I freely admit that not every Meredith Duran book has been my cup of tea, but in the Rules for the Reckless series she has impressed me beyond words. I freely admit that not every Meredith Duran book has been my cup of tea, but in the Rules for the Reckless series she has impressed me beyond words. Literally. I find it difficult to write a proper review, when all I want to say is, “This book is great. Read it!” Our esteemed editor here at Romantic Historical Reviews, however, insists upon more, so I shall try my best. [Quite right – Ed.]
Liam Devaliant, fifth Earl of Lockwood, who has appeared as a secondary character in previous books, is every young lady's ideal – handsome, charming, honorable, and full of life. Except for one thing: he needs to marry for money. Fortunately for him, he falls in love with Anna,, a wealthy woman who holds the Scottish title Countess of Firth in her own right. In earlier books, Lockwood's four-year absence from England and his fraught relationship with Anna have been mentioned but not explained. Now, we find out what happened, and it is a heartbreaking, but ultimately uplifting, story of love, determination, and victory over one's demons. (Some characters from earlier books – Lord Lockwood's friends – make an appearance, but this book works quite well as a standalone. )
Four years earlier, Lockwood disappeared without a trace on his wedding night, leaving Anna so confused, angry, and embarrassed that she fled to her home on the Isle of Rawsey. One day she is shocked to learn from the newspapers that her husband had returned to London eight months earlier without a word to her. Barely containing her fury, she shows up at the Lockwood town house to find it full of a strange assortment of servants and a Lord Lockwood whom she barely recognizes. Lockwood is not best pleased to see her and thinks he can drive her away, but he has seriously miscalculated. Anna is staying, and she is determined to be a wife to Lockwood in every way, mainly because she wants a legitimate child to inherit her title.
Anna and Lockwood once had been madly in love with one another, although they never confessed it and pretended that theirs was a marriage of convenience. Anna struggles to understand what has happened to the happy, charming man she married. She had assumed that he was larking about, but slowly she comes to realize that something awful happened to him and that his only goal in life is to wreak revenge on the perpetrator. The identity of the villain is no secret to the reader; it is Lockwood's cousin and heir Stephen, who arranged to have Lockwood kidnapped and put on a convict ship to New South Wales so that Stephen could inherit upon Lockwood's “death.” I won't go into the details of what happened during Lockwood's four-year absence, other than to say that he suffered horribly and has returned with what we would now call PTSD. He is so traumatized and ashamed of what happened to him that he goes to great lengths to conceal the truth from Anna, until finally he confesses all and she can't believe him.
This is a beautiful, complex story of two damaged but lovely, and loving, people finding one another again, with some mystery and adventure along with a lovely story of devotion and courage. Meredith Duran is an outstanding writer, and she is at the top of her game here. As with many of her books, there is great angst, and it is sometimes difficult to read. A reader's perseverance will be rewarded though because, as I said at the beginning, “This book is great. Read it!”...more
Fabulous, as expected, in both the written and audio versions. Kate Reading narrates, and she is the perfect narrator for this author. I have said theFabulous, as expected, in both the written and audio versions. Kate Reading narrates, and she is the perfect narrator for this author. I have said the same thing about her performances of Loretta Chase's books, which are nothing like Sherry Thomas's, but that must be evidence of Reading's superlative skills.
This is the best of the series so far, and they simply MUST be read in order because in many ways each story is a continuation of the other -- and there are loads of twists and turns. In fact, before I listened to this one I took the time to listen again to the first two and I'm glad that I did.
I don't think that it's an exaggeration to say that this is another masterpiece from Sherry Thomas. I can't wait until the next one!...more
This book is brilliant. Heartbreakingly beautifully written. Everyone who loves serious historical romance should read it. I don't have time to composThis book is brilliant. Heartbreakingly beautifully written. Everyone who loves serious historical romance should read it. I don't have time to compose a proper review now; perhaps later. I must say, though, that never have I thought to read a steamy love scene riddled with feminist philosophy. Excerpts:
He made a guttural noise in his throat, low and approving. His thumb stroked over the thin wool of her gown, making promises to what was concealed. She felt his other hand at her back, setting her free of all the small tokens of decency, which great factories in the north pressed into buttons, clasps and hooks that women fastened dutifully, knowing their place, knowing their role. Covered, bound, laced, wrapped, bundled away from the world like objects to be kept on a shelf. Put away from this kind of honesty and the revelations it might bring. * * * Men’s buttons were not designed as armor. They wanted to be loosened. Up, up, up her fingers trailed, the buttons yielding eagerly.
