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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich and complex romance with memorable characters, October 11, 2006
For those of us who view Judith Ivory as one of the finest writers working in the romance genre, the release of "Angel in a Red Dress" is a very welcome return of one of our favorites. The book is a re-release of the hard-to-find "Starlit Surrender", Judith Ivory/Judy Cuevas's first book which was published originally in 1988. Although Ivory's style has gotten more polished over the years, SS/AIARD is one of my favorites of her books with its rich, uncompromising characterizations and adventure-filled plot full of Scarlet Pimpernel-esque overtones.
Judith Ivory is one of the few romance writers who is able to create truly flawed characters and make them both engaging and wonderfully real. The hero and heroine of AIARD are far from perfect individuals, but they are some of the most memorable in the genre, IMO. The hero of the story is Adrien Hunt, the Earl of Kewischester, an arrogant half-French British peer with a well-deserved reputation as a libertine. Adrien is rich, intelligent, handsome and lethally charming. The heroine, Christina Pinn, is the lovely, somewhat spoiled daughter of a wealthy London barrister who comes to shelter at the earl's estate while she is in the process of getting a divorce from her stodgy baronet husband. The attraction between Adrien and Christina is immediate and palpable, with some of the most sensual scenes in the genre as Adrien attempts to charm the reluctant Christina into an affair. (The seduction scene in greenhouse is one of my all time favorites!) Adrien is certainly no "fake rake"--he has actual illegitimate children from some of his previous affairs and Christina finds this fact as disturbing as one might expect. Adrien is a consummate aristocrat--a man who is used to getting his own way in all things and he cannot understand why the proud Christina refuses to become his mistress. But unlike the usual romance heroine, common-born Christina is really tempted by the earl's title, social position, wealth and power as well as by his physical beauty. Christina's dilemma is that Adrien is everything that her bourgeois father has raised her to desire, but it is clear that the earl has no intention of marrying her.
Adrien is a complex, fascinating, very imperfect hero--selfish, high-handed, stunningly autocratic, but he is also intelligent, resourceful, non-judgemental, brave and protective of his friends. Christina is also refreshingly imperfect and three-dimensional as she struggles to maintain her dignity while carrying on an affair with a man that she is sure will eventually break her heart.
The story is set in England and France at the time of the French Revolution and the second half is jam-packed with action and adventure as Adrien (in Scarlet Pimpernel mode) tries to rescue imprisoned French aristocrats from the guillotine. But the main focus of the story is on Adrien and Christina and their complicated, passionate relationship as Adrien slowly comes to realize how much Christina means to him.
Judith Ivory's prose is (as always) exceptional and her characters wonderfully memorable. This is not a "Disney-style" historical romance with a storybook perfect hero and heroine, but readers who prefer a more angsty, emotional story are in for a treat.
Highly recommended--one of my favorite romances!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Story: unengaging, characters: unbearable, July 10, 2007
Compared to UNTIE MY HEART (2002), Judith Ivory elects to write about a novel more epic in scope with ANGEL IN A RED DRESS (2006) accompanied by a particularly strong historical backdrop: the French Revolution. The evolution in the strength of Judith Ivory's writing and prose shows, with a continued attention to setting the scene. She does it very smoothly as the mood and disposition of the characters and/or story impact the surroundings at a given moment in time (and vice-versa). For example, the hero Adrien impinging on a room's smell and accommodations.
Unfortunately for me however, I did not enjoy the story and found characters tough to swallow in this grand 458-page paperback spanning over nine months (discounting the prologue). This book would receive 1 star if not for Judith Ivory's markedly strong prose and writing. I thought the book flailed around impotently for more than 200 pages in the beginning, really not finding its drive until the second part. Then, once we reach the impetus of the novel by the end of the first part (Shadows in the Sun), it fizzles out for more than 2-3 chapters in the following second part (Shadows in the Shade).
