In This Day Is Ours, a royalist aristocratic widow, Alexandra Pennington, is forced to choose between two lovers - the raffish, almost illiterate Dalton Jameson (aka the burglar Jack Flash) and rich and charming Charles Villard, who seems like a much more suitable match. But the novel is as much history as it is romance, giving the reader a detailed perspective on the American War of Independence, both from the royalist and the nationalist points of view.

One of the most engaging features of this book are its characters. For instance, I liked Alexandra Pennington from the start. She's intelligent, thoughtful, courageous, kind and has plenty of common sense, unlike the usual romantic heroine. The villain, Charles Villard is just sympathetic enough to be convincingly evil: after all, he's had a difficult childhood. The hero, the dashing Jack Flash, is enjoyably down to earth, and his dialogue is vividly working class. His semi-illiteracy is not glossed over, and his virtues aren't exaggerated - he's a horse-dealer and penniless orphan made good, and that's all part of his attraction.

I haven't read many romances set in the American Revolution, and - although I don't know much at all about the history of that time - I thought the book portrayed the period very well. It rang true - the irascible but charismatic General Washington, the poorly trained and ill-supplied troops, the battles won and lost, the attitudes of Royalists and rebels, the travails of the rebel army. The sex scenes aren't bad either - I particularly liked the way Alexandra, and later Dalton, leave items of clothing provocatively trailing up the stairs as they consummate their passion.

It's the first book in a while that I stayed up late at night to finish, because - although I kind of knew what would happen - I had to see how it happened. In summary, the novel was excellently written - no purple prose, no cliches, no clumsy styling - and I'd gladly read another by the same author.