I am breathless. Not to mention sleepless, as I had to stay up late to finish this amazing book. Sherry Thomas is simply a genius – twisting classic SI am breathless. Not to mention sleepless, as I had to stay up late to finish this amazing book. Sherry Thomas is simply a genius – twisting classic Sherlockian memes into complicated knots and then gradually untying them so that we’re left with a beautiful seamless ribbon of an adventure tinged with romance. A Conspiracy in Belgravia is most definitely going on my “playing chess not checkers” shelf.
This is the second Lady Sherlock book, and as we learned in the first, Miss Charlotte Holmes has set herself up as the supposed sister of an invalid brother, Sherlock, who is brilliant at solving baffling mysteries and who occasionally assists Inspector Treadles of Scotland Yard. Charlotte is estranged from her aristocratic parents and lives with Mrs. John Watson, the colorful widow of an Army officer. Together, they maintain the facade of an ailing Sherlock living at 221B Baker Street. Charlotte interviews the clients while ‘Sherlock’ listens from his bedchamber. Only a few people know that Sherlock does not exist, including Charlotte’s sister Livia, Inspector Treadles, and Lord Ingram Ashburton – Ash – Charlotte’s closest friend since childhood.
Shortly before our story begins, Charlotte had helped expose a triple murderer, and here I must offer a suggestion: read A Study In Scarlet Women first. While this book could be read as a standalone, I think that a reader’s understanding and enjoyment would be enhanced by reading them in order.
Charlotte receives a note requesting an appointment from a Mrs. Finch, but Charlotte immediately recognizes the notepaper and realizes that the letter comes from Lady Ingram Ashburton. The situation is rather tricky, as Ash and his wife are not a happy couple, living virtually separate lives under the same roof for the sake of propriety and their two young children. Moreover, Ash and Charlotte are secretly in love with one another, although they would never admit it or act upon it. Ash is too honorable, and Charlotte is too unromantic to think of love. There is a palpable undercurrent of attraction though.
Charlotte accepts Lady Ingram’s request, but to avoid being recognized by her, Mrs. Watson’s niece Penelope poses as Sherlock’s sister. It turns out that Lady Ingram is looking for help in locating a young man, Myron Finch, with whom she fell in love before marrying Ash. For financial and social reasons, they could not marry but they agreed to meet once a year at the Albert Memorial, not speaking or acknowledging one another but merely passing to see that each was still alive and well. This year, however, Mr. Finch did not appear, and Lady Ingram wants Holmes to locate him and discover the reason. Imagine Charlotte’s surprise when Penelope repeats this story to her, for Myron Finch is Charlotte’s illegitimate half-brother, a son her father had supported but kept a secret from his wife and daughters. (Charlotte knows about him because she and Livia routinely snooped in their father’s office when he was out of town.)
Charlotte is in for another surprise that day, when Ash’s older brother, Lord Bancroft Ashburton, pays her a call and proposes marriage. (For you Sherlockians, Bancroft is a Mycroft Holmes sort of character who holds a position in the government and can pull strings when needed.) Bancroft is the opposite of his brother Ash – cerebral, decidedly uncharismatic, and obsessively curious about everything and everyone. Charlotte agrees to consider his proposal, as it does present some advantages for her. Marriage to Bancroft would redeem her reputation in society, which was ruined when she ran away from home after being deliberately caught in flagrante with a married man. It would enable a reconciliation with her family and enable her to offer care for her mentally disabled sister Bernadette and to visit openly with Livia. However, she would be required to give up her Sherlock Holmes persona and distance herself from the socially unsuitable Mrs. Holmes. Bancroft offers her a consolation, though: “given that mental exertion gives you pleasure, I shall be happy to supply the necessary exercises. After all, I come across them on a regular basis.” With that, he gives her a dossier of six envelopes containing the details of unsolved mysteries. One of them involves breaking a virtually impossible cipher, but Charlotte is up to the job, which leads her and Ash to a London house where Inspector Treadles is investigating a murder.
