"Interesting Regency romance"

In 1811 English spy Derrick Jamison and American painter Elizabeth Blackthorne are attracted to one another, but his assignment for the crown keeps them apart. Besides which they ran in different circles as she is a noted bohemian reputed to pose nude while he is a foppish aristocrat. Though both want it, nothing comes of their first encounter in Washington DC.

They next meet in Naples where they fall into each other's arms and make love. However, not long afterward, pirates capture Beth and sell her to the dey of Algiers so though not a virgin she can join his harem. Derrick manages to rescue her, but their adventures have just begun even as that initial attraction turns to love.

WANTON ANGEL is such a non-stop action thriller that readers will need oxygen to keep up with the frantic pace. However, the cost of all the action is that the characters are not quite developed so that the audience never understands Beth's attitudes on life, so different from her peers. Still Shirl Henke knows how to spin a heated tale so that Regency fans will enjoy a change of pace caper after caper tale that never slows down until the final safe kiss.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 10, 2002