Ruth Ryan Langan (aka Ruth Langan) is an award-winning author of romance novels. She is a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award winner and has twice been nominated for Romantic Times Reviwers' Choice Awards, for Jade and Return of the Prodigal Son. She has spent much of her career writing historical romance novels for the Harlequin Historicals line of category romances. Many of her book are set in medieval times, while others are western romances. She has also written some contemporary romances, and often includes elements of suspense in her novels.
Langan began her writing career in secret. Her family discovered her writings when her children came home unexpectedly from school one day and found her writing. When Langan's husband was told of her hobby, he bought her an electric typewriter "because 'writers need tools'". Her first book was published by Silhouette Books in 1981 after an editor picked it out of their slush pile. After the first sale was completed, Langan got an agent.
Langan is a charter member of the Romance Writers of America. She has five children and lives with her husband in Michigan.
É uma história bem pesada tratando de TSPT e as consequências de uma guerra.
Cal, um veterano amputado, apresenta alguns sintomas tão fortes que raramente vi eles nesse gênero, ao ponto de que em alguns momentos, supus que Dulcie, a heroina, fosse deixá-lo.
A presença de crianças torna a narrativa ainda mais tensa.
Se fosse melhor desenvolvido, poderia facilmente ir para outro gênero como histórias de guerra.
It is immediately after the Civil War and many Southerners are seething with anger. The 3 Jermain brothers (Cal, Darwin and Barclay) have returned to their island plantation along the South Carolina shore. Each brother bears wounds from the war – some physical and others that are emotional.
Just after a severe Atlantic storm, Cal finds 3 women and 4 children adrift in a sinking boat. When he pulls the boat onto shore, he finds that one woman and one child are critically injured while the others are exhausted, battered and hungry.
The Jermain brothers and their Aunt Bessy are somewhat put out by the intruders but decide to do their Christian duty and plan to urge them to leave quickly. Dulcie, leader of the ragtag band, sees the island in a whole different light; she sees it as a wonderful place to rest and regroup.
There are tensions at the dinner table; Dulcie and the other castaways are a family of orphans while the Jermain family is isolated from each other by their Civil War experiences. Dulcie offers to put her family to work to pay for their food and lodging; Aunt Bessy quickly agrees; Cal (the eldest), isn't so happy.
At the beginning of the story, we do not know why Dulcie and the others stole a boat and left Charleston in a terrible storm. We also do not understand, at first, the injuries (physical and emotional) of the Jermain men. However, Aunt Bessy’s bitterness is obvious and she isn't shy about sharing her anger.
This is a complex book; each person’s back story comes out in small doses. Dulcie’s story is the last to unwind. I was disappointed by the number of coincidences in the story. However, the author has written a powerful book.
Brides Bay Resort Series
1) Matchmaking Baby by Cathy Gillen Thacker (1996) 2) Indiscretions by Robyn Donald (1996) 3) Love and Lies by Dawn Stewardson (1996) 4) Make Believe Engagement by Day Le Clair (1996) 5) Stranger in the Night by Roseanne Williams (1996) 6) Married to a Stranger by Connie Bennett (1996) ** 7) Dulcie's Gift by Ruth Langan (1996)
4 1/2 Stars! ~ The three Jermain sons have returned to their plantation on Jermain Island, discovering that their parents are deceased. Remaining is their father's sister. Each man bears emotional scars from the war they are returning from. After a bitter Atlantic storm, the oldest brother sights a small boat adrift off shore. To his amazement the boat bears three woman and four children, all badly shaken from their journey. With the aid of Cal's brothers and his aunt, they quickly take in the castaways.
Dulcie will keep safe her little family of orphans, no matter what. She's taken them all in and offered whatever she could of the little that was left after the pillage of the war. When evil came to her door and threatened to destroy them she did what needed to be done. Dulcie must hide the truth from the generous Jermains and prays that evil doesn't follow from the mainland.
This is one of those books that when you finish it you simply say WOW .... Ms. Langan writes a very powerful story. Every character is so complete that you feel that you know them all to their very hearts. The tragedy of war has left them all in deep emotional pain, and yet together they heal their hearts and find that the future can be happy again. The chemistry between Cal and Dulcie is wonderfully written; their love story is truly heart touching. A most excellent read!
BRIDES BAY RESORT Mini-Series Book 7 of 7
These are the stories surrounding the Bride's Bay Resort on Jermain Island off the Carolinas coast. The resort properties have been in the Jermain family since the civil war.
I found the entire mini-series a most enjoyable reading experience. Each author brought something new to the beauty of the Resort Island. Each story stands completely on it's own, with some of the common characters reappearing. I think a location works well at tying in all the Harlequin lines together. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Historical to be the strongest of the seven books, and my usual favourite line, Intrigue, was the weakest.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
There were a couple different things here I appreciated. The hero, Cal, had lost a hand during the Civil War and had turned away from being a surgeon thereafter. I like when authors have things like this: injuries and losses, which are not somehow magically "fixed" during the story - a plot device I'd sadly run across many times. But this author was brave to be honest about the loss of his hand and it's inpact on his life.
That said, this book brushed close to that device with Nathaniel nearly losing his leg - only for the heroine, Dulcie, coming up with a cure. I wish that had not been included - it came across as too easy a fix - and since she did use it, the author should have also included more of a true reaction from Cal who had only stopped cutting off Nathaniel's leg when Dulcie begged him to. This part came across as too convenient. If Cal really thought the infection would kill Nat if he waited any longer - why didn't it? And why did Dulcie's cure work so quickly?
Aside from this issue, the author did a solid job of creating dimensional characters, such as Fiona, Barc, Dar and Aunt Bessie.
While the villians are all evil, they work as written.
This was, by far, one of the best Harlequin Historicals I've read in a long time, due to the engaging characters and well paced changes in relationships. There was a pacing issue: I'd rather the author not keep everything a secret so long - I found it annoying rather holding my interest to find out what the truth was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This book was a refreshing change from the ordinary historical romance novels. An atypical location, touching story & amazing characters grabbed my attention in the first page and kept me throughout. In my opinion it had too many characters (at least for my taste), so I had some difficulties remembering who is who (and everyone's story), but if you don't mind multiple characters & more than one love story in the same book, I would recommend reading this one.