Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth

Book Description:
Though a celebrated French beauty in 1849, Madeleine DuMais's cleverness is her greatest asset - and one she puts to good use as a spy for the British. When her expertise is needed in the south of England to break up a smuggling ring, Madeleine willingly puts her life on hold to help the crown ...

Arriving in the quaint resort town of Winter Garden, Madeleine meets her partner in subterfuge. Thomas Blackwood is unlike any man she has ever met. His quiet confidence and mysterious intensity send shivers of pleasure coursing through her ... shivers that slowly melt into a desperate passion. As duty gives way to desire, surrender holds its reward. And Madeleine will never recover from the touch of Thomas's hands on her body - and the touch of his heart on her soul ...

I loved this book. 

Filled with intense emotion and sexual tension between the hero and heroine, I read it in one day.  How does Ashworth do it?  This will be another favorite for me and a keeper.

So far I've loved everything I've read by Adele Ashworth, but I was a bit apprehensive about reading Winter Garden because I'd already met the heroine in the previous book, Stolen Charms, and I wasn't exactly won over by her.  Not liking the heroine is an instant turn off for me.  I couldn't have been more wrong, I worried for nothing!  Madeleine is a strong and courageous heroine who is a realist and survivor.  She won me over handily, though she did annoy me towards the end of the book, but she had her reasons, so I'll forgive her for it.  I admired her courage and sympathized with her, but this book is really Thomas' story.  I simply loved Thomas Blackwood, Winter Garden's tortured hero.  With a twist on the beauty and the beast theme, these two come together in a beautiful and touching love story.  It brought tears to my eyes, I was so moved by it.

Thomas Blackwood has a secret.  He and the beautiful Madeleine DuMais must work together as spies to foil an opium smuggling ring.  From the moment they first meet we realize all is not as it seems with him.  He knows her already from somewhere - but she's never met him before.  Throughout the entire book, you're dying to know "how does he know her?"  As we read further, we realize he has loved her for years - but how can that be?  Thomas is handsome - and large.  He's big and strong with a commanding presence.  Combined with his good looks, he proves almost irresistible to Madeleine when she first meets him.  She is instantly attracted to him.  Surely she would have remembered him if she'd met him previously?  They're going to have to work closely together, posing as a former soldier who is having his memoirs translated - by Madame DuMais.  The arrangement is unorthodox, but she is posing as a French widow and they're counting on the nosy members of the town of Winter Garden to accept the arrangement because she is French (as if that explains everything and makes it "okay".)   Despite her attraction to Thomas, she is the consummate professional when it comes to the spy business.  She will not reveal her true emotions that develop gradually in regard to him - or will she?

This is so much more than just another romance spy story.  Thomas has another secret - regarding his legs.  Even though he is a gorgeous specimen of a man - he is lame.    Hindered with a disabling limp, there's something very wrong with him - but what?  How bad was his injury and what sort of lasting effects did it have on him?  Despite his large size and strength he is callously labeled a cripple by many.  In comparison Maddie is beautiful.  Stunning. A head turner.  Beauty and the beast.   Can Thomas reveal to her his secret love for her and the secret regarding his disability?  Will she be disgusted by him?  This wonderful proud man fears her answer more than anything he's ever come up against before in his life.

As the story progresses and we get more into their mission of determining who is the mastermind behind the smuggling operation in the area, the main focus of the book is how our hero and heroine deal with their mutual attraction while still maintaining their professionalism.  By sharing this little cottage, eating together, discussing the mission and sitting in front of the fire each night - it's not easy.  He, who has loved her from afar is finally getting his chance to be with her and maybe (if he's lucky) have her fall in love with him.  And she?  She has no idea of his true feelings - or of who he really is.  All she knows is he's making it nearly impossible for her not to throw herself at him.  Although they must work together as spies for the crown, there's much innuendo from him from the get go.  He is sexual in the way he is towards her, but it's subtle.  Is she imagining it?  Maggie, this experienced French woman who has been a spy for the crown for years is thrown off balance!  I loved it!

Before long Maddie is falling for this large and very quiet man whom she knows almost nothing about.  She's drawn to him and finds herself wanting him more and more as never before with anyone.  Their sensual moments together are hot - yet tender.  How many of these situations has Thomas been orchestrating?  Is he manipulating her because he's loved her for so long and he knows her already?   She is at a disadvantage.  He knows everything yet she is in the dark.  What will she do and think of him when she finds out he's been less than forthright from the beginning?   From time to time we get some clues and insight towards Thomas' secret, but it's still all very much a mystery.  It drove me crazy!  Gradually we begin to figure things out about who he really is and how he has loved Maddie for a long time.