Of course, I cannot resist saying that from there, the game is afoot. It is far too complicated to even begin to describe how this murder ties into the search for Myron Finch, but it does. In the incredibly skillful hands of Sherry Thomas though, the intricate plot works and everything falls into place at the end. Not only is the adventure marvelously structured, the characters are fascinating. Charlotte is logical and unromantic, and yet she hesitates to marry Bancroft given that she finds his brother more attractive. We feel great sympathy for Ash, trapped as he is in a miserable marriage to a deceitful woman who only married him for his money. Little sister Livia meets a mysterious young man who seems to like her despite her oddities and quirks. We also learn more about the tribulations of Inspector Treadles, a man happily married to an heiress but living on a detective’s income. He has women problems. His wife admits that she would like to run her father’s business, and the “magnificent boon to his career,” Sherlock Holmes, “turned out to be a woman with loose morals and no remorse.”
Once again, Thomas inserts little factoids from Conan Doyle’s Sherlock stories. Livia is finding her inner muse and begins writing her own mystery story about a massacre in Utah related to a religious cult. (Sherlockians will immediately recognize elements of A Study in Scarlet.) And the arch-criminal Moriarty makes his presence known.
I read this on my Kindle, making lots of notes and highlights and flipping back to read some passages again. It is not an effortless read, even for someone who loves complex mysteries. But the effort is well worth it. Sherry Thomas is superbly talented, and it shows in every page of this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
One more thing. Just when you think you have it all figured out – there is the last line of the book. Wow! I did not see that coming. Can’t wait for the next one....more
After reading The Captive, I wondered how Grace Burrowes could ever turn that story's torturer/villain into a hero in the next book. I should not have been concerned, however; she's done a pretty darn good job of it in The Traitor.
As too often seems to be the case lately, I don't have the time to write a full review, so I'll just marvel once again at what a superb storyteller Grace Burrowes is. The plot, the characters, the dialogue -- everything is just excellent. Having said that, however, I must add that I was not completely convinced by the idea that St. Clair did more good than harm during his time at the chateau. Despite St. Clair's suffering over his actions, I just could not get over the picture of him taking the knife to the imprisoned Mercia, among other things. Moreover, I thought that the denoument at Apsley House happened just a bit too easily. (view spoiler)[I mean, St. Clair enters a room full of men ready to kill him on the spot and leaves a few minutes later to their applause, led by Mercia himself. (hide spoiler)]
These reservations are not much more than quibbles, however. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to The Laird, which will download automatically to my Kindle on September 2, 2014. ...more
I chose this book, and the entire Captive Hearts trilogy as one of the Best of 2014 at Romantic Historical Reviews.
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WOW! I read this in less tI chose this book, and the entire Captive Hearts trilogy as one of the Best of 2014 at Romantic Historical Reviews.
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WOW! I read this in less that 24 hours. Could not put it down.
Grace Burrowes is at the top of her game in The Captive, the story of two traumatized souls helping one another heal. Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, was held captive and tortured by Napoleon's army, while Gillian, Lady Greendale, has endured eight years of marriage to an elderly, abusive husband, now mercifully dead. Gilly was a cousin of Christian's wife, Helene, but she and her infant son have died while Christian was in captivity. When the newly freed Christian returns to London, Gilly forces her way into his home to chide him for not attending to his eight-year-old daughter, Lucy, who lives on his country estate with a nurse and governess.
Gilly immediately realizes that Christian is in no condition to take responsibility for his daughter; he is a physical wreck, barely able to eat, and mentally confused. When Christian promises to go to his daughter only if Gilly accompanies him, Gilly feels that she has no choice. Besides, she is eager to leave behind the awful memories connected with her life on her late husband's estate.
