Meant to be Married

TEST

Ruth Wind is one author who is an automatic buy for me. I snatched Meant to be Married from an open box in the local Wal-Mart and went home to read it. I was glued to the book (with a few time outs to get fresh hankies) until I had finished, then I placed it on my keeper shelf.

In 1859 in the town of Taos, Martin Santiago was hanged for the rape of Emily Greenwood. A few days later Emily killed herself and ever since then, there has been hatred between the Santiago and Greenwood families. When Sarah Greenwood and Elias Santiago met in high school, they fell deeply in love. When they told Sarah’s father that they wanted to marry, he had Elias imprisoned for statutory rape and sent Emily away to a home for unwed mothers where she was forced to give up their daughter.

Twelve years later, Sarah comes back to town. Her father is very ill and she wants to do some fence-mending. In the past twelve years, Sarah has travelled the world as a photographer and Elias has stayed in Taos and become a wealthy businessman – the owner of the Santiago Herbal Tea company. The Sanitago family and the Greenwood family still hate each other, Sarah carries a load of guilt for giving up her baby, and Elias resents Sarah for leaving and not even trying to get in touch with him all these years. Their relationship is dead, right?

Wrong! The attraction between Elias and Sarah is as strong as ever. Both of them are laden with emotional baggage, but underneath the hurts and resentments, their love is as strong as ever. It takes some tears and harsh words, plus Sarah’s finding out the truth behind the story of Martin Santiago and Emily Greenwood, before she and Elias can let go and love each other as they were meant to.

Ruth Wind has an utterly beautiful writing style. Her words are lyrical and hearfelt and there is no purple prose to be found. She also knows when to lighten the mood with a touch of humor. At one point, Sarah and Elias are talking on the phone. He is an excellent cook; she does well to heat up a can of soup. Elias describes, in vivid detail, the delicious steak he is preparing until Sarah is starving and aroused at the same time. I’ve read several books with phone sex scenes in them, but this is the first one with a phone food scene.

Meant to be Married is the kind of book I wish all category books could be. The characters are real, their problems are real and are not glossed over. Sarah and Elias will always have difficulty with some of their family members. For category readers who are tired of cowboys and secret babies, I have a piece of advice. Go buy this book now – better yet, buy several copies and give them to your friends. A book this good needs to be shared.

Reviewed by Ellen Micheletti

Grade: A

Book Type: Series Romance

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date: 05/08/98

Publication Date: 1998/07

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

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