Romancing the Novel
While I am an avid reader, I primarily stick to romances. I would say that my favorites are historical romances, but I love romance novels in every category.
I just haven't been able to find anything lately in the "romance" genre that hasn't been done before. I think I have read it all :) I seem to be looking for something new, and have been trying the mystery series that have been out. The only problem I am having, as much as I want to deny it, without the main focus on romance it just feels empty to me. This book, the hero, Sebastian, (as sooo many of my book boyfriends are named) was my perfect book boyfriend. Dark and tortured soul, due to war and the spurning of his true love, the actress and whore, Kat, his cold family etc...
I am not going into the plot as it is discussed in the many reviews here, but it was very well plotted out and had me guessing for quite a while into the book. It showed the seedier, grittier side of London like you don't see too often in historicals.
I will continue reading this series, there are things unanswered that I have a feeling are going to reveal themselves in later books, plus I think there will be romance! :)
1
 - Stacia Kane)
The only thing I hate about this book is that I am going to have to wait a year for the next one. From what I see, it will be at least 2 years before this story **maybe** concludes. Uggg
This book had a great start with an original idea for a story, about midway it fizzled into typical. But still, it was an entertaining read and I loved all the characters.
Loved this whole series, but this one was probably my favorite. The characters were all so well developed and the storyline was different and intriguing. Can I just say... I LOVED Finn!
The writing was wonderful,characters well fleshed out, the story different and unique. Milan has such wonderful talent and I am looking forward to the rest of the series. I just did not enjoy this as much as I was hoping to, it just felt too bleak and colorless to me as far as the emotions it pulled.
3 1/2 stars.. I would have given it a 4 but I am starting to detest this whole story being broken up into 3 books thing. I am frustrated that we were not told.. in this book... what Gideon's problems stemmed from. Yeah, we have a good idea, but it was all so unfinished. I do not believe I will be sucked into that whole book in 3 books ever again. I just do not consider this a series..I liked the story but after a while the h started seriously getting on my nerves. I know she is really messed up so that is supposed to excuse her, but after a while it got old and the story and their relationship just did not progress. So what we have in this story is 2 ( Well 3 if you count Eve's roommate) totally messed up people, who are strongly attracted to each other but are both unable to have a trusting loving relationship. I suppose we would see the relationship move along in the next book or by the 3rd.
I would give this a few more stars if I could! It was refreshingly different from anything I have read in a while. This book made me laugh, made me cry and everything in between. The characters in this story were just wonderfully fleshed out that there was no hesitation in getting involved in the story.
Sophia was in big trouble, her heinous father ( I mean he was truly evil!!) was searching for her after she fled his home. He had whipped her and almost killed her after she fought off the man he sent in to rape her to get her pregnant. With help from her trusted solicitor and a family friend, he gets a housekeeping job at Wil, Lord Devon's estate.
Wil becomes obsessed with her ( but in a good, loving, adorable way)and the things he does to protect her... sigh...
This one is going on my second read worthy shelf!
This little bit sums up Wil nicely:
Even now she could not muster much angst toward Lord Devon. She had experienced twenty-and-four kisses in her lifetime stolen by gentlemen, bohemians, even royalty from all the continental nations, men who could not kiss without trying to maul her. But number twenty-five — Wilhelm — had set her aside despite his obvious arousal. Rather chivalrous, in a way.
I just loved both the H and h of this book along with all the secondary characters. Maddie and Ash had a lot of explaining to do to each other, and while they had to go through much to get to the point where it was all cleared up, the attraction and love they felt for each other shone through the entire story. I truly did not know until the very end how they would be able to resolve everything.We also get to see some progress in the Prudence and Thomas saga and I hope that is concluded in the next book.
I loved the interactions between Ash and Thomas! The whole book was awesome and I want an Ash of my own.. please?
 - Kaki Warner)
I Listened to the audio version of this. The description was not quite accurate. Carrie never became pregnant, I wonder why it states that? There were actually 3 girls this book centered on. I did read that the author passed away before this book was finished, so perhaps it was not written as the author intended.
The book was quite long and a lot of depth was put into what it was like living in England during WWII. Specifically, what it was like to be in the ATS.
Carrie was meant to be the main character I think, but it was Nan's story that stole the show.
Carrie is engaged to be married and she did everything she could to avoid this wedding, including joining the army. She allowed her mother, fiance', and her fiance's mother to completely run her life. She had no backbone at all and even when she realized that she was in love with another (She meets up with Todd, her teenage crush in the last 1/4 of the book) she still does not end things. I wanted to slap her silly.
5 +++ stars for me! One of my favorite reads for the year. I was worried when the reviews started coming in that perhaps this book would not live up to my anticipation of it, like so many do, but OMG! It was everything I hoped it would be and more. There were some things that I know were not accurate as far as the time and place, issues with inheritances and the likes that had me scratching my head thinking "no, that isn't right.. how can that be??" Actually, I think it was more of Lord Drewe trying to do the right thing, but I truly don't care, the characters were so wonderful that I had no problem overlooking them.
Tessa Dare might not keep her historical facts right, but she sure does know how to build up the sexual tension between characters. Corporal Thorne, Samuel, Oh, he is truly swoon worthy ~sigh~ When he wound up in Spindle Cove, a year prior to the setting of this book, he walked into the saloon/tea room, heard someone singing like an angel and right there, his long hardened heart started to crack.
This book actually had me tearing up in a few spots, something that rarely happens to me. I even cried at the epilogue, well the part about B C ~sigh~
I am not going to get into the story because I just want to spew out spoilers, all my favorite parts. But for now, I am just going to savor this story in my head for a bit.
This series just keeps getting better and better! I really wish Elizabeth Hoyt could write faster :)
Wow... I don't even know what to say about this book. So many of my GR friends loved it, and I expected I would too. I can't say I hated it, or even that I was bored, there were just too many problems with this book to enjoy it.
First and a major turn off was the editing. I am in no way a literary snob.. NO WAY! I also love the whole idea of self publishing. But PLEASE someone point this author to an editor, hell, I will give her the name of my 7th grade English teacher. First off, did we really need to see the word fuck 364 times? blech.. I read a lot, and until this book, I don't think I have ever seen parenthesis used in a book. I'm sure there must have been instances, but in this book it was over the top and unnecessary. That topped with the run on sentences, incomplete sentences, the fact that the H, Max's lines were missing words as if he was a total illiterate hillbilly, yet he had a college scholarship and was built up that he was intelligent. The constant use of "then" was annoying. Then I did this.. then I did that ..then we .. all in one paragraph. Also the h, constantly saying, "Max-" or "Max!" or just "Max." They guy never let her finish her sentences.
I also liked the story itself, and finished it just to find out who killed Curtis. But there were too many contrived parts, too many things going on that were befuddling, too many things that just didn't serve a purpose or did not finish out. Such as her father and fiance'. what was the purpose of them showing up? What was the reason they offered Max huge amounts of money? I understand why the father did, but why did Niles? I am going to end this rant now or I will go on forever and possibly spoil it for others who will most likely enjoy this book. If I find out this authors other works are better edited, I may read them as she is quite a story teller. Just not enough of one to make it worth my time.
 - Kristen Ashley)
This one was the best one by far. The only thing I did not like was the descriptions of horrible abuse the h went through as a child. I did the audio version for this book. It helps me get my spring cleaning done. What I really LOVED about this audio book was that they had both a male and female narrator, Phil Gigante and Jane Brown. I wish all audio books did this, I would listen to a lot more audios!
