The Smuggler's Captive Bride

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 3 MAY 2004

As romance fans would expect from the star-studded lineup in this collection, each Regency-era novella features a high level of sensuality, but the short format of these pieces allows little room for romantic development. In the contributions from Dodd ("The Lady and the Tiger") and LaFoy ("The Proposition"), the heroines fall too quickly into bed with their respective heroes. Although the characters are likable enough, the stories lack the strong emotional core found in the authors' longer works. Still, there's plenty of fun to be had here. In Laurens's "Melting Ice," for example, the heroine finds herself in the awkward position of having unknowingly invited herself to an orgy, and in Bradley's "Wedding Knight," a bride becomes enmeshed in a mistaken-identity fiasco complete with blackmail and throwing knives. While this collection doesn't approach the heights any of these authors have achieved individually, it's consistent in tone and quality. Ardent fans of Dodd and Laurens, however, will be disappointed to note that these two authors' entries have been previously published.