Title: A Reckless Promise
Author: Kasey Michaels
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Books
Book Blurb:
London's Little Season has never been so scandalous.
It's the kind of vow often made on the battlefield. Darby Travers, Viscount Nailbourne, never imagines he'll have to honor it. Yet here she is on his doorstep—his late comrade's young daughter, and Darby's new ward. Worse, she comes with the most overprotective, mistrustful, bothersome chaperone—the child's aunt, Sadie Grace Boxer. Darby is quite sure that behind her lovely facade, the woman is guarding a secret.
Sadie Grace faced many trials working in her brother's surgery, but none prepared her for the world she's thrust into with his passing. Navigating the ton, with its endless ball gowns and parade of parties, is difficult enough, but hiding the truth about her niece while the sophisticated viscount watches her every move proves nearly impossible—particularly when his searing gaze tempts her to bare all. But when her family's past catches up with her, she'll have to trust in Darby…no matter the cost to her heart.
My Review:
A Reckless Promise starts in the middle of the Napoleonic War and one of the young men, Darcy, is injured (lost his eye). A doctor is sewing him up and asks Darcy for a favor. Considering the fact that Doc just saved his life, Darcy promises to look after his daughter. It’s a Reckless Promise indeed and thus begins this sweeping romance.
Darcy is in fact a Viscount and when his new ward appears on his doorstep a few years later with a very beautiful “aunt”, Darcy is cautious, as is the lovely Sadie. Can Sadie be hiding a deep, dark secret? Can he break through her icy exterior to discover the fiery women underneath or will she succeed in keeping him at arms length?
This was my first Kasey Michaels book (I know, I know, I’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere) and I started reading with an open mind. It’s an understatement to say I love her writing style. I was sucked in from the first sentence and was so disappointed when it ended. I wanted to read more about Darcy and Sadie.
I’m a huge fan of this time period and Michaels paints an accurate portrayal of not only aristocratic society but of what can happen to a child who loses both her parents. It’s a touching story of how bachelor Darcy takes in a precocious child (along with her alluring aunt) and he creates a home for her. His friends are quick to fall in love with Darcy’s young ward and in the end, she just may save the life of a frightened aging Duke.
Filled with a slow-burning romance, hysterical antics by London’s high society, witty dialogue and a beautiful setting, A Reckless Promise delivers an epic romance. Perfect for a beach read or escaping from the kids for a few hours. Kasey Michaels is a talented storyteller so I have to go out and buy everything she’s ever written!
My Rating: 5+ stars
Buy it now:
Author Biography:
The hallmarks of New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Kasey Michaels' writing are humor, romance and happy endings. The importance of upbeat, entertaining fiction was brought home to Kasey when her eldest son became very ill. During the long months while he was in the hospital after his kidneys failed, she noticed that the nurses who cared for the sick children and the mothers who spent long hours at their bedsides often had a romance novel in their back pockets. She began carrying her own romances to the hospital in a small suitcase, reading and then sharing and trading them with the other moms.
"We were living in a world too real in that hospital," Kasey says today. "We all functioned at the highest level—there was no choice but to function, to persevere—and we all occasionally escaped that world into the hope and happy endings of romance novels."
Kasey had actually written her first book just before her son's illness. She penned her second book during those long months in the hospital, and it became The Tenacious Miss Tamerlane.
Since then, Kasey has gone on to write about 100 more books, and to receive a trio of coveted Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly. The third was for her first HQN title, The Butler Did It, which was also a 2005 nominee for the Romance Writers of America's (RWA) highest award, the RITA® Award and Publishers Weekly's Quills Award. She is already a recipient of the RITA Award, a Waldenbooks and BookRak Bestseller Award, and many awards from Romantic Times magazine, including a Career Achievement Award for her Regency-era historical romances.
Kasey has also appeared on the Today Show, and was the subject of the Lifetime Cable-TV show A Better Way, in conjunction with Good Housekeeping magazine, a program devoted to women and how they have achieved career success in the midst of motherhood (short version: "with great difficulty").
Kasey has written Regency romances, Regency historicals, category books including novellas and continuities and a few series "launch" books, and single-title contemporaries. Hers is also the twisted mind behind her ongoing Maggie Kelly mystery series that stars a former romance writer turned historical mystery writer. She is also the author of the highly praised nonfiction book, written as Kathryn Seidick, Or You Can Let Him Go, which details the story of Kasey and her family during the time of her eldest son's first kidney transplant.
Kasey and her husband of more than 40 years live in Pennsylvania with their two neurotic Persians, Princess and Peaches. They are proud parents of four and grandparents of two. Each summer the entire family volunteers to help out with the golf tournament her grown son founded to benefit the Gift of Life Donor Program of Philadelphia. Monies raised contribute to the costs of transporting the youngest members of Team Philadelphia to the annual Transplant Olympics.
Social Media Links:
Website www.kaseymichaels.com
Reviewed by: Mrs. N