Customer Reviews

An Affair to Remember (Talisman Ring)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I should have realized when I read "The Seduction of Sara" (my first Hawkins book) that I was being drawn into yet another of these family series where you feel compelled to read all the books just because! The fact that she had 5 brothers should have tipped me off. While I enjoyed "Sara", I found some of the secondary characters more interesting than Nick and Sara - primarily St John family head Marcus (whose story will likely be last as he seems to be the most interesting of them all). And I was very happy to find that overbearing half brother Anthony's story would match him with his nemesis, Sara's unconventional best friend Anna Thraxton. I was not disappointed - I liked it better than "Sara".

Anthony Elliot, Earl of Greyley has "inherited" custody of the five unruly and mischievous children of one of his Elliot cousins. As head of the Elliot family, he takes all of his responsibilities seriously and they're no different. But dealing with them is more than he bargained for and several governesses later, things are out of control - a state of affairs Greyley cannot abide. And so in desperation he seeks out Anna Thraxton who has the reputation of being the best governess in London. If only there were some other alternative since he and Thraxton cannot stand one another. He finds her impertinent, disrespectful, opinionated, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he needs her!

Anna Thraxton was not always a governess and she misses her life in society very much - the clothes, the balls, her best friend Sara. But she and grandfather must eat, and so she must work. When Greyley approaches Anna about working for him, she initially refuses. She's always found him overbearing, heavy handed, arrogant, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he's offering to pay her more money than she could make in a year for three month's work!

And so, Anna and grandfather move into Greyley House where Anna begins to bring order to the nursery - and disorder to Greyley's peace of mind. Their often heated disagreements somehow end as passionate kisses. He's helplessly attracted to her eventhough he has agreed to marry another. And Anna is just as hopelessly drawn to him, but knows there is nothing but heartache down that road for he's an earl and she's a mere governess - and certainly no man's mistress! So it may just take the mischievous children, together with Anna's equally naughty grandfather to bring this situation to the end they choose - whether Anthony and Anna like it or not!

A really fun and recommended read.

I read this book after reading a review on here by one of my fellow reviewers and it had the elements that I look for you know the Hero that "thinks" he wants a certain type of female, the "Heroine" that does not fit this "type" that the Hero is looking for, the attraction between the two despite these obstacles, mischievous children and meddling elders.

I really enjoyed this book. So why not give it the 5 stars.. hmmm well I think that when you give a book 5 stars it should have no holes or inconsistency between characters, the book should grab you from go and hold you enthralled the ENTIRE time.. like one that you would pull a all nighter for. This wasn't that sort of tale. It might well have been had I read the "The Seduction of Sara" first which is the book before this one. I have since picked that one up to read. There is a lot of emphasis on the bad element of the "Ellliot" name so I'm thinking (and hoping) that reading the 1st book will explain that whole premise because if not, there lies the first hole in this tale. The Heroine does a really good job at thwarting the Hero's seduction which I really liked and the Hero does have ample enough time to struggle with the attraction that he can not understand.

I have to say that the little conversations at the beginning of each chapter reminded me a lot of Julia Quinn's style, kind of like the little blurbs by Miss Whistledown. All in all I think most will enjoy this book it was funny, sexy and entertaining.

Respectfully Reviewed

I bought the other books in the St John Men series after reading "Seducing Sara". I was REALLY looking forward to this book, when Anna and Anthony get together. I thought the banter between them was good and I enjoyed the story right up until he decides Anna would make a good mistress. Say what? It turns out he's already proposed to another woman. Now a big deal is made about his "honor" and how he can't go back and drop this other woman for Anna, because that would be dishonorable. Of course seducing Anna and proposing that she be his mistress is OK. HUH? Anna is a gently born lady of society that's fallen on hard times and has to be a governess to make her way in the world. She's already been attacked and insulted in her former positions, so you'd think she'd be so insulted by Anthony that she'd leave (or tell her grandfather, who's staying with her). No, she stays for the kids and to help out Anthony's fiance (please!). Very dissapointing. I expected better. It doesn't help that Anthony is so clueless about why Anna is so upset. He constantly is plotting to get her in his bed and set up before he even gets married. I wish just once the heroine would have some backbone and walk away BEFORE she has sex with him!

