Customer Reviews

The Black Angel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the best historical romances I've read in years. Adriana and Tynan will dance through your head long after you put this book down. Barbara Samuel has done it again -- inhabited a story with characters who make you ache, make you smile, and make you long for the book to never end.

Adriana is a complex woman and described by her sister as "of a thousand faces." And each is an unveiling of strength, character and honor. Each is a confrontration with the double standard women continue to face. Tynan is equally well-drawn, a man who is heroic in every sense of the word, but who struggles with his own prejudices about the tarnished wife he has chosen. The reader can't help but ache for him and can't help but empathize with his difficult choices. The difficult politics of the era are hinted at and the author deftly paints a poignant picture between the haves and the have nots without ever intruding on the real point of the story, which is the unfolding relationship between Tynan and Adriana.

Whether you read this author as Barbara Samual or Ruth Wind, her books are sure to please.

This book proved to be a wonderful surprise and I look forward to reading to other books by Barbara Samuel - especially as some as so reasonable on Kindle.

Adriana is a complex and passionate character, shamed by the consequences of her youthful indiscretion on her family - especially on her brothers, who had to flee after a duel. She tries to hide behind ill-fitting, unflattering clothes, deflecting any attention.

Her family urgently need finances and her father (now deceased) arranges her marriage to the Irish Black Angel, Tynan Spenser, Earl of Glencove. His reputation is that of a handsome rake who needs access to society in London.

Adriana cannot understand why her father insisted on her rather than one of her sisters as a match for Tynan and fails to see how her scandalous past will help him in gaining access to society.
Tynan held Adriana's father in very high regard and honours his promise, despite his initial disappointment at the apparent dowdiness of his new bride.
Adriana is determined to do her duty, but wants to keep her distance emotionally, frightened to open herself to the possible turmoil that she has suffered in the past.

Their initial impressions of each other are wrong and the book is a voyage of discovery in their relationship. Adriana is a woman of many faces with great courage and passion. Tynan is a man of honour with a sense of purpose and the desire to achieve very unselfish goals. They balance each other and that realisation is the thread of the story, ultimately making it clear that Adriana's father made a perfect choice.

The backdrop to the story is also very interesting, touching on many social and political topics: the colonies and unfair treatment of those considered inferior, religious freedom, the station of women and the hypocrisy in so-called polite society.

The characters around Adriana and Tynan are very real and command attention - from her brothers and their adventures since feeling England to the plight of Tynan's twin brother.

The pace of the plot is fast with many twists and turns, suspense and drama, paralleled by the emotional drama of Adriana and Tynan right through to the last page.

This is my first time to read Barbara Samuel, but it certainly won't be the last. I would say that The Black Angel is probably the best historical romance of 1999. The writer's prose is clean, but lyrical, and this romance is about grown-ups. Nothing silly here. I especially enjoyed that her characters were flawed, that the romance was one of passion and longing, and that Ms. Samuel added secondary characters of deep feelings. Don't miss this book. It's a wonderful read that you will enjoy over and over again.

Highly recommended.

At 99 cents this novel delivers more than many $10.00 novels do. Interesting story, interesting characters. In many ways, the book could have been expanded to another level of literature--if the writer had included more history about the time and the politics of Ireland and the colonialist England, and refined the poetic elements of language and syntax, but then the romance would have been downplayed and the book wouldn't have easily fit into the romance genre anymore. By contextualizing the love relationship in the politics of the time period,the writer did seem to enhance the believability of the characters in a rewarding way. Took the traditional "boy meets girl, boy fights for girl, boy wins girl's heart in exchange for his own" from fluff and in-consequentiality to something meatier, something closer to literature. Well worth the money and time.

I like Ruth Wind and when I discovered that she and Barbara Samuels were one and the same, I went on a hunt for some of Ms Samuel's novels. This is the first one I found.

There was a lot to admire in this book - firstly, far from the virginal unknowing heroine, Adriana St Ives actually has sexual needs, which she once met. Sadly, because of the times in which she lived, this lead to her ruin. Her brothers felt honour bound to defend her, and then had to leave the country. And that is all in the back story!! So the scene is richly set.

Adriana is a complicated delightful heroine, and her final speach was quite wonderful: "I learned to fight like a boy, and my heart was too lusty... I am ashamed of my willfulness in taking a lover, and I am even more ashamed that I did not insist upond dueling Malvern myself. If I wanted to play the man on one level, then I needed to be a man on all levels.." An inspirational heroine!

However I have to agree with the reviewer who said that the hero's past was not as well drawn. We never know why he was called the Black Angel and indeed his London exploits which brought him the name are never illuminated. His difficulties and painfilled past are more Irish in origin - but then, why not call the book A Hundred Kisses (a plot device to get the sexual tension up) and leave the angel references out altogether...

Also, it was clear on one level that the book is setting up a series - so we will experience the love stories of Adriana's siblings. However in this book it left for a lot of loose threads. Matters of import were alluded to and never followed up. Sisters had important discussions and then seemed to forget about each other. One moment a sister's illness is so threatening that they all have to leave London at a pivotal moment to visit her, and then they just seem to forget about her.

I actually found it a strength that the romance included such diverse themes as racism, religion and feminism. I feel that it grounded the book, giving it a sense of reality and aliveness. And Ms Samuel's does write beautifully. However I was left with the sad feeling that it could have been so much better...

If there were nothing else in this book, Chapter 14 would be well worth the read. The author writes her sex scenes with a great deal of steamy passion, yet they are far from explicit. She has a gift for description that blossoms when describing all five senses in all aspects of this novel, and she applied that gift while staying away from anatomical descriptions of the sexual encounters of the main protagonists. Even though their love was yet to come, the sensual attraction needed some sort of outlet, and their joining was timely as well as lovely to read.

The stories interconnected well: the results of the duel between Julian and Malvern; Julian and Gabriel's adventures and heartaches during their self-directed exile; the interaction between Gabriel and Tynan and the patrons of a multiracial, intellectual, lower-class pub; Adriana's adventures dressed as a man (spoiler alert) including duelling(!); Tynan's secret from Adriana; the drama of Malvern's mother and the public shunning of Adriana. There was an appropriate level of dramatic tension utilized with Tynan and Adriana's trust issues, Julian's trial and how the satirical illustrations made his case worse, and especially in the (spoiler alert) near-rape scene. I like that the author has hidden the character of Cassandra in the wings for the next novel in the series.

Complaints: I found that the author overdid the point when she had Adriana continually insisting that her affair with Malvern was consensual and down to her own base nature. It seemed odd that Tynan was resentful when he found this out: what had he expected? He knew he was marrying a fallen woman! In addition, the ending of this book seemed abrupt, compared to the great drama in the book up until then.

I paid 99c for this book and it was worth more than that. I will definitely read more books by this author.

I have to say I wasn't a fan. I love many of her other books, but his... just didn't do it for me. I never really understood why the heroine acted the way she did. I also never understood why she never called the wicked mother out for herself being a whore considering she had a illegitimate son (my first thought was figure out how to make fliers of the wicked witch with her kinky ways). I assume we are going to find out who the girl who helped in the end was in later parts of this series. I thought it dragged. Besides her step brother I didn't particularly like any of the characters in the book.

"Black Angel" was a good book. I enjoyed it, but didnt love it. I found that I couldnt quite connect with the characters. I did enjoy Tynan..and Adriana wasnt awful, but I thought that they could have been a bