Casee’s review of More Than You Wished by Jo Goodman
Historical romance released by Zebra on 21 Apr 01

Sybil has been nice enough to indulge me by agreeing take one of my Jo Goodman reviews to post here at TGTBTU.

I am a huuuuuuge fangirl of Jo Goodman. And while I may have jumped on the bandwagon a bit late, I am now fully aboard and don’t intend on leaving. I really can’t believe how long it took me to discover this fantabulous author and for that very reason, I have made it my mission to talk about Jo Goodman ad nauseum. I don’t give “Grade A” (5 out of 5, on Book Binge) reviews lightly, but I’ve given more “A reviews” to Jo Goodman than all my other “A reviews” combined.

More Than You Wished is the story of Bria Hamilton, whom we first met in her brother Rand’s story (More Than You Know). After her father, along with two of Bria’s brothers were killed in the War Between the States, it was left to Bria to hold her family’s plantation together. Even when her mother remarried a Northerner who took ownership of Concord, Bria remained in control of running the rice plantation. When Northerner Lucas Kincaid shows up at Concord looking for work, Bria was determined to turn him away. After the way she was treated by Yankee soldiers, a Yankee is the last person Bria will ever trust. The decision is taken out of her hands when her stepfather, Orrin Foster, decides to hire Lucas to renovate Concord.

Lucas has his own reasons for coming south. What he didn’t expect was Bria, or his feelings for her. With each passing day, Lucas gets closer to achieving what he came to do. With each passing day, his feelings for Bria continue to grow. When Bria offers a marriage of convenience, he knows it would be the worst thing he could do. Marrying a woman that wants nothing more than his name, especially considering his feelings for, is not exactly smart. In the end, he can’t pass up the chance.

I think the best part of this book was seeing how Lucas helped Bria heal emotionally. Though it had been ten years since she was brutalized, to Bria it could have been just last month. Her aloofness affected everyone around her and drove people away more often than not. Lucas refused to let her push him away and forced her to take a long look at what her life had become. Although she accomplished much with making Concord successful, she had nothing else. No laughter, no hope, no love. There were several humorous moments that lightened the sometimes grim tone of the book.

I really didn’t think I would care for Bria as a heroine, but Goodman showed yet again, that she’s freaking amazing. Bria was a strong woman who was barely living. The fact that Lucas was her friend long before he was her lover made it all the sweeter.

Grade: A

Summary:

     Reclaiming her family’s Carolina rice plantation from her ruthless stepfather was Bria Hamilton’s only wish — and she was taking a chance by hiring Northerner Lucas Kincaid to help her. With her own painful scars still fresh ten years after the War Between the States, Bria couldn’t trust any man — especially one as dangerously attractive as Luke — to understand that the legacy of Concord meant everything to her. More than a warm smile or a tempting promise, and more than the sudden, yearning hope that Luke might offer the kind of happiness, she had never dared with for…

     Bound to his own past as surely as Bria was bound to hers, Luke had only one reason for working at Concord — vengeance. He couldn’t afford to let his response to Bria distract him from his only change to punish the man who had caused his family so much harm — but when Bria proposed a marriage of convenience, he couldn’t deny her. Just as he couldn’t deny the laughter that sweetened their moments together, the passion he longed to teach her, and the love he never meant to feel…

     Read an excerpt.

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