LaVonne W. (Grnemae) - , reviewed on 9/5/2016 + 451 more book reviews

This was a fun historical romance set in 1887 Australia. Maggie Chamberlain has arrived in Australia as an emigrant thinking that she was engaged to be married and that she would be playing the lead role in the play The Taming of the Shrew. To her dismay she finds that her fiance did not think she would actual come to Australia and he has no plans to marry her. He also has no authority to give her a role in the play. This means that Maggie must work as a servant for 3 years unless she can find someone to marry her. Enter 2 men both of whom want to marry her. Both are wealthy landowners, Kirk Duncan from America and the Reeve McKenna from Ireland. The 2 men have a history and dislike each other which adds an element of suspense to the story. Both want to control Maggie who has been an orphan for 12 years and is use to caring for herself. She is fiesty and is determined to make her own way even though Reeve buys her "papers" so she does not have to work as a servant. She does work as a nanny for Kirk's 2 sons but after a confrontation over what Maggie views as a too sexual advance she flees to Reeve who she has fallen in love with. Reeve has no interest in falling in love or getting married, he is too busy trying to find his brother Jamie. By accident Maggie encounters Jamie who makes her promise that she will never tell Reeve. The banter between Reeve and Maggie is great and shows how strong Maggie really is even though she is in not so good a situation. After Reeve suffers a great mental trauma and has what today we call PTSD, Maggie cares for him and he realizes that he loves her and wants to marry her. The book has a happy ever after ending but leaves wide open the continuation of Reeve's story as he continues his 20 year search for Jamie.

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