Finally, when the time comes and the truth is out - it's gut wrenching and emotional, his confession brought me to tears.  I dare you not to just love him, despite his flaws and bad decisions.  My heart went out to him as he humbled himself. I had so much invested in this couple, wanting them to be happy and together!  I won't spoil the ending, but it's a roller coaster ride.  Maddie has some hard decisions to make, but as I said before, she's pragmatic - a realist.  You'll just have to read this great, great romance and see for yourself!

An emotional, worthwhile love story with a complex hero and heroine and a surprise ending that will take your breath away - I highly recommend it!

5/5

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Stolen Charms by Adele Ashworth

Book Description:
A Flawless Beauty
Bored with her pompous suitors, Miss Natalie Haislett longs for romance and adventure. She is inflamed by dreams of the mysterious Black Knight - a daring English thief who has stolen her heart from afar with his legendary exploits. To meet her beloved, she reluctantly appeals to the one man who knows him: the renowned womanizer Jonathan Drake.

A Priceless Passion
Intrigued by Natalie's loveliness, Jonathan agrees to take her to France where the Black Knight is rumored to be. To allay suspicion, they travel in the guise of a married couple, sharing intimacies that blossom into friendship and kisses that stoke a reckless hunger...

A Thief of Hearts
When a necklace of precious emeralds is brazenly stolen at a party they attend, Natalie knows that the Black Knight is near. But she doesn't realize that the man of her dreams has already seen inside her heart-and has vowed to possess it...

I simply adored this romance! Set in the early 1840's, the young and proper Natalie Haislett runs off to France with dashing Jonathan Drake, a known rake, to see if he can introduce her to a daring jewel thief, the Black Knight.  As improbable as the whole scenario was, I loved it!  I was a bit apprehensive that I wasn't going to love this one as much as My Darling Caroline, another of Ashworth's novels, but I enjoyed this one even more!

Natalie is at a disadvantage, we first meet her as a young, naive debutante who declares her love to the older and dashing Jonathan Drake outside her family estate the evening of her debut.  They share a passionate kiss and she tells him she loves him.  Rather than taking complete advantage of her (which he easily could have done) he does the honorable thing and ruefully sends her back inside.  Years go by and she cannot think about that evening without complete embarrassment.  Yet, it turns out she has to turn to Jonathan for another reason now - to introduce her to the Black Knight!  Of course, we all know who the "real" Black Knight is.  Jonathan is working for the Crown, the usual sort of espionage, foiling some sort of French coup thing.  Jewels are involved and it was all deliciously far fetched but so much fun!

The two travel to France together, posing as man and wife.  They sail there and head for Marseilles, sharing a tiny cabin together - and a bed no less!  Nothing happens between them except some passionate kissing, stringing out the sexual chemistry between the two, with a constant building up.  Their characters are well developed and there is a lot of emotion and thought that is going on in both their heads about one another.  Natalie has this crazy notion that she wants to marry the Black Knight - or at least this is what she tells Jonathan.  He gnashes his teeth as he discovers his feelings are strong for her, yet he's competing against himself - the Black Knight!  But, the plot turns, and we find out Natalie's real reasons are different and not what they seem.   She's still attracted to Jonathan very much, but is convinced he's a rake and no good for her.  How can he convince her otherwise?  Can he persuade her that he really loves her - and has been in love with her ever since that first night together when they danced and she ingenuously told him she loved him?  How can he make her believe she's not just one of a million other women he's said those same words to?

I'm leaving tons out to avoid spoilers, but there are plot twists all over and I loved the locales and descriptions of the scenery, the costumes, furnishings - all very well done in this historical romance.  Entertaining plot, emotional and thoughtful - and poignant.  By the time they declare their love for one another, I was nearly in tears. Great, great! 

