Rebeccah and the Highwayman in Mostly Sapphic

Apr 30, 2021 AnnMaree Of Oz rated it liked it · review of another edition

I love sapphic retellings, especially of the roguish highwaywoman type. Robin Hood style anti-heroes are a favourite. I have read a few different retellings in the same vein before, so maybe that is why I found this only average.

It's entertaining for sure, and there's enough differences in the storyline for it to be a whole new story and keep you guessing - but I constantly felt there were some things missing, especially in the emotional department when it came to the interactions between the hi ...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Nan Hawthorne rated it really liked it

Shelves: glbtq

This book is about as fun as a book can get! The only flaw I found was also a solution for a lack I find in all books, sso I can't really call it a flaw.

Kate is a highwayman... or should I say "person of highway"? She is infamous under the name Blue-eyed Nick and is celebrated for her daring adventures. Rebeccah and her mother and sister, traveling back to London after visiting family, are well aware of "Nick's" legend so they know what to expect when he waylays them. But Rebeccah did not expect This book is about as fun as a book can get! The only flaw I found was also a solution for a lack I find in all books, sso I can't really call it a flaw.

Kate is a highwayman... or should I say "person of highway"? She is infamous under the name Blue-eyed Nick and is celebrated for her daring adventures. Rebeccah and her mother and sister, traveling back to London after visiting family, are well aware of "Nick's" legend so they know what to expect when he waylays them. But Rebeccah did not expect riveting blue eyes and kindness, both of which haunt her long after the incident. For her part, kate, who knows the allure of love forr a woman, finds herself remembering spirited green eyes. In the meantime Rebeccah's sister has set the hounds on "Nick", that is, she has hired a man to hunt the highwayman down and arrest him. A couple more encounters with Kate and Rebeccah is becoming aware that she is in love and when Nick is proven to be Kate, she must make sense of love for a woman. Can Rebeccah keep Kate out of the clutches of the hangman, and if so, is there a way they can find to live together as lovers in a society that will not tolerate "the love that dare not speak its name"?

I found Kate terribly sexy and appealing, the female swashbuckler of my dreeams. Davies, the author, pulls off an entirely believable heroine in Kate. Rebeccah for her part is just enough of a nonconformist to make choices another woman of her time might balk at. The story is exciting, titillating, and full of authentic historical material. A lovely cameo by Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, is a real treat.

The "flaw" I alluded to is that the plot hurtles to a crisis then must retreat into more mundane concerns, but that, whiel a bit hard on the pace of the book, answers a few dozen questions for the reader about what happens next and how do they work out the problems, so I was content.

I read constantly, usually for reviewss, and I can tell you this novel was far from a chore, rather a delight.

Find more of Nan Hawthorne's historical fiction reviews at That's All She read http://allsheread.blogspot.com . ...more

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Sep 05, 2010 Alena rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, queer

Nice period piece.

The scene is London, 1706. Rebeccah, daughter from a well-off family, at 23 well on her way to being an old maid, meets highwayman Blue-Eyed Nick when he violently stops the carriage she and her family are in and robs them. Fate has them meet again, Rebeccah is fascinated by the highwayman, something that doesn't stop when she finds out that Nick is actually a woman named Kate.

This book gives a nice view into life in the early 1700s, though I cannot really say whether it is a r ...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Mary rated it it was amazing

For those of us who discovered lesbian fiction by reading online fanfic, Barbara Davies' pairing of a tall dark-haired and blue-eyed butch with a femmy but feisty green-eyed blonde will instantly bring to mind Xena fiction, but the relationship ends there. Though in most--if not all--of her stories Davies remains attached to the generic XWP pairing, with its complementary physical and personality traits, in every other respect her characters are fully individuated to suit the logic of her chosen ...more

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Jun 22, 2008 MEC rated it really liked it

This was definitely a fun read. How can you resist a woman masquerading as a highwayman and winning the heart of the lovely young lady?

One of the things that stood out for me was the fact that there was no sex (I've been reading too many lesbian themed books with the prerequisite scorching sex scene which is getting rather old). And it didn't need one - especially as the book is a historical romance and a smutty scene would have ruined the overall tone of the book.

From a historical perspective, ...more

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