The first wedding night that Lady Juliana St. Albans spent with the dark and daring Rhys Vaughan was intoxicating, the heady culmination of her new husband’s driving hunger and her own awakened sensuality. When he mysteriously disappeared the next morning, she waited for him in hope and desperation. And when he was finally proclaimed dead in a shipwreck, she bitterly mourned the loss of her love.The second wedding night that Juliana spent with Rhys Vaughan was six years later, after he returned to claim her just as she was about to wed another. This Rhys was different—bolder, harder, and convinced that she’d betrayed him. Only their blazing passion remains from their years apart. But is it enough to light their way through the maze of mystery, menace, and mistrust—to the love they once shared and would have to find again?
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This is one of Sabrina Jeffries earlier works - first published in 1995, I think, and written under the name Deborah Martin. It’s been given a look over, a polish up and has been re-released.
One of the joys (of many) of this book is the sheer depth of the characters. It’s not unusual for the main characters, and even some of the secondary characters, to be multi-layered and have a realism that you can identify with. What’s more unusual is when the ‘baddies’ have that same layering. Darcy is our antagonist in this tale but he’s also got redeeming qualities, shows true feelings and made the reasons for his actions understandable if not above reproach. Sure he was selfish but he was written so well that I did feel pity for him at times.
Julianne and Rhys themselves were such well-rounded characters, too, and painfully perfect for each other, even if, at times, neither could see it (or would admit to it). I can definitely understand the conflict within the story - the betrayals done and those thought to be done. It really was a tangled weave and fascinating to see how the characters reacted and made the way to the perfect ending.
The Welsh setting was also done really well and while it was a key component to the story, it never overshadowed and remained interesting throughout. It would be interesting to hear what any Welsh readers thought, though.
Deborah Martin books tend to be a little darker and less humorous than Sabrina Jeffries’ later works. Having said that, I didn’t feel this one as dark and atmospheric as others and as it focussed primarily on the relationship between characters rather than the backdrop of political machinations, it retained a nice, light, readable feel.
I absolutely devoured this book and found myself wanting to tell people about the outcome when I was finished. It’s got it all - exemplary writing, superb plotting and a love story that will make any romance lover’s heart sing. Definitely recommended. 5 stars.
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400 pages
Welsh series:
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