UNDER A LUCKY STAR

Author: Diane Farr ISBN: 0451211707 4/2004 Historical Publisher: NAL/Signet
Time Period: 1803-1806

They shared a kiss that seared his soul...but can it melt her icy heart? Cynthia, daughter of the Earl of Ballymere, is known as the Frost Fair, for she is as cold as she is lovely. But Derick Whittaker is different from the suitors she has turned away––he has already held her in his arms and felt the passion between them. Denied his family's fortune by birthright, he knows that true wealth lies in love––and he was rich beyond his wildest dreams for that fleeting moment . . Derrick does not know the secret Cynthia kept––that the cut she dealt him tears at her heart as well. But sometimes the heavens grant lost love a second chance...and even the coldest hearts can thaw beneath the warm light of a lucky star.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I started UNDER A LUCKY STAR with high expectations. Afterall, having read several other Diane Farr books, I knew that this was a writer whose characters always show unexpected depth. Farr's ability to convey both physical and heartfelt emotional action through words is one of her best and most shining talents. Needless to say, she didn't disappoint me.

A character-driven love story, UNDER A LUCKY STAR is more than just the complex love relationship that develops between the two main characters, Cynthia and Derek. It is also the story of a young adult woman coming into her own; of a dependent woman-child, shut off emotionally and easily bullied by her parent, who learns to become an independent, mature woman that recognizes her feelings, acts upon them, and as a consequence, learns to be responsible for the choices she then has to make. Simply put, the young lady must, and does, grow up.

If truth be told, watching Cynthia immerge into womanhood was more fascinating to me than watching the relationship develop between she and Derek. With her ice-cold demeanor set against Derek's warm and charming character, my disdain of Cynthia's spoiled and wimpish attitude, in the beginning, was such that I thought Farr might have missed me with this book. But while I disliked Cynthia so immensely at this stage, by the end, Farr had me giving her my sympathy, respect, and utimately my approval, as Derek's well-deserved other half.

If you are looking for a lot of action and sex in your romance reading, this is not a book you will find it in. I also felt that the story slowed and seemed to bog just a bit in some areas, but never enough to throw me off course. Just little bumps in the road, as they say.

The bottom line? With Farr's deft penning and her brilliant talent of expressing the tenderest of emotions, UNDER A LUCKY STAR is one Regency era romance that lovers of the genre won't want to miss.

Nancy Davis