My Review - Elusive Hope by MaryLu Tyndall

ELUSIVE HOPE takes you on an adventure through the jungles of Brazil where you will find hate, heartache, and hope.

Magnolia Scott has been dragged to the jungles of Brazil by her unloving, tyrannical father.  He blames her for the loss of their family fortune and expects her to make up for her imprudence by marrying into someone from Brazil’s upper crust.  Magnolia wants nothing more than to return to the South so she can find and marry her fiancé.  Following after Hayden Gale on his jaunt to Rio seems to be her only recourse to get back to the states.  Though he is her least liked person in the new settlement, she’s willing to put up with his arrogant and rude behavior in order to get what she wants.  So she promises to pay him if he will see her safely onto a ship that will take her home.  The fact that she hasn’t the money she’s promised him is something she must keep from him at all costs.

Hayden Gale is a con man seeking revenge.  He blames his absentee father for the death of his mother and has come to Brazil to mete out his vengeance on him.  Hayden has cheated, swindled, and connive his way through life so he could obtain the information he has on his father.  In many ways, Hayden has turned out to be just like his father, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to see him dead.  When on his trip to Rio he finds himself saddled with the spoiled Magnolia, he decides to work it to his advantage.  He will take her to Rio, but his only intentions are to separate her from her money.

While on their jaunt to and from Rio, Magnolia and Hayden realize through all their hate and distrust of the other, they find themselves fighting attraction for one another.  Magnolia hates herself for being infatuated by the brutish Hayden, while Hayden can’t believe the woman with the smart mouth has somehow gotten under his skin.  They know an alliance between the two of them will never work, but their hearts are not so easily convinced.

ELUSIVE HOPE follows in true Marylu Tyndall fashion.  Adventure, romance, adversity, and always something sinister that pulls our hero and heroine apart.  Though ELUSIVE HOPE takes place on dry land, the story is anything but dry.  ELUSIVE HOPE is the second installment in the Escape to Paradise series.  And though it can stand alone, I would recommend reading FORSAKEN DREAMS first so you can get the full backstory and angst that goes into Magnolia and Hayden volatile relationship.