A Rogue's Promise

Though she kept the debt collectors away for quite a long time, by 1816 Joanna Fenton is desperate as creditors hover closer and closer to ruining her family. Her brother has vanished and the Chinese sacred two-headed dragon statuette is stolen. She needs help so she boldly goes where no woman has gone before. She enters a dive of a pub seeking to gain the assistance of nearly retired smuggler MacDonald Archer.Mac's plans to become respectable as an above the board shipper ends the moment he meets the intrepid Joanna. He follows her as she takes him on a tour of London that would frighten dockworkers. As they work in close proximity on recovering the artifact, they fall in love, but both have reasons to avoid commitment.ROGUE'S PROMISE is a strong Regency romance that never allows the audience to catch their breath. Yet while all that action is occurring, the talent of Peggy Waide shines through the plot as she provides the audience with two complete lead characters whose motives are understood and make sense. Ms. Waide endows readers with a powerful historical tale worth reading by anyone who enjoys good writing.Harriet Klausner

Miss Joanna Fenton boldly enters a tavern frequented by smugglers and dockworkers seeking MacDonald Archer. Her family faces financial ruin, and Joanna needs help to locate her brother and a Chinese artifact scheduled for public auction. Her responsible shoulders have born the burdens of her family since her scandalous season several years ago, and she intends to keep any further scandal at bay until her younger sister can be safely married. To her surprise, Mac's educated speech belies his surroundings. Soon Joanna finds herself shockingly attracted to this stranger who can be alternately charming or intolerable. MacDonald Archer plans to trade the lucrative life of smuggling for the respectability of ordinary shipping. The money, the adventure and the danger no long hold the allure they once did, leaving Mac plagued with a nagging restlessness. Then he meets Joanna, and sees beyond the ordinary exterior that other's dismiss. Suddenly he is intrigued by this bodacious woman intent upon the salvation of her family. Although he has little tolerance for blue bloods, Mac is fascinated by the puzzle Joanna presents with her contrast between vulnerability and determination. Soon he finds himself traipsing through the underbelly of London in Joanna's company, seeking the life threatening answers to the disappearance of both her brother and the artifact. Peggy Waide's historical novel A ROGUE'S PROMISE is one of the most fun and sizzling Regency romances I have had the pleasure to read. ROGUE'S PROMISE proves Waide's gift for creating strong characterizations. Joanna's drab exterior conceals a woman of passion and fire, fiercely determined to protect her family and equally bold in her growing love for Mac. Mac is fantasy material with his worldly ways and sensual touch. With a page-turning combination of romance, suspense, and danger, ROGUE'S PROMISE is impossible to put down. Indeed, if you only add only one Regency romance to your shelves this year, you will want to make it A ROGUE'S PROMISE. Very highly recommended.