''The Book of True Desires'' is a

historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...

written by

Betina Krahn Betina Krahn (born Huntington, West Virginia) is a RITA Award winning and New York Times best-selling author of historical romance novels. Biography Early years Krahn, born Betina Maynard, is the second daughter of Dors Maynard and Regina Tr ...

. It won the RITA Award for Best Short Historical in 2007 and was nominated for a ''Romantic Times'' Award.

Background

''The Book of True Desires'' is a

written by

and published in September 2006 by Jove. The novel is set in the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

Plot summary

The heroine of the novel, Cordelia O'Keefe, wants adventure, and she convinces her grandfather to provide the funds for her to search for the Mayan "gift of the jaguar". Her grandfather insists that she be accompanied by his butler, Hartford Goodnight. Hartford is actually a chemist who has been working for her grandfather to pay off a debt. During the pair's adventures in the Yucatán jungle, they fall in love.

Reception

Kathe Robin of ''

Romantic Times ''Romantic Times'' was an American genre magazine specializing in romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love betwee ...

'' gave the novel 4.5 stars and wrote of the novel's "simmering sexual tension and witty, laugh-out-loud dialogue between heutterly engaging characters." In ''Booklist'', John Charles described the novel as "simply superb", "with a generous dash of humor ... and plenty of action and adventure." The novel won the RITA Award, given by the

Romance Writers of America Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by incr ...

in 2007 in the category Best Short Historical. It was a Romantic Times Top Pick and was nominated for the Romantic Times Award for Historical Romance Adventure.

References

RITA Award-winning works American romance novels English-language novels Historical romance novels 2006 American novels Jove Books books {{2000s-romance-novel-stub