Gilly is immediately likable. She is intelligent, compassionate, and supremely competent. The situation calls for a "managing female," and she is one, in the best sort of way. Christian is harder to get to know, which is understandable under the circumstances, but he quickly assumes the role of doting papa to Lucy, who has not spoken a word since her mother died. Gradually, we see his true self re-emerging and we learn about his mistreatment, both through his memories and from the things he tells Gilly. We learn more about Gilly, as well, and see that her marriage was more horrible than first thought.
As time passes, Gilly and Christian's fondness for one another ripens into love, but there are two stumbling blocks. Gilly is determined never to be under any man's control again, and Christian is obsessed with hunting down and killing his torturer (who conveniently happens to be half-English and living in London after receiving amnesty).
The Captive is certainly Burrowes' most serious book, and she handles the troubling events in Christian's and Gilly's lives with great compassion. Some sensitive readers may be put off by the descriptions of torture, but I thought they were not too graphic and in any event were a necessary element of the story. She puts us inside the heads of her protagonists, and nothing feels contrived, not even the secondary role played by Devlin St. Just, hero of her 2011 book The Soldier (Duke's Obsession, #2). He had encountered Christian in France and proves to be a stalwart friend when Christian needs one.
If I have one criticism, it is that the ending scenes feel a bit rushed, but that is really not a major fault. I have enjoyed almost all of Burrowes' books (and yes, I have read every one of them) and have no hesitation is recommending this to anyone who has not tried her. And I'm eagerly looking forward to the next chapter in this trilogy The Traitor, (view spoiler)[whose hero is one of the villains of this book. Turning a villain into a hero is a challenge; Lisa Kleypas did it most successfully in Devil in Winter, but I'm fairly confident that Grace Burrowes can pull it off. (hide spoiler)]...more
28 Feb 2021 I see that I have now read/listened to this book four times.
I suspect that this book is not as highly rated as other Sherry Thomas titles 28 Feb 2021 I see that I have now read/listened to this book four times.
I suspect that this book is not as highly rated as other Sherry Thomas titles because it is difficult and different from the ordinary histrom. But the writing is so beautiful; the characters are so interesting, and the story is so unusual that it is well worth the reader’s time.
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I chose this book as one of the Best of 2014.
Five lucky stars to this clever reworking of the gorgeous, perfect man marrying the impecunious, plain girl. And then falling in love....more
The sympathetic hero more than makes up for the annoying Quaker heroine.
The above was my snippy one-line review from three years ago. Since then, I'veThe sympathetic hero more than makes up for the annoying Quaker heroine.
The above was my snippy one-line review from three years ago. Since then, I've reread this book, and listened to the incomparable audiobook, and I declare that FFTS is one of the best historical romances ever. Laura Kinsale is in a class by herself....more
19 July 2013: Edited to add: I'm pleased to share that this is my debut review on the Romantic Historical Lovers blog. Wheeee! I've always wanted to h19 July 2013: Edited to add: I'm pleased to share that this is my debut review on the Romantic Historical Lovers blog. Wheeee! I've always wanted to have a debut!
Wealthy heiress Jane Fairfield is the laughing-stock of polite Cambridge society, and that’s just the way she likes it. She is counting the days until her younger sister reaches her majority, when Jane can liberate Emily from the tyranny of her guardian, their Uncle Titus. Until then, Jane will continue living in their uncle’s house doing everything she can to avoid the attentions of fortune-hunting suitors – draping her Junoesque figure in yards of lace and garish colors, talking too loudly, and oh-so-politely insulting people to their faces. (“What a lovely chandelier you have. I wager it would look almost new, if it had been dusted recently.”) Emily suffers from a mild convulsive disorder, and Jane is determined to protect her from the many self-proclaimed healers and downright quacks brought round by their ignorant, overly protective uncle.
Oliver Marshall (son of Hugo and Serena of The Governess Affair) is quite the opposite. After fighting back against the taunts and bullying of boys at Eton and Cambridge, the adult Oliver has cultivated an air of quiet competence and dignity. Oliver is the byblow of the now-deceased Duke of Clermont, who forced himself upon a governess and refused to assist her, but the current duke (Robert from The Duchess War) befriended Oliver at school and regards him fully as his brother.
