Romance Book Reviews
Page Two of TwoThe Barbarian by Judith E. French
Dorchester, August, 2004Paperback, 351 pages
ISBN 0843953799
Subgenre: Historical
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
In this sequel to The Conqueror, the powerful first book in the series,
Judith E. French continues the saga of Roxanne, Warrior Princess
and consort to Alexander the Great. It is 315 BC in Alexandria,
Egypt and Roxanne is suffering from amnesia after losing her
husband and her son. She is living in the palace of Ptolemy, the Pharaoh.
Ptolemy tells her that she is an Egyptian aristocrat and that he loves
her dearly. Although she is troubled by mental flashes of her previous life,
she accepts Ptolemy's word and tries to adjust to her circumstances.
But when the handsome Barbarian Kayan arrives,
he tells Roxanne that she is a great Warrior Princess that he loved
for years -- before Alexander took her away from him. Now Roxanne
must decide if she prefers a gilded cage to an uncertain future of
freedom with Kayan.
The Barbarian is an exhilarating, sweeping tale of conquest, passion, love and loss. Judith French has the gift of bringing ancient Egypt, Persia and Greece to life with her lush and sensual descriptions. Roxanne herself is a bit of an enigma: a complex woman, she has depth and fire. Ptolemy and Kayan are vivid, memorable characters whose passion for the beautiful Roxanne causes untold violence. Ms. French never loses sight of her characters in this sprawling epic: Roxanne and Kayan are vibrant and memorable, as is this very well-written romance.
Still Life by Melanie Jackson
LoveSpell, August, 2004Paperback, 327 pages
ISBN 0505526085
Subgenre: Paranormal
Ordering information:
Amazon.com
Melanie Jackson travels for the fourth time to her
alternate reality version of the United States, where
magic is real, the remnants of the Faerie kingdom are
dispersed after a terrible natural catastrophe and
the goblins plot and plan to take over the government.
Nyssal Laszlo is a young woman who can dreamwalk;
she can enter the dreams of others and even
visit the past by projecting her mind in a dream state.
But Nyssal has some strange memory lapses; she can barely
remember any of her childhood, and what she can remember
is fragmented. Determined to find out the secret to her past,
Nyssal finds a rare relic which immediately makes her a target
of the goblins. Assistance arrives in the darkly handsome form
of Abrial, the assassin of the Unseelie Court who has been sent
by Jack Frost, the death fey, to help Nyssal find sanctuary.
Abrial has a strange attraction to Nyssal, but his past is
too full of death and destruction for him to reveal his full nature
to any woman. Nyssal and Abrial find love and adventure
while on the run from the goblins who want
something that may be too precious for Nyssal to give up.
Melanie Jackson's urban fantasy series kicks into high gear with the addition of Abrial and Nyssal to the panoply of characters which inhabit Ms. Jackson's world. Displaying a dry humor, wit and knack for action scenes, the author keeps the pacing breathless and the sensuality quotient high in this extremely absorbing story.
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