Captivating and engaging, Jude Deveraux's latest offering,
HEARTWISHES, grants this booklover's wish for a story based
on rich, believable characters and a satisfying romance.
When history buff Gemma Radford wins the position of family
historian for one of Edilean's founding families, she
expects to lead a perfectly suitable life of cataloging
documents and hopes to find dissertation fodder that will
set her apart from the crowd. While sorting through the
maze of centuries old documents, she stumbles upon
references to an elusive Heartwishes Stone, an enchanted
talisman that grants the deepest desires of the members of
the Frazier family.
Initially writing it off as family myth and passed on tall
tale, Gemma dismisses the story, but the closer she gets
to the Frazier family, the deeper she falls for the Frazier
eldest, the sexy, town sheriff Colin, the more she sees
that the myth may be more reality than fiction. Something
is granting the family's wishes, and one by one they start
to come true, but as they do the danger in the peaceful
Edilean begins to escalate. Gemma and Colin must find a way
to save themselves and the stone before anymore danger
befalls the town.
In trademark Deveraux style, HEARTWISHES delivers a heroine
and hero with ignitable chemistry in a tightly-paced tale of
romance and suspense, artfully woven with a hint of magic
that carries smoothly to a satisfying ending. Her magic pen
flows freely and provides glimpses into characters that are
real, believable, flawed and captivating; like sitting back
at the family table, listening to a master storyteller, I
found myself turning the pages one after another into the
wee-hours of the morning. While a stand-alone, the
experience of this novel is enhanced by knowledge of the
other Edilean novels -- as such I look forward to the
meeting the rest of the Frazier family soon.
Gemma Ranford wants the job cataloging the documents of the
Frazier family so much that she is ready to do battle to get
it. Fascinated with history, and desperately trying to
finish her dissertation, she's hoping against all hope that
the papers will yield new information to invigorate her
research. What she didn't expect to find is references to
the Heartwishes Stone - believed by most to be pure legend -
and said to grant wishes to anyone named Frazier. As
Gemma learns more about the family -- and even begins
falling in love with the eldest son, Colin -- it becomes
increasingly clear that their wishes are actually coming
true. Together, Gemma and Colin must work together to find
the stone that's been missing for over one hundred years --
and with an international thief also on the hunt, the clock
is ticking. Because in the wrong hands, no one named Frazier
will ever be safe.