"Wonderful sequel to Catspaw"
Catspaw II (Harlequin Intrigue #103, 1988) is the sequel
to Catspaw (Harlequin Intrigue #9, 1985). There was over
three years between the releases, but when read together,
you will see they flow flawlessly as one story. The
sequelis as good as the originak: a rarity, indeed. With
Anne Stuart's brilliance dazzling romance readers for over
twenty years, the two novels demonstrate her amazing
talent from the very start. They are Stuart at her very
best. It's a shame Harlequin does not release both of
these tales together under one cover. They had a tiny
touch of dating in a few places, but to us who were
readers back then, it's more like a hint of memory lane!
But frankly, you will be so wrapped up in Ferris Byrd and
John Patrick Blackheart you won't notice or care about
anything else. These two characters are simply amazing.
Ferris Byrd is a self-made woman, but she tends to find
herself more casual these days because her reformed cat
burglar fiance likes her that way. Only, Blackheart is
making Ferris wonder about their engagement. Oh, she loves
him, but she is having doubt problems - same problems she
faced in the first novel - she fears the lure of
excitement is just too much for Blackheart to resist. So
when he starts vanishing, without saying goodbye, and is
gone for weeks at a time, she suddenly fears the worst,
especially since there are big burglaries in the news all
over Europe that sound like Blackheart is on the prowl
again. When the book takes up, it's exactly six months after
Catspaw left off. They are engaged. Ferris is still living
in her old apartment, though with new locks Blackheart
installed. She is packing to move to his apartment, but on
the rainy day, she is beginning to question if she has
made a good choice. Her car has died and had to be towed
to the garage, and worse, her house keys are in her purse.
Going back to the garage is useless; they have already
closed. So Ferris is left with breaking into her own
apartment. After she goes with her cat burglar routine,
coming from training from her husband-to-be, she is
horrified and angry to find Blackheart has been sitting in
his car watching her. She was not amused he enjoyed her
bit of B&E. Neither were the police, when they nearly site
her for tossing garbage around the area, since she used
the trash cans to stand on to get to her balcony. She has
to go out into the rain and pick up the mess. To say the
least, that only lets her temper with Blackheart grow. When she comes back, and finds he offers no excuses for
his absence and says only he had been to England on
business, she is far from pleased. When he is making
coffee, she goes through his kit, finds burglar's tools -
which he said he did not have need of anymore - and a
passport, showing he had been to every country where there
had been a big jewel robbery. She is not a happy camper.
When he refuses to explain why he lied to her, she tells
him the engagement is off. Blackheart is furious Ferris refuses to trust him, but he
is not going to involve her in the nasty things happening
to him. Someone is trying to frame him for all those
burglaries. Worse, now he is back in San Francisco, he
discovers he is being set up to take the fall for two
different robberies. Blackheart has to save his long-lost
little sister from the clutches of jail, foil the robbers
intent of making him their fall guy, and convince Ferris
what she really doesn't trust is not him, but herself. Ferris' ex-fiance and his mother, characters in the first
tale, are back. There is also a secondary romance between
Blackheart sister, Dany, and the policemen doggedly
determined to see Blackheart in jail. All in all, it's Stuart Magic! Craft, imagination,
insight, sexy characters that steal your heart, all
stirred into one potent brew. It just does not get any
better than Ferris and Blackheart. Catspaw and Catspaw II
need to be reprinted so Stuart fans can discover these
sterling Stuart gems! Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted August 27, 2004
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted January 14, 2007
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