Once a Rebel

June 26, 2017
Putney continues her Regency-era Rogues Redeemed series (begun in Once a Soldier) with a page-turner tale of childhood friends reunited during the War of 1812. Lord Audley, Gordon to his friends, is hired by the British family of a widow, Callista Brooke, to find her and bring her home from Washington, D.C., the city at the center of the unrest. When he finds her, he realizes that the widow is his neighbor and friend from childhood, who had believed him dead. Gordon had tried to save Callie from an unwanted marriage to an older Jamaican planter by eloping with her to Scotland, but before they could wed, her father had him convicted of false crimes. As Gordon and Callie journey from Washington to Baltimore to retrieve her stepchildren, their friendship deepens and their desire grows, but they face imminent danger. As these two appealing characters discover how friendship can change into romance, Putney completes their story with plenty of detail and cameos from historical figures.

August 1, 2017

Lord Gordon Audley accepts a mission to America to rescue an English widow and return her to her family during the final days of the War of 1812. He arrives just in time to prevent her from being attacked and is shocked to find that the widow in question is his childhood friend Callista. Viciously torn apart as teenagers, they were sent from England--Callie to marry a Jamaican planter and Gordon to the Australian penal colony--and they hadn't seen each other since. Yet the connection between them hasn't weakened, and as they make their way through the war-torn countryside toward Baltimore and what remains of Callie's stepfamily, they see their childhood friendship slowly growing into something more. With superbly drawn characters (including historical figures such as Francis Scott Key); a setting so vivid one can taste the lemonade and smell the gunpowder; and a gripping plot that addresses the harsh realities of slavery, prejudice, cruelty, and abuse. VERDICT Valiant, resourceful protagonists fight for each other against incredible odds in a story that deftly balances fascinating historical detail, adventure, and menace with a passionate romance. Another "redeemed rogue" gets the future he deserves. Putney (Once a Soldier) lives in Baltimore.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
Two childhood friends find each other again by the dawn's early light.Callista Brooke and Lord George Gordon Audley were once the best of friends; when they were 16, they even ran away together to save Callie from having to marry a man her abusive father had promised her to. They were soon discovered by their fathers and banished to separate corners of the British Empire. Fifteen years later, their lives collide again in Washington, D.C., at the heart of the War of 1812. Callie, now widowed, has made a life for herself as a dressmaker when her house is invaded by British soldiers. Gordon, now a spy, has been hired to rescue an English-born widow living in America--who turns out to be Callie, as he discovers when he arrives in the nick of time. After years apart, their first priority is getting Callie and her family safe, and quickly. After they find relative safety in Baltimore, the second priority becomes untangling their complicated feelings for each other; though their first adventure together was motivated by pure friendship, their second one may end in a love match. Putney's commitment to historical research shines throughout the book, especially in nice touches like Callie's lawyer being Francis Scott Key, author-to-be of the national anthem. Her attempt to accurately portray the racial tensions of the era is admirable, if simplistic at times. The second entry in Putney's (Weddings of the Century, 2017, etc.)Rogues Redeemed series is unusually lengthy, but it means that Callie and Gordon's happy ending, after surviving a war and a voyage home to England, is all the more satisfying. Putney's continued foray into the new setting of the United States in the early 19th century is a welcome addition to the historical romance shelf. Though suspense and adventure drive this story forward, the love at its center sets it apart.

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