TRADE WINDS
by Christina Courtenay

PUBLISHER: Choc Lit
RELEASE DATE: Sept 2010
FORMAT: Paperback, 384 pages
GENRE: Historical Romance
SOURCE: Publisher

Marriage of convenience or a love for life? It’s 1732 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and strong-willed Jess van Sandt knows only too well that it’s a man’s world. She believes she’s being swindled out of her inheritance by her stepfather and she’s determined to stop it. When help appears in the unlikely form of handsome Scotsman Killian Kinross, himself disinherited by his grandfather, Jess finds herself both intrigued and infuriated by him. In an attempt to recover her fortune, she proposes a marriage of convenience. Then Killian is offered the chance of a lifetime with the Swedish East India Company’s Expedition and he’s determined that nothing will stand in his way, not even his new bride. He sets sail on a daring voyage to the Far East, believing he’s put his feelings and past behind him. But the journey doesn’t quite work out as he expects….

REVIEWER: Laura

With its lush and vivid setting I’m tempted to call TRADE WINDS a beautiful book. Set mainly in Sweden, but with parts of the story told in Scotland and China in transports you through both time and cultures in 1732. I know next to nothing about Sweden, but I got a strong sense that this book was well researched and the author paints a distinct vision of each setting the book takes place in. I particularly loved the parts in China.

The heroine is Jess van Sandt a woman who has been raised in Sweden. Her now deceased father had been a forward thinking man, and with no sons to pass his business to had taught and encouraged Jess to be a part of it. But when her mother remarries, her new stepfather assures Jess that the business is now his, and her father’s Will left her with nothing but a dowry for her marriage.

Jess is a determined and intelligent women and knows that something is amiss and desperately tries to get to the bottom of her stepfather’s subterfuge. Wanting nothing more than the right to what she legally believes to be hers.

Living in the modern world, with a career of my own, it’s easy to forget what it used to be like for women in the past. To not be able to own your own property and be entirely dependant on the men in your life. But this book really did make me think what it must have been like. I admired Jess’s wits and courage and fumed at the injustices against her.

As a hero, initially you could be fooled into dismissing Killian as a bit of a gambler and a rogue. But peel beneath the surface and you’ll find he’s a very complicated man. A man that’s determined to prove himself. Disinherited by his Grandfather, he seizes the opportunity to travel to Sweden and apprentice to Jess’s stepfather to learn a trade and prove himself.

The love story isn’t instantaneous, or a clash of lusty wills as you sometimes see in romances. It’s Killian’s dislike of injustice that draws him to help Jess, rather than some nefarious or romantic purpose. But just as Jess does, you slowly become charmed by him.

However, this book is more than a love story, the epic journey to China adds a real sense of adventure, and of course it really was an epic journey in those times. There’s more than one villain to keep you on your toes and I found the history and Far Eastern culture fascinating.

VERDICT:

There are four things that really make this book work. The beautiful setting, the obvious historical research coupled with the adventure and love story. This isn’t what I would class as a fluffy romance, it’s a rich and engaging novel with a romance story at the heart of it.

RATING: 

CHRISTINA COURTENAY ONLINE
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BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER
1. Trade Winds
2. Highland Storms

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