THE HUNTRESS

Author: Susan Carroll ISBN: 0345490614 8/2007 HISTORICAL Publisher: BALLANTINE
Time Period: Elizabethan, 1586

England, 1586. To the east of Europe, a comet streaks through the sky, heralding floods, earthquakes, plagues, famines, the deaths of emperors or kings. In England, a fiery Elizabeth I rules with an iron fist, and a war wages between the Catholics and their Protestant queen. In the midst of the turmoil the coven of the Silver Rose has risen again under the dark cover of the night. The hopes of the people rest upon Catriona O'Hanlon, a pagan Irishwoman accused of practicing witchcraft and cast out by her own people. A skilled huntress, Catriona must track down the young girl who is at the center of it all, and in doing so, foil a plot that threatens the English throne itself.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Now this is the way to write historical fiction mixed with romance! In her first follow up to her Silver Rose trilogy, Susan Carroll pens what is, by far, my most favorite book in this series. Blending all the elements of a great romance—drama, humor, and plenty of sexual attraction and tension along with two likeable main characters you won't forget—into a historical backdrop rife with political intrigue and witchcraft, Carroll lets loose her arrow and strikes gold with THE HUNTRESS.

Traveling from France to England, THE HUNTRESS embraces all of the turmoil of Tudor times. The Dark Queen still lives, Elizabeth I is in a quandary over Mary, Queen of Scots, and what would soon become known to historians as the Babington Plot is in its initial planning stages—one plot amongst many. Smack dab into the middle of all this lands Martin le Loup, Catriona O'Hanlon and Martin's young daughter, Meg, whispered to the world to be the Silver Rose and keeper of The Book of Shadows.

THE HUNTRESS is basically Martin's and Catriona's story, but it's also a return of the characters from the previous books THE DARK QUEEN, THE COURTESAN and THE SILVER ROSE. Keeping their parts to minor elements, these characters still manage to make an impression as the story moves quickly along. Carroll adds just enough flashback events from the previous trilogy to keep readers on track as THE HUNTRESS' unfolds—those who have never read the trilogy won't realize they're being briefed from the previous books, while those who have read the trilogy won't find those passages redundant. That's no mean feat to achieve, but one Ms. Carroll seems to have accomplished effortlessly.

Catriona is a heroine who went straight to my heart. Strong, defiant, and loyal to a fault, she relies on her wits and physical capabilities to accomplish the task at hand. The gallowglass, or personal soldier of Ariana, Lady of Faire Isle and leader of the Daughters of the Earth, Catriona is committed to completing the duty assigned to her—to protect and bring back to Faire Isle the Silver Rose. Martin, the once gangly and lovesick adorer of Ariane's sister, Miri, is now a mature, handsome man in the acting profession, devoted to his daughter and determined to keep Meg from both the Daughters of the Earth and the evil cult of the Silver Rose. Doing so means there will be a price to pay, with Martin finding himself trapped by the mechanization of Elizabeth I's great spymaster, Lord Walsingham, and immersed into a world filled with great danger and treasonous plottings.

Both Catriona and Martin are protectors by nature and it's wonderful to see this common trait draw them closer together emotionally, slowly deepening into mutual respect and love as the story progresses. It's the way love works, I think, and in THE HUNTRESS Susan Carroll works this element of their relationship to perfection. All of the characters, even the minor secondary ones, are fundamental to the storyline and are written to make an impression, which they all do. There's also enough open-ended characters and unfinished business by the end of this story to leave hope that this is one series of books that will continue being written for a long, long time to come.

Fast-paced, spellbinding and emotionally touching, filled with characters that you can't help but embrace, THE HUNTRESS is historical fiction and romance at its best. There's just nothing else I can say except to highly, highly recommend it.

Nancy Davis