JUST FOR HER - Katherine O'Neal
A Perfect 10
Brava
ISBN-10: 0-7582-1062-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-1062-3
July 2008
Historical Romantic Suspense

Cap Ferrat, the French Riviera, France - 1926

Archduchess Maria Teresa Louisa Juliana von Habsburg, former royal princess of the Habsburg Austrian Dynasty, is now known only as Jules DeRohan, wife of British industrialist Dominic DeRohan. Tonight, in the darkest hour, Jules waits in her bedroom for the infamous cat burglar known as The Panther. The man’s stealth and skill robbing only the wealthiest villas on the southern coast of France are legendary and the talk of the town. Why, he took the ring right off the hand of Lady Weston as she slept! Thinking he can help her, Jules has set a trap, and The Panther does not disappoint. He sneaks into her bedroom intent on stealing the jewels he believes are behind the steel doors of her wall safe. But the safe is empty, and before he gets a chance to search further, Jules confronts him clad only in her nightgown and offers him a deal. She will give him jewels in exchange for a simple task: kill her husband.

Dominic DeRohan is a brutal tyrant bent on the relentless pursuit of wealth and whatever possession suits his fancy at the moment, one of which is Jules. He literally bought her hand in marriage, tricking her father into losing everything he valued, even his very life. And when DeRohan gunned down Jules’s lover in a duel, she fled London for the security of Rêve de l’Amour, her grandmother’s estate on the French Riviera. Jules is bound to DeRohan in name only, and she vows he will never possess her body or own her soul, and now she’s beside herself with worry. A telegram from London gave notice that at this very moment DeRohan is on his way to Rêve de l’Amour to take what he believes is his right -- the consummation of their marriage.

Juliana lands herself in serious trouble when she first tangles with The Panther, but just for her, the dynamic thief decides to best Jules at her own game. Their meetings are shrouded in the shadows of darkness and she never sees his face, but his raspy voice and Italian endearments set Jules's never-before-awakened passions aflame and the man forces her into a devil’s bargain -- the life of DeRohan in exchange for everything she holds dear. Not willing to be coerced into submission, Jules refuses The Panther’s demands and plans the demise of DeRohan by herself.

JUST FOR HER is set in the time following WWI after the collapse of the royal houses of Europe and during the years when rich Americans discovered the allure of the Côte d’Azur, or the South of France now known as the French Riviera. Populated with a plethora of characters, Juliana’s friends are among the elite of society: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, and many others who make brief appearances in this story. The action is centered around Jules and her struggle to avoid and outwit the evil DeRohan, all the while falling in love with the elusive and dangerous man she knows only as The Panther. Her English butler, Hudson, is much more than a servant; he’s her confidant and privy to all her secrets; only he knows her fascination with the popular Lord Byron’s fictional heroes and the romanticized idea that lent Jules the idea of engaging The Panther in her lethal contract for DeRohan’s murder.

JUST FOR HER is a novel with page after page of smoldering passion, mystery, and the thrill of suspense that becomes a tortured race for escape. This reader was held enthralled trying to solve the multiple puzzles that weave in and around the chapters, never knowing until the final scenes who the real villain is. A masterful tale of revenge versus love, JUST FOR HER is an emotional roller coaster that has earned RRT’s highest accolade, a Perfect 10.

Diana Risso