Before I read this book, I was surfing for info on Shirlee Busbee's novels, and discovered that some people hated "Gypsy Lady", others loved it. Some gave it one star, others four or even five. I decided to check it out for myself and discovered, as I suspected, that it was somewhere in between.

To me, this book had too much going for it for anyone to hate, yet too many flaws for anyone to love. It's a book to be liked, with reservations. It had flaws (which I'll get into first), good points, and things that could have been better.

One of the flaws was the rather silly beginning story of the h, Catherine and her half-brother, Adam being kidnapped as little children by gypsies, due to the machinations of their evil, greedy cousin, Clive (who really wanted them dead), and some years later, (and even sillier) having their adopted gypsy parents return them to their family, simply to do the right thing. All this was to give the brother and sister an excuse to be a bit wild and unconventional. It could have been done without that nonsense, just by having gypsies in the neighborhood that captured their attention, especially since their gypsy "family" disappears from the story, (after still being involved in their lives years after their return, without paying any price for the kidnapping, UNBELIEVABLE) and are then apparently forgotten, as if they never existed.

Another flaw was using the gypsies to get Catherine and the H, Jason Savage, together, since it could have worked well, if it had been done properly. Jason was in England, ostensibly to buy horses but really on a diplomatic mission for Pres. Jefferson, involving the Louisiana Purchase. Catherine divided her time between her proper British home and the wild gypsy camp, where she goes by her gypsy name, Tamara. Jason mistakenly thinks she's Clive's mistress, pursues her, (rather rudely), she comes up with a funny scheme to meet him in his suite, but has an elderly gypsy woman take her place! That should have given him a laugh, despite the blow to his pride, he should have told her, "Well played, you won this round, but my turn next". Instead, he retaliates by kidnapping her, stripping her, raping her (he had a moment of remorse when he discovered she was the virgin she claimed to be, but then raped her again) and making crude comments about what her relationship to Clive must have been. Prince Charming he sure ain't!!

Not to go into every detail, they have a rocky relationship, and when he later discovers her real identity, he feels compelled to make an honest woman of her, much to the protest of Catherine's cousin Elizabeth, whom Jason had been sleeping with. Overhearing Jason tell Elizabeth he only wants a wife so he'll have legitimate heirs, Catherine, who's now in love with Jason, does what most h's do in a difficult situation, runs away. (All the way to Mississippi, in fact, where her brother Adam lives.) While I usually get a bit annoyed with the wife who flees rather than stays and fights, in this case, I see her point. Who wants to be thought of as a brood mare?

More flaws follow. Naturally, they meet again, when he spots her in New Orleans, obviously pregnant, and with her brother, whom he assumes is her lover. (Considering the timing, it never occurred to him that the baby was his? He just assumed she found another man ASAP and got knocked up quick. Brilliant!) Meanwhile, before he settled down to running a plantation, he had turned into a wild man, drinking, gambling, partying, dueling and especially whoring. He lost count of the women he slept with, which made it a wonder he was still functioning, he should have been a walking STD! While I can understand him having a mistress or a couple of short-term relationships, (Catherine left him so he didn't owe her any fidelity) he didn't have to make a spig of himself. (That's my word for a sex pig: a woman who can't keep her legs closed, or a man who, to quote John Adams, dips his pen in too many inkwells.)

Anyway, Ms. Busbee goes on to waste time with silliness, as Jason finds Catherine at Adam's, assumes they're lovers, she gets stubborn and doesn't deny it, he thinks their son, Nicholas, is Adam's child, again, she lets him believe that (one good look at the baby who resembled him so much would have put him wise, but naturally that doesn't happen) and he insists she accompany him back to his plantation and resume being his wife. There's a long stretch of typical one step forward two steps back, as they both get more and more STUPID and keep hiding their true feelings. He realizes Nicholas is his son, is furious that she didn't tell him at once, they have a violent (literally) argument, where she foolishly states she'll get back at him by sleeping with other men and making him raise a bunch of bastards and he hits her so hard she gets a bruised face and swollen lip! Ironically, right after this, Catherine decides they should try to work things out! WTF!!! Plenty of times she should have given that a try but instead she got stubborn and acted bitchy, now, after he gets abusive, she wants to work on their marriage! Sheer lunacy!!

