Customer Reviews

Stolen Promise (Dark Hearts Series)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up STOLEN PROMISE yesterday morning and finished it by Midnight. I thoroughly enjoyed the H/h, Evan and Jade. There was humor with good banter between Evan and Jade. There is also a secondary romance but it did not take away from the main story. It just added to it.

There were times when Evan's brother Colin had me laughing so hard.

If you are looking for a sweet, sensual read with some humor and drama, be sure to pick up STOLEN PROMISE!

Lisa, keep writing the great historical romances!

I cannot say enough about this fantastic book. It is an historical romance that you never want to end. I read this page turner in one day, and it is now going on my keeper shelf. If you read one book this year, make it this book. You will not be disappointed. By the way, don't miss her first book, "Fire at Midnight" which I also purchased from Amazon which is another 5 star novel. If you are an historical romance reader looking for something new, fresh and exciting, I promise you will enjoy the writings of Lisa Marie Wilkinson.

In 1806 England, Jade flees from the Lowara gypsy camp as she rejects a forced commonly bartered marriage to abusive Dimitri. She does not get very far away when she meets half-breed American gypsy Evan Dark. He rejects her pleas to either take her to safety or ignore her; instead Evan takes her back to the Lowara encampment.

However, her family forces the two to marry Roma style as he should not have been with her without a chaperon. Evan proclaims their nuptials as bogus. He returns to the States planning to marry his American fiancée Gloriana Clayton, but brings Jade and her battered (by Dimitri) sister Liberina with him as indentured servants. On his South Carolina plantation Rosefield, Gloriana realizes Evan is falling in love with Jade so she plans to insure he goes through with his marriage to her; doing whatever it takes to get rid of the gypsy.

This is an intriguing historical due to the refreshing concept of a Roma romance crossing the ocean to South Carolina where Evan is local aristocracy in spite of his grandfather's blood. The story line is driven by the romantic triangle, but that is no contest as Jade is a moral individual trying to do right by her sister while Glory is an avaricious unethical person willing to do anything to further her position in society their respective. Although having Glory with no redeeming quality is a detractor, Lisa Marie Wilkinson provides readers with an entertaining early nineteenth century romance.

Harriet Klausner

Lisa Marie Wilkinson has done it - gifted the reader with an outstanding story that delivers a full experience! She has spun a tale of Gypsies and society that is so vivid; this book is a feast for the senses and emotions that effortlessly takes you on a stunning journey between the two worlds that Jade and Evan inhabit.

A complete read from start to finish Stolen Promises provides a tale of love, betrayal, hope, honor, revenge, forgiveness and romance conveyed through compelling characters, wildly differing settings and gripping circumstances. Drawn into Jade's Gypsy (Roma) society, the reader explores the enigmatic Gypsies and customs while straddling Evan's (Gadjo) world of English and Colonial societies.

Bargained by her father in marriage to another Gypsy tribe to escape the clutches of the evil Dimitri, Jade wants nothing more than her freedom and safety for her sister, Liberina. But Dimitri is holding her to their original promise of marriage. To escape a lifetime of his abuse, Jade runs away from the Lowara Gypsy Camp, stumbling into Evan Dark. Himself half-Gypsy, Evan wars with his sense of honor and duty returning Jade to her tribe unwittingly sealing both their fates. While he tries to protect Jade but respect his family obligations and engagement to another in America, his growing attraction to and need for her level hers for him.

After their reluctant Roma wedding, the couple with her sister in tow, board an America-bound vessel. Jade is now tied by indenture to Evan to pay for their passage all but negating their Roma vows, yet the couple circle one another building tension which is steadily heightened as they learn about each other, trying to bridge their backgrounds.

When the trio arrive at his family's plantation, Rosefield, in South Carolina they are greeted by his two brothers and privileged fiancée, Glorianna Clayton. Dark's treatment of Jade and Liberina as guests rather than servants raises Glorianna's suspicion and ire sealing her plans to get rid of Jade.

Dark's Roma side and hunger for Jade begin to trump his sense of duty to marry Glorianna the more time he spends with her as Jade struggles with being a bondswoman and a proud Gypsy at a plantation in high society. Meanwhile, Glorianna hatches plans to ensure she becomes mistress of Rosefield and with the help of mysterious conspirator Count Heron, ensnares the family and Jade's past in sweeping treachery.

Artfully crafted descriptions, compelling dialogue, a striking range of emotions and enough plot twists interspersed at just the right corners, surprise and spur the reader on to make this a delicious, page-turner. Wilkinson infuses this novel with such continuous energy that it was a pleasure to go from paragraph to page in eager anticipation.

I usually like Gypsy themed romances. They have a bit of the exotic usually set in jolly old England amidst the haughty ton and aristocrats. This novel is very action oriented maybe too much; the protagonists don't have many deep soulful conversations.

Jade lives in a gypsy camp and she is unhappy. Her father has betrothed her to an unknown man in another camp telling her she should be thankful that he was able to find a man who would take her. Apparently Jade ran away from the camp earlier and lived with an English family. She did this to escape a betrothal to a brutal angry gypsy in her camp. Jade again runs away and she encounters at the London docks American Evan Dark who is impersonating a British officer. The two help each other whenever Jade's uncle tries to return her to the camp.

Jade falls for Evan in a matter of days, but Evan does not fully reciprocate Jade's feelings or recognize his own. He is determined to take her back to her camp and when he does so he is met with a surprise. The coincidences in this novel are what keep the beginning portion of the storyline afloat.

Jade has a sister and she is desperate to save her from being bartered into a loveless marriage; she therefore willingly indentures herself to Evan to pay passage for her and her sister to America. Jade seems to love the English way of living in a home but she still knows gypsy ways and I was uncertain as to why she despised her life as a gypsy beyond the fact that they were transitory and she disliked her betrothed.

Evan and Jade have a somewhat distant relationship in America. This was to be expected as she was now relegated to a servant but I thought there could have been better conversations between them. The storyline moved fast and there were plenty of interfering people involved in their lives (the villains are over the top venal). Jade is an admirable heroine, she is self sacrificing and quite frankly, the better of the leads. Her stature rose considerably with me when I saw how devoted she was to her sister. Evan is stubborn and resigned, and it takes him a while to discern people's motives, he lacks Jade's intuitive nature. Overall this is a fair read, a unique setting (rarely do I read about gypsys in America) but the characters needed more heart to heart dialogue.

Lisa Wilkinson writes great books. Stolen Promise had me from the first page, and I really enjoyed the gypsy theme.