"This sequel to SWEET RELEASE is perfection!"

It's just a glance but all that's necessary. He's English Protestant, she's Irish Catholic. Heaven help them!

Jamie Blakewell has come to England on behalf of his brother-in-law to encourage the use of naval vessels in the war against the French. He's counting on the influence his friend, Sheff, has in the House of Lords. Many lives depend on it. But Sheff has changed since their days at Oxford. He's turned into a cruel, hateful man who's obsessed with Bríghid, the beautiful Irish lass Jamie has in hiding. Sheff must find her and destroy his friend. The game has begun.

Bríghid grew up hating the English. They starved her mother, sold her father into slavery and stole her family's land. When her and Jamie's paths cross, they have no business caring for one another. Their nations are enemies and their churches condemn one another. They can never build a life together. Tell that to one's heart.

Brava! to Ms. Clare, who's gifted us with yet another story so beautiful, so compelling, so heart-rendering, sometimes I forgot to breath. I laughed, wept, cheered and celebrated. CARNAL GIFT is a balm for the soul, a triumph of the heart. Begin your journey with SWEET RELEASE, the first in this spellbinding trilogy, then read CARNAL GIFT. And then look forward, as I am, to the final chapter by this master storyteller. In one word: perfection!

Reviewed by Suzanne Tucker
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted February 16, 2004

Summary

Her body and her virginity are to be offered up to a stranger in exchange for her brother's life. Possessing nothing but her innocence and her fierce Irish pride, Brighid's has no choice but to comply.

But the handsome man she faces in the darkened bedchamber is not at all the monster she expected. His tender touch calms her fears while he swears he will protect her by merely pretending to claim her. And as the long hours of the night pass by, as her senses ignite at the heat of their naked flesh, she makes a startling discovery: Sometimes the line between hate and love can be dangerously thin.