Heart's Safe Passage

Summary: It's 1813 and all Phoebe Lee wants out of life is to practice midwifery in Loudon County, Virginia. When Belinda, her pregnant sister-in-law, presses Phoebe to accompany her onto a British privateer in order to cross the Atlantic and save her husband from an English prison, Phoebe tries to refuse, then finds herself kidnapped.

Captain Rafe Docherty is a man in search of revenge. His ship is no place for women, but he needs Belinda in order to obtain information about the man who destroyed his family and his life. Between Belinda's whining and Phoebe's hostility, Rafe can't help but wonder if he made the right choice.
When it becomes apparent there is an enemy among them on the ship, the stakes are raised. Will they reach the English shore in time? Can love and forgiveness overcome vengeance?

My Take: I liked the first book in this series, Lady in the Mist, but I must admit this one is even better. Why? Well . . .

It's hard to really put my finger on it, but it may be because they went out to sea and added all that action to the romance. Then there were truly (and I mean it) fantastic characters. They were not your perfect heroes and heroines -- and some finely crafted secondary characters also populated the pages of this book. So - great story and characters. How could it lose?

Rafe - I just love his name. Sometimes a lot is carried into a character just by name choice and Rafe conjurers up images of some kind of gentleman pirate -- a little bit dangerous, with a past or something that haunts him . . . and yet not altogether evil. So perfect! He starts off willing to use a pregnant woman to get revenge - despite danger from enemy (and friendly) vessels - and a crew that doesn't understand women on board or forgoing their lucrative privateering.

Phoebe is caught up in all of this because her sister-in-law is desperate to get her husband back and needs someone to help her if she goes in labor. But she is lied to at every turn and resents being held against her will on the ship. Her history with Belinda doesn't help and her lack of trust sometimes makes things worse instead of better.

There is a lot of tension from the action and mystery in the story as well as lots of romantic tension and sparks. Characters like Mel made it so much fun and captured my heart from the beginning. I can still visualize the scene with the rigging - and my heart catches in my throat like I'm the one up there. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am adding it to my favorites list!