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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
So-so; waste of a great premise!, December 21, 2001
This review is from: After the Kiss (Paperback)
I was going to write a lengthy review explaining all the ways in which this book, in its plot and execution, fell short of my expectations and desires, but I see that the reader from Bethesda who wrote the review of 16 March has done all that, very well indeed. Great review, and very accurate in its detailing of this book's shortcomings! There are other grating inaccuracies and impossibilities which also irritated me: for instance, Marcus travelling with his twin nieces without a maid or governess in sight?! No way. Absolutely would that not have happened. These are daughters of a duke. They would be protected and chaperoned at every turn. Marcus may have been a relative, but he was still a man; he would not have been alone with them. And then later in the book, Marcus sends someone to ride from Kent to London, to see his solicitor and a vicar and arrange for a special licence and dispensation to be married after dark, then visit Eliza's friends and get them to Kent for the wedding. All in the same 24-hour period! No chance; that's a complete impossibility. Sure, a rider on a speedy horse could get to London within a day, but do all this and get back again??? And, if I'm not mistaken, a special licence could only be obtained *in person* from the man about to be married, and only from a bishop. I do find it irritating when writers clearly haven't bothered to do the most basic research. Johnston doesn't take care with her language, either: her characters are supposed to be English, and English aristocracy at that, and yet a lot of the time they talk like Americans. Simply omitting contractions doesn't cut it, Ms Johnston. For instance, no young lady of the aristocracy - or even any English person - would talk about 'fixing' hair. One 'arranges', or - for that period and class - 'dresses' hair. That's just one example of several irritating Americanisms which leapt out at me. And Ms Johnston or her editor really needed to pay a little more attention to grammar, especially punctuation. Some of this wouldn't have mattered so much - as with the inaccuracies in Edith Layton's early books - if at any time the characters had engaged my emotions. They did not, in any way. I found them flat and one-dimensional. And when I think of what someone like Mary Balogh or Mary Jo Putney could have done with a premise like this, I feel bitterly disappointed. This premise, in the hands of a Balogh or a Kelly, would have been a tear-jerker. Johnston's book has simply left me bored.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, but..., March 16, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: After the Kiss (Paperback)
this book uses plot tricks that are completely ahistorical. I picked it up intrigued by the plot. I found the interaction between the hero and heroine interesting, but not completely compelling. Why? The heroine was in love with another man, whose reluctance to marry her is not well-explained (except very briefly and never to the heroine). The hero's own secrets are also very murky. While I like finding out about the past history of the main characters, I don't like having to drag through the text (not in a romance anyway). And I found all three secrets - why the heroine's parents were estranged from her grandfather, why the heroine's love refused to marry her, and why the hero was so against marriage - all less than compelling. Perhaps the reasons were weak, perhaps they were not well-explained, perhaps both. Finally, while the heroine might be involved in the family scandal, I doubt that a mere disinheritance of the old earl (assuming that such an action was within his power) would cause such a scandal to reverbrate down the years. Society was full of bigger scandals. Perhaps it is Eliza's subsequent behavior that creates the scandal; certainly her being compromised by Marcus does. I had real problems with the plot, with character development, and with the ahistorical elements. The plot elements I had some problems with I have mentioned earlier. The characters I found most compelling and realistic were oddly Julian (the heroine's first love and her cousin) and Lady Lavinia (her aunt). The two girls were pretty but extraneous, and they took too much attention away from the hero and heroine. Through the first half, I was not sure what kind of book I was reading - a romance between Marcus and Eliza, a romance between Julian and Eliza, a study of the relationship between Marcus and the rest of his family, or something else. Uncertainty is good, but too much of it is not so great in a romance where certain elements are expected. What I liked - the relationship developing between Marcus and Eliza, the realization that Julian and Eliza are wrong for each other (without Julian being a nasty person) and Eliza's own recognition of this only too late. I also like the way Eliza struggles to bring Marcus back to his family, although I found both her behavior and that of Marcus rather off-putting at one point. Some historical problems - firstly, the grandfather of the heroine is firstly called Earl of Sheringham and then called Earl of Ravenswood (or some such thing). The author needs to be consistent here. I assume it is the latter title. There are other problems, which show the author's complete unfamiliarity with Regency England. A peer cannot disinherit his heir; Eliza's father would have been earl and she would have been Lady Elizabeth Sheringham if her father had outlived his father. [I assume this to be the case]. If a peer disappears and no body is located (or even an ordinary man disappears), some years' wait is required before the man is declared dead. Marcus could not have become Duke, succeeding his brother immediately. Did anyone else find the two ducal titles to be similar? BTW Julian, the heroine's first love and her cousin never actually marries her but dies at Waterloo. Eliza is therefore ruined, having been caught in a compromising position with Marcus, and not being married. [See review dated April 27, 2000].
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not all that bad if you forget the details, March 3, 2002
This review is from: After the Kiss (Paperback)
The story, once you get over the errors and the inaccuracies, is not all that bad. I found the relationship between Julian and Eliza touching and their friendship very real and down to earth. The first part of the book is quite enchanting. The relationship between Eliza and Marcus is odd to say the least. Why would a person who is so badly scarred emotionally and physically force a woman to marry him? Why resist her so much if he wants her that badly? Why does she agree to it all? What is the secret she is hiding? There are many things wrong with this book, but it does compel you to finish it! Despite the inaccuracies that will frustrate and irritate you... You still find yourself turning page after page, so... there must be something in it to merit a good rating!!
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