TO SURRENDER TO A ROGUE by Cara Elliott

TO SURRENDER TO A ROGUE by Cara Elliott June 2010 (Grand Central Publishing) Mass Market Paperback ISBN #9780446541312 (Historical Romance) 384 Pages Wow this book is too wonderful for words – Lord James “Black Jack” Jacquehart Pierson had been a soldier who fought bravely regardless of the situation and without fear. He always stood strong with his brothers and friends doing right by those he felt had been wronged. But when he is going toe-to-toe with Marchesa Alessandra della Giamatti with her lecturing him on his behavior the man is truly at a loss for words and finally understands the meaning of fear. Granted he had tied her daughter to a tree but that was to protect the little imp from causing more chaos to an already out of control situation yet she kept on lecturing. Jack thought they might have a few cross words and part company but little did he know that the fiery Italian would keep coming back to haunt his day time hours and have him up with night time fantasies. Alessandra was a rare woman of her times a financially independent widow with a superior intelligent who belonged to a unique group of women known as The Circle. Each woman in the group brought a unique gift to the mix which helped their scientific discussions and experiments. Jack had never come across such a female before even though he harbored a unique talent himself as an artist. He could not display his talent as freely as he would have liked for the males of his time did not behave in such a manner, a clash of swords was considered to be a true manly objective not capturing the sunset on a cloudy day. But Jack loved the feel of brush against canvas and knew he had a calling even though it was not something he could freely discuss. But Jack has an ally in his oldest brother who understands Jack’s dream and steps up to help him move forward with his talent by securing Jack a job at an excavation site not knowing that the one person Jack did not want to see was the person in charge - Alessandra. Jack and Alessandra start heating thing up almost immediately because polite society is not around now and they unleash their passion for one another and act upon their desires. Jack is more than willing to show her the fire he has built inside for her but Alessandra is not quite so sure that she is ready to return his affection. But with a little persuasion and allot of warm kisses Alessandra loses all clear thought and learns to trust again. Yet everything changes when an evil stranger from her past shows up to remind her of what she had done and why she was forced to leave Italy. Can she truly go along with this monster’s plan and again ruin her reputation but she knows her choices are gone when it means she has to in order to save her daughter. But is it possible Jack can help her and be the knight she seeks in her darkest hour or is he just using her to relieve some built up tension. Lovely is a mild word for this dazzling book with fiery characters and a mystery to keep you guessing what will happen next. While it is the second in the series it easily stands alone with a captivating setting for the story and characters that jump out at you from every page. The mystery is dark and leaves you wondering what Alessandra could have done that she can be blackmailed so easily. You are also shown a refreshing side the male-female role in a time and place when men and women had defined positions to play and moving out of those was a herculean feat of character. Mary Gramlich (The Reading Reviewer) www.marygramlich.com