While aspiring to a seat in the House of Commons, he is gradually making a name for himself in politics as an advocate of voting reform. He gingerly navigates his way between two worlds – the working class of his parents and the aristocracy of his biological father. Oliver is fiercely resolute and quite radical underneath his calm exterior.
Oliver didn’t know his place. He’d spent too many nights seething at the way of things, too long wanting to rise in power, not just so that he might wield it, but so that he might wrest it from the hands of those who abused it. They’d spent years trying to teach him his place; he’d learned through long, hard experience that the only way forward was to keep quiet until he grew so tall they could no longer shove him down.
The politically powerful Marquess of Bradenton holds a personal grudge against Jane Fairfield, and he recruits Oliver’s assistance in publicly taking her down a peg. Oliver doesn’t know Jane very well, but like everyone else he finds her rather ghastly. Oliver is tempted, as Bradenton has offered him political support that could significantly further Oliver’s aspirations. I love the clever way Milan describes the marquess – “like an old farmer, walking the perimeter of his property every day, testing the fences and peering suspiciously at his neighbors, making sure that his side and their side were clearly delineated.” Bradenton is evilly manipulative as he points out to Oliver that “in the end, we all know how this will work out. It’s one annoying girl against your entire future. Against the future of voting rights.”
Although Jane was born a lady, it was widely known that her mother’s husband was not her father. The mother had died when Jane was ten, and when she was thirteen, a man she had never heard of died and left her an immense fortune. Her legal father then abandoned Jane and Emily to molder in the country, with no governess, no companion, no playmates, and no education suitable to their station. Upon his death, they were forced upon Uncle Titus, who viewed Jane as “the product of her mother’s sin. She was argumentative, crude, unmannerly. She was, according to Titus, a poison in their household, one he only tolerated in the name of the duty he owed his dead brother.”
As Oliver becomes better acquainted with Jane, however, he finds that he rather likes her. Moreover, he sees her as someone like himself – tolerated but never really accepted by their supposed betters. Oliver begins to see through Jane’s charade, to see a woman who is lonely, who can barely breathe under the burden she has assumed.
"I see shoulders that dare not relax, muscles that dare not twitch, lips that dare not do anything but smile. You’re awash in choices, Miss Fairfield, but you know as well as I that the wrong one will bring your carefully husbanded awful reputation to naught."
Finally, Oliver half-guesses and Jane half-confesses the reasons for her pretense, and Oliver tells her of Bradenton’s plot. As they grow closer, an unwanted attraction develops, but both of them know that it can proceed no further. Oliver needs the kind of wife who can advance his political career, and Jane is certainly not that woman. And so they part, and later even after they meet again, admit their feelings, and act upon them, they still go their separate ways because Jane is not cut out to be the wife that Oliver wants.
Courtney Milan has written not just another wonderful romance novel; she has written a breathtaking novel. Full stop. While Jane and Oliver are pursuing their dreams, there are other, smaller but equally engaging, stories. There is Emily’s attraction to an Indian law student whom she meets when she sneaks out of the house for afternoon walks. There are vignettes of Oliver’s relationship with his father Hugo and his little sister Free, a suffragist who wants to go to Cambridge. (Her story will arrive in The Mistress Rebellion.) We again meet Oliver’s cousin Sebastian Malheur, a scientist who has become famous, and reviled in some quarters, for his papers on natural selection that support Mr. Darwin’s new theories, and his friend Violet Waterfield, the widowed Countess of Cambury. (Their story is coming up in The Countess Conspiracy.) There is a vivid picture of the great Hyde Park demonstration of May 1867, which was banned by the government but ultimately went forward because the crowds were so immense that the police and army did not dare to attack. There is even a kidnapping and forced elopement, which is so well done and so funny that I forgive the author for succumbing to the temptation to resort to such a tired old romance trope.
