CAPTIVE OF SIN – Anna Campbell
Avon
ISBN: 978-0-06-168428-9
November 2009
Historical Romance

Cornwall – 1821

Sir Gideon Trevithick returns home a hero, but he feels anything but. People may call him the Hero of Rangapindhi, but Gideon is a broken man after his time in India. On his way home to Cornwall, he rescues a young woman on the run from God knows what, or whom. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that “Sarah Watson”, as she calls herself, has been beaten and will not be able to heal as long as she’s escaping whoever is chasing her. Once again, Gideon steps into the unwanted role of hero, but he cannot ignore the poor woman who seems to refuse his aid.

Lady Charis Weston may be one of England’s wealthiest heiresses, but she won’t be able to collect her inheritance if her stepbrothers marry her off to the highest bidder. She’s no good to them dead, but she wasn’t about to stay at their estate and allow further abuse at their hands. So she ran. Now she must trust this stranger with the haunted eyes who plays the Good Samaritan and is intent on seeing her to her destination. Too bad Charis really doesn’t have any plans other than getting away from her stepbrothers and surviving until her birthday, when she can legally claim her money.

Gideon doesn’t plan to take Charis to his crumbling estate in Cornwall, but it soon becomes obvious that Penrhyn Cove may be the safest place to hide her. But not long after their arrival, he learns her real identity and meets her scheming brothers after they’d followed their trail to Gideon’s front door. Denial is always a safe defense, and no one would dare question the Hero of Rangapindhi’s word. However, Felix and Hubert are relentless and just evil enough to play dirty to get what they want. Marrying Charis is the only option to keep her money out of the scheming brothers’ hands.

Now what is he to do? Charis’s feelings have gone from cringing at shadows to claiming she’s in love with him, or so she says. Surely it’s nothing more than hero worship? But when she balks at his refusal to accept her declaration, Gideon will see what Charis Weston is truly made of.

My reading in 2009 wasn’t much to write home about in terms of numbers, but CAPTIVE OF SIN is definitely worth an honorable mention. Granted, it was my last read of 2009, but it ended my year on a high note. I’d read mixed reviews of Anna Campbell’s latest, but I honestly enjoyed this book. Gideon is a tortured hero who needs a bit of happiness in his life, but he’s afraid to believe that Charis will see beneath his torment and see the scared man he knows he is. Charis starts off a broken woman but grows in strength and resolve as she falls more deeply in love with Gideon. She’s not about to give up on him, something he’s been used to for too many years. She goes through bouts of giddiness and despair as she teaches her new husband how to feel emotion that doesn’t involve pain and distrust, that touch does not have to involve agony, and that, yes, he is a man worthy of her love. Gideon, in turn, learns pretty quickly that he is in love with his new wife, but he refuses to believe that there will be a sunset they can ride off into...there can be no happily-ever-afters for him. But love has a magical power that can cure the most tortured of hearts, and slowly Gideon learns this.

Given my preconceptions of CAPTIVE OF SIN, I was a bit hesitant going in, but am glad I had the opportunity to read this one. It was time well spent!

Amy Cunningham