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Book Review By plnorth
Castles by Julie Garwood

Alesandra's father gave up his throne to marry an Englishwoman and never regretted it. Unfortunately for Alesandra by the time she was 12 both her parents had died. When she was about to turn 18 her father's closest friend and her guardian summoned her to England. Her uncle the King had also died and her country was in turmoil over who would take the throne. An unscruplous general wanted control and he was determined to force Alesandra to marry him to solidify him claim. She didn't want to but in the middle of the night the nuns put her on a ship for England. When she arrived she found her guardian, his wife, and their eldest son and his wife very will and she was left with no choice but to take up residence with the youngest son, Colin.

Colin was the second son of the Duke of Williamshire. As such the titles and property would go to his older brother and Colin realized early on that he would have to make his own way in the world. He and a friend had started a shipping business and he had a five year plan. In five years he would begin to think about marriage and a family of his own. To supplement his income from shipping he worked occassionally for the government security department and was very good at what he did for them. When Alesandra moves into his home he realizes that he is attracted to her and as she is in danger takes seriously his duty to protect her. He falls ill and she insists on nursing him back to health herself. As a result they have no choice but to marry. This stops the general but there is another man sending her and 2 of her sisters-in-law flowers signing them only Your Secret Admirer. Unbeknownst to them he works with Colin the the Dept of Security and they have to find out who he is because the one thing they do know about him is that he is a serial killer.

During their adventure Colin realizes that he has fallen in love with his Princess and that she is very intelligent and has skills only a man in Regency England should have. She tricks him time and time again into letting her help him with his shipping business, his severly injured leg and with the search for the killer.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Action/suspense subplot? Yes
Action:

Main Male Character
Profession/status:
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Sex makes him

Main Female Character
Age/status: - a teen
Profession/status:
Effect of sexing
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK
Misc setting - Fancy Mansion

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
What % of story is romance related? - 60%
How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing - impregnation/reproduction - actual description of sex
Focus of story - equally on him and her
How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much sexing? - 1-2 sex acts
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