Stolen Waters [Hardcover]

If you are looking for a Regency Romance filled with good ton, giggling ladies, and misguided peers then Stolen Waters by Beth Andrews is definitely not for you. However, if you are looking for a deep story filled with raw passion and outright suspense, then buy Stolen Waters - NOW!

Young Sara Romford is sailing far from her English world to the small island of St. Edmond's. There awaits her new life, and her new husband, whom she barley knows. To a girl like Sara, who dreams of whirlwind romance, the difficulty of the marriage of convenience Matthew Romford arranged with her family is apparent from the start.

Accompanying her on this voyage is her companion Maria Alvarez, a young lady of Spanish decent. While she is but a year older than the young Mrs. Romford, she is much more mature in many ways. Unlike Sara, Maria believes in practicality and duty; romance is something that only truly occurs between the pages of books.

While the journey to St. Edmond's was difficult, the larger part of the story starts to take off once they reach the island. Upon their arrival, they are immediately submersed into a world far from anything they have previously known. It is hot, dirty, and uncivilized. In much of England a dark-skinned person was an oddity, however everywhere they look, there are people much darker than even Maria. If that is not shocking enough, they are greeted by a dark-skinned man who introduces himself as Jacob, Matthew Romford's cousin. While Jacob is obviously of African decent, he is dressed in top London fashion and speaks as eloquently as any London gentleman. This is a very strange land indeed!

Just as strange to Sara is her unknown husband, Matthew. Matthew is a hero in the traditional sense and I found him pompous at times, however, that strangely added to his allure. The storylines of all four major characters intertwine very quickly as couples form. To go into too much more detail about them heads straight into Spoiler Territory.

The plot very quickly takes some unexpected twists and turns. I often asked myself where it was going, because what seemed to be happening just could not be. However, the author truly surprised me. Once I threw out all my assumptions about what a romance novel should be, I got completely lost in the story.

Stolen Waters is like nothing I have read in the recent past. While most novels follow a "boy meets girl" storyline, this one is quite different. While this is a wonderful Regency romance novel with the requisite Happily Ever After, I feel it is only fair to warn you that one of our couples' love story takes a tragic turn.

I connected with the characters in a way that pulled me into the story. You will not find pages full of intimate encounters so much as you will find chapters filled with real passion. I must admit that this is a story that will remain fresh in my mind for quite some time to come. I cannot praise this book enough - it is well worth the read.

This was a book that was hard to put down once I got into it. The action kept you riveted and the characters were a diverse mixture of very interesting folks. I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars