Taylor James, Radiant

Radiant

Taylor James

Leisure, Oct 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0843955074

After several years in India, Captain Brendan Kincaid returns to England to obtain his inheritance. However, he quickly learns that his situation is not quite that simple, as a stipulation for him to inherit, is that he must marry one of three chosen eligible females.

Miss Henrietta Purcell flees the countryside to avoid the amorous advances of Reverend Cecil Thacker, who arrogantly demands she marry him. In London she meets the handsome haughty captain, but though attracted to him, refuses to deal with another overly-opinionated, self-aggrandizing hunk. Brendan wants to ignore the exasperating rustic, but cannot get her out of his mind. He knows selecting her means overcoming her rejection of him, her infatuation of the writer Felix Blackstone, and forfeiting his inheritance; no wonder he believes love is a lot of trouble.

Henrietta is a refreshing lead protagonist, as she flees the illicit advances of one male only to meet a hunk, but her desires reside with an author she never met. Brendan has his own dilemma as his inheritance leaves him no apparent wiggle room, but his heart (and his betraying body), says Henrietta is the woman for him, in spite of her denial that he is for her. Though the storyline becomes typical Regency, RADIANT is a fun tale, due to the loving battle between the lead couple.