Customer Reviews

When We Touch (Zebra Historical Romance)

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

 

 

This was a great Victorian romance that had many different twists and turns and took the time to build the relationship between Jamie and Maggie.

Maggie has found herself set up for marriage to a very nice but still just the same, old man. She must make this match since her twin brother has mad a hash of the family finances, and Maggie feels that it's better for herself to make a match for convenience sake then her brother doing the same and never marrying for love as she once had. See Maggie is a widow she married far beneath her station when she married her love Nathan a police officer who was killed in the line of duty. She wants her brother to experience love as she did. She also feels that she will never find love like that again so she is the perfect choice to make the sacrifice. What she was not counting on were the feelings that Lord Jamie makes her feel. Her soon to be husbands great nephew makes Maggie feel a whole lot of emotions and one of those emotions is attraction!

Jamie wants to dislike Maggie it would make things so much easier if he did. Problem is he finds that despite her forays into Whitechapel and the work she does with the poor, he still finds her attractive and this is something that does not sit well with him at all. His problems don't stop there, he has been asked to not only watch out for Maggie by his uncle, but Queen Victoria has asked him to look into the horrible murders that have been plaguing the East End. At first he thinks he has two assignments imagine his horror when he finds out that the two are actually intertwined and the Maggie may be the next victim.

Despite that fact that Maggie is actually married to Jamie's uncle and in fact does not last long since the Groom does pass away the relationship between Jamie and Maggie is carefully constructed and very romantic. The mystery of Jack the Ripper was well done and added to the story. The Victorian time period is one of my favorite periods and Ms. Drake as managed in this book to pull me in and not let go until the final page of the story.

When We Touch is a well-written story. I'm all for female characters with minds of their own, and Maggie's got one. I was surprised to read about how Maggie went to the worst part of town to lecture the people on the use of condoms! Plus it's exciting to read about a super-hot man trying to expose the beautiful woman as a gold-digger while fighting his own attraction to her (and losing the fight!). Most of all, this story exalts love after loss, bringing hope to those of us who think we'll only have it once in our lives. Do this for yourself.

In the enlightened late nineteenth century, widow Maggie Graham learns from her Uncle Angus that she and her twin brother Justin are broke due to her sibling's gambling and that his debt could lead to Newgate if not paid off soon. Angus says that wealthy elderly Viscount Charles Langdon mentioned his interest in Maggie's welfare. He would make an ideal husband that would eradicate the Graham debt though her first reaction to her kind fiancé is that he looks more like a corpse than a living person.

However, Langdon's nephew Jamie is appalled with the nuptials between his beloved great uncle and a gold digger who scandalized all by once marrying a commoner. Though attracted to his "aunt", he wonders if she is a deadly black widow as rumored when Langdon dies. As Jamie and Maggie become acquainted over what is best for Langdon's recalcitrant daughter, they also become embroiled in the Ripper case and end up falling into an unwanted love.

WHEN WE TOUCH is an exciting Victorian romance that fans will appreciate due to its deep look at the late nineteenth century (especially female options) and a strong cast anchored by the lead couple. The story line is fast-paced with no one quite like they first appear. The Ripper subplot adds danger and a sense of the era so that the audience receives a powerful historical police procedural inside a charming romance between two combatants.

Harriet Klausner

Set in Victorian England after the death of Prince Alpert, Maggie, Lady Graham is an independent woman. Though she had her pick of the ton, she fell in love with a police officer and married him. After two years of wedded bliss, he was killed in action. Now the still young and beautiful Maggie lives with her brother Justin and her friend the author Mireau. Her passions are helping the poor women of the East End, mostly prostitutes, and exposing the spiritualists who would fleece the poor in spirit. But her brother's gambling debts force her to accept her uncle's plan for her to wed the old but very illustrious Lord Charles Langdon, friend of the Queen, who has coveted her since her first Season. Prior to the wedding, murders have begun in London that are causing panic everywhere. No woman is safe certainly not one like Maggie who goes to the unsafe parts of the town for her work among the poor. Meanwhile, she and Lord Charles' nephew, Jamie Langdon, have found they cannot resist each other. Though she is falling in love with Jamie, to save her brother and the family, she intends to wed the old but kind Lord Charles and to make him a faithful wife. But before they are wed, she and Jamie know a night of passion. All of the characters become absorbed into the melee that is Jack the Ripper and the story is well told though at times I did find myself skipping over some of the historical parts that seemed to just take too much away from the romance between Jamie and Maggie. Shannon Drake (pen name for Heather Graham Pozzessere) does a good job of capturing a turbulent time in London's history and giving us an insight into what it must have been like. Her work is well researched, well written and her romance compelling. This is the 7th in her "Graham" saga tales though less related that the earlier ones--see my other reviews. Also, I believe this is a prequel to Shannon Drake's "Wicked" (followed by Restless and Beguiled).

The author does a nice job of recreating the aura of Victorian London, but often uses plot devices to manuever the heroine around to where she needs her to be that seem rather too far into the coincidental, particularly in an effort to have her romantic tale mesh with the historical events involving Jack the Ripper. Still, a fairly entertaining read with good characters. The hero often seems more angry than anything else, which makes his romantic motivations difficult to buy.

This book had an unexpected story direction, I thought.

It really was an indulgent book though. Feelings and emotions fly all over the pages with the heroine and hero. It is truly heartwarming.

Most of the book, the main characters, Maggie and Jamie, are fighting their attraction, and misunderstanding each others motives; Which I think is pretty expected with any romance and attraction. But what I thought was really different in this story, was the fact that Maggie liked to help the poor, in lower class London. She believes the people that reside on that part of town can do so much better, and she can provide hopeful encouragement to those to turn away from drinking and prostitution. However, things don't always play out the way you hope. But she keeps giving her time and money, and hope to those in need, and they just keep taking.
Well, Jamie doesn't believe an upperclass lady should be going into these dark parts of town, for any such reason at all. She should stay home and let those who serve her take care of her. Live the life of a lady the way she's supposed to live.

Its really exciting, and funny at parts to watch the dynamics of these two.
I'd say this one is a sure pick-up. One you'd really enjoy.

this book was a total disappointment to me. the interaction and relationship of maggie and sir james were not developed well. I mean, there were just too many storylines, too many secondary characters and too many problems between maggie and sir james. i found myself skipping pages of it which i never do with shannon drake book. i know its good to develop a subplot in a book but too much for me can sometimes ruin the very essence of it.

THIS IS BOOK NUMBER 2 THAT HAS REALLY DISSAPOINTED ME OF MS. DRAKES. SHE IS SUCH A WONDERFULL WRITTER I'M CONFUSED... THIS BOOK WAS VERY DISSAPOINTING, SORRY MS. DRAKE.

This book is so great!!! I loved Jamie and Maggie. They had such chemistry and I was glad that Justin and Arianna had found one another. I felt so bad for Arianna by the end of the book! A great read!!! It is going on my keeper shelf.