Entwined Paperback – January 3, 1995

As far as I can tell--and I've tried to research it--this is the first in a historical romance series (possibly a trilogy) that involves spies for England during the wars on the Continent in the Regency period. There were 10 spies to begin with ("the Ten"). Some were nobility.ENTWINED begins in 1810 in Lisbon, as Nathan Paget, Viscount Oriel, one of the Ten, is discussing the situation in Europe with his close friend Gabriel Loudon, Lord Rievaulx, also a member of the Ten. Nathan is preparing to return to England the next day to wed a woman they both wanted. But the next morning, they are attacked. Nathan sees Rievaulx hit in the chest even as he is losing consciousness. A year later, in 1811, Nathan has returned to his country home in Hertfordshire alone, his fiancé having changed her mind. He carries on conversations with his dead friend, Gabriel, and still suffers from a sword wound to his thigh as he attempts to live a normal, if secluded, life. Then Matthew Gerard, his former superior, arrives to tell him some of the Ten have been killed; Gerard believes someone is killing them one by one. Supposedly, five are now dead. Gerard asks for Nathan's help, urging him to return to London.Meanwhile, a family of Scots from the Isle of Skye has moved onto Nathan's lands. He hires the father, James MacLeod, to be his secretary. Over the next 6 months, Nathan learns all about MacLeod's five children, including the oldest, 25-year-old intelligent, plain Isobel, who the father credits with keeping the family together. When James MacLeod steals a bag of gold coins from Nathan and Isobel tries to return it, Nathan meets the honest, candid and observant young woman. She realizes what no one else has--he is blind. (It wasn't only his leg that was injured; he took a hit to the head.) Nathan decides he will allow Isobel's father to go free and provide for Isobel's family if only he can have one thing--her. He wants more than a secretary, however.The hero is a wonderful combination of gentleman warrior and a brooding, wounded, aristocratic beast. Noble and kind of heart, you can't help but love Nathan for loving Isobel's character, which is courageous, honest and giving. There is something wildly attractive about a man who wants a woman from the first time he meets her and then continues to always believe the best about her. Isn't that what we all want? The heroine, Isobel, is the caretaker for her family, dragging them out of one predicament or another. There isn't anything she won't do for them. And Nathan knows it. When offered the choice between continued poverty for them and perhaps jail for her father, and serving the strange Viscount Oriel, she chooses the latter.Jensen writes very well with witty, sometimes funny, dialog, a great plot and well developed characters. This fascinating story moves along at a good clip. I wasn't half way through it when I was looking online for the rest in what I was sure had to be a series. I could only find two more of Jensen's books that seemed to be related: FALLEN and MOONLIT, both written years after ENTWINED, and each about another member of the Ten. (I have ordered them and will review them, too. If I find more in the series, I'll amend this review to include them.)I can recommend this book without reservation. I think you'll like is as much as I did.

This was a very enjoyable book about a confident Scottish woman who considers herself plain and a wounded soldier of war who is what I would call legally blind.A lot of twists and turns, her irresponsible brothers and his military career threaten to separate them.It was very good except (for me) the sexual content. There was enough to take away a whole star.

Wow - what a great story. I loved this passionate, romantic tale of the unlikely union of an English marquis with a sharp-tongued Scottish woman of dubious lineage and plain features.There’s intrigue, and subterfuge, bone-deep emotional wounds and betrayal. A bit of espionage and plenty of heart.Content note: rated R. It was easy to hit “fast forward,” without detracting from the tale.I hope the rest of the series is as good!

I have never read a book by Emma Jensen that I did not like and that I would not recommend to anyone. And I have read nearly all her books. I wish she would write more.

I don't know Jensen's other work but in this book, at least, she did a great job of mixing even amounts of drama and humor and smart writing. When I didn't enjoy the story I enjoyed just reading it because the characters were so charming.

When originally published in 1997 this was Bk 1 of a trilogy on three aristocrats, linked as members of a spy ring called The Ten. Nathan Paget, Marquess Oriel and heir to a dukedom, has returned to England with a bad limp and a dark secret, after an ambush injures him and kills his best friend and fellow spy, Gabriel Loudon, Lord Rievaulx,Nathan hides away on his Irish estate, refusing to see his family or friends. He's autocratic, impatient, ill-tempered....and although no one realizes it, almost completely blind after being struck in the head during the ambush.Isobel MacLeod is the eldest daughter of a charming drunk, Jamie MacLeod. Isobel is plain, sharp-witted, tart-tongued, and does her best to keep her four siblings and wastrel father housed, clad, and fed, all on a shoestring budget.When Nathan and Isobel meet and marry, sparks fly. They don't marry for love, but you can feel it's inevitable. There are sex scenes in Jensen's novels, intense but straightforward; tastefully written. Nathan takes Isobel to London, where she becomes a surprising hit - her honesty and Scottish accent make her 'different', and thus of interest and approval by the easily-bored 'ton'.Fortunately Nathan is wealthy, but even he has his hands full trying to keep his FIL and two foolish BILs - equally wastrel chips off the old block - from gambling losses and emptied brandy bottles. Only Isobel and her two sisters have the brains and sense in the MacLeod family.Nathan uses Isobel as his "eyes" to hide his blindness from others. He comes to London not to rejoin Society, but as a favor to his old mentor Matthew Gerard, who formed and supervised The Ten. There's a traitor who has been assassinating the Ten, one by one. Gerard begs Nathan to return to action to find out who the traitor is. Reluctantly, Nathan agrees. But how can a blind man find a traitor?The mystery isn't very complex here, but the characters are vividly written. A side character, Viscount Trevor St. Wulfstan, also one of The Ten, appears and disappears as he pleases, refusing to be pinned down and interrogated. From a gun-toting Duke to a tree-climbing tomboy, "Entwined" is a delight all the way through.This 'Beauty and the Beast' variation is given distinction by the hero being permanently marred and the heroine forever plain. Isobel is as clever as she is wise; patient, and loyal - and thus Nathan finds her not only perfect for his needs, but beautiful to him as well.I'm happy to see this has come out on Kindle. My paperback copy (original from 1997) is disintegrating, as I periodically reread it. It's one of the rare books in my "permanent" collection. Like Mary Balogh's "A Summer To Remember" (2002), although part of a series, "Entwined" can be read as stand-alone and frankly, both far surpass their respective series' sequels.I will be writing the reviews on "Fallen" (Rivaulx's story) and Moonlit (St. Wulfstan's story) over the next few days. Neither is anywhere near as good as "Entwined", IMHO. I disliked "Fallen" as a very weak story. "Moonlit" is a little more interesting, although I don't find St. Wulfstan as interesting a hero as Nathan Paget. Neither "Fallen" nor "Moonlit" warranted a place on my "permanent" shelf.