15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Familiar items woven into a good read, July 2, 2010
This review is from: Barely a Lady (The Drake's Rakes series) (Mass Market Paperback)
I could make a list of ten things in this book that readers might say have been overdone (spies, check, the author's afterword says "blame it on Richard Sharpe"; amnesia, check; Waterloo, check; the big mis, check; etc.). However, Dreyer has built characters and a plot that held me to a solid read in which my interest never flagged from when it came in the mail yesterday evening until I went to bed waaaayyy too late. That's what a good author can do for the reader.
Not everyone will like it. Not one single person in the book is perfect (although one of the secondary characters comes close). Certainly the hero and heroine are not perfect, although the heroine is much-put-upon.
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27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Loathsome characters mar an otherwise well-written novel, July 6, 2010
This review is from: Barely a Lady (The Drake's Rakes series) (Mass Market Paperback)
Warning: This review is not spoiler free.
I was initially so excited about this one. The author was new to me and I haven't read a historical romance in a while. I had no expectations, though, but to be entertained. Unfortunately, the feeling that I was left with wasn't that pleasant one obtained upon finishing a satisfying read. Instead, I'm pissed at the characters and, to some extent, the author for giving me such an infuriating story. I actually didn't make it to the end by straight-forward reading. After a while, I had to skim the darn thing in order to avoid permanently throwing it down and make it to its end. It all started with Mimi.
Who's Mimi, you say? Why, she's the mysterious woman that the hero, Jack, is enamored with throughout the majority of the novel. Even while his feelings for Olivia (his ex-wife) are rekindled. You might not think this is such a big deal, but I had a difficult time choking down a romance where the most romantic feelings that the hero had were for someone other than heroine. In fact, so romantic were his feelings for Mimi that he was often repulsed by the heroine's nearness and/or touch. On top of this, he's constantly angry with Olivia and he has lingering feelings of doubt about her from their past. A past in which, as he learns slowly during his recovery from amnesia, includes him believing lies about her and subsequently throwing him out on her PREGNANT behind. Apparently they hadn't been married for long when this all happened. They were still in the honeymoon stage which, in my opinion, makes Jack even more loathsome. Overnight the love of your life goes from the sweetest girl in the world to a lying whore? And you take this for fact based all on one person's word? And you don't even have the guts to ask her about it? What a sorry excuse for a man.
Olivia's no better. Sure, she's wary of Jack and her love for him. She (rightfully) no longer trusts him. But as the story progresses she begins to make excuse after excuse for him, ultimately forgiving all of his heinous crimes against her and their (formerly unborn) child. Crimes that led her family to reject her and caused her to live life on the run away from her child while barely scraping by. She's not an unlikable woman altogether, but one can't even properly sympathize with her due to her silly acceptance of Jack.
I'm all for flawed characters - who wants a boringly perfect pair in a romance? But these people were utterly ridiculous. I have no problem with Dreyer's writing style, however, nor do I have anything against the secondary characters that will star in the next Drake's Rakes book. Just don't expect me to pick it up.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Actually more like 3.5 Stars, August 21, 2010
This review is from: Barely a Lady (The Drake's Rakes series) (Mass Market Paperback)
I gave the book 3.5 stars because I was too curious to put it down. I didn't even like the book towards the end, but still I read on! The character responses were patently unbelievable in places, and the plot line was very confusing at times, but still. You just had to keep reading to see what else would pop up! Yes, this book was a romance, but there was a good bit of mystery involved as well. Unfortunately, it was a poorly explained mystery, and there were a great many different ones throughout the book. When one question was answered, it left the reader with a feeling of 'huh? when did that happen? what's going on!?" rather than an "AHA! So THAT'S how they did it!"
****Spoilers Ahead*****
For instance, the reader was led to believe throughout the entire novel that the heroine's little boy had been poisoned and killed by the evil cousin. Even when reading the heroines point of view, it never even hinted that her son was alive. Imagine my surprise when she just blurts out that oh yes, he's alive and well. I could understand hiding his continued existence from all the heroines dialogue, but even in her thoughts?! She would even think about how sad she was that he had died, how she missed him so, how she couldn't bear to think of her poor little dead boy, etc,etc...This was all THINKING now, not her actual words. I might be mistaken, but generally, the reader gets the truth when seeing a scene through a main characters eyes. This is just one of the many examples of poor solved mysteries I mentioned above.
Also, to be honest, I found the hero and the heroine disgusting and unbelievable by turns. The hero, and I use the term loosely, threw his pregnant wife (the heroine) out the front door of his large home with nothing but the clothes on her back. This would be after he shoots and killed her beloved cousin out of misplaced jealousy. Oh, and did I mention he also believes her to be a gambling hooker? His cousin told him so (the evil one) and he believed him immediately.
Her family also throws her out (of course) and she spends 5 years trying to find work to feed her baby. She's all angry, until, of course, she gets one look at the hero's face. Then she forgives him. And when the hero gets amnesia (I merely rolled my eyes at this plot twist)and can't remember the last 5 years and thinks they're still married, she goes along with it, because 'it might kill him to be forced to remember'. Also, because she wants to spend time with him. Because she loves him so. Well he's certainly worthy of it! (not)
For the hero's part, he spent the last 5 years doing spy work for Britain. And before you think he's so noble, let me assure you, he found himself a new woman that he swore he loved, while his pregnant starving wife wandered around. He's injured and he keeps calling for his new woman, right in front of his ex-wife. In a moment of 'passion' he called out his mistress' name. The heroine merely shrugs it off as if it were nothing and continues to take care of him and be very concerned for his welfare. The author also tossed in some lurid sex scenes of the heroine remembering of how it 'was' with her husband, you know, before he threw her out.
Quite frankly, I thought the 'hero' was a shallow, stupid, worthless excuse for a man. The heroine was naive, stupid, and just so sweet and charming that she forgave her ex-husband without a pause and slept with him some more. I can't decide which part of the plot I find the most ridiculous, but I think it's the heroine's reaction to the hero. No actual woman would just forgive someone without a pause who had treated them so very very badly. The heroine's face was also cut badly towards the end of the novel and apparently left a large scar on her face. It was mentioned in one sentence, then never again. So this woman, who has so little self-respect that she lets such a poor excuse for man take complete advantage of her, has no worries about a huge scar on her face? Nothing? Not even a 'will he still find me attractive?" Sheesh.
*************
I know I just ripped the plot apart above, but all that being said, I really couldn't put it down. It was just so ludicrous, I had to know what victim-based notion the heroine was about to do, and what hateful thing the hero was going to say that the heroine would immediately forgive him for. Some of the mysteries were somewhat interesting, and I have read many worse old English romance novels than this one. The writing could be confusing, mis-leading, and vague, but it wasn't necessarily poor writing, just poor plot choices. I love romance novels and read then constantly, and I must say, I have never had such dis-like for the hero EVER. I've dis-liked other heroines in other stories more, but this hero really took the cake. I found myself hoping he would die about half-way through the book so maybe the heroine could try and find a little self-respect. In the end, I am unsure whether I recommend this book or not. Hence the 3.5 stars, instead of a high ranking. I read it through to the end very quickly, which I don't do with books I hate, but the characters were so un-likable that the fact that I read it so fast still surprises me. So as to if you should read it or not, I guess I say 'its up to you'.
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