One normal day on a routine mission in the year 2000, Bree "Banzai" Maguire and her wingman, Cam "Scarlet" Tucker, were captured in enemy territory. It was a capture that would change their lives. A mad scientist put them both in bio-stasis as experiments. It was supposed to be for a day-a week at most-but it turned into 176 years instead. When Bree awoke, the world she knew was gone. The people she knew were dead. The things she held dear to her had been destroyed with wars that had been fought while she was lost. The year she awoke was 2176.

She was awakened by one man and stolen by another. Who was she supposed to believe? Who was she supposed to trust? Her world was gone, and in its place was a mockery of everything that had been built since the year 1776. "I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender my men while they still have the means to resist." These were codes of conduct Bree had sworn to uphold, and uphold them she would-at any cost-until, at the very least, she found Cam's body and not until then.

Ty Armstrong was the man who rescued her. He was the man who had loved her since the very first time he heard her name. He thought of her as his own and would fight with whatever means necessary to release her from her captor, the Prince of Asia.

Banzai never wanted to be more than a soldier. She never wanted to be a legend, but that wasn't to be. Destiny had something else in mind for her. A shadow voice pierced the world with talk of liberty and justice. It also pleaded for her help-her help to rise up and free those that could not free themselves. The voice said the old ways needed to be returned, and she was the one to do that. Some of this was said and some was left unsaid, but Banzai and Ty both heard it anyway. The journey they started was to find the voice and to begin something bigger than both of them.

The Legend of Banzai Maguire was unexpected to say the least. Great writing and a sense of enticement were expected but not the thrill rush of adventure, love, passion, history and a great love for something more. These two characters fought for something more than themselves-the beginning of freedom. Bree, as a character, was astonishing with her blend of harder-than-nails attitude and her vulnerability as a woman. Her loyalty to the laws and codes of the country she once knew was profound if not medal worthy. Ty's infatuation for the legend he knew and then his love for the woman he found touched the heart in more ways than one.

The Legend of Banzai Maguire
was pure magic. I, for one, cannot wait for the next book in the series. Ms. Grant, whose books are becoming more and more popular as well as entertaining, is saluted for yet another work of art in literary form.

Reviewed by Gabrielle Channing
© April 2004