Taming Tessa
By Brenda Hiatt

   Tessa Seaton of Wheatstone has a magic touch with horses, and in her hands even the wildest stallion is perfectly manageable. But her uncle and cousin, who use her talents to train and sell unsuitable horses, misuse her gift, and her wheelchair bound father is too poor to enable her to break free. Into this ménage rides Lord Anthony Northrupp, and suddenly it seems as though she might have a chance to escape.

     Not only are there two hissable (but believable) villains, but also the hero and heroine have been crafted to be two truly likeable people that the reader actually cares about. Tessa's almost magical gift is a bit far-fetched in a standard Regency novel, but this aside, this is a very enjoyable tale. I've said before that I dislike "battle of the sexes" novels where the protagonists spend the book at each other's throats and this is the antithesis of this; the book's great strength is the amiability and depth of character of Tessa and Anthony and it is this that stays in the mind.