Spanish Serenade

by Jennifer Blake

Book Overview

Beautiful, headstrong Pilar Sandoval y Serna will pay any price to escape the tyranny of her stepfather, Don Esteban. She turns to handsome, moody El Leon, a nobleman turned to a life of outlawry by... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449146030
• ISBN13: 9780449146033
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Ivy Books
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

An intriguing Spanish historical well worth searching out

I am so enjoying reading through Jennifer Blake's backlist - especially those from the eighties and those that may have been originally written under the name of Patricia Maxwell. As well as I can surmise, Spanish Serenade was originally published in 1990 under Blake's name. These older romance novels of hers are definitely worth the search to find them. Refugio, also known as El Leon (The Lion), is a nobleman turned into a Spanish Robin Hood of sorts. He is an outlaw who champions the underprivileged and leads a band of men to accomplish his kind acts that may be outside of the law. He is especially opposed to Don Estaban, his sworn enemy, who is responsible not only for stealing his family's wealth, but also the death of a family member. He is a dashing figure, multi-talented in weaponry, and the ladies love him. In the opening scene of Spanish Serenade, Refugio is coming to investigate a possible rescue of a damsel in distress, Pilar, Don Estaban's stepdaughter.Pilar is a young lady in dire straits. Her mother had married Don Estaban years ago and he had treated her mother horribly and immediately sent Pilar to live at a convent. Pilar's mother has just died and Pilar suspects that her stepfather, Don Estaban, has murdered her. Pilar is a beauty who greatly fears her stepfather but is brave enough to attempt to escape her enforced confinement at his order. She sends a message to Refugio, El Leon, asking him to rescue her and in exchange for her rescue; she will give him her dowry.Don Estaban is a really mean villain - just too mean for believability. He has told Pilar that he is returning her to the convent and will provide the church with a large sum of money to keep her there indefinitely. This money is the dowry that Pilar offers to Refugio. Refugio decides to help this damsel in distress and attacks the caravan escorting Pilar back to the convent. Inside the carriage which carries her and her lady's companion, sits the cache of gold which will be paid to the convent upon their arrival. Refugio and his band successfully take Pilar and the trunk of gold, leaving Don Estaban wounded on the road and swearing to get even with Refugio. When the outlaw band had attacked the caravan, Estaban had ordered his men to kill Pilar. For some incomprehensible reason, Refugio does not kill Estaban - only wounds him. Why he didn't is a mystery to me. As I indicated earlier, this is one very mean villain and does not deserve to live. Also, the trunk of gold has no gold - only a few pieces of silver.The first portion of Spanish Serenade takes place in Spain. After several more despicable acts by Don Estaban, Refugio and his band, with Pilar, sail to America following Estaban to New Orleans. The latter half of the book takes place in Louisiana and Texas territory. It is an action filled book with many fun and dangerous pages. Refugio and his band remind you of Zorro and all have their moments. When Blake writes a book, you don't fee

A great couple.

The girl in this book Pilar is really an interesting character, to strongwhiled but with the kind of mind that makes her interesting and not spoiled. El Leon is really a great man, but also with his pride problems that get him and Pilar into a lot of drama twists. I found this novel to be not only a great reading, but also fun.