And finally, there is the truly heartbreaking story of Oliver’s elderly Aunt Freddy whose agoraphobia has kept her closed up in her tiny flat for years. She once told Oliver that
“Some people, when they’re hurt . . . they remember the challenge. They grab hold of the fire once, and when they’re burned, they make plans, trying to figure out how to hold live coals. That’s your mother. But some of us remember the pain.” She reached out and patted Oliver’s hand. “You’re like that. You remember the pain, and you flinch. When you were young, I thought you were like your mother—a regular coal-grabber. But no. Now I see more clearly.”
It isn’t a spoiler to reveal that she dies at the end of the book and that the truth about her life brought a tear to my eye. It is her passing that finally jolts Oliver out of his complacency. He realizes that Jane is not wrong for him; she is precisely right.
“I don’t need that quiet wife. I need you. Someone bold. Someone who won’t let me stand back from myself, and who will tell me in no uncertain terms when I’ve erred.” She didn’t know what to say. “I’ve needed you to shock me out of the biggest mistake of my life. To make me recognize my fears and to reach into the fire and grab hold of the coals.”
There are so many interwoven themes, such wry humor, and so much beautiful prose in this book that I found it difficult to select the bits to include in this review. In my opinion, though, this is Courtney Milan’s best book yet, and given her track record that alone is saying a lot....more
Wow! Just wow! Ten stars. A hundred and ten stars, even.
Courtney Milan never disappoints, and she is really on a roll with the Brothers Sinister serieWow! Just wow! Ten stars. A hundred and ten stars, even.
Courtney Milan never disappoints, and she is really on a roll with the Brothers Sinister series. The publisher's blurb sets up the story nicely: Sebastian is famous for his scientific theories on natural selection, and Violet is his childhood friend and helpmeet. Except, really she's the genius, and Sebastian is tired and a bit ashamed of fronting for her.
We often read of tortured heroes, but Violet is a tortured heroine, and your heart hurts for her when learning of her miserable marriage. Now, mercifully, she is a widow, but she considers herself unworthy and is completely unable to accept Sebastian's love for her. Sebastian, for all that he is portrayed as a rake, is almost too good to be true. I want to travel back in time and marry him myself.
As we've come to expect from Milan, their story is complex and layered, and no mere synopsis can do it justice. So, I just want to point out one feature. Midway through the book, Sebastian delivers one of the most breath-taking declarations of love that I've ever read. And because this is Courtney Milan, who never gives us what we expect, he does this without addressing her directly. In front of a crowd attending one of his lectures. Without uttering the word "love." The crowd thinks they've heard a scientific presentation, but she, and we, understand exactly what he meant.
Just read this magnificent book and marvel at the overwhelming talent of Courtney Milan.
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of romance novels that have brought me to tears. To that list I must add Reforming LFive ++++ stars!
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of romance novels that have brought me to tears. To that list I must add Reforming Lord Ragsdale.
John Staples, Marquess of Ragsdale, is an unrepentant rake. Not the handsome, charming, amiable kind of rake frequently found in romance novels. He's a drunkard who neglects his duties (although he is nice to his mother). He’s too lazy to hire a valet, or to replace the secretary he fired for stealing. He’s even too indolent to rid himself of his stupid mistress, whom he doesn't even like. His behavior is not like that of other romance heroes either. In one early scene, we find him waking up drunk, fully clothed, and filthy from his own vomit. It’s just another typical morning. Later, he visits his mistress and "attempting exercise far beyond his capacity," he leaves embarrassed and sulky.
He was disfigured by the loss of an eye while fighting in Ireland, which is also where he witnessed a mob murdering his father. He's wracked with guilt because he was unable to save him, and he hates the Irish with a passionate vengeance. When his American cousins, Robert and Sally Claridge, arrive for a visit, he immediately dislikes Sally’s indentured Irish servant Emma Costello, although he finds himself intrigued to learn that she has knowledge of Greek mythology and Shakespeare. When cousin Robert tries to put up Emma’s indenture as stakes in a card game, however, even Lord Ragsdale is horrified at the inhumanity of it. He rescues Emma by offering his two excellent horses in her place. Suddenly, he owns Emma’s indenture, and she pledges to repay him the two thousand pounds that the horses cost.
