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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exotic love story rich with danger and passion, May 3, 2001
Ross Carlisle, cousin of Sara and best friend of Mikhal from Silk and Shadows, seemed the perfect choice for a sequel to that book. Why was he still single in his thirties? Who was the perfect woman for him? Well, very early in this book, we discover that he is actually married and has been since he was 21. But his wife left him after six months of marriage and hasn't been seen since. Juliet, Ross's estranged wife, lives in the desert in the middle of Persia, having cut off all contact with her friends and family. But she accidentally encounters Ross when her brother's life is in danger and Ross agrees to try to save him. Long-dormant feelings for Ross emerge, and she cannot allow him to go into danger alone, so she insists on accompanying him into the most dangerous part of Asia to try to rescue Ian, her brother. On the journey, both Ross and Juliet discover that, however they may feel about each other, strong attraction still lurks between them. Can they somehow overcome the problems which caused Juliet to leave Ross, and the anger Ross still feels at her abandonment of him? As usual, Putney reveals painstaking research, but presented in such a way that we don't feel lectured at or anything of the kind. Without feeling in any way as if I've been taught, I now know an awful lot about Arab customs and how to survive in the desert! Besides that, she is as good as ever at portraying star-crossed lovers; some of the scenes with Ross and Juliet are fiercely poignant, while others are richly passionate. What loses this book one star for me is that the setting - the desert, and the thriller aspect of the plot - is not my favourite. It's very Anglo-centric of me, I know (as Ross says at one point in the book), but I prefer those books of Putney's which are set in England, and which are more romance than mystery/drama. Others will certainly disagree, and they'll appreciate Putney's skill in this book better than I will! Now to read Ian's story...
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High adventure and serious romance, August 9, 2000
Mary Jo Putney has produced a novel which combines several wonderful features. Set in an exotic locale and peopled with complex characters, this book would fall down under its own weight if Mary Jo Putney were not such a great writer. The minor characters are very well-drawn. The setting is evoked in a way that brings the heat right into your living room. The plot makes sense. The book is full of surprises that shimmer with absolute rightness once the shock wears off. However, these are only bonuses. The heart of this book (as in any romance novel) are the main characters. These are characters who knew each other in the past and are now separated by a series of tragic events. I know, that sounds trite, but these tragic events are so well-motivated and spring so securely out of the characters as we come to know them in this book, that they are absolutely believable. In this book, we are dealing with two complex people who have hurt each other and hurt themselves. Their adventure provides an arena for working out these problems and finding a way to go forward. The hero and the heroine are each profoundly changed by their adventure, and yet the change seems to make each one only more strongly himself or herself. This book stands up well to rereading. It's a keeper.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really 4 1/2 stars -- Romance and Adventure on the Silk Road, February 8, 2005
This review is from: Silk and Secrets (Paperback)
"Silk and Secrets" is the second book in Mary Jo Putney's Silk Trilogy, and I really would recommend reading the books in order. I say that because I did *not* (I read the third entry, "Veils of Silk", first.) Much of the plotline of "Silk and Secrets" is discussed in the final book, so the plot twists were really no surprise to me and this detracted slightly from my enjoyment of the story.
Lord Ross Carlisle (now the Marquess of Kilburn), the hero of "Silk and Secrets", was introduced in the first book of the trilogy ("Silk and Shadows") as Mikahl's best friend and Lady Sara's cousin. The younger son of a duke who has traveled extensively and written about his adventures, Ross is the epitome of upper-crust British manners and sangfroid. He is also fabulously handsome, intelligent, loyal, brave and amazingly even-tempered (in a word, pretty darn *perfect*.) At age 21, Ross had married the wild, unconventional 17 year old Scottish beauty, Juliet Cameron, against almost everyone's advice and six months later she abandoned him for reasons that Ross still does not understand.
After not seeing his wife for 12 years, Ross is reunited with her (ahem, by *chance*) in Persia when he is sent by her mother to discover the fate of Juliet's brother, Ian, a British army officer who has disappeared in Bokhara and is rumored to have been executed as a spy. Juliet is a great heroine--brave, adventurous, passionate and flawed. She is living in Persia in true Lady Hester Stanhope style--as the leader of a small fortress community. Juliet convinces Ross to take her along to find Ian and the two travel the Silk Road in disguise with a caravan to Bokhara. The dangerous trip is complicated by Ross and Juliet's simmering attraction to each other, Ross's feelings of anger and hurt over Juliet's past faithlessness and Juliet's crushing guilt over her past behavior.
Mary Jo Putney does an excellent job of developing the characters of Ross and Juliet--strong, adventurous, passionate people who are still beset by insecurities and whose imperfections make them more realistic. I have to say that I loved the fact that Ross had never gotten over Juliet in *12 years*--that's true love! The story is jam-packed with adventure, although I could have done without having every event described through first Ross then Juliet's point-of-view. I enjoyed the unusual setting and, as usual, MJP fills the story with rich historical detail in a way that is mostly unobtrusive.
In summary, this is a very well-written historical romance with an exotic setting, a wonderful hero who is truly a *great guy* and a strong, unique heroine.
Highly recommended!
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