My True Love (Avon Romance) [Mass Market Paperback]

To most women, meeting the man of their dreams occurs only figuratively. Not so with Anne Sinclair, daughter of the Laird of Dunniwerth.

As a child of eight, Anne caught her first glimpse of a boy she knew only as Stephen, hailing from some unknown place called Langlinais. No mere dream, her vision came as a glimmering, fishbowl-like window into his world. For the next 15 years, Anne glimpses through this weird portal Stephen's anguish and joy, his triumphs and defeats, his interests and a few of his secrets as he grows to manhood.

With each new vision, Anne's heart grows inexorably closer to his. Never once does Stephen seem aware of her presence, but Anne knows that she must one day embark upon a quest to find this mysterious man. Their predestined meeting would forever change the course of both their lives, as well as the lives of those around them.

Stephen Harrington, 17th earl of Langlinais and commander of the "Blessed Regiment" cavalry squad, has grown weary of supporting his king, Charles I, in what he secretly considered a losing cause. Defying the king's command, Stephen returns home after a battle to bury his dead and nurse a festering wound.

Stephen doesn't count upon meeting the woman of his dreams -- in the figurative sense -- as Anne flees across his own lands from an enemy patrol. Rescuing her proves far easier than divining her secrets, such as why Anne traveled onto English soil to seek him out. Falling in love with her seems only natural at first, until the king's Parliamentarian enemies threaten to drive a wedge between them that even love cannot hope to surmount.

The first 90 percent of My True Love tells an engrossing tale of forbidden love amidst the uncertainty of war. Then, inexplicably, the dramatic tension slackens for a while, only to be artificially heightened by the inadequately explained actions of Anne's father -- almost as if to pad out the novel to the requisite length. A couple of other plot elements, such as the fate of a secondary character, suffer from similar mishandling. Otherwise, Ms. Ranney delivers an enjoyable read.

Just be careful the hot spots don't singe your fingertips.

Anne Sinclair, heiress of the Laird of Dunniwerth, has since the age of 8, had visions of a boy named Stephen of Langlanais. She has had these visions all of her life. Never heard of Langlanis, does not know where it is, etc. The visions over the years are always of Stephen as she watched the boy, grow into a man. At the age of 23, she sets out to find him, accompanied by Hannah, her friend; Ian, her childhood tormentor; and Douglas - who somehow disappears in the middle of the story.

Now we are in the year 1644 - a war is going on with King Charles and the Parlimentarians. Stephen has left the war and come home to bury some of his men and take care of a wound he received in battle. Anne and her party are being chased by the Parlimentarian soldiers and Stephen and his regiment see their flight and come to assist.

Now here is where I find a problem with this story. Anne recognizes Stephen immediately, calls him by name. He does not catch on, furthermore, throughout the time she is staying at his home - Harrington Court - no one ever gets around to asking why a gently bred Lady is traveling across a war strewn country with little more than one warrior, (Douglas got lost here), and a female companion. I kept waiting for someone to ask where she was going, or for Anne to tell Stephen that she knew him from her visions, etc. Nothing - this really made no sense to me particularly because there was a war going on.

The descriptive writing is beautiful, the sexual encounter that occured was quite stimulating but I still kept waiting for the revelations to be told or for questions to be asked. It never happened until the last 25 pages or so and that is why I couldn't give this better than a 3* review.

Not the worst I have read, not the best, but with such an exceptional way with words, I will not discount this author and will continue to read most anything she writes.