Elizabeth Davenport has spent her entire youth surrounded by wealth and propriety. She had accepted the life mapped out before her but all that changed the day her stagecoach was attacked. Now she shivers at the mere thought of what would have happened to her that fateful day, if Lieutenant Eric Ryan hadn’t rescued her. The Cavalry man is the most handsome man she has ever seen but that doesn’t excuse her unladylike behavior around him. Elizabeth knows what she must do – get back home to her family and continue on her path to high society – but in the brief time she was with him the lieutenant did more than save her from her attackers; he also captured her heart.

As soon as Eric saw her, he knew she was going to be trouble. Elizabeth was like no other woman he had ever met but the Lieutenant had promised himself to the army a long time ago and never again would he subject a woman to the toils of being a soldier’s wife. Eric is a strong, successful man but no matter how he tries to put his feelings to one side, he just can’t rid himself of this strange new emotion whenever his thoughts turn to the beautiful Elizabeth.

His Grandfather had always talked of the power of fate but Eric never believed him. When circumstances keep pushing two people from seemingly different worlds into each other’s arms, it’s difficult for Eric to continue dismissing the warning. As he learns more about the woman who intrigues him so, Eric starts to wonder if perhaps the attack that brought them together was more than just a horrible coincidence. Eric may be in dangerous new territory, in more ways than one.

A Soldier’s Embrace is a compelling read, with an extravagant plot line that really drew me in. The obvious level of research that was put into the period and setting made for a rich and detailed world inhabited by captivating characters. Eric and Elizabeth were very strong and well rounded individuals with chemistry. The passion with which they fought and made up was evident from their first encounter. The apparent gap in their social status is highlighted well by the descriptive comparisons of army and society life. The imagery was superb as I could just picture how prim and proper every part of Elizabeth’s life was and almost smell the Lieutenant and his men on their hard, torturous journeys, fraught with danger. There is a large supporting cast of characters that was a little overwhelming to begin with but after a while this settled down. The pace of the writing was such that I found myself wanting to hurry the characters on at times but this can be put down to my curiosity at wanting to see how fate would treat Eric and Elizabeth. I was not disappointed with the enjoyable, unpredictable outcome.