Splitting Harriet

This, along with Blackheart is the best of Leigh's book that I have read. The story is original, believable and fast-paced. It has all the elements of a good historical romance: a great heroine, a strong male hero and believable attarction between the two. The plot has interesting twists and turns and reamins captivating till the end. It is not just a rehash of stories previosly written, which happens commonly when romance writers get burned out.

Tamara Leigh's writing is mellifluous. I had to look that word up to make sure it was what I wanted to say. If you don't know, it means, briefly, "having a smooth rich flow." This entire book flowed from one scene to another, one chapter to another, and ended perfectly, without any quick tying up of loose ends (I hate that). It was just a really well-written book with well-developed characters. It opens with a prologue about an attack on Lizanne Balmaine and her brother when she is about 14. Five or whatever years later, she sees the man who attacked them and kidnaps him, tossing him into her dungeon. That's where the book actually begins, with Ranulf Wardieu waking up in the dungeon, shackled to the wall and his female captor standing over him. Yum. As soon as I read the first few pages, I knew I was gonna like this book! I liked both the hero and heroine very much, especially since Lizanne managed to get through the entire book being prideful, but not once resorting to "thrusting her chin in the air." That phrase or something very close to it is in just about every romance book I've read, and I've read a lot! There are some very interesting and awful twists in this book, making it very hard to put down. I recommend this book whole-heartedly. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it.

THIS BOOK WAS EXCITING, DESCRIPTIVE AND FUNNY. I LOVED HOW LIZANNE LEARNED TO FIGHT AND HOW PROTECTIVE SHE WAS OF HER BROTHER. THE SPARKS BETWEEN HER ANDRANULF WAS EXPLOSIVE. THIS WAS A WONDERFUL READ!