scorn and rejection all his life and feels that someone as lovely as Nell will never care for him. Nell has fallen instantly in love with the caring, noble and wonderfully tender Harry, but feels that her plight will never allow him to love her.
You will laugh, cry and cheer at their story. Anne Gracie's novels are powerful, moving and beautifully written. If you liked HIS CAPTIVE LADY - check out "GALLANT WAIF" and "AN HONORABLE THIEF" and "THE PERFECT WALTZ" - they are my favorites!
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet and Endearing Romance (B+ Grade), September 2, 2008
This review is from: His Captive Lady (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
Anne Gracie's His Captive Lady was such a wonderful read! This is about a young woman who must find her missing baby stolen by her father. Helen Freymore reminded me so much of Tess Durbeyfield from the Thomas Hardy classic, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Poor Helen has been through so much. Not only was she raped by a former associate of her father's, but her infant daughter, who she loves more than her own life, is taken away from the one person she always looked up to. Now with her father dead and gone and her home auctioned away because of his debt, Helen has a choice to either give into despair or rise above it all, find work and continue looking for her missing daughter.
The first time Harry Morant notices Helen, he thinks of her as a, "drowning Madonna" because Helen is stuck in the rain looking up at the sky in awe. From the moment on, Harry decides to help Helen in any way he can even though she doesn't want his help. Harry falls hard for the somewhat naïve yet tenacious Helen. Harry wants to marry her, to take care of her and make sure there is no more sadness or tears in her eyes. For some reason that Harry cannot understand, Helen won't let him help her. She thinks she is not good enough for Harry because of what has happened to her. Why would a man like Harry want a damaged woman with an illegitimate daughter like herself when he can have any woman he wants?
Harry is able to bring Helen around to his way of thinking, mainly by kissing her into submission. And when Helen finally tells Harry what she has been through, Harry rises in my opinion as one of my favorite heroes this year. Harry is a simple man, with simple needs. When he sees Helen, he can't get her out of his mind. She may not be, "beautiful, nor voluptuously built, and she certainly employs no arts to attract. But he couldn't take his eyes off of her." I love when the hero falls for the heroine just because he finds something special about her to him. She is not a raving beauty or is intelligent to the point she can give the hero a good argument. Helen is the complete opposite of most heroines I have read lately. When first introduced to Helen I found her a bit off, perhaps a bit slow in her thinking. But instead, I see her as a fragile little bird, much like a sparrow who may not survive in the worst of situations but is still strong enough not to succumb to defeat. Helen certainly doesn't succumb to the odds against her and once Harry is in her corner, things begin to look up.
Anne Gracie builds up sexual tension quite well between this couple, because sex is not a quick answer, especially because of what has happened to Helen. Harry is understanding and so very noble. He is a tad tortured in his thinking because he doesn't think he deserves love, but when Helen admits her love for him without one word from him in return, those love scenes almost brought a tear to my eye. His Captive Lady is sweet, endearing and an overall lovely read. If there is one historical romance you read this fall season, it should be His Captive Lady.
Katiebabs
The Stolen Princess (Devil Rides Series)
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, April 10, 2009
This review is from: His Captive Lady (Berkley Sensation) (Mass Market Paperback)
I loved the hero, and the heroine. Her story was so sad :( I loved the way he helped her to find her baby. And even though for a time I had a feeling that she was only with him because she was grateful and because he could help her, later on I could really see her feelings for him grow. And I loved her sleep walking and the way he tried to protect her. And I loved his respect for her. He was such a great hero! Tender, understanding, helpful, passionate, determined... I loved him! And the way he helped her get over her past and the terrible experience she had. I could really see her grow and become stronger. And I could see them falling in love. That is exactly what I want from romance novels.
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