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Book Review By plnorth
Once An Angel by Teresa Medeiros

After being left in a boarding school for several years, Emily Scarborough heads for New Zealand to find her father's partner and her guardian, Justin Connor. Her journey ends with her being thrown overboard and being found by Justin, naked on the beach. He carries her to his hut to care for her. She learns that he is one of her father's partners and the one who murdered her father. She does not reveal her true identity to Justin. As the weeks go by they begin to fall in love. One day a ship comes to dock with news from Justin's mother. His father is dead and he has come into the title of Duke and he must return home. He leaves Emily behind, promising to return. She does not believe him and takes another passage back to England. When Justin finds her in London he takes her to his mansion and his mother and sisters decide to introduce her to society and begin preparing her for her debut. As each day goes by Justin is fighting his feelings for her as he is her guardian. Still he can't stand the thought of her being with another man. Emily is trying to learn more about her father's murder and Justin won't tell her anything. One day the third partner, Nicholas, thought long dead, shows up in London and tries to court Emily. Justin and Emily decide to bring him down just as he is trying to bring them down. The situation quickly becomes very involved as Justin is no longer sure if Emily still loves him and she learns that Justin is the one who killed her father. Nicholas convinces Emily to return to New Zealand with him and Justin is on his fastest clipper in pursuit finally admitting that he cannot imagine life without Emily and to save her from possible death at the hands of Nicholas.

Everyone has secrets they are keeping. Emily does not tell Justin that she is his partner's daughter and Justin does not tell Emily why he had to kill her father. No ones knows how Nicholas survived a tribe of cannibals or how he managed to gain control of the gold mine the 3 partners found. It all comes together in the end with a lot of humor entwined in the telling.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Action/suspense subplot? Yes
Action:
Hidden Identity/Secret Motive Yes
Is really... - an imposter

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

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

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

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
What % of story is romance related? - 50%
How explicit is the sex? - vague references only - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - 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? - 3-4 sex acts
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