Ondine is right up
there with Heather Graham’s best historical romances. Set in England in the
reign of Charles II in the late 1600s, Graham masterfully weaves in history
that makes the era come alive.
It is a complex tale of Ondine, the young and very beautiful
Duchess of Rochester, whose father is slain by jealous relatives who want his
lands—and Ondine—while they also attempt to make it look as if Ondine and her
father were trying to slay the king. Ondine, fearing the fate of a traitor,
flees into the forest where she joins up with the poor just trying to stay
alive. Arrested with them for poaching, she ends up facing the gallows. But in
a quirk of history that really happened, she is saved from the noose by an
offer of marriage by a passing nobleman, Warrick, Lord Chatham.
Warrick is looking for a woman to be his wife as bait to
trap the murderer of his first wife. Both Ondine and Warrick have mysteries to
solve and neither confides initially in the other as they soon fall in love
without admitting it. Warrick had no intention of consummating the odd marriage
to the commoner he saved from the gallows, but then he finds his new wife
irresistible. Her name “Ondine” represents a mythical mermaid who is given mortal
life by the love of a man.
I loved how Drake wove the mythology into the story. The
romance held my interest throughout and one thing I really liked is that the hero
was never mean or cruel to Ondine (though he did pretend it out of concern for
her life). There were no disturbing elements, only splendid writing, a well-woven plot and incredible characters you will come to love. I highly recommend
this one!
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