{"id":8969,"date":"2017-03-25T09:02:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T13:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=8969"},"modified":"2024-03-21T15:36:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T19:36:48","slug":"shores-of-desire-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8969","title":{"rendered":"Shores of Desire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shores of Desire<\/a><\/em> (1997) Tracy Grant<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Scotland and Europe in 1815<\/p>\n

There are actually three primary characters in this story: Robert, Emma, and the War with Napoleon.<\/p>\n

Emma was used to dealing with everyday injuries, wounds from fights and falls and accidents. Save when Allan had been invalided home, his wounds already neatly stitched, she had never seen the damage done by musket shot or cannon or sabre. The wounds were filthy and infected. Her heart aching with pity, she cleansed and picked out pieces of cloth and debris and bandaged as best she could. She gave water to men who could ask for nothing more. She promised to send the letters of dying men to wives and sweethearts, and when there was nothing more to be done, she closed their eyes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As she rose from the bed, Charlie took her hand. “We did well, you know. We started out in line, but later we formed a square with the 28th. The cuirassiers came at us again and again, but they couldn’t break us. When one of us fell, we’d pull him inside and close ranks. We stood them off. It took all day, but we stood them off.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Robert pulled his cloak closer about him and cursed the fate that had sent them storms in the middle of June. Eighteen hours of pelting rain had flattened the high-standing rye and turned the fields into a sea of mud. It had been near midnight before the troops were bivouacked for the night, drenched, tired, hungry, and dispirited. Many of the soldiers had arrived barefoot, their boots and shoes sucked into the mud on the slow march from Quatre Bras. There was no shelter. Officers and staff occupied the few farms and huts that could be found. No fire would burn, no musket would fire. Scarcely a shot had been exchanged the entire day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not romanticized war, but mud and blood and bloated bodies. <\/p>\n

And children. <\/p>\n

Downstairs, Emma found that Adam had brought Kirsty and David back. The children were sitting on the floor, talking to the wounded men, seeming undismayed by their groans and injuries. They had spent the day, Kirsty informed her, helping Caroline take care of the sick men who had been brought to her house.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course there is romance and mystery as well. I’ve written about those the previous times I’ve read this book and this series–and the mystery is very good. But the historical bits about the war she pulled from primary sources are heart breaking, and make the love and forgiveness that much more understandable.
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by NYLA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant Set in Scotland and Europe in 1815 There are actually three primary characters in this story: Robert, Emma, and the War with Napoleon. Emma was used to dealing with everyday injuries, wounds from fights and falls and accidents. Save when Allan had been invalided home, his wounds already neatly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,30,33,8,742,41,26],"tags":[50,556,617,547,646,548,174],"class_list":["post-8969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-physical-health","category-reread","category-romance","tag-boinking","tag-georgian-era","tag-injury","tag-napoleonic-era","tag-pregnancy","tag-regency","tag-tracy-grant"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2kF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14283,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14283","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":0},"title":"Shores of Desire","author":"Michelle","date":"May 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant (Lescaut Quartet) Set in Scotland, Belgium, and France in 1815 \"I'm sorry.\" Melton's eyes warmed with sympathy. \"I wish there was more I could say. But if there are words that ease such a grief, I have yet to discover them.\" \"Don't worry, Em.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shores of Desire","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Shores-of-Desire-1-e1511047479181.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5636,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5636","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":1},"title":"Shores of Desire","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant Set in Midlothian, Scotland, March 1815 This is a re-read of an historical mystery\/romance, because I wasn't sure what I was in the mood to read, but most of what is at the top of my to-be-read list is books I can't read during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shores-of-Desire","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Shores-of-Desire-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5118,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5118","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":2},"title":"Shores of Desire","author":"Michelle","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant This is a boinking book, but it is also a marvelous historical mystery. Set in 1815. Robert Melton and his son are traveling to Scotland to try to discover why his wife was murdered. Because he is a French spy, he is traveling under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shores-of-Desire","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Shores-of-Desire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9712,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9712","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":3},"title":"Shores of Desire","author":"Michelle","date":"February 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant Set in Europe in 1815 Robert Lescaut is a French colonel and spy, who has come to Scotland to try and discover who killed his wife--a woman he believed was a Scottish Blair. Emma Blair is tired of the feuding between the Blairs and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Shores-of-Desire-1-e1511047479181.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5639,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5639","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":4},"title":"Shadows of the Heart","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Shadows of the Heart (1996) Tracy Grant Set in Scotland, July 1817 The third book in the series (yes, I did skip the first book on this re-read, but may read it last) is about Robert Lescaut's cousin Paul, who is the unacknowledged bastard son of the Marquis de Ribard.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Shores of Desire","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Shores-of-Desire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5271,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5271","url_meta":{"origin":8969,"position":5},"title":"Widow’s Gambit","author":"Michelle","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Widow's Gambit (1998) Tracy Grant The Neville girls are of good family, but impoverished, and after their father's death are left to make their way as best they can. Claudia is the most beautiful (and Diana is not yet of age) so Livia decides to do whatever it takes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"Widows-Gambit","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Widows-Gambit.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}