Gayle Buck: The Fleeing Heiress

Kidnapped heiress Thea Stafford has one hope-and his name is Lord Cardiff. But saving her from an uncertain fate is not enough, especially when they happen to fall in love.

This is a road trip book. It starts with a foiled kidnapping/elopement and ends up being a series of unfortunate events that have the H/h travelling from spot to spot. Naturally, this leads to some funny moments, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite the comedy I hoped for.

The book suffers from a lot of descriptions and dialogue that in an action driven plot are misplaced. Therefore, I got confused, a bit bored, and ended up skimming huge portions. There isn’t a lot of tension as far as the romance is concerned…the novel relies pretty heavily on the will they/won’t they schtick that gets old after the first 100 or so pages.

That being said, it is nonetheless a well written book by an author that clearly understands the genre. The hero is a war hero on leave and heir apparent to a Dukedom, and the heroine a feisty recently made heiress who has been stuck in the country with beligerent and frankly pretty stupid father and brothers. She is not traditionally beautiful (of course) but has the charisma to catch the hero’s eye after long, and as we travel from fracas to fray with the pair, are meant to wonder when will they both realize they are meant for each other.

I wanted really badly to like this one, as it seems like it has all the ingredients to be an excellent traditional Reg Rom…which is why I started it about ten times before finally finishing. I think perhaps some more aggressive editing would vastly improve its readability and therefore likability. As it stands now, it may appeal to readers who love a slow pace with a little bit of changing scenery.

5 Stars 3 out of 6 Although generally well-written, it was incredibly long-winded in parts that had me skimming most of the book.