Nan Ryan, Dearest Enemy

Dearest Enemy

Nan Ryan

Mira, November 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 077832348X

In 1859, eighteen year old Suzanna LeGrande is happy living in Virginia with her widow mom and an older brother, Matthew, a West Point graduate. Her brother introduces her to a friend from his cadet days, Ty Bellinggrath. It is love at first sight as they begin seeing one another. One year later he proposes and she accepts. By April 1861, Virginia secedes from the Union and joins the Confederate States; her brother and her fianc join Lee. That summer, as the Confederacy gains a great victory at nearby Manassas, the two men in her life die in battle. Suzanna vows vengeance on the Yankees.

Over the next few years Suzanna pretends to be a social butterfly, but is obtaining valuable information for the South as she spies on her Northern guests. In 1864 Union Naval Rear Admiral Mitchell Longley falls in love with Suzanna, but stupidly leaves classified material lying around that she obtains. Suzanna loves Mitch, but her vow means more. She steals the information, which leads to many deaths. Mitch is shattered, as he knows who betrayed him. He lives for one thing, to destroy the Southern Belle who killed their love.

Nan Ryan writes a terrific star-crossed Civil War romance that grips readers once Suzanna vows to see Yankee blood flow, and it never slows down until Mitch pledges to avenge the flow of Yankee blood caused by the betrayal. The lead characters are fully developed, especially when anger takes over reasoning, as each drives the exhilarating storyline with the personal conflicts over loving a DEAREST ENEMY. This is a one sitter historical.