Another mistake was a really sappy romantic subplot between Jason's father and Catherine's mother (it turns out Adam is Jason's brother, too), that kind of gives things an incest vibe, YUCK!!

Also, the parents wanted things to work out for the couple and were concerned about all their troubles and wanted to help, but then did absolutely nothing but take up space. Boring!! (And so was their pathetic love story.)

Then, with all the things keeping them apart, you would think another pregnancy would help bring them together. No such luck, as Jason, with a lot on his mind, didn't show the enthusiasm he should have, so Catherine assumed he didn't want the baby as more than a spare to the heir, and started feeling like a brood mare, (yes, the rhymes are intentional) so she got snarky, he got angry, they drifted apart yet again, and once again they go from nightly lust fests to staying in their separate bedrooms.

Another big mistake is Catherine getting kidnapped toward the end of the book, by Jason's former friend and now worst enemy, Devalos, who rapes Catherine. Was that really necessary??? All it did was serve as another obstacle to getting the couple back on track. (Catherine lost the baby, and neither she nor Jason seemed to care all that much.) Also, in order to escape she had to kill one of Devalos's men, and she was traumatized by that, but then it was just brushed off as if it never happened. It was also ridiculous for Catherine to show bravado by constantly saying nasty things to Devalos, since every time she did, he'd react by hitting or kicking her, so either she's a closet masochist or else incredibly dumb, since you would think she'd try to avoid more violence, because she was pregnant. But then again, she wasn't all that interested in the baby, any more than Jason was.

Later, while he's caring for her, Catherine starts to talk about the rape and mistakes Jason's anger at Devalos and thinks he blames her, leading to more angry words and foolish stubbornness from them both. Finally, after a couple of months of separate beds and a phony act around others of being a happy couple, to help get her through the trauma, Jason makes love to her, but the abrupt way he handled it made it seem like another rape. He should have gotten them closer in stages, just held her one night, the next the same thing but with their clothes off, then touching each other, then having sex (I should have been a therapist, not to mention an author!)

As with a lot of early HR novels, the couple spends more time apart than together, then when they are together, misunderstandings always get in the way.

Okay, what I liked about the story was the historical detail, which was a good background as well as informative. You learn about the climate in both America and England during the Peace of Amiens, details of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans history, and both Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe have some scenes with Jason. There's also an adventure story in the beginning, with Jason, his Native friend Blood Drinker, and the late Philip Nolan (killed by Devalos), a discovered treasure and legend of a lost city. (That story ties in with both Devalos and Clive, who also meets his end, thanks to the vengeful Spaniard.) There was potential here for the story to go another way. For instance, right before Clive was killed, he had a fight with Jason (whom he also dueled with) so it could have been written that Jason was accused of killing Clive, was imprisoned, and Catherine had to help discover the truth. There was also talk of Jason's political involvement in New Orleans, acting as spy for the new government, and Catherine could have figured in there, too. So much wasted potential.

BTW: for anyone who might be thinking why Catherine would fall in love with Jason, with all his flaws, they have to remember that she was hardly your typical society woman. Part wild gypsy, feisty, independent, nonconformist, as well as intelligent, fun loving, and caring (when she lets herself), she would hardly be satisfied with a typical man of that time, one who was either a stickler for society's rules, or one who played the adoring suitor, showering her with respectful attention, like that goofy friend of Adam's, Godfrey, whom Jason scared away. No betas for this lady, she needs an alpha to fight with, and she sure got one!

All things considered, this novel should have been a rough draft, and polished up later. ( )

One of the first romances I ever read (I think someone lent it to me when I was about 12). Therefore, I haz a soft spot. I don't think it would hold up so well now though! ( )