THE CONVICT'S WOMAN

Author: Janet Woods ISBN: 141650253X 3/2007 HISTORICAL Publisher: POCKET BOOKS
Time Period: 1852

Framed for a crime he didn't commit and sentenced to seven years' transportation, former stable lad Seb Cornish has old scores to settle. Above all, he seeks revenge against the young girl who unwittingly betrayed him all those years before. Amanda Lapsly in now a beautiful young woman, but impoverished and without protection, Her vulnerability attracts Seb. To obtain the vengeance he seeks, he must win her trust—and her hand in marriage. But Amanda has already been promised to one man—while her heart belongs to another. Will Amanda fall into Seb's trap? Three men desire her—but only one can offer her unconditional love. Will she make the right choice?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

There is nothing quite so great to me as reading a book about a character who is able to come through horrible odds to make their life whole once again. That livelihood, that need to make their own way in the world at all costs, is just so alluring to me. In THE CONVICT'S WOMAN we have two characters with so much of this need, this ability to thrive, that I was overjoyed to read their story and understand what shaped heir lives.

Amanda Lapsly is a beautiful woman knocked down into horrible circumstances time and again, only to get back on her feet and keep trudging onward. Her mother died when she was only a child, and her father, who she loves very much, is an alcoholic who has bankrupted their family more than once. She is forced to live a life on the run, is stolen from, and she has to endure life in a workhouse with no hope for relief for either herself or her sister. Not to mention that the only hope of ever getting out of the workhouse is the evil man who is responsible for all of her family's loss to begin with. At times, I felt that this poor woman had been dealt more than anyone could have ever handled without going crazy. Even though Amanda feels an overwhelming sense of loss and confusion about the state of her life, she moves forward; she doesn't let life get her down. Somehow, someway, she knows there has to be a way out of the mess she is in.

Seb Cornish has returned to Dorset a changed man—a free man with wealth of his own and a handsome son in need of a mother. He is here to confront the man whose daughter had him thrown in jail years ago for a crime he did not commit. When he gets where he is going, he never dreams that the house will have been taken over by horrid, deceitful men, or that the man he is looking for is dead. So he goes looking for the next best thing—the little girl who framed him. But instead of feeling hatred for this person who changed his life so irrevocably, he finds himself drawn to her and offers his hand to her in marriage. In this way Amanda and her sister will not have to live in the workhouse any longer, and he can exact revenge for the things he has endured in the past.

Seb is a great match for Amanda. He is just as strong and bullheaded as she is, and thinks nothing of her somewhat waspish nature and her mistrust of human beings in general. He knows she has a right to feel the way she does after the life that she has lead. Slowly, but surely, we see Seb pulling Amanda out of the cocoon she has nestled around her heart. He is determined to make things right between them before he even understands why. He cannot fathom why he is falling in love with the woman who has wronged him so horribly in the past.

THE CONVICT'S WOMAN is the third book that I have read by Janet Woods. Never have I been disappointed in anything that she has written. THE CONVICT'S WOMAN is fast-paced and eventful, with a wonderful cast of characters and great villains. I felt as if I was there in that little seaside town with these characters that I have totally grown to love. I imagine if I had closed my eyes, I might have smelled the water and heard the seagulls. Ms. Woods is a phenomenal writer and I always find it a privilege to be able to review one of her books.

Kristal Gorman