Ride The Fire by Pamela Clare

This one was a complete hit. I have determined that Clare has improved her writing with each new book published. Ride the Fire is the last of the Blakewell / Kenleigh Family trilogy, telling the story of Nicholas Kenleigh the first son born to Alec and Cassie of Sweet Release.

Nicholas joined in the French-Indian war but was captured and tortured by an Indian tribe. Catching the eye of the chief's daughter he avoided being killed but suffered greatly at the hands of the tribe before he escaped. The emotional scars he had, rivaled those his body endured and as he returned home he realized he couldn't pickup were his life had left off. So he returned to the wilderness and lived the next six years in a sort of limbo.

Elspeth Stewart escaped a tortuous past herself. She was married off after an incident with her step brother that made her weary of men in general. Her husband died recently leaving her in Frontier land heavy with child.

When Nicholas comes across her cabin in the woods, he is wounded and needs her assistance but she fears him and doesn't take lightly to his highhandedness in coercing her into giving him aid. They strike up a bargain where he will stay until he is of able body and in return he will not harm her and her unborn child as well as protect them against outside threat.

During the ensuing weeks they start to trust each other but it is not until Bethie gives birth that real trust starts to bear root. With trust also comes the attraction that start simmering between them. Circumstances keep them together through a mad dash out of the wilderness and to the nearest Fort where Bethie poses as Nicholas' wife.

This book just pulls you right in from page one. There is no lag at any point. We enjoy seeing how the coldness in Nicholas' heart melts into feelings he has problems accepting and with those feelings come the responsibilities he has tried to put aside. Bethie's past catches up with them and we see how Nicholas helps her confront the ghosts of her past while accepting that at one point he will have to do the same. He accepts this and doesn't hesitate when it's his turn to peel back the layers of his nightmares.

The journey through our history's past makes a wondrous backdrop for the love story between these two wounded souls. A wonderful ending to a great trilogy.

Grade: A

Carnal Gift by Pamela Clare

Since I started reading Pamela Clare's Kenleigh/Blakewell Family Trilogy with Sweet Release, I thought I'd read the next one in the series since the premise was too good to ignore.

Jamie, the young brother from Sweet Release is the hero in this tale. He is all grown up and has gone to England to arrange for military intervention to help fight the French American War. While there he stays with a university friend who recently became an Earl, but his friend has changed a lot since their young years and Jamie finds that Sheff's behavior is cruel and intolerable. When a mere look at a local Irish lass has her hauled to the manor and presented to him as gift, Jamie feels the need to rescue her.

Brighid has had her share of run ins with the English and after her father is taken from his home and sent to the colonies as an indentured servant, she holds no faith toward the English. When she has to give herself to the Earl's guest in order to save her brother's life, her hatred grows, but then Jamie spares her the act of consummation and she questions her feelings toward the handsome Sasanach.

At first Brighid doesn't believe that Jamie could be different from all the other Englishmen she has encountered but he keeps risking his neck for her and her kin and she finds her heart melting. The fact that their love can never be, since she's a catholic and he a protestant doesn't deter her in giving him her heart.

Clare weaves a tale that has a flow so smooth it has us grasping at every word. Sheff is a true villain and Jamie is a true hero. Maybe that is the single flaw in this book. Jamie is just too perfect. Brighid is not without flaw which makes her very real (and sometimes annoying) and the contrast is very sharp against Jamie. Don't get me wrong, Brighid has reason to be so distrustful and so adamant in staying with her brothers but we see the Jamie she can't believe is real.

Anyway, the book was excellent and it kept me up to the wee hours in the morning gobbling it up. Definitely would recommend this one.

Grade: B+

Sweet Release by Pamela Clare

The first in the Kenleigh/Blakewell Family Trilogy, Sweet Release was Clare's debut novel and she made quite a splash on the scene. Unfortunately no one was really paying attention and she has not gotten the recognition she deserves.

Alec Kenleigh is a gentleman in London society but as he is walking home he is kidnapped and thrown onto a ship as an indentured servant towards the Americas. In his place a corpse is left with no face. When he arrives in Virginia he is very ill and doesn't remember much of anything.

Cassie Blakewell takes pity on his dying form and buys his indenture with that of a slave called Luke. When Alec finally comes to, he discovers his predicament and asks for a note be sent to London to clear his name. Until that is clear he will work as an indentured servant to repay Cassie and her family.

Cassie doesn't really know what to make of her new servant and his tale, but she doesn't want to make any waves since, as a woman, she shouldn't be running her family's estate. Cassie has taken over the management of the estate since her father became ill (he appears to have Alzheimer but Clare doesn't come out and say it openly since they didn't have a name for this illness back then). If the truth of her father's illness comes out a guardian would be appointed to her and her four year old brother, Jamie. She fears that this guardian will sell off the land and mistreat her servants and slaves.

For some bizarre reason the two books I have read from Clare have had a very slow start. This one took me a few days to get into. They don't really grab you from the start but when she gets going, she knows how to build momentum. As those of you know I'm a real proponent to the whole falling in love over a period of time. There are a few authors that can convince me that true feelings of love can be developed over a few days or even a week. Clare doesn't try to push that on us. The couple in this book actually didn't even like each other for a while. She was his mistress and he hated the fact that she had that power over him.

The book had a mix of day to day grind with a bit of excitement mixed in. With the ague falling on the estate, an indian doctor who seems to know everything, slaves that fall in love with each other, servants that fall hard after setting their sights to high, an evil neighbor that wants Cassie and horse races that are barely won, the book just pulls you along and makes the end a bittersweet proponent.

Another feather to Pamela Clare is that she gives us a passionate affair that is a bit out of the ordinary and yet doesn't pull the couple out of character. Great book.

Grade: B

Surrender by Pamela Clare

Dorchester Publishing sent out a few Advanced Readers Copies of this release, and I was fortunate enough to receive one. This is the first book in a new trilogy by Pamela Clare which tells the story of the MacKinnon brothers, who have been pressed to serve the British after being falsely accused of Murder.

In this first installment we meet the brothers and get to know the circumstances that has the brothers, as highlanders and jacobites, working as Rangers in the French / British war. We then meet Lady Anne Burness Campbell who also has been falsely accused of a crime and is sold into indentured labor to the colonies.

When Iain (the eldest of the MacKinnon brothers decides to intervene and save Anne from rape and then death, the writing is set on the wall.

This was my first book by Clare and I was pleasantly surprised. I received the book as an ARC and to be honest, I had no expectations for the piece. The blurb on the back of the book just didn't make it sound that exciting and I found that I had no real interest in reading it right away, but I had committed myself to read the book and so I started it as soon as I got it.

As soon as I situated where in history the events took place, the book came alive. I am a BIG Last of the Mohicans fan and the atmosphere that was created in the book reminded me of that movie/book. The brothers had been adopted by a tribe of Indians and they fought crudely like the Highlanders and Indians were known to fight. The romance between Iain and Annie was not rushed or hindered by a bunch of silly misunderstandings. When Iain reacted stupidly, he admitted it and accepted his flaw. He realized the importance in life and treasured his time alive. This is how I would expect a sensible man would act in a time of war like the brothers lived in.

The rhythm Clare set in the plot had great timing and the characters were all well developed. When you closed the book you felt as if you were leaving good friends behind. This is something that an author writing a series needs to establish from book one. You need to want to go back and read about those other two brothers. You need to care about the characters and feel the need to revisit them. I must admit that even the 'villain' of the book, at the end, had me wanting a HEA for him as well.

Besides all that... the book was quite steamy. Lord William and his friendly fingers and Iain with his handy razor, made the book sizzle with scenes that were just not your typical 'let's go tupping!'. Definitely a series to watch out for and an author with great talent.

Grade: B+