Penelope Marzec

Lesley has had enough of her abusive boyfriend. She throws him over and is on her way to the airport when a freak storm hits along the way. Blinded by a migraine and struck by lightning, when she opens her eyes, she's on a pirate ship two hundred years earlier.

Harlan is a superstitious pirate, troubled by the sudden appearance of a naked woman on his ship. Not only is it bad luck, this mystery woman looks startlingly like his dead wife. The ship's doctor convinces him to take the woman on, disguising her as a boy.

Storms continue to plague the damaged ship, and the mutinous crew tries to leave it's captain to sink with the ship. Lesley and Harlan struggle through the trials and dangers of life in 1711, including releasing the spirit of Harlan's wife from a prison he has created with words spoken in ignorance. As they travel along the journey together, saving each other from the ravages and dangers, the electrical attraction that pulls them together creates a bigger problem for them. Thrown into the wrong time, how will they be able to survive - together?

This book was fast-paced, with obstacle after obstacle, including prejudices and overcoming ignorance. It was a fun ride that I read voraciously from beginning to end. The paranormal elements were intricately woven. I'd recommend this book.

Reading the paperback version, the line height was too small to accommodate letters with "tails" (making Dr. Gilroy appear to be Dr. Gilrov, etc.) There were also a couple of instances where quotation marks were replaced with "2013" in odd places. Typsetting issues with the publisher. Once I adapted to those oddities, I had no other "editorial" problems.… (altro)

Molly is running away from the law.She has answered an advertisement for a secretary at a Place called White Buck Hall.As the book opens she is resting at an inn and decides to ask the innkeeper for directions to the mansion.

He tells her she would be better not going there as the owner of the place is in League with the devil and there are all sorts of mysterious going ons.

She doesnt pay much mind to it though and continue on foot to the estate and suddenly there appears a white stag.Its startled when a hunter starts to shoot at it.

The hunter is killed by the stag and Molly faints only to wake up inside White Buck Hall in the care of its owner and a dwarf wich is the member of his household.

Here is what I first thought when reading the blurb.

Albino hero? Thats quite cool. Never encounterd one in a romance novel before. aaand hes a wizard and can turn into a magnificient white stag you say?

This all sounded very good...but this hope crumbled soon.

Its just messy and confusing to read. At one the heroine thinks to herself that the guy doesnt dress like other men she knows. But in the first place I cant recall there being a description of his attire or she thinking about.

The world building is also very strange I couldnt figure out if magic was widely recognized in this world or not. And the characters are not convincing as people supposed to live in the 1890s.… (altro)

This book, which takes place in 1890s New Jersey, has the usual characteristics of a historical romance, but adds a dash of magical mystery. It is pretty clear from the beginning that there is some connection between the white buck that roams the grounds of White Buck Hall and Thomas Hillyer, an albino wizard. The most obvious connection is that Thomas shape shifts into the buck but things aren't always what they seem.

Molly is a fugitive on the run from false accusations and is headed to White Buck Hall to apply for a secretary position. She stumbles into the white buck as she is walking through the woods. The buck saves her from a hunter but is also injured. So starts the relationship between Thomas and Molly.

White Buck Hall is occupied by a variety of interesting characters including a dwarf clown, a deaf and mute giant, and a bearded lady. Thomas wants Molly to leave but at the same time he is intensely attracted to her. Molly is independent and stubborn. She refuses to leave seeing this situation as her only option to escape her pursuers and instead decides to convince Thomas that she should stay and help with his research.

The story proceeds to unwind the mystery behind Molly's fugitive status and Thomas's magical connection to the white buck as the attraction between Molly and Thomas grows.
Molly starts to have visions of the white buck and has a lot of fainting and dizzy spells, which I assume is related to the visions, as I do not recall it really being explained.

I was not clear on the magical worldview in this book. It seemed that Thomas used his magic pretty freely, and at times in public, yet I didn't get the sense that this was a world where magic was openly accepted. The occupants of White Buck Hall and the servants in his other residence in Philadelphia -- where the story goes at a later time -- seem to know about and accept his magic, but I didn't get the feeling that magic was widely accepted or known in the general population.

Overall I like the story but I didn't have any strong feelings either way. Though the story kept my interest enough it seemed to plod along occasionally. There was some awkward scene staging at one point and more typos than I would expect from a small press book. The sex in this book is infrequent and more on the sensual than spicy side--nothing too explicit and language is more euphemistic than direct or graphic. If you like historical romances with some magical elements added in you might like this one. Typos found: 14

Note on print book formatting: font character spacing was set very close and was uncomfortable to read.… (altro)