I said earlier that Lord Ragsdale was unrepentant, but in fact there is a part of him that knows he’s wasting his life. He wants to be better, but his indolence is too powerful. One night, in a drunken haze, he begs Emma to reform him, and she immediately sees her chance. She will reform this worthless man, and in so doing earn her release.
It turns out that Emma is an educated, talented, and ruthlessly strong woman whose life was ruined in the battle between England and Irish rebels. She dislikes the English no less than Lord Ragsdale abhors the Irish. Between them, however, a reluctant friendship develops, as she sets about organizing his finances, getting rid of the mistress, and stopping the out of control drinking. Emma encourages Lord Ragsdale to find a wife, and indeed he becomes the ideal fiancé for Miss Clarissa Partridge, a perfect little society chit of the sort he always expected to marry.
Eventually, Emma comes to trust Lord Ragsdale enough to share her past with him, and he goes out of his way to help her find out the fate of her lost family. Their friendship slowly turns to love, but they both know, without discussing it, that there is no future for them together. As the story enters its final pages, Lord Ragsdale is set to marry Clarissa, and Emma is leaving England, and the reader despairs of a happy ending. But fear not . . . .
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The plot is engaging, with plenty of humor as well as angst; the language sparkles. There's no sex -- just a couple of kisses -- but there's something better: real, unselfish love between two people who never expected to find it....more
Alys Weston is running from her past, and Reggie Davenport is fleeing his future. Fate brings them together on Reggie's Dorset estate, Strickland.
It'sAlys Weston is running from her past, and Reggie Davenport is fleeing his future. Fate brings them together on Reggie's Dorset estate, Strickland.
It's uncommon, to say the least, for a woman to be an estate steward, yet Alys has been able to pull off that job for four years, communicating with the absentee owner in writing. When Reggie's cousin, the new owner, gives the estate over to Reggie, Alys sees her idyll coming to an end. Yet, when Reggie arrives at Strickland, he proves to be surprisingly open-minded and impressed by Alys's success; he keeps her on as steward.
Reggie is a rake of the first order, but more than that, he's a drunkard who, at age thirty-seven, has begun to suffer blackouts. Even he has become convinced that his life is on a dangerous trajectory; a voice in his head keeps telling him, "This way of life is killing you." He believes that Strickland may be his salvation.
Alys and Reggie gradually become friends, and though they are attracted to one another, nothing more than a few kisses are exchanged. When fire destroys the steward's house, Alys and her three young wards move into the estate house, and Reggie begins to know the joys of a family for the first time in his life.
But Reggie's real problem is his drinking, and a great deal of this story revolves around his efforts to first get it under control and later to stop altogether. It's heartbreaking to watch him try and fail and try again.
Mary Jo Putney does an excellent job portraying the inner demons that plague Reggie. At the same time, she doesn't succumb to the temptation that some writers might feel to make Reggie's recovery all about his love for Alys. Reggie is getting sober for himself, not for someone else. And while Putney does lapse into a bit of AA one-day-at-a-time-speak occasionally, she is able to keep the story from sounding too modern.
There's an engaging cast of secondary characters and a couple of other romances. And I particularly enjoyed how Putney handled the epilogue: after Reggie and Alys marry, the other characters are shown reacting to the news, wrapping the whole story up quite nicely.
I picked out this book because of its high GR ratings, its having won the RITA in 1990, and its ranking in AAR's Top 100 romances of all time. All these accolades are well and truly deserved.
I don't know what else to say other than this is a really good book, and I highly recommend it....more
When my friend Moss puts an HR book on her "clutched-to-my-bosom" shelf, attention must be paid. And so, I enthusiastically turned to this inspired-byWhen my friend Moss puts an HR book on her "clutched-to-my-bosom" shelf, attention must be paid. And so, I enthusiastically turned to this inspired-by-Cyrano book, even though I had not before heard of the author.
Catherine Dunnan pines away at her Scots estate for her husband of one month Harry, who is fighting the wars in North America (the French and Indian War as it's called in the U.S.). Harry is a bounder in every way, and he cruelly ignores the heartfelt letters she constantly sends. Harry's commander Moncrief takes up Harry's offhand suggestion that he should respond to them, and thus begins a correspondence between the lonely bride and the even lonelier colonel, posing as Harry.
