A Woman's Heart

by Rosalyn West

Stripped of her fortune and rejected by her fiance's family, Eliza is made into an indentured servant and sent to accompany a spoiled girl on a sea voyage, but she is captured by a buccaneer who mistakes her for her charge.

Genres: Historical

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

About the author

Rosalyn West is other pen name of Nancy Gideon

Reviews

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, so classical romance isn't usually my thing. But I happen to have a bunch of 90's romance lying around for...reasons, and this one had a magnificent cover, so...
I will say, of the 90's romances I have read, this one is definitely the best. It's not a super high bar, but... I liked the drama of this one, and the characters were interesting, if a tad cliche. I will agree with the other readers saying the ending felt unsatisfying because it seems as though there was so much going through Eliza's head, and she had so many reasons for doing things that she just...never told Luc. The lack of using their words felt like a bit of a letdown to me. There's also the 'is she pregnant?' question, but I think her "no. She Would Not Have Any Children But Luc's" seemed like definitive enough a conclusion to that question for this kind of book, so I'm not too worried about it.
An entertaining read, but I wouldn't seek it out.

[Tapa in lovezone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice pirate romance.
By the end it was little dull.
But good.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her father and brother die, leaving her in financial ruin, Eliza Parrish is forced into indentured servitude by her father's business partner, Justin Montgomery (also her fiancee's father). She is sent to England along with Justin's daughter, Philomena Montgomery, a spoiled, wealthy brat. Shortly into the voyage, they are overtaken by the Jean-Luc, the Black Heart, a notorious "pirate" who is set on taking revenge against the Montgomery family by kidnapping Philomena, who being the spoiled brat that she is, will surely not engage Luc's sympathies. By mistake, he takes Eliza, who is nothing like he's been told and despite his best efforts to remain cold and unfeeling, awakens his heart. But getting what he wants from Justin Montgomery is impossible so long as he has the wrong woman.

This was quite dramatic and a very ninety's BR. As honorable as Jean-Luc and his crew were and how they insisted they weren't pirates, they were suprisingly cavalier about kidnapping a woman whose only crime was being the daughter of Luc's enemy. This was very nineties in the fact that in the short time that the H/h are together, there is a lot that happens and almost a table-tennis of each character being ready for love. First, it's Luc who's ready for sex, then it's both of them ready for sex while Luc is ready for love, but Eliza isn't. Then once Eliza realizes she is, like an hour later, Luc is all angry and stalks away. Then he realizes he loves Eliza but she's been kidnapped and Trigger Warning is raped, but nothing graphic...but Luc can hear her screaming and it's very obvious she's haunted by the experience she's so not ready to think about love for quite some time. Then they're on the same page again before they're not. And so on. The book was entertaining for sure, with all that drama, how could it not be? The ending was a bit disappointing, what with the total lack of communication between the two and them about to go their separate ways why? I thought they'd worked things out... And then there was the loose end that I wanted tied up. After that whole ordeal, I wanted to be assured that she wasn't pregnant and therefore anticipating another haunting experience of giving birth to her rapists' child .

[Katrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book! There is a tormented hero which I loved and felt sorry for from start to the end. The heroine is pretty nice too. There were moments I loved really much (it's a very romantic book and all about only the characters!) but some moments I didn't like as well.
I was a bit confused that Eliza couldn't tell Luc about her real identity during the whole book. Only at the end when it's finally revealed (not by her) her lies seemed so bitter for them both. I thought, why she didn't tell, it was soo easy, she would escape soo many problems!!? Kinda stupid..
Also, their first sex was quite unexpecting and abrupt (if it wasn't supposed to be like so), happened too fast and described very briefly. That's not how I see first sex between main characters - it has to be exciting, needs more descript and feelings. The scene looked like forced mental seduction. It's like Luc seduced her and she, innocent and naive, gave in to his charm so easily. Anyway, it wasn't "emotional rape" from hero, and I liked his confusion and feelings. If he knew she was innocent he wouldn't have done that. But Eliza's attitude and acts overall seemed a little weird for me, like she was completely powerless.. Like in lots of HR's heroine is always in lust for hero.. Ugh
In the middle there were many aspects that confused me but I feel like I could discuss them for really long.. and this review never ends then.
And at the end why did they need all that drama?..

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though a bit of a tough read, this remains one of my favorite romance novels. The love between Jean-Luc and Eliza is completely believable. They're both well-written character. I'd say the only downfall is the ending.