The Long and the Short of It

Reviews for Long and Short Romantic Fiction, One "Happy Ever After" at a Time

       
 The Long and the Short of It Home  Recent Reviews  Reviews by Title Reviews by Genre
 
 

  stolen birthright

Five Book Rating

Stolen Birthright by Margaret Tanner
Whiskey Creek Press
Historical Romance
Full length, Sensual
Review by Camellia

 

 
 
Georgina, a wild colonial girl, is brought up by O’Rourke, a rough and ready Irishman, who she believes is her uncle.

While helping the bushranger Johnny Dawson escape from prison, she meets and falls in love with a dashing young English aristocrat, The Honourable Marcus Lindquist.

When Johnny Dawson is ambushed and killed, Marcus finally learns the secret of what has bound him to Georgina. Johnny is her brother, not her lover as he had jealously supposed, but even darker secrets from the past overshadow their love.

How can an English aristocrat marry the daughter of convicts?

Meanwhile, twelve thousand miles across the sea, Marcus’ Godfather is plotting Georgina’s death, to keep his dark secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

♥ ♥ ♥

Action, danger, and strong emotions set Stolen Birthright in motion and continue throughout the novel. Margaret Tanner gives us a glimpse of the social disparities during the years after convicts from England were transported to Australia.

Georgina, so naïve about male and female relationships and so wise about surviving in the harsh life of the disenfranchised, has the reader anxious about her well-being from the very beginning of Stolen Birthright. Reared in a male household, she asks no quarter and more than pulls her own weight as her family struggles with eking out a living in the wild country of Australia – a sharp contrast to the neighboring English gentry who live in pampered luxury.

Lord Marcus Lindquist finds himself involved with the indomitable Georgina before he reaches his destination after arriving in Australia. As one of the pampered aristocracy, he is horrified with the whole Australian experience before he ever arrives at his uncle’s station.

The reader sees the character of Marcus evolve dramatically as Margaret Tanner weaves this intricate tale about ex-convicts, their children, and the aristocracy who live in Australia but who all have family ties in England.

The thread of mystery about Johnny Dawson’s secret is like a carrot-on-a-stick as the story unfolds while the many secondary characters add enthralling subplots. But, most of all the story pulses with the love that grows as Marcus and Georgina struggle to bridge the wide chasm between a child of an ex-convict and a lord of the English aristocracy.

I didn’t want the story to end. I hope a sequel is in the making.

Superb reading!

 

Comments:

 

Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 8:33 PM
Your Name: Margaret Tanner
Your Comment: Thank you for the wonderful review, I really appreciate it.
Regards
Margaret Tanner

 
Leave a comment!

Your Name
Your Email Address
Title of Book or Story
Your Comment
Image Verification
Please enter the text from the image
[ Refresh Image ] [ What's This? ]

 

© 2007 - 2008 Long and Short Reviews - all rights reserved

Home Recent Reviews Reviews by Title Reviews by Genre Contest Free Short Stories Author Pages Author Interviews Fun Stuff Our Reviewers Advertising About Us