About the book:
He won his fame—and his freedom—in the gory pits of Rome's Colosseum. Yet the greatest challenge for once-legendary gladiator Caros Viriathos comes to him through a slave. His slave, the beautiful and mysterious Pelonia Valeria. Her secret brings danger to his household but offers Caros a love like he's never known….
Should anyone learn she is a Christian, Pelonia will be executed. Her faith threatens not only herself, but her master. Can she convince a man who found fame through unforgiving brutality to show mercy? And when she's ultimately given the choice, will Pelonia choose freedom or the love of a gladiator?
My review:
Carla Capshaw knows how to write a breath-stealing romance. She adds just the right amount of bait on the line to reel fans of romantic historical fiction in to her tale of inspired love. Fans of The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers will enjoy this book. While this story had to be a tad kinder and gentler due to the Love Inspired label, I still found it to be edgy enough to be enjoyable.
Caros was one hot hero. His restrained desire for the heroine made him very heroic and ...more Carla Capshaw knows how to write a breath-stealing romance. She adds just the right amount of bait on the line to reel fans of romantic historical fiction in to her tale of inspired love. Fans of The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers will enjoy this book. While this story had to be a tad kinder and gentler due to the Love Inspired label, I still found it to be edgy enough to be enjoyable.
Caros was one hot hero. His restrained desire for the heroine made him very heroic and would win the heart of any romance lover. The nice twist on this story that differs from secular fiction was that one of the things that attracted Caros to Pelonia, the heroine, was her love for Jesus and her unshakable faith. It wasn't just her unspoiled status because she was a virgin. While that attracted him at first, it wasn't what won his heart. His initial instinct was to conquer her heart, and he tried many effective tactics, however, it wasn't until his heart was conquered through her love and different perspective on life that things turned around for him. That made for a great story.
I had a hard time putting this story down. While there wasn't as much kissing as I often enjoy in a story, there was plenty of romantic tension and genuine caring between them that in some ways it made the story more compelling. Now in reality some of the parts of this story would probably never have happened in real life, but because it was so well done I was willing to suspend a little reality for the sake of this beautiful story. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to reading The Protector, which includes characters from this story. I could tell there would be a book tie in from the little bit I read about the other impossible love match. Once I like an author I tend to want to read all of their other books.
NOTE: I bought this book for my kindle. It wasn't given to me by anyone to review. I just read it because I wanted to.
.75 Compelling read - not quite 5 stars
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