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Amber – Lauren Royal
The Jewel Trilogy
Book Three
Signet,
July 2001
ISBN-13: 978-0451203915
ISBN-10: 0451203917
Reviewed by Amanda
October 2005
Having read about the Jewel trilogy by Lauren Royal, I put these books on my ‘must read one day’ list. When a good friend sent me a copy of Amber, I thought, oh no, but I haven’t read the first two in the trilogy, Amethyst and Emerald! Some people wouldn’t let that bother them, but I like to read everything in order. However, this book was looking at me from the shelf and dying to be read, so I skipped my usual tradition and jumped right in.
I had no reason to have ever worried because this book was as a good a stand-alone as any other that I have ever read. Kendra Chase is twenty-three, sweet, pretty, intelligent, independent, but a bit naïve. Her loving older brothers, who are now happily married and ready to see Kendra married as well, have raised Kendra. They keep presenting her with one titled prospect after another, but each one bores Kendra nearly to tears. The pressure is on for Kendra to marry, and soon, but if Kendra can’t marry for love she would rather not marry at all. Then she meets the highwayman.
While out with her brothers one afternoon, their coach is stopped by a highwayman. He is dashingly handsome, and as he and her brothers know each other, he doesn’t bother them, only one of the other passengers, a Puritan. After stripping the man of his coins and his coat, he sets them back on their way.
Kendra is intrigued, and while out riding her horse the next day, decides to visit the same spot where the carriage was held up. She encounters the highwayman again, and becoming caught in a heavy downpour, he invites her to his cabin to wait it out. Before she can leave, she and the highwayman, ‘Trick’, are caught by her brothers and the worst is assumed. A marriage is arranged. Kendra is furious. Surely her brothers are joking. Not only were she and Trick not doing anything scandalous or improper, but how could her brothers marry her off to a criminal? Not that he isn’t gorgeous, and quite polite to be a criminal, but still… Trick had no plans to marry anytime soon, but finds Kendra to be quite enchanting, and being good friends with the Chase brothers, agrees to marry her. After all, he isn’t really a highwayman, but a Duke with what his friends think is a silly hobby. Even they don’t know that his highwayman role is actually a very important and dangerous job he does for the King to gather evidence.
What follows the marriage are some of the sexiest and most exciting scenes that I have read in a very long time. Kendra and Trick make a passionate and loving couple. Kendra is naïve but never stupid, and Trick is heroic and compassionate. I really enjoyed reading this book and didn’t feel like there was any back-story I was missing whatsoever. My only regret at not having the other two books in this series is that I would love to read more of Lauren Royal’s writing and more about these characters.
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