Customer Reviews

Just Beyond Tomorrow (Brava Historical Romance)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

With the death in 1650 of James Leslie, the Duke of Glenkirk, his wife Jasmine leaves Scotland because she can no longer live at the family estate amidst the memories. Before leaving for England, Jasmine tells her son, the new duke Patrick, that he needs a wife and heirs. Reluctantly and feeling alone, Patrick agrees, but is not sure where to find an appropriate spouse especially since he has isolated himself at Glenkirk from the royal, parliamentary, and Cromwell problems gripping England and Scotland.

While hunting, Patrick notices run down Brae castle where the sole occupant Flanna Brodie shoots an arrow at him. He captures her and returns her to her father. He offers to buy Brae Castle, but instead her father offers Flanna in marriage as his price. Needing a bride and wanting the land, Patrick accepts and they wed that night. They make love and go back to Glenkirk to live. Over the next few weeks they begin to fall in love. However, Flanna needs to help Charles II regain the throne while Patrick believes that Leslies die when they help Stuarts. In spite of their love, can their relationship survive this deep schism?

JUST BEYOND TOMORROW is an exciting Skye's Legacy tale starring a son of DARLING JASMINE. Flanna is an intrepid heroine trapped between her love for her spouse and her loyalty to her king. Though there are character inconsistencies especially with the portrayal of Patrick, the story line is fun for fans of the series and seventeenth century Scottish tales as Bertrice Small's latest novel continues the legend.

Harriet Klausner

While I had a wonderful time revisiting familiar characters (Charles Stuart and the rest of the Leslie family) and places (Brae and Glenkirk), I felt this book was very flat overall. The characters of Flanna and Patrick were unlikeable and very "canned". The story seemed forced, and while it was enjoyable to continue on with Skye's legacy and Jasmine's family, I felt this book was fairly lackluster.

If you have already read the other books in this series, this one is worth it, simply to keep up with the goings-on. However, I wouldn't recommend this book to a first-time Betrice Small reader. It's much better to start out Skye O'Malley or Wild Jasmine.

I am hopeful that Ms. Small's next installment will pack more punch !

i did not know how to review this book. why? well i guess if you look at this book as a historical romance you may find it to be a good read-hence the 3 stars. on the other hand if you have read smalls previous works such as the kadin , and of course skye o'malley( the first book in the series) i feel you will be dissapointed - i would have given 1 or 2 stars. I read this book and then decided to go back and read skye o'malley. what a shock! if i didnt see the authors name on the cover i would honestly believe someone had taken over the these characters and wrote their own story. as i sat and was once again engrosed in the tale of skye and her wonderful adventures in a book filled with feeling,romance, passion and lots of details and exotic places that set the atmosphere of a older bertrice small book i began to wish that someone had taken over and written just beyond tomorrow. bottom line- if your a small fan i dont think this story will thrill you that much. if you have never read ms.small before you may enjoy it but i would suggest starting with skye O'malley as i feel this book and her other older ones are far superior.

The Do-Naught Duchess is right. Compared to Skye, Velvet, Jasmine, Janet, and Cat, Flanna is nothing. And unlike all the other books starring those heroines, JBT takes place entirely in Great Britan. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?! I was SHOCKED to find that Flanna (by the end of the book) has no idea what a harem is. For the love of God, this book really could've used a harem.

And Patrick, well, I can't believe he was named for the first and second Earls of Glenkirk. What men they were! This guy is a joke of a man, and while he and Flanna get together in a way that smacks of "A Love for All Time," at least Conn was an interesting man, witty and charming, with a scandalous reputation!

Skye O'Malley, I beg you, please rise from your grave and beat the snot out of your descendents. Please.

I was surprised by all the negative reviews this book has received. This is the first book by Beatrice Small that I read, and while I enjoyed it very much, I won't be reading the rest of the series. By what I have read in the reviews the other books are more about erotica than lifelong love and happy endings. Maybe my taste is a little shallow, but is what I prefer nonetheless.

I enjoy sensuality in my romance novels as much as the next person, but I also like happy endings, and I don't like it when characters I have come to care about die untimely. I also don't like it much when the heroines have several husbands and lovers. I want' to read about two individuals that meet, fall in love, work through their differences and find their happy ending.

I get attached to my heroes, and I can not imagine reading a romance novel where the hero dies and the heroine goes on to have other lovers or even worse, while married to the hero has other lovers. It seems to me that in this series only the women are important, the men can be replaced, and many of them die prematurely.

Also, I don't like to travel through various generations, because I don't like to see the characters of previous books get old and die. I know this is the reality of life (people do get old and die), but I don't like that much reality in my books. For example, in this book, if I had read Jasmine and James story before, only to see him die at the beginning of this book, it would have broken my heart.

