Veena’s review of The Captive (Captive Hearts, Book 1) by Grace Burrows
Historical Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 01 Jul 14
This book starts off on a very exciting note as Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, miraculously appears after having survived years of torture at the hands of the French. His appearance has changed so drastically that his own cousin doesn’t recognize him. Fortunately his horse recognizes his master; otherwise, I am not sure where this story might have taken us. So the restored Christian returns to regain control of his dukedom. He’s still trying to find his feet and his wits when Gillian Greendale, his cousin by marriage, explodes onto the scene, forcing him to return to the country and his daughter and, by default, the road to recovery. With such a beginning, I settled in for an exciting read.
The first jarring note is the presence of his daughter. Christian dreams of his wife and most particularly his son and doing things with him, with no mention or thoughts of a daughter and yet Gillian comes to jolt his conscience into going home to the country to his daughter, who is the sole surviving member of his family after the death of his wife and son. The rest of the book spends a lot of time showing us what a great father he is and how much he has always loved his daughter and continues to love her, and yet he never thought of her or remembered her until Gillian comes to see him in London??
Gillian is a widow, a cousin by marriage, and yet this severely damaged man thinks nothing of kissing and touching her almost right off the bat. Let me assure you, I’m not averse to how the author develops their relationship, but all the same he’s almost catatonic while attracted to Gilly from the start. Then this so very private man shares the innermost details of his marriage with her, great story development but a bit unbelievable, to my thinking.
Gilly is a survivor herself and, therefore, relates very well to Christian – or should I say they relate really well to each other as Christian uncovers her demons and helps her deal with them as she is doing for him. I did experience some disquiet about how Christian happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and yet there’s no inkling that this story was going to have a very strong vein of suspense until it just suddenly appeared. We spend a large part of the book enjoying bucolic pleasures with Christian, Gilly and his daughter, and though Gilly does have a couple of accidents, these do not appear at all sinister and suspenseful until the third one when Christian voices his concerns and tries to put two and two together. And, even so, they appear baseless and without motive.
The suspense and the villain come almost as a surprise, though it did nag me now and again. I am somewhat intrigued by the leading characters in the next two books in the series and to understand the background that led them into Christian’s vicinity, though it appears that their stories are set in the time period immediately following this one, so not sure how much back ground we’ll get to see.
Grade: C
Summary:
He’ll never be free…Captured and tortured by the French, Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, survives by vowing to take revenge on his tormentors. Before the duke can pursue his version of justice, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, reminds him that his small daughter has suffered much in his absence, and needs her papa desperately.
Until he surrenders his heart…
Gilly endured her difficult marriage by avoiding confrontation and keeping peace at any cost. Christian’s devotion to his daughter and his kindness toward Gilly give her hope that she could enjoy a future with him, for surely he of all men shares her loathing for violence in any form. Little does Gilly know, the battle for Christian’s heart is only beginning.
Other books in this series:
