So Wild A Heart [Mass Market Paperback]

Candace Camp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2006

Generations ago, the Aincourt family was given a title and land for their loyalty to the king. But the former abbey they received came with a price -- a curse that no family member would ever know happiness.

Devin Aincourt, Earl of Ravenscar, makes no apologies for who he is -- a drinker, a womanizer, a gambler. Having been cast aside by his disapproving father years before, Dev is content to live out his cursed life in this hedonistic manner. Until his mother asks him to make a bold move to restore the family name and fortune: marry a rich American heiress. Believing it will be a marriage in name only, Dev agrees to marry Miranda. But he never imagined that this feisty, unconventional foreigner would have plans of her own: to restore Blackwater, the old abbey, to its former glory, to extricate Dev from the clutches of a devious mistress and to win his heart for her own. All while risking her own life to an unknown enemy.

For Dev and Miranda, love may be the most lasting curse of all.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The customs and concerns of the English aristocracy are brought to life in Camp's newest Regency-era romance (following No Other Love) between a disreputable earl and a strong-willed American heiress. To save his family home from ruin and repay his gambling debts, Devin Aincourt, the earl of Ravenscar, must marry into wealth. Unfortunately, his notorious womanizing, drinking and gambling have left him with few options among London's eligible ladies, and he's forced to debase himself by proposing to an American. Miranda Upshaw, the daughter of a wealthy fur trader, is not the homely, rustic woman Devin had feared, however. She's feisty, independent, business-minded and unimpressed by the English aristocracy. Her only interest lies in his family's estate, which she hopes to restore to its original glory. Although Miranda refuses Devin's offer at first, she eventually realizes that there are advantages to a marriage of convenience, especially one that is a platonic business arrangement. Inevitably, their relationship turns intimate, but first they must find out who is trying to kill Miranda. Camp's unconventional heroine and unlikely hero heat up the story with their steamy sexual chemistry and fiery banter, but it is their gradual and believable growth that makes this an exemplary read.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (January 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373771606
• ISBN-13: 978-0373771608
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Candace Camp IS HABIT FORMING, May 9, 2005

By 

Susan K. Edwards "SusieKE" (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: So Wild A Heart (Mass Market Paperback)

I have to admit I am someone who has their nose stuck in a book a good majority of the time ... I have read so many excellent authors over the years (I am proud to be a grandmother) however, for some odd reason I have missed reading Candace Camp ...I picked up So Wild a Heart with my last grouping of romance books and once I started it I didn't want to put it down ... it was darling! I was "caught" from the very beginning which is something I really like in a book. I didn't think I was going to like Dev to begin with, (which often makes it difficult to really enjoy a book) however, like everyone else I fell in love with this man who was taught that he had to hide his feelings to be a "real man" ... it was so nice when he started showing that a "real man" shows his feelings (speaks a wife who is still head-over-heels in love with her sensitive husband of 35 years). ... books like this are a dream come true ... Miranda is a woman much ahead of her time, which I personally enjoyed ... not just pretty face without a thought in her head, which so many of the women of that era are portrayed as (and sadder yet, they actually were). There is so much anticipation of happiness, mixed with the frustration (you would like to reach through the book and grab a couple of people by their necks ... no I am NOT a violent person!!!) ... and topped off with excitement of a love fulfilled ... and so much more ... Where this may have been my first Candace Camp book I am now 3/4 the way through the 3rd book of this trilogy "Secrets of the Heart" and I am finding it just as wonderful. As I am writing this I am thinking that the one thing that this book definitely has is the ability to make one want to keep turning the pages ... I couldn't put it down ... and I am going back to the bookstore to purchase more ... what an absolute joy from beginnng to end. I truly don't think this is a book you would be disappointed in reading.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a very unheroic "hero", April 30, 2007

By 

L. Hayes "[e-mail]" (Carriere, Mississippi United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: So Wild A Heart (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow, it was really very hard to like the "hero" of this book. He spent years and years mounting anything that didn't move in every hellhole in London and all of its slums, he was completely manipulated by his controlling mistress, he was a raging consumer of alcohol and deeply mired in self hatred. Could my heart beat any faster? Yes, I concede that Miranda made him change once he got away from his mistress, but that really just makes it worse for me. What that really boils down to is that this man can be manipulated by anyone. And, I know the author never calls him an alcoholic but really. You drink that much for that long ....

Anyway, Miranda was great. So very nice to see a determined woman who is not a petty, spiteful whiner. I adored her. But, I just couldn't get past Devin's past. And really, he must have picked up several STD's on his way through the scores of myriad women, not to mention those he contracted from his mistress who was even more flagrantly promiscuous. All in all, loved the heroine, couldn't get past the hero's past.

I know it is a romance novel and so I am supposed to suspend my belief in reality but there is a limit past which I just cannot return. This was a decent read, but I felt the need for a strong dose of penicillin when it was over.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SPOILER!, May 26, 2009

By 

Ruby Tuesday (St. Louis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So Wild A Heart (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book within 2 days, and was really enjoying it until the very end! The fact that Hero had a child with the Heroines STEP-MOTHER ruined the whole thing for me! Did this happen to anyone else? I just couldn't get over it.