A TANGLED WEB

Author: Amanda McCabe ISBN: 045121787X 2/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: SIGNET REGENCY
Time Period: Regency

The Dowager Viscountess Ransome simply must find something to fill the endless days of summer. So she invites a party of young people to her estate and sits back to watch the sparks fly. The guests look forward to a respite in the idyllic countryside. But instead they find treachery, secrets—and that most inconvenient bother, passion.... Frederick Parcival wants to to win over wealthy Lady Diana, but the young widow can't take her eyes off her long-lost first love, Sir Thomas Cole. However, Tom's ambitious mother is determined that he wed Lady Caroline Reid, who would prefer to marry Lord Edward Sutton, who loves Diana's sister, Charlotte, who is intrigued by rakish Roland Kirk-Bedwin. In such a very tangled web, tempers will surely flare—and desire bloom—as what should have been a relaxing holiday turns into anything but....

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Forget about the blurb—it will make your head swim! Just open up A TANGLED WEB by Amanda McCabe and enjoy this delightful, romantic story! I was surprised by how neatly Miss McCabe tied up all the loose ends of her book with only 214 pages. Not a small feat, considering that there are eight people that need to find love, and a rather strong willed, feisty widow named Lady Ransome who is responsible for the house party that eventually pairs up these eight people!

My favorite coupling in A TANGLED WEB would be the reuniting of Thomas Cole and Diana Hillard. They have quite the background story of young love and tragic loss. Or as tragic as it can be when you're only seventeen years old! Their reuniting was quite romantic and you know that there's a happy ending lurking at the end of the book for the two of them. However, there is also Diana's shy sister, Charlotte, who has been quite taken by rakish Roland Kirk-Bedwin and Charlotte's outgoing best friend, Caroline, who has her eyes set on the debonair Edward Setton. But no tale can be told without an antagonist or two: enter Elizabeth Damer and Frederick Parcival, at your service! Throw all these characters together at a house party and watch the sparks fly!!

Amanda McCabe wrote an entertaining book that I am glad to have had the chance to read and review. I would recommend reading A TANGLED WEB. It was fun to read how these couples get together and live happily ever after!

Julie Kornhausl