Reviews for Beneath a western moon

The average rating for Beneath a western moon based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-11-24 00:00:00 Daniel Martin If you've not been reading Tracy Grant, you really have been missing out. Her Rannoch/Fraser series of romantic suspense features a compelling relationship, fascinating characters and worldbuilding that I just love. If you're not familiar with the series, it may require a touch of explanation. The series originally started with two books published by Avon, Daughter of the Game (later reissued as Secrets of a Lady) and Beneath a Silent Moon. Those books featured the escapades of Charles and Melanie Fraser. The publisher did not renew for further books in the series, but Grant was later picked up by Kensington. The one hitch was that she would need to find new names for her characters. So, Charles and Melanie became Malcolm and Suzanne Rannoch. It takes some getting used to, but the whole series is worth the added touch of effort. If you check out any of these books on Goodreads, you'll find the series listed in chronological order with a note from the author's website about suggested reading order. Personally, I skipped over the first couple of e-novellas and started with Vienna Waltz. I've been able to keep up with the series without confusion and that particular novel was a very strong entry to the series. I've not reviewed all the Rannoch/Fraser books for AAR since I started reading years after the books were released, but I have been reviewing them on my Goodreads account as I read. For those not familiar, Charles Fraser is a British diplomat who worked as a spy during the war. He has connections to a very powerful aristocratic family, and his star is on the rise. During the war, he married the pregnant Melanie, a young Frenchwoman, and accepted her child as his own. Charles is aware that Melanie was involved in spying herself, and she has in fact assisted him on some of his diplomatic missions overseas. However, what is known to the reader but not to Charles is that at least in the beginning, Melanie was working at cross-purposes to Charles. Melanie feels deeply conflicted concerning her past loyalties and this conflict has been gradually working to a head over the course of the series. This is a partial review. You can find the complete text here:

Review # 2 was written on 2012-02-17 00:00:00 Jordan Dsa I'm not sure who linked me to the author's website, I know I had read about her on Dear Author sometime before. It might have been Li reading another in the series or DearAuthor talking about the current release in the series... I was totally impressed with her essays about her research and the excerpts I read of the books. Once I had finished this book, I went online right away to buy the follow-up. In any case - if you are a fan of Georgette Heyer's The Spanish Bride - based on the true life diary of Harry and Juana Smith - then the Frasers, Mélanie and Charles, are a look at what might have gone wrong with a war-time decision of a man who never thought he would marry (because of his family background and recent events) offering his hand to support a woman who has impressed him and needs marriage from his point of view (and has no other way of likely survival or acceptance of her circumstances). I find it fascinating the the author writes in various time-frames in the life of this couple - I decided I'd start with the book that seemed to be earliest chronologically - but the new big publisher release Vienna Waltz (which changes the name of the characters because the author is now writing for a different publisher - how stupid can those publishers be to make it MORE difficult to read in a series!!) is set at the Congress in Vienna roughly two or three years earlier. There is no info-dumping or As you know, Bob here: we get allusions to decisions that are not explained in this book, but they all serve to explain where the couple stands now - and then there is the mystery - connected to the family and its past, which is why I really enjoyed this more than many other mysteries which I only read for the interaction of the main sleuths. These revelations all have major repercussions in the life of Melanie and Charles and their loved ones. I'd say this book focuses a lot on Charles' parents and close family, but - as I found out in the follow-up - not even here do we find out everything that actually is buried under the cover of time passing. I loved the supporting gay couple (not sure how likely the tolerance of what they were doing would have been in real life). Another nifty twist was starting the book after the main couple had been married for some years and had two children! Because the Napoleonic Wars are finally over, they return to London - so we and they get introduced in their current form to the British ton and their family - what there is of that. The dialogue and the characterisation just work. Really enjoyable for the intrigues and layers of misdirection and the teamwork and problematic relationship between Melanie and Charles.