Kidnapped Love

On a cold, dark night, Nicholas St. Clair is looking for the man who killed his brother, David. While waiting to confront the culprit, he overhears a bit of conversation that causes him no small amount of distress. One man has asked another slay a woman in a fox trimmed coat. With little other to describe the attempted murder he seeks anyone who will meet the description of the woman. He believes he has found the victim when a lovely blond woman arrives at the dress shop the next day. Despite attempts to convince her that her life is in danger, the woman does not listen to Nicholas’ entries.

Rather, Catalina McKay treats him as an annoyance and proceeds to marry another man named Lyle Van Dern. Catalina has wanted for nothing. Spoiled by the standards of any day, she is demanding, petulant and refuses to see any other’s point of view.

Certain that Lyle is the man who has hired the assassin, Nicholas pleads with her to leave her husband. When she refuses, Nicholas kidnaps the spoiled and willful woman and carries her to what he hopes will bring her to safety. Despite cold and snow, his destination is a family cabin deep in the woods. In route they encounter an Iroquois brave who takes a fancy to Catalina and he quickly begins a courtship. Through twists and turns they end up in his village where Catalina begins to come to terms with her growing feelings for Nicholas. She realizes she not only knew him as a young woman, but had a crush on him. In time, they consummate their love for each other, yet Catalina heads homeward only to realize how real the danger to her life is.

Ms. Hinchy-Wertman has written a series of historical romances that not only have plot twists and turns that catch the reader off guard, the characters as well have their own complex issues both in themselves and dealing with others. The reader doesn’t need a score card—rather there is an attention holding fascination of what is going to come next. Like well-crafted jigsaw puzzles, Ms. Hinchy-Wertman unveils her story piece by piece. If she were to claim any trademark, it would be her ability to weave a daisy wheel of intrigue in her stories.

In KIDNAPPED LOVE Catalina starts off as just plain old annoying. She is spoiled, headstrong and essentially a twit. Through her travels with Nicholas, her time in the Indian village and return home, she transforms and emerges into a very likeable character. At the conclusion readers see a side of her that is not even imagined when we first meet her. Ms. Hinchy-Wertman reveals Catalina’s inner self very much like a rose unfolding.

Nicholas St. Clair is essentially a nice guy. Definitely set on doing the right thing and not at all an alpha male. He is set on finding his brother’s killer and quickly turns the desire to avenge him to one of protection towards Catalina.

Where this reviewer had problems with KIDNAPPED LOVE was why, when Nicholas had a ship in the harbor, did he venture into the cold, wet, snowy climbs, braving a confrontation with Indians? It made little sense when the ship was right there. While almost a half-year passes between Catalina’s wedding and her return home, there was almost an overwhelming amount of details about her daily day-to-day life with Nicholas. While much of the information was interesting, it tended to bog the story down, at times making it boring.

Contrasted with Ms. Hinchy-Wertman’s ESCAPE TO LOVE or her upcoming release of DEADLY ATTRACTION, if it were not for the intricately woven plot and surprise ending one would almost think it was an entirely different author. KIDNAPPED LOVE is a sweet romance; it just is not as good as some of the author’s other words. Do check out KIDNAPPED LOVE; do not miss ESCAPE TO LOVE or the soon to be released DEADLY ATTRACTION.

July 2007