True Love: A Nantucket Brides Novel (Nantucket Brides Trilogy) / Deveraux, Jude

Guest Review of True Love by Jude Deveraux

By Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs lives at the water's edge on a Puget Sound island and finds inspiration in the rhythm of the seasons, and in emotional dramas of everyday life. A No. 1 New York Times best-selling author, she has received three RITA Awards, and her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages.

Oh, Jude, you had me at Nantucket. I happen to love islands. I live on one, I ve visited many, but Nantucket holds a special place in my heart. True Love, with its star-crossed lovers and twisty plot, evokes everything that makes Nantucket so special the history, the atmosphere, the secrets and the magic.

And Jude Deveraux, author of fan favorites like A Knight in Shining Armor, Remembrance, Sweet Liar and so many others, does the setting justice in this tale of a mismatched couple, a hunt for a lost family journal and ghosts that haunt a historic mansion. The combination is hard to resist, particularly in the hands of this author. Talented architect Jared Kingsley Montgomery (yes, those Montgomerys, be still my heart)--a hero from a long line of smart, sexy and soft-hearted Montgomery men--braces himself for the arrival of Alix Madsen, who has been bequeathed Jared s ancestral mansion for a period of one year. The surprises begin in the prologue--when we realize Jared s conversation with the 30-something Caleb is actually with a ghost, one who yearns for answers and closure.

Alix, still smarting from a broken heart, is in need of a change, though the last thing she s looking for is romance. She s content in the role of planning her best friend s wedding, until she meets Jared. She also has a gift for sensing the presence of ghosts, and is specifically charged with figuring out what became of Caleb Kingsley and the mysterious Valentina, a long-lost Montgomery relative. In the process, she unravels the secrets of her own family, finding a deeper understanding of her mother.

Jared, a commitment-phobe who claims he might find the Evil Queen more interesting than Cinderella, can t deny his sizzling chemistry with Alix. The result is as romantic and mysterious as falling in love.

Longtime fans will appreciate the shout-outs to Montgomery and Taggert characters from past books, and new readers will celebrate the launch of this fresh, fun trilogy of Nantucket stories. Following the happily-every-after ending is even happier news there's more to come.