5/5

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My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth

From Booklist
Caroline Grayson is a brilliant, independent nineteenth-century woman whose true passion is botany. Denied her dreams of studying at Oxford University because of her gender, she is also prevented from putting her auxiliary plan of attending New York University into action when her father compels her to marry the mysterious and sullen earl of Weymerth, Brent Ravenscroft. They both enter into the marriage with visions of personal gain. Brent wants to get his horses back from Caroline's father, who bought his estate while he was away at war. Caroline wants to annul the marriage, thus gaining the freedom to sail to the U.S. and achieve her dream of becoming a world-class botanist. But their hearts have other ideas. Caroline gradually realizes that her husband means as much to her as her flowers and that his unconventional respect for her intelligence represents a form of freedom her peers can only vaguely imagine. Ashworth's smart dialogue, complex characters, and complicated plot twists make this debut novel a joy to read.

Do you ever feel like you can't wait to get home and snuggle into bed and read your book? You look forward to it all day long at work, and think of the characters and what is going to happen next? That's how I felt about this romance. This book was recommended to me from a friend at LibraryThing who said it was her favorite romance novel and I really wasn't sure what to expect. Set during the Regency period in England, I thought it would be another steamy type of regency romance, lightweight and frothy - but I was so wrong. Yes, it was steamy at times, but this was a thinking woman's historical romance. It makes you think and the plot was complex. At times, I thought it was a bit too coincidental or convoluted, but by the end, it all made sense and it was a perfect epilogue. I loved this book!

Caroline is a botanist, she breeds roses and dreams of one day traveling to America to study at Columbia University to live her life long dream. She is gifted with a natural genius for numbers, doing complex computations in her head, but this kind of talent only gets her odd looks during the time and age of which she lives. Her father marries her off to an arrogant, yet strangely gaunt and desperate nobleman. Caroline has no intention of remaining married to him, planning to run off to America and pursue her dream of studying botany and getting an annulment.

She and her new husband, Brent, are distant with one another at first, but he is attracted to her and the build up to consummating their marriage is sexy and evocative. She, a 26 year old virgin tells him he will not be her first and he believes her. But, on their wedding night she bluntly informs him that she cannot bed him. He respects her wishes but little does he believe she means she will never bed him! He is drawn to her dark good looks and - intelligence. He soon sees for himself that she is different from other girls. He respects her aptitude with numbers and immediately puts her in charge of his finances. Theirs is a marriage of convenience but he is determined to seduce her by any means he can think of.

Caroline comes across at first as selfish with her own intentions. Even though she is beginning to like her new husband, and his deaf illegitimate daughter that she takes under her wing and becomes mother to, she still plans on leaving them. I had a hard time with this concept, and I was glad to see at one point in the book, Brent points this out to her, how selfish she is. Even though she is extremely bright and intelligent, she can be glaringly dense in some matters - likes others feelings and learning to recognize what makes one truly happy. Fortunately, over time, Caroline cannot stay immune to his charms and she finds her desire to leave him for America less and less appealing until eventually she gives the idea up altogether. But, once Brent finds out what she intended to do, all hell breaks loose!

All the characters in this romance are complex and not what they seem on the surface - there are many layers to them, with underlying scars or tortured wartime nightmares. At first Brent seems like some obnoxious earl, but as we get to know him, he is so much more and we grow to love him and his interesting history. I don't want to give too much away, but he's not your typical alpha male, larger than life romantic hero, he has much more depth to him, and it's moving to read what he says aloud, when he finally gives in to his feelings and wants to let Caroline know how he really feels about her. I really loved their courtship and relationship together.

The main theme running throughout the story is one of women and how unfair the world was to them during this period. It was simply a man's world back then. Someone like Caroline faced many obstacles to be able to become a botanist - it would have been virtualy unheard of and impossible for her to achieve her dream in real life outside a romance novel. Intelligent women were not treated seriously by most men and this is driven home in the story. Caroline respresented the women of the day, and Brent supported her, going against the typical male stereotype of keeping the little woman in her place, born to marry, have babies and tend their flower gardens.

There is much, much more to this book than I've described. Some other plotlines are that Brent has a few secrets from his past we want to know about, he also has a nemesis from France who is stalking him, waiting to kill him, and Brent must come to terms with his sister from America who has returned to reconcile with him. But, the main plot is how he and Caroline grow to care for one another. What starts out as an awkward arranged marriage truly becomes a meeting of the minds; they are ideal for one another.

Do yourself a favor and read this book, it was interesting and well written, except for Brent's constant use of the word sexy, which I thought sounded a bit too modern for a Regency, but I still enjoyed it very much. I intend to read more by this author in the future!

4.5/5

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