To be honest, there hasn't been many quality historical romance books on the market for a long time. Ms. Lauren's cynster series has dragged on and on, and has become rather cliche and formulated indeed. Ms. Dodd's governess series drags on with the same spy and governess plot, although the last "My favourite Bride", hadn't been too bad. Ms. Garwood is still trying her hand out at writing contemparies and I'm still eagerly awaiting her next historical romance on highland lords and such, where her talent really lies. And Ms. Ennoch has seem to lost the witty and enthralling talent at writing since "Reforming a Rake", or perhaps it is the plot. "An Affair to Remember" however,is indeed something to be remembered. This is the best quality book on the market since Julia Quinn's last book! (And i have very high expectations for "Further Observations of Lady Whistledown") If one is a historical romance fan, one simply MUST read this latest from Karen Hawkins. It is even better then "The seduction of Sara" and one has high expectations indeed on Ms. Hawkin's next book on Brand St John.

Hawkins has written an engaging, beautiful story...unlike the others, this one has intrigue and memorable characters, not sappy ones. I loved Anna and Anthony such personalities! However Anna's grandfather stole my heart...sweet and cunning old man. The children are cute, especially the youngest one and they had me laughing outloud!!! Didn't give the five stars because I wanted to see what happened with Richard, he never spoke, I wanted to see his grandmother exposed and thrown out on her ear, and I wanted to see what happened to the other couple???!!! The ending needed a little tweaking, that's all. All in all I loved it, this one is your best Julia! Keep it up!!!

This book was great! I really loved it. I wanted to give it 5 stars, and if it hadn't lagged in the first 1/3 of the story, it
would have been. I guess I was anxious to get past the introduction of characters & on to the plot.

I don't generally enjoy romances with children in them, unless the
children truly add to the story, and in this book, they were a huge & important part of it. The first part of the book, I just wanted to slap Desford, the oldest. I really detested that kid.
But as the 2nd part of the book progressed, I found myself starting to warm to him.

Some of my favorite characters were Anna's grandpa - how he fancied himself the owner of Anthony's library; Selena & her
memorable scene at the pond (if you liked the croquet scene in
Married to the Viscount by Julia Quinn, you will love the pond
scene in this book!); Charlotte, how she changed from a simpleton into a very enlightened woman, thanks to Anna's assistance; and
Rupert, how he went from someone, living with minimal wealth, not a care in the world, to someone who found someone to care about, & how it changed him overnight, how he became a responsible person, just from his caring about her. Suddenly, his financial future did matter, as he wanted to provide adequately for his beloved.

As for the main characters, Anthony & Anna, they were wonderful.
It was nice to read a book where the lead male finds the lead
female's legs more interesting than her chest (though it was
well endowed), for a change.

The pond scene being my favorite scene, my next favorite had to
be the play the children put on at the end of the book. If not
for this play, the characters might have been forever held in limbo. It was embarrassing to many of the characters, but necessary to tie up the loose ends & finish the story.

I really wanted to give this 5 stars, if the first portion had had a bit more umph, I would have. So, my rating is 4 & 3/4 stars.

