Heart of Honor »

For New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin, a career in real estate led her down the road to romance.

Through real estate, Kat found her own perfect match—her husband, Western author Larry Jay Martin.

"We were on opposing sides of a transaction—I represented the seller and he represented the buyer," Kat recalls.

A short time after the two became acquainted, Larry asked her to read an unpublished manuscript of an historical western he'd written. Kat fell in love with both the book and the author!

"It was quite a romantic story," she admits. "I'd still like to see it get published." Then, after doing some editing for her future husband, she thought she'd try her own hand at writing.

Kat moved on to become the bestselling author of over thirty historical and contemporary romance novels. To date, 10 million copies of her books are in print, and she's been published around the globe, including Germany, Norway, Sweden, China, Korea, Bulgaria, Russia, England, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Greece.

When she's not writing, Kat also enjoys skiing and traveling, particularly to Europe. Currently, she's busy writing her next book.

Krista Hart, publisher of the weekly London ladies' gazette Heart to Heart, is not afraid to speak her mind. Even on such unpopular issues as social reform—risking her reputation and her very safety—Krista will not be intimidated, although she knows full well she is the target of angry opposition for her outspoken views.

When she encounters a powerful Viking descendant imprisoned as a local sideshow attraction, Krista angrily demands his release. Although she tells herself that freeing Leif Draugr is simply the right thing to do, she can't deny being attracted to the fierce Nordic chieftain, especially after her father transforms him into a "proper" English gentleman.

But as anonymous threats against Krista become more and more aggressive, it is Leif who must face the unseen enemies desperate to silence her, even as they push her closer into the embrace of a warrior prepared to do whatever it takes to make her his.

Publishers Weekly

Martin's latest romance, a convoluted Victorian frolic, is sure to test readers' suspension of disbelief, as well as their patience. Though she's the editor of a gazette devoted to women's cultural and economic issues, Krista Hart's powerful grandfather regularly reminds her that her real duty is to provide the family a male heir-and a suitable courtier, the handsome, educated Matthew Carton, has just made his intentions apparent. Then Krista and her mischievous friend, Coralee, visit the circus, where they find a huge, gibbering, unkempt man named Leif caged as a sideshow attraction. Thanks to her father, who happens to be a scholar of Viking culture, Krista recognizes Leif's shouts as Norse, and learns that he's the sole survivor of a shipwreck hailing from an isolated island where Vikings still live in the old ways. Krista's father rescues Leif and brings him home, eager to teach Leif the English language and customs in exchange for his firsthand Viking knowledge. Leif immediately claims Krista as "his woman," indulges in crude behavior and finally abducts Krista in hopes of taking her back to his island. Though some readers might be turned off by Leif's heavy-handed domination and Krista's tepid reproaches-a throwback to the genre's old-fashioned days-it's Leif's unconvincing transformation from rough 16th-century Viking to 19th-century English gentleman as well as Martin's overwrought prose and distracting repetition that make the romance vet's latest a disappointment. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.