Lee Rowan
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press, October 30, 2014
Royal Navy Series, Book 2
This novel is published in a single edition with EYE OF THE STORM, which I will review in a few days. Rest assured, you want both, I promise you.
Captain Smith is being promoted to a higher rated ship that
has had a number of odd circumstances occurring
of late. Weapons have been found drenched
with mud. Food in great quantities has
been found dumped in a passageway. Sailors
have found broken equipment and more.
The conclusion: there is a saboteur aboard. Smith takes Marshall and David Archer with
him to the new ship to help him identify the saboteur and for whom he is
working. Their first assignment is to
act like they are lovers. Of course, we
know they actually are, though they are quite circumspect aboard the ship. Marshall is quite nervous about playing in to
the saboteurs hands.
But this is just half the story, the other half giving the
reviewer a headache with one [SPOILER] after another. When the young men have provoked the saboteur
into revealing himself, it is when he shoots Archer right in his chest. Marshall is devastated, facing the loss of
his life’s love. He is faced with
holding his emotions closely in check, not only not to express the depth of his
grief, but not to seek a new love and risk losing again. He arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, just in time
to attend Archer’s funeral. He soon
learns that Archer is not dead but living with his cousin on Jamaica, deathly
ill but expected to live. He has the opportunity
to spend two weeks alone with him, then faces an end to their love just the
same. The final spoiler is finding out
whether the parting is final and irrevocable.
Now aren’t you glad I had to write this and not you?
WINDS OF CHANGE is a remarkably complex and expertly
choreographed book. I was quite
astounded at how well Lee Rowan handled all the elaborate plot twists and bits
of evidence. She has a tendency to go a
little overboard with the emotions, with Marshall agonizing over his loss and
how to handle his future life, repeating himself at least twice, but other than
this the story is so well told and so involved that I can’t say much about it
except to praise it. Her knowledge of
tall ships seems authoritative to this landlubber’s ear, and the characters are
distinctly drawn and credible. The story
will keep the reader riveted to the book, waiting every minute for the next
action, the next bit of evidence to be revealed, and to find out just who is
committing all these crimes. Then in the
second half of the book there are the heart wrenching sequences, the warm and
loving and fairly explicit sex scenes, and watching how the two men will cope
with the inevitable.
Read at your heart’s own risk.
And come back in a couple of days for a review
of the sequel, which is included in this publication.
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