The story is mostly about 35 year-old Adrien & 23 year-old Christina's "romance." The divorced Christina starts out as Adrien's mistress and finds herself unwittingly in the middle of Adrien's surreptitious operations. Adrien's secret operation involves rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine and smuggling them into England during the French Revolution. The first part takes place in England, the second in France, and finally the brief and torturous (literally) third part (Shadows in the Dark) ends in England. All in all, it wasn't fun nor engaging, and although I did enjoy the history Ivory deftly intermingles into the story, I found Adrien and Christina's characterizations often times unbearable. The characterization of notorious libertine Adrien Hunt is completely over-the-top, too fantastical, while the characterization of Christina Bower Pinn too subservient, lacking in self-respect. Yeah, I couldn't overcome the suspension-of-disbelief factor where Adrien was concerned, the entire notion of his character was ludicrous. Again, story & characters: bleh.
Like UNTIE MY HEART, the ending here was once again abrupt for a book not in a hurry at all! In fact, the ending in ANGEL IN A RED DRESS is worse than UNTIE MY HEART. The love scenes are sparse and light, the sensuality and passion not the strongest either if that's what you're looking for.
I didn't quite grasp the reasoning behind the title of this book, it isn't really about the heroine Christina. ANGEL IN A RED DRESS firmly belongs to its hero Adrien down to every word on every page. At one point, a besotted stable boy comforts the beautiful heroine Christina, calling her an angel while she publicly parades around as Adrien's mistress. I suppose that scene gives the book its title along with an emblematic red scarf. However, the larger-than-life character of Adrien Hunt overshadows and clouds the story and all other characters including his heroine Christina.
The story.
Christina Bower's self-made rich father is a rising barrister on the King's bench, and he longs for a title for his grandchildren. After a brief meeting with the notorious libertine the Earl of Kewischester Adrien Hunt, Christina weds Richard Pinn at her father's behest. Only to have Richard Pinn divorce her three years later for not producing an heir and the mounting evidence of Christina's sterility.
Thirty-five year-old Adrien Hunt, the Earl of Kewischester, thrives as a notorious libertine, and he's already fathered 5 bastard children. At one point in the novel, Christina's best friend Evie notes there isn't a woman within miles of the earl's Kewischester estate at Hampshire that doesn't know the earl intimately. In fact Christina's (married) best friend also admits sleeping with the earl a few years back! UNTIE MY HEART's hero had a harem too. Ivory certainly relishes on detailing her heroes' experience.
Ivory packs too many layers onto her hero Adrien. He's the scheming, cunning sailor, the pompous, powerful earl, the Madman, the licentious libertine, the brilliant botanist, the articulate French poet, the lucky leprechaun, the industrious, wealthy entrepreneur, the invincible survivor conquering certain death time and time again, the affectionate father, the outlandish, preening dandy and lord knows what other layer I'm missing. The end result? Too fantastic, too nonsensical, but that may be Ivory's intent, and the attraction for many historical romance heroines: layers upon layers upon layers of trophies added on to Adrien's characterization. After the first 3-4 layers, the next and the next and the next become so frivolous, so meaningless, it's quite preposterous. There's no way to relate to Adrien Hunt, no way to ground him, except from the eyes of his enamored heroine Christina.
Adrien is a regular energizer bunny, takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
The story continues on as the French authorities and the British prime minister are after this Madman rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine while the Madman (Adrien) juggles them all.
Overall, I found the book too girlish, Christina constantly in a state of swooning stupor around Adrien. Too many avid descriptions of the hero without really adding much: tall, dark, handsome, sensual, brooding, attractive, invincible, lucky, cunning, powerful, attractively arrogant, wealthy, affectionate, flexing muscles, yes, yes we get it what else is new?!
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Strange and disconcerting, September 30, 2006
What a weird story. Ivory has written a dark and strange novel...but what else is new. Her novels always center on dark characters and situations. This hero takes opium, has 5 illegitimate children (he flippantly tells the heroine that "they do seem to crop up now and then, in the natural course of things"), and never tells the heroine he loves her. Ugh. There's not much to like about him. The heroine, Christina, falls for Adrien, the hero, but it's a tortuous, unhappy journey. I always end up feeling so unsettled and frustrated by the end of Ivory's books. Nothing is solved, the hero and heroine don't really come to terms with their problems, and I don't like either of them much. I must remember not to buy her next novel. No matter how "intelligently" Ivory writes, her stories are just no fun to read.
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