The Reading Spot

Set during the chaotic beginnings of Napoleon's rule, this saga tells the story of Gabriel St. Croix, a street survivor searching for a place to belong. Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, he has never known friendship or affection. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy façade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy's family has found him, and they are coming to take him home. Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother's disappearance. When he's located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own. Becoming a mercenary, pirate, and professional gambler, he travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey and the greatest gamble of all is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

**Caution, lots of spoilers**
If you know my tastes you know that I am not a big reader of historicals, but i had heard so much about this book that I was intrigued. I was not disappointed. This was a wonderful book!!!
The description of it, I think is a little misleading. The first half is accurate. And as I was reading and a third of the way through the book and they were already together and in love I was trying to figure out how they were going to stretch out the rest of the book. Then I got my answer. He had to go make his fortune to be worthy of her. Then bad stuff happens to him and he no longer feels worthy of her so he travels around avoiding her. So the whole "in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again" thing I think is a little misleading.
In deference to my "Wonderful" adjective, I will say that I did skim over the section where he was traveling around as a mercenary. But I can understand why it was in there. After his run in with the bad guy, he felt dirty again and as I see him as an abuse victim and has just faced one of his fears, I can see why he feels "dirty". So he no longer feels worthy of Sarah. He should have had more faith in her, yes, but I have known a few men who did not have enough faith in their women. So he is not perfect. I am glad that he was faithful though, if he had not been, I would have thrown the book.
This was such a great book, I would recommend it to any reader, especially those who like troubled, angsty (is that a word?) heroes.

Breezing through Books has a great group review of this book with lots of different views.
I am sorry I have not posted. I have been so engrossed in some books i have not taken time to blog, bad me. I will post about those later but here are two that I read recently.

Love Under Siege (Brothers in Arms Book 2) by Samantha Kane
Phillip Neville and Jonathan Overton have been best friends since childhood. When they return to England as veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, they enter the marriage market. It doesn't take long for them both to fall deeply in love with shy, awkward, beautiful Maggie Trueheart. Phillip and Maggie marry, but Phillip and Jonathan do not tell her about the menage a trois marriage the two men hope to have. When Maggie finds out, it takes the persuasive power of both men to convince her that this threesome was meant to be. In the process of helping Maggie discover the sexually aggressive woman inside herself, Phillip and Jonathan realize their love for one another is more than friendship. Before the two men can consummate their relationship, however, a brutal attack on Maggie and Jonathan's self-recriminations drive the lovers apart. It will take all the love and determination the three possess to achieve their happily ever after.

I was very anxious to read this book after reading The Courage to Love. But was not able to read it just then. :( I finally got it, thanks to Christmas :) I enjoyed it. Maggie was a lot more reluctant to try a threesome than most heroines that I have read. I mean just trying it once, not the relationship end of it. That I can totally see being wary to try. So that was different. I still liked the first one more but I enjoyed this one and was glad to get their story.

Labels: historical