Still, this book is very well written. I have read dozens of romance novels and I can appreciate quality when I see it. The story was fast paced and entertainning, the historical facts accurate and well mixed into the story, the love scenes are very sensual and the characters very likeable, specially Patrick, because Flanna is really foolish, naive and exasperating at times, with all her talk of patriotism and loyalty to the king.

I guess it's fortunate that I stumbled upon one of the few Beatrice Small books that I would be able to enjoy. I'm sure the others are very good too, as many readers say, but they are just not my cup of tea.

The only good things about this book was reading about what happened to our not-so-royal Charlie Stuart while he was helping the King of England return to the thrown (from the previous book about Autumn Leslie) and finally getting to read about Patrick Leslie, Jemmie's and Jasmine's first son.

I didn't like Flanna...couldn't warm up to her. Why? Cause more concerned about standing out as the Duchess of Glenkirk than getting to know Patrick. Flanna just didn't seem to have that much of a personality...oh yeah, she's outspoken and rough but come on,...she just didn't have the same sparkle as most of the female characters in the O'Malley/Leslie saga. I was very disappointed here. I found myself skipping the parts with Flanna to get to the parts that had more dialogue with Patrick and Charlie.

I do hope that Ms. Small will definitely write a book about Diane Leslie! With Jasmine making a cameo at the end of the book...THAT would be worth reading again! One last book with Jasmine in it...the last real link to Skye O'Malley!

I am a big Bertrice Small fan, but the quality of her books is slipping, particularly noticeable with this latest book. I found myself skimming over large hunks of text that were either descriptions of historical events or the inevitable and prolonged descriptions of what the characters ate or what they were wearing. Another annoying habit the author has is to have her characters tell other characters about events that have been described earlier in the book. So you read about the event and then you have to suffer through repeat descriptions of the same event as a character relays it to others. This, of course is not really necessary, and seems too much like a device to fill pages, as opposed to telling a story or developing relationships.

While this book did answer some questions, it was not as good as the others in the series. Jemmie Leslie must be rolling in his grave over how Patrick his heir is portrayed as somewhat of a whimp. If you have read all of the others in this great series read this one to keep the continuity going. Even though I did not enjoy this book as much as the others, it does not mean that someone else might find this book to be the best yet. Ms. Small is an AWESOME author, and I will continue to look forward to her next books!!

Once more into the breach, or at least back to the familiar places of Glenkirk and Queens Malvern. Patrick Leslie, the new Duke of Glenkirk must find a wife and the usual shenanagins that occur in a Bertrice Small happen again. The historical backdrop is the struggle for Charles II to regain his throne from Cromwells army. We are regaled with the usual willful females and stubborn males that we have come to expect, as well as the various feasts in which vast quantities of pink country ham, roasted capon and nut brown ale always figure so prominently. Many references are made to the illustrious females of the past; Janet Leslie, Cat, and naturally, Madame Skye. In fact, the reader is very well-informed that a book exists for everyone. There are no harem scenes, however in this one. This book is a good read, the sex as always is great. This novel is much better than her last one, "The Duchess", which I think is her worse book, next to a "Moment in Time. Otherwise, you can never go wrong with a Skye O'Malley book!...

This is not the worst Small novel (no...that would be The Innocent) nor is it the most boring (That would be The Duchess, another largely forgettable read) but it is bad and and it is boring...End it already. Flanna is an uninteresting heroine. Usually Small's charcters are larger than life, the most intelligent, most beautiful, most adventurous, they can ride, hunt, read and speak 7 languages, they are fabulously wealthy and independent, wilful, seductive...etc. Flanna is a flop. And Patrick Leslie is a fop. Nothing heroic about this mama's boy. There's no romantic plot--just tons of history. Its not even woven into the story but instead reads like a text book. I love historicals and this period of history, but after reading the prologue even I was rolling my eyes. Drier than toast. Small thinks pepperingt her story (every 30 pages or so) with sex between Flanna and Patrick makes up for the lack of plot or raomance...it does not. Worse yet, it is not even sexy or erotic. The scenes are mechanical and dull. It seemed for a while like she was going to copy a subplot form Love Wild and Fair but changed her mind. In fact the whole book reads likes a panopoly of vignettes from prior books whitout ever following through. Get some new material already! Moreover the book is contemporaneously tied to another novel, Intrigued (which is not intriguing at all). And the end of JBT leaves the reader hanging. Why? You guessed it, The story continues in Vixens (another lackluster attempt from Small). If you want to read some of Small's best, read The kadin and its sequel Love Wild and fair (which also tie into JBT); Betrayed is anoter great Scottish romance; Skye O'malley and All the Sweet Tomorrows are the best of the Skye series; Adora and beloved are two of her best early novels; and last but by no means least, if you crave something erotic, Helion is the hottest novel by Small so far. (And best of all, no harems!)