The Guardian (Sonnet Books) [Mass Market Paperback]

Amy Conde runs a horse-breeding farm that needs a new stallion. She asks her absentee guardian for money to buy the horse that she needs now knowing that in three months she gains control of her estate. Before she can get the money, Trent arrives and is stunned to find an intelligent beautiful businesswoman who despises him instead of the grieving little girl of his memories. To make up for his neglect, he decides she needs a suitable spouse to care for her despite the fact that Amy has an inordinate amount of business acumen. He soon decides that man should be he and she wholeheartedly agrees.

THE GUARDIAN is a by the book Regency romance that fails to hook the audience even though they will admire Amy's abilities. Instead, the readers will feel turned off by the lead female character who spends too much time digging into the why behind the behavior of Trent and why she loves the person she used to hate. This causes Amy to lose the empathy of historical romance fans. Though diehard Regency aficionados will enjoy this tale, most other readers will be better off passing on this novel and trying other works by Barbara Miller such as DEAREST MAX.

Harriet Klausner

A crisp pace abducts you into the story once you hit the second chapter and the focus turns to the hero. I liked being teased by the hero's story of childhood angst, which explained his behavior for the remainder of the novel.

Only a few bothersome things--the author doesn't use contractions, e.g. "didn't" or "you've". I'm quite aware that contractions weren't in printed English until the beginning of the 20th century, but they were probably used in speech long before that. A few contractions now and then would have prevented the characters from sounding like Star Trek's android Data. Another detraction was the lackluster narrative in some areas. I like to be able to smell, taste, hear, and feel with the characters. Fortunately, the author usually plunged me into the fantasy of the book with vivid wording.

Overall though, I was pleased and can recommend this book as a read. If you get this one, be sure to write a review so I know what you think. Maybe I was merely in a good mood when I read it......