T
his imaginative but bumpy historical romance debut, set in Georgian England, features highwayman Rand and authoress Elizabeth, who are struck by déjà vu from the moment they meet in London. Although Rand cannot offer Elizabeth a safe or easy life, he senses their destinies are entwined and that their connection goes back to a 13th-century past life. Free-thinking spinster Elizabeth, meanwhile, is haunted by the hero of her latest novel, a combination of Rand and a historical knight killed in a bloody battle five hundred years earlier. As Rand goes about the bandit business, Elizabeth tries to write and wards off the advances of Lord Walter Stafford. But when Rand and Elizabeth finally get together, a humiliated Stafford makes it his mission to hunt down Rand and see him hanged. The couple lands in Newgate prison, where it takes all their wits to avoid the hangman's noose. Historical romance purists may have a hard time swallowing Elizabeth's character (she refers to her “career” and “writer's block”), and the bumper crop of action scenes begin to feel like filler. The past-lives angle is interesting, but it may not be enough to hold readers' attention over 400 pages. (Aug.)
