The Pursuit (Sherring Cross)

From Publishers Weekly Energetic and expansive, good-natured and lusty, with enough flouncy dresses and galloping steeds to equip a comic opera, the sequel to Say You Love Me should delight Lindsey's many fans. From the moment that Melissa MacGregor and Lincoln Burnett set eyes on each other, they know they must be together. There's just one little problem actually, 16 very big problems: Melissa's uncles, who remember Lincoln as an out-of-control kid when they were growing up in Scotland. (After losing his father in an accident when he was a little boy, Lincoln was sent away by his mother to live with an aunt and uncle in England, and his bitterness toward his mother has grown ever since.) The uncles' obsession with Melissa's safety is just the excuse the clan of six-footers needs to treat Lincoln with brutish incivility for instance, conniving to stow him on a slow boat to China. But love cannot be shanghaied in a Lindsey novel, at least not for long, especially when it has a heroine like the strong-willed Melissa. The lovers pass one test after another, in the drawing rooms of the London season and the rugged terrain of the Highlands, meanwhile sharing hot kisses and the requisite night during which nothing goes unsaid or undone. What makes Lindsey special is that all her characters, major and minor, seem thrilled to be in the story; they manage even to have fun while pining or punching. There are no villains, only flawed human beings, occasionally misdirected by their loving hearts. From School Library Journal Adult/High School-A lighthearted romp about the effects of a childhood misunderstanding that became a major feud. When Lincoln, Viscount Cambury, meets Melissa, it is love at first sight for both of them. However, their courtship is complicated because 20 years earlier her 16 uncles had become Lincoln's enemies even though they were just children. Now, the fellows are smotheringly protective of their only niece, and the couple does not have much time together as the entourage moves back and forth between England and Scotland. Most of the characters speak in a Scottish dialect. The story moves quickly, sometimes predictably, but with a few more creative elements toward the end. Readers get to know Lincoln and Melissa as individuals as they interact with the other characters, but the uncles are not well differentiated, although they don't need to be-six of them are even named Ian. Give this to readers who need cheering up; many scenes could be described as slapstick. Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal The one-day laydown means great expectations for this romance about a Scottish lass who must play off her beleaguered fianc against 16 uncles. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Melissa, the daughter of Kimberly and Lachlan MacGregor, whose story is told in Lindsey's Love Me Forever (1995), is now of marriageable age. In fact, she may well have been married already if 16 (yes, 16!) uncles hadn't chased all her suitors away. Now she is being sent to London to stay with Megan and Devlin St. James (from Man of My Dreams , 1992) for the season, and hopefully, she will finally find a husband there. But the day before she leaves, while swimming in a little pond with her young cousins, she meets Lincoln Ross Burnett, the viscount Cambury, who is visiting his estranged mother in the Scottish Highlands. After that unexpected meeting, they both know they need look no further for a mate but find that getting together in London is not as easy as they thought. And it turns out that Linc has a history with Melissa's uncles, and their conflict lands him on a slow boat to China. Although Lindsey isn't at her best here, this lackluster tale will nonetheless keep her many fans up-to-date with favorite characters and provide an enjoyable diversion. Diana Tixier Herald Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved It was to be a grand adventure for Melissa MacGregor -- an escape from the wilds of her Scottish home into the whirl of the London social season, and far from the stifling protectiveness of her mother's sixteen strapping, somewhat bumbling brothers, six of whom are named Ian. There the bewitching lass is sure to find a suitable husband who will not be intimidated by her suspicious uncles and who is more appealing than the many local suitors whom her uncles have already deemed unworthy. But before she begins her pursuit of a new life, Melissa is distracted by an intriguing gentleman stranger she encounters on her grandfather's lands. Lincoln Ross Burnett is no stranger to Scotland, however. The seventeenth Viscount Cambury, Lincoln once called this fair land home -- until as a boy of twelve he was sent away to live with relatives in London after his father's death. To stay would surely have meant his own demise, for a bitter feud was raging around him, marking young Lincoln as a target of a brutal gang of "savages" who went by the name MacFearsons. Now as he restlessly roams the countryside he so loved as a child, Lincoln can feel the anger and bitterness returning -- only to be dispelled by the beauty of the lady who stands before him. Though they part after but a few spoken words, the damage has been done: Lincoln's heart has been claimed forever, and he will never be complete again until Melissa MacGregor is his bride. Though destiny is carrying them along separate paths, Lincoln knows he will pursue Melissa to London ... and to the ends of the earth, if necessary. But ties of blood and duty have made his heart's obsession with the enchanting beauty not only desperate but quite dangerous. For the woman Lincoln must have is the niece of those who, even now, are sworn to his destruction, and who are willing to dog his every step, even following two yearning souls fated to be lovers into the glittering world of the London ton. The longtime feud is raging hotter than ever before -- and even the irresistible shared passion of Lincoln and Melissa may not be powerful enough to withstand its devastating fire. One of the world's most successful authors of historical romance, every one of Johanna Lindsey's previous novels has been a national bestseller, and several of her titles have reached the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Ms. Lindsey lives in New England with her family. Read more