Loving Evangeline

Robert and Evie were the perfect couple. Robert a man who was dangerous to anyone he thought a threat,and mistakingly thinking that Evie was, but unable to keep his attraction to her under control. Here a man distrusts with his mind, but not with his heart. He allowed his mind to tell him things that his heart knew was not true and in the process almost lost the love of his life. Evie dared to love again after so much pain and almost died when she saw that Robert would not love her with his heart, but with his mind. She had to love for the both of them. I loved the ending.

This is the sequel to Duncan's Bride. In "Loving Evangeline", we meet Evangeline Shaw (Evie)who lives in a small town in Alabama, owns a marina and is trying to keep her life together after the death of her young husband (her childhood sweetheart)years before. Into her world enters Robert Cannon. We first met Robert in Duncan's Bride (Madelyn's stepbrother). Robert's company develops classified software that is being sold to a foreign government without his approval. His trail leads straight to Evie, who by all accounts has both the means and the motives. Determined to handle this matter himself and under the premise of vacationing in the area for the summer, Robert begins his investigation of Evie. Robert has always been attracted to tall, thin women but this five foot four traitor takes his breath away! He has every intention of bringing her to justice but as time goes on it becomes increasingly difficult to believe she is involved in industrial espionage. This is a very good read. As usual, Evie is one of Linda's heroines who can tough it out and survive. Robert plays some pretty mean tricks on her but she bounces back and eventually brings him to his knees. I hope you enjoy this sexy, sensual story as much as I did.

I was very disappointed to read some of the reviews about this novel, depicting Evangeline as weak and Robert overpowering. Did I miss something here? Character development in this novel was masterful and subtle. Evangeline's quiet and peaceful demeaner masks an inner strength it would be impossible not to recognize. Robert masks the same qualities with a cool, controlled exterior. Both characters had powerful appeal, and I fell in love with them. I found the end a bit of an anti-climax after the intensity of the rest of the novel, but it by no means spoiled the effect. I would recommend this novel without hesitation to ANY fiction fan.

I looooved Duncan's Bride, and so was happy to read dear Robert's story. In case you feel tempted to hunt down the TV-movie: DON'T! It is nothing like the book. I seriously hope that if Ms. Howard allows any other of her books to be made into movies, she gets the movie to actually resemble the book. The plot was changed, the characters were changed, ugh, the has-been actors sucked..... you get my drift. The book, however, ROCKED. Sweet, innocent Evie is someone who will not accept the scraps of affection Robert wants to throw at her. She wants it all, and boy, does she get her wish.

This is without doubt one of my favorite books by Linda Howard. Evie's integrity is amazing and it shows a person who is scared to fall in love again, yet has the courage to accept do so. Robert seemed like an unfeeling type of guy in the beginning, but I learned to like him through out the book. What amazed me was that Roberts was willing to help Evie not get sent to jail even though he thought she was guilty of the conspiracy. This goes to show how much he came to care about Evie.What I liked, is that Linda Howard included Madelyn's and Reese's characters (from "Duncan's Bride") in this book. I recommend readers to read "Duncan's Bride" before they read "Loving Evangeline", but if you don't, that's all right b/c the 2 stories are not really deeply related to each other.I'm still looking for "Mackenzie's Mountain," "Come Lie With Me," and "An Independent Wife." If anyone is interested in selling any of them to me at a reasonable price, please let me know.