As a Jane Austen and sequel fan, I enjoyed both None But You and For You Alone by Susan Kaye immensely. Both volumes are quick reads, and I loved seeing Persuasion‘s experiences through Wentworth’s eyes. I highly recommend this two-volume story.

Hooking me right from the very start, the beginning follows Wentworth’s life before canon, and I found it to establish his character solidly. We truly get to know the Captain, and how he has lived his life since he had last seen Anne Elliot, in a way I have never read before. It made all of his reactions after it (during canon happenings) much more understandable.

(Originally reviewed at Amazon.com on June 9, 2011)

None But You (Frederick Wentworth, Captain: Book 1)

by Susan Kaye

Blurb for None But You: Eight years ago, when he had nothing but his future to offer, Frederick Wentworth fell in love with Anne Elliot, the gentle daughter of a haughty, supercilious baronet. Sir Walter Elliot refused to countenance a marriage and Anne’s godmother, Lady Russell, strongly advised Anne against him. Persuaded by those nearest to her, Anne had given him up and he had taken his broken heart to sea. When Jane Austen’s Persuasion opens in the year 1814, Frederick Wentworth, now a famous and wealthy captain in His Majesty’s Navy, finds himself back in England and, as fate would have it, residing as a guest in Anne’s former home. Now, it is the baronet who is in financial difficulties, and Anne exists only at her family’s beck and call. For eight long years, Frederick had steeled his heart against her. Should he allow Anne into his heart again, or should he look for love with younger, prettier woman in the neighbourhood who regard him as a hero?

For You Alone (Frederick Wentworth, Captain: Book 2)

by Susan Kaye

Blurb for For You Alone: How could he have failed to know himself so completely? Captain Frederick Wentworth, lately returned to England from a distinguished naval career fighting Napoleon, had re-visited the scene of his romantic defeat of eight years previous at the hands of Miss Anne Elliot to find his former love a pale, worn shadow of herself. Attracted by the lively young ladies in the area who regarded him as a hero, he had ignored Anne and entangled himself with Louisa Musgrove, a headstrong young woman who seemed all that Anne was not. Now, because of his careless behavior and Louisa’s heedlessness, his future appeared tied to her just at the moment when it had become painfully clear that Anne was still everything he truly wanted. In honour, he belonged to Louisa, but his heart was full of Anne. What was he to do?