Rating: 
Summary: A Reader's Opinion
Review: This reader is in the mood to quibble with one "professional" reviewer. Ms. Browning has crafted a classic highwayman plot but with a unique twist, tumbling both her hero and heroine into a series of events that quickly escalate out of their control. The characters, both primary and secondary, two footed and four, are drawn with care and with an eye to uniqueness. Ms. Browning knows humans are full of quirks and unusual characteristics, and she uses this knowlege to create characters so real I'd like to see them have the chance to live in my imagination again, perhaps someday in their own stories.Dylan Marlow is a man who once strolled among the rich but left them after an unfortunate incident. Now left with little more than an abysmal shipping business, he makes the fateful decision to use those he now abhors to his advantage -- he will become a highwayman and steal from the rich to finance his rebuilding efforts. But though his first attempt ends succesfully, it also ends unexpectedly, when a stolen kiss kindles something deep and surely dangerous within the bad boy Marlow. The recipient of that stolen kiss is Amelia, a well-to-do but certainly not typical young woman. I liked Amelia. Her sense of humor, her very human allergies, and her willingness to take chances for love made her a heroine worth remembering. Ms. Browning's presentation of Amelia's reactions to that first scandalizing kiss into a woman falling in love with her unknown thief rang true. Add a boorish suitor with devious plans of his own, a knowing maid, and an endearing child to the mix and you'll find yourself entertained as a reader hopes to be entertained everytime he or she picks up a new book. Ms. Browning's second book has shown her growing maturity as a writer. She has taken us firmly in hand and given us a brief glimpse into the past and done so with a delightful, fun and exciting story. It will be exciting to see Ms. Browning's next effort. I for one look forward to it eagerly.
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