"A fine romance"

Catherine Reynolds is in London with her much older sister Victoria allegedly seeking a match. Pont in fact Catherine is in town to learn the identity of her real father, as the late kind Sir Patrick Reynolds was not. Instead one of three men rejected by her mother two decades ago is that rogue.

Due to a couple of misfortunate incidents, Catherine cons Earl John Fine out of his horse. He already was attracted to her boldness and plans to not only get his steed back but to teach the angelic looking thief a lesson. When they meet again and again, they begin to fall in love and he agrees to help her with her quest. However, he and another suitor Lord Westerland agree to race with the stakes being her hand, something she refuses to accept so she takes control by entering the contest too.

The obsession and courage of the lead heroine makes Catherine an intriguing Regency protagonist; on the other hand the lead male is the typical sub-genre aristocratic John Doe with an unsavory reputation falling for a unique bold woman. The story line contains an historical amateur sleuth feel to the fine romantic plot while the support cast especially Victoria and General the thoroughbred impart insight into the lead couple. Amelia Grey provides her audience with another "A" novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 16, 2004

Read an Excerpt

Everyone thinks Catherine Reynolds has come to London to make a match. But she's actually trying to find out which of three men mentioned in her mother's journal is really her father. However, the truth may be her undoing after Catherine takes a spill from her horse and a handsome stranger is there to rescue her. For the man she has jsut fallen in love-at- first-sight with may also be her half-brother.

Summary

Having just passed her twenty-first birthday, Catherine Reynolds comes to London for the first time—on the pretense of having a Season and making a match.

But Catherine is actually trying to find out who her real father is. She has three clues—three men listed in her mother's journal. One of them is her father—and the man who broke her mother's heart.

When Catherine takes a spill from her horse in Hyde Park, a handsome stranger is there to rescue her—a man who takes what little breath she has away. But when she learns her hero is John Wickenham-Thickenham-Fines, the Earl of Chatwin, she is aghast. He could be her half brother. Now, her quest is much more urgent. For truth could trounce love in this dangerous game of chance...