This book is set in 1816, but if it didn't say so, you wouldn't notice. The characters way of talking and their behavior is far too modern. Anna is supposed to be a governess, but a governess (even a very good one, and a former member of the ton) would never speak to her employer the way she did - scolding him like a child, embarrassing him in front of her charges. Awful. Not to mention that she simply let him kiss her whenever - and wherever - he pleased. If there was even a whisper of impropriety about a governess, she would loose her job and never be able to get another. But they kissed in public places and were discovered by the children or someone else almost every time, but it was just fine. And whenever they saw each other all they could think about was how gorgeous the other looked and what they wanted to do to him/her. Another thing that had me going crazy way that Anthony kept calling Anna 'Traxton'. Shouldn't he call her 'Miss Traxton'??? every time he thought about how he wanted to 'kiss Traxton', an image of two men kissing came into my mind and it was just awful :(
Well, there were a few nice scenes in the book, but not enough to gain this book more than two stars.

This is the second book by Karen Hawkins I've read this past year. I also picked up and read "The Seduction of Sara". I didn't care for that book too much. Although, I felt parts of the book were well written, I just never got into the characters or the story line and the title was nothing like the book so, disappointment simply grew after that. That book did briefly introduce you to Anna and Anthony and their initial dislike for one another. Guess it set the stage for this book. At the time I bought "An Affair To Remember", I didn't know it was a continuation of the St. John story line from "A Seduction of Sara". Fortunately....this second book worked out well by chance and I was happily surprised to find this story was much better, the characters more developed, the plot line funny, interesting and the ending was the perfect touch.

Karen Hawkins is a prime example of why I usually select two books from each author as it's possible one book works the other does not, or both books bomb or both books are amazing. Usually, one novel is not enough to gauge an authors ability to write and absorb the reader. I enjoyed this story from the very beginning.

Our hero Anthony Greyley is one tough, arrogant and demanding Earl. Although he is quite something to look at - he is difficult to deal with at times. Mind you, he had a tough childhood and was required to take over the family in his late teens and since then, pay off everyone's high debts, re-establish the family name, re-work their tenant and land owned properties and more. High responsibilities for one so young. He took it on and was successful but, the price was molding a man that became tough,, harsh and brash. All traits that aren't terrible but, also need some soft polishing to make him more appealing. Anthony has just about everything he wants in his life...including his plans to marry the perfect little English girl - Miss Charlotte - she is quiet, timid, docile and pretty. All the things an Earl should have in a wife. Or so he thought.

Enter our main lady. Anthony has known our heroine Anna Thraxton most of his life as she was one of his sister Sara's best friends. He didn't care for Anna as she was nothing like most of the noble girls of high society. She was very tall, had a dominant nose, vibrant red hair, spoke her mind and wasn't a simpering or silly miss. She was intelligent, keen and kind. Things Anthony found imposing and not appealing (or so he thought). Anna in turn felt Anthony was rude, intimidating, dark, stiff, stodgy and old fashioned and gruff (or so she thought). . So...they were off to a good start in their "deep" admiration of one another. Anna came from a well respected family in society but, due to hard financial times, she and her grandfather had to make their way on their one as more "common" people working for a living.

The story throws them together when Anthony is given full guardianship of his cousin's five young children. The children's grandmother is very difficult and wants custody of them as it would give her control of a gem mine (Anthony is unaware of this). Anthony won't turn away from his responsibility to the children. Anthony takes the children in for the right reasons - so, they have a home, a secure place to grow up, education and a future - they on the other hand make his life miserable as they don't want to be there. Anthony goes through dozens of governesses as they drive them all away. The children play tricks on everyone - Anthony, the governess, the butler, the housekeeper and more. Anthony has to find the right child rearing teacher to help him. Enter Anna...a governess with a sterling reputation for dealing with the most difficult children. She comes highly respected and at a cost. Anthony has to over-look his negative feelings toward her as she does him to come to agreement to come live with him and work on the children.

From there our tale takes twists and turns that are vastly interesting and amusing. While the attraction between Anthony (she calls him Greyley when irritated or challenged by him) and Anna (he calls her Thraxton when irritated or challenged by her) grows leaps and bounds, the gentle transformation of the children begin too. She learned early children are only difficult when they don't feel secure, loved and nurtured. Anna wins them over by spending time with them, finding out who they are and what they like, keeping them to simple schedules and giving back as good as they get when they play practical tricks on her. The scenes with the children are always good - there are five of them after all and each has their own style, character and interests. I really enjoyed how Anna met them trick for trick, sassy come back to sassy come back and she ruled the day with her tough, but loving ways.

Anthony constantly challenges Anna's methods of being a governess and is always asking for specific schedules, dates/times and how/why everything should be done instead of leaving the discipline of the children to a pro. He learns the hard way that she does know right from wrong - she not only changes the children but, him along the way. And all for the good. Plus...it's heart warming when we find Anthony spying from a distance on Anna and the children while they are at play or learning on the estate lawns...he can't stay away as he is becoming as captivated by her as the children are.

I liked that the relationship between Anthony and Anna grew as the book went on. Their attraction was more than just physical; they also cared about the other one and learned to like all the characteristics in the beginning they thought they didn't like. Plus...they helped to give the other some softer edges that might have been missing earlier. They had some scenes of kissing, hugging, light intimacy but, the author held off until the end to physically bring them together in full. In some books that might be a negative...it worked very well in this story.

The side characters of the children, Anna's grandpa Sir Phinneas, the grandmother to the children, one of Anthony's cousins, Rupert and Antonhy's intended bride Charlotte all play important side roles to this story. The group as a whole make the book balanced, deep and interesting. There are other plots going on beside the children and Anthony...there is also what to do with a fiancé' he no longer wants, a cousin who seems to like his governess, a grandmother destined to try and break up the children and finally...a loving but, sneaky grandpa who simply wants his granddaughter to find love. All fine side plots that work really well in this book.

If you were like me and didn't care for this author before, give this story another try. If you already like this author and book - good for you. I'm sure you agree it was vastly entertaining and a solid read. Four stars! I'm off now to look for other books and continue to give this author a try. Happy reading!

I adored every page of this book! Karen Hawkins has a real winner here. From the very first sentence, I was drawn into the story and the characters.

Greyley is marvelously arrogant and "growly" while Sara is a nearly perfect heroine--strong, determined, fiery, and witty. They sizzle every moment they are together. Secondary characters are generally well-drawn and engaging as well. The plot moves along swiftly, with Hawkins' writing keeping the reader's attention throughout. I was very slightly disappointed in the second and pivotal love scene, expecting it to be somehow "more," but by the end of that section, it no longer mattered. And even though I would have liked a bit more about this terrific couple in the epilogue, the story was utterly satisfying. The flaws are so minor as to hardly be worth mentioning. The romantic leads are engaging, the story entertaining, and the end result delightful.

"An Affair to Remember" is one of the best books I've read. I can't wait to pick up another Karen Hawkins' novel.

In 1816 England, James Putney's will assigns sole care of the deceased's five children to his cousin Anthony Elliot, the Earl of Greyley. Though Anthony despised his cousin, he takes the decision quite gracefully. However, James' mother makes a scene until her other son tells her to be quiet. Anthony figures the quintet may have been spawned by the devil and raised as hellions, but how hard can it be with the oldest being only eleven.

A few weeks later, Anthony is at the end of his rope and without a governess as none last very long. He considers buying property in America so he can ship his wards there though he worries about an international incident leading to a third war. Anthony hires Anna Thraxton as his latest governess. However, though she brings some order to the wards and even helps Anthony's reticent fiancee, Anna poses new problems for the beleaguered aristocrat. He wants her by his side permanently even if she meddles in everyone's life because she wants a happy ending for all.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER is an engaging Regency romance that readers will delight in due to the strong cast. The story line is amusing as Anthony finds love and rescue in the courageous Anna. The characters make the tale with the pranks of the children and the nastiness of their grandmother augmenting the romance. Sub-genre fans will want to read Karen Hawkins' next tale starring whichever St. John sibling gets stuck with "the ring".

Harriet Klausner