Romance novels often employ clever and creative plot twists to surprise and delight readers. We’ve chosen three tales with hooks sure to pique your interest.
A BRILLIANT DISGUISE
Award-winning author Tracy Anne Warren delivers Bedchamber Games, the third installment in The Rakes of Cavendish Square series. When brilliant Rosamund Carrow’s father dies suddenly, she agrees to masquerade as a barrister to complete his court cases. Her brother is also an attorney, but due to a stress-induced stutter cannot perform courtroom speaking duties. Dressed as a young male, Rosamund begins to move in legal circles and it is here that she meets the handsome, wickedly intelligent rake Lord Lawrence Byron. A rising star in London legal circles, Lawrence is also the younger brother of a duke and a member of the ton, a level of society far above Rosamund. When Lawrence loses a case to Rosamund, he’s intrigued by who he believes to be a much younger attorney and sets out to become better acquainted. He’s stunned when he discovers the young man he knows as “Ross” is actually Rosamund. The attraction between them is compelling and before long, they are engaged in a blazing affair. However, each know that Rosamund’s time as an attorney must end, and with it, their connection. Rosamund cannot countenance becoming his mistress and Lawrence has always believed he must marry to further his career. When it appears all is lost and they must end their alliance, these two adventurous souls will have to choose. Can they forge a unique path together or will they follow society’s dictates to a future certain to leave them bereft and alone?
The author makes good use of the girl-masquerading-as-boy plot device, seamlessly melding the romance with the heroine’s delight to be employing her wit and knowledge in the legal setting. The sex scenes are hot, the affection between the hero and heroine just as well-developed and the barriers between the two equally believable.
COVERT OPERATIONS
Chicago author Julie Ann Walker uses her home town as the setting for Wild Ride, the ninth book in the Black Knights Inc. series. Fearless reporter Samantha Tate planned to use charming Ethan “Ozzie” Sykes as a source of information about his group, the Black Knights. When their time together turns them into friends, Samantha discovers bad boy Ozzie is really a good guy at heart and she finds herself falling in love with him. Ozzie also loses his heart but he’s keeping secrets—the kind that could get people killed if Samantha exposes them. When Samantha’s investigative work sets a killer on her trail, Ozzie will have to decide if he can keep her safe without revealing the truth about his world. Which will Samantha choose: a shot at winning the Pulitzer Prize for reporting or concealing a covert ops organization that reaches all the way to the President himself?
While the first quarter of the novel moves a bit slowly, the story takes off from there and becomes a non-stop roller coaster ride. Pop culture references and well-drawn secondary characters add texture to this tale of romantic suspense, motorcycle clubs and government intrigue.
A WRINKLE IN TIME
In a stellar adventure tale, author Lynn Kurland shuttles an American heroine and Scottish hero from one era to another in Ever My Love. When jewelry designer Emma Baxter left Seattle for Scotland to escape an annoying ex-fiance, she didn’t expect to flit back and forth between centuries. Handsome and rich Scotsman Nathaniel MacLeod, however, is reluctantly accustomed to jumping between centuries and when he meets Emma, she’s inexplicably drawn through time with him. Nathaniel and Emma have romantic chemistry but that doesn’t explain why she keeps appearing in the mist when he’s wearing chain mail in the fourteenth century and using his sword to defend his kin. At first, he’s busy saving her, but soon the two are exploring the many ways they fascinate and complement each other. Together they foil the interference of Emma’s obnoxious ex-fiance and Nathaniel’s overbearing grandfather. But all their combined brains and brawn may not be enough to conquer the unasked-for time jumping and the mysterious evil determined to destroy them.
This delightful novel boasts a fascinating plot, colorful settings and intriguing characters. The romantic connection between Emma and Nathaniel is charming and warm, and a colorful supporting cast provides depth. Readers will thoroughly enjoy this tale of magic and intrigue.
Lois Dyer writes from her home in Port Orchard, Washington.