Fortunately for everyone, Harry is killed. Moncrief unexpectedly inherits a dukedom from his elder brother, and upon his return to Scotland pays a visit to the widow. He finds her near death from laudanum and saves her life. When the obsequious vicar suggests that Moncrief has compromised the lady, Moncrief impulsively marries her on the spot and carries her away to his fabulous castle, Balidonough. Will Catherine, still overwhelmed with grief for Harry, ever accept Moncrief as her husband? What will happen when she discovers -- and we know she will -- that Moncrief wrote all of the beautiful letters that she clings to?
What I Liked •Moncrief! Not a tortured hero, but certainly a sad one. As a third son, he never expected to inherit a dukedom, so he made the army his career. Although never close to his father or elder brother, he nevertheless regrets not having reconciled with them. He takes his new duties seriously and wants to improve the lives of his servants and tenants. He loves the Catherine he discovered in her letters, and he burns with desire for the Catherine he has married. (And, of course, like all the best HR heroes, he's tall, muscular, handsome, and blessed with a big beautiful wang. Prim, proper Catherine can't take her eyes off of him, and we begin to wish that this book came with full-color illustrations.)
•Catherine and Moncrief together. It takes a long time for the two of them to come together, but when they do -- wow! Have patience, because it's worth it. (And as Moss said, "I think if there's a nut to crack in HR, it's that you want to keep the squirrels apart and looking for it for as long as you can.")
•Surprise! About two-thirds into the book, we learn that there's a villain, and I was totally blindsided. Very well done, Ms. Ranney.
What I Didn't Like •There's nothing not to like, with one possible exception. Balidonough sounds like a fantastic place, but there was way more description of the rooms, hallways, keeps and secret passages than we need.
•The shrewish Juliana and the retiring Hortensia practically disappear, which was really too bad, as they added a touch of variety to the story.
•The ending was a bit abrupt, and I would have enjoyed learning a bit more about the fates of the secondary characters.
What Bugged Me The writing is excellent, but here's where I vent about those little things that good editors should catch:
•The author refers to Catherine's ever-present ache for Harry as a "succubus," which is a female demon believed to have sex with sleeping men. Huh? Perhaps she meant incubus?
•Moncrief is colonel of the Lowland Scots Fusiliers, yet Catherine recalls first seeing him in his Highlands Regimental uniform. Now I don't care about the difference, but those touchy Scots would run their claymores through anyone who confused the Highlands with the Lowlands.
This book, a Mary Balogh classic from 1991, is gripping, dark, and ultimately uplifting.
In the opening chapter, a man hires a young, sad looking womaThis book, a Mary Balogh classic from 1991, is gripping, dark, and ultimately uplifting.
In the opening chapter, a man hires a young, sad looking woman outside Covent Garden and proceeds to have swift and rather brutal sex with her, realizing only after it's too late that she is a virgin. Afterward, he is haunted by the memory and sends his secretary to track her down. Upon his master's order, the secretary hires her to be a governess to the master's five-year-old daughter. It's hard to know what to think of this man, who turns out to be Adam Kent, the Duke of Ridgeway. We gradually learn, however, that he is a kind, caring, morally decent man married uphappily to a woman who loathes him and cares not a whit for their daughter.
Fleur, our heroine, does not realize who her benefactor is until after she's ensconced at the duke's country estate. Her reaction to him is one of loathing and fear, but gradually she learns to trust him and eventually to love him.
The story is sweet but filled with obstacles -- not just romance-novelly frivolous obstacles -- but serious problems. The ultimate HEA is so touching that I found myself puddling up, which almost never happens to me when reading HR.
The sympathetic hero more than makes up for the annoying Quaker heroine.
The above was my snippy one-line review from three years ago. Since then, I'veThe sympathetic hero more than makes up for the annoying Quaker heroine.
The above was my snippy one-line review from three years ago. Since then, I've reread this book, and listened to the incomparable audiobook, and I declare that FFTS is one of the best historical romances ever. Laura Kinsale is in a class by herself....more
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