The Locket

Oregon Coast,1894

Bone-weary from a hard day at sea, Misha trudged up the long mud-rutted road to the boarding house that sat on top a hill less than a mile outside Mist Harbor, Oregon. A thick, cold mist hovered close to the ground wetting everything: the rhododendrons that grew wild, the azaleas that lined the cement walkway to the front porch, and the saw grass that grew easily in the sandy soil. Misha paused a moment to push back a lock of hair that repeatedly fell across his brow and into his eyes.

The land was windswept and salt battered, yet he enjoyed the salt-taste of the air and the swooping sea birds as well as the playful sea animals. He loved the way the trees bent to the power of the wind and found a way to survive despite the brutality of the elements.

His purpose here was short lived, he reminded himself. He didn’t intend to find himself attached to these parts in any way.

He smelled of a hard days work. The lingering aroma of sweat and Chinook salmon filled his nostrils. It was not a scent he had any use for, but for the time being the job on the fishing boat gave him a reason for staying in the small coastal town. Right now he couldn’t wait to submerse himself in a hot bath, wash the stench from his body, and ease his stiff, strained muscles.

The sea had always been one of his favorite places. But fishing?

By God no, he’d just as soon relax and watch the sails billow on a clipper as the majestic ship rounded the horn or stand at the tiller with the wind whistling around him. He’d even rather battle a hurricane off the Bermudas.

Blending in with the people who lived in this small coastal village had been imperative.

The quest he’d undertaken had led him straight to Miss Ariel Cameron’s boarding house in Mist Harbor, and there the trail stopped. Thinking about Ariel set his nerves on edge.

Ariel was willow thin, femininely delicate, and hardly capable of the atrocities he’d set out to avenge less than a year ago. Yet the evidence he’d uncovered had sent him here, to her home. The name he’d followed had been her name. The men he’d followed had landed in Mist Harbor more than once, her father one of them.

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"The Locket is a very exciting tale with a dramatic setting. The characters are complex and well drawn for the most part. Overall, this is a very entertaining story. "

THE LOCKET
CHRISTINE YOUNG
ISBN#: 978-0-9820025-1-3
November 2008
Rogue Phoenix Press
www.roguephoenixpress.com
E-Book
$4.99
291 Pages
Historical Romance
Rating: 3 Cups

Ariel Cameron is the owner of a boarding house in Misty Harbor, Oregon. An accident when she was a child left her with a severe limp. Years of her father condemning her as a cripple ruined her self esteem.

Mischa Petrovich McKenzie is the son of an English aristocrat and a Russian noblewoman and was born in the Crimea. His family was murdered, their home destroyed, and he wants revenge.

Revenge brings Mischa to Misty Harbor. He has traced some of the men who murdered his family to the town. Ariel’s father is one of those men, but she is unaware of his crimes. Others also have an agenda involving Ariel and Mischa. Damien Montgomery holds Mischa’s father responsible for the fall of his family’s fortunes, as does a mysterious man called Saber. It seems that everyone’s revenge plot centers on the innocent Ariel, but that very innocence wins Mischa over until all he wants to do is win her trust as well as her hand in marriage.

The Locket is a very exciting tale with a dramatic setting. The characters are complex and well drawn for the most part. The love story between Mischa and Ariel is by turns intense and tedious. Ariel’s hesitancy to marry dragged on just a little too long, and the townspeople’s response was just a little too over the top. The subplot of the two Pinkerton detectives was pretty interesting and the climactic scenes in the caves were very exciting. The two main characters were very charismatic and likable, but their inability to trust each other tended to detract from the story at times. Overall, this is a very entertaining story.

Maura
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books

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