cover image It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night

Leslie LaFoy. Fanfare, $5.5 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-553-57745-7

To fulfill a prophecy, seemingly mild-mannered CPA Alana Chapman is transported back to 1803 Ireland, where she meets Kiervan des Morceaux, a privateer sent to recruit her services as a seer. Sparks fly, and before the day is out, he's punched her in the jaw and she's kneed him in the groin. Then again, Alana is a special kind of heroine: feminine, beautiful, but also physically strong, daring, smart and self-reliant. Characterization isn't the only strong point in LaFoy's debut. She uses her almost mythic setting well, and her narrative smartly balances action with a subplot that portrays Kiervan as a self-made man who believes he must marry up to achieve his goals. There are some flaws: the prose is occasionally purple (nipples too frequently pebble and crest), and the author has a penchant for providing too much sexual tension and too little payoff. But readers will cheer as Alana's 20th-century logic sinks into Kiervan's brain and he finally realizes the true meaning of ""marrying well."" (Oct.)