Fallen

I've read a great number of historical romances, and in FALLEN, the author succeeds where so many other fail. She let the story develop gently, in a realistic way, which made it so much more believable and enjoyable than most authors of this genre do. I loved this story, I loved the characters; one of my only criticisms is that there were some red herrings that didn't make sense - once you found out the villain was. Despite that, it's a wonderful story beautifully told.

Gabriel Loudon, a special agent to the British army, was always one step ahead of Napoleon's troops- until a vital mission went tragically wrong. Now he has one last chance to redeem himself. His orders: expose an elusive French spy hiding on the isolated island off the coast of Scotland. What he doesn't expect to find there is another fallen angel. * When her scandalous love affair with a young Englishman ends, Maggie MacLeod retreats to the safety of her beloved, remote home. Alone on the cliffs of Skye, she can surrender to romantic dreams of a true love that will never be. Until a mysterious stranger invades her seclusion, awakening her senses and threatening everything she cherishes- especially her splintered heart...

"If there was one bit of dramatic nonsense Gabriel Loudon, the Earl of Rievaulx, loathed more than Sunday sermons, it was ghost stories. He loathed the familiar devices, the predictable ends." Fallen has neither contrivance nor a predictable end. Emma Jensen takes a ghost story, a timeless ballad, and the Isle of Skye and gives us a wonderful sequel to Entwined. Both hero and heroine feel they are failures, undeserving of love and happiness. I enjoyed the parallels drawn in this story and especially liked Gabriel's retrospections on life growing up with his grandfather. The author hints that another story is on the way, write faster, please!

Gabriel Loudon, Earl of Rievaulx, was a special operative for the British during the Napeolonic Wars. At the request of his friend Oriel, he travels to the Isle of Skye seeking redemption for his inadvertent loss of intelligence information which resulted in the deaths of two colleagues. In his search for L'Ecossais, a Scot who is also a French spy, Gabriel meets Maggie MacLeod, a fiercely loyal Scot and a compassionate woman with a healing nature. Will love prevail when Gabriel tells Maggie that L'Ecossais might be one of he own? Emma Jensen makes one feel as if they are acutally climbing the cliffs on the Isle of Skye. She skillfully blends local Scots folklore with intrigue and romance which will keep you guessing until the very end.

Though time is said to heal all wounds, Lord Gabriel Louden thinks otherwise. He still suffers remorse and guilt from his failures as a soldier during the Peninsular War against Napoleon. Still, his friend and military colleague Nathan Paget requests Gabriel render a duty for England. Though he prefers to say no and wallow in his misery, Gabriel accepts the mission and journeys to the Isle of Skye to stop the Scottish traitor, L'Ecossais In Skye, Gabriel and his hostess Maggie MacLeod find themselves attracted to one another from their very first meeting. As they begin to fall in love with one another, both share a mutual distrust for the other, which will soon test their chances for a permanent relationship as well as endanger the duo. FALLEN, the sequel to the fabulous ENTWINED, is a fantastic Regency romance. The hero is a fallen angel suffering from battle fatigue over the errors he made that cost men their lives. The battle between right and wrong as seen through the love and disagreement of Maggie and Gabriel is cleverly designed so that the audience must think about whom holds the moral high ground. Award winning has written a complex, exciting tale that will bring her much acclaim as one of the sub-genre's most enjoyable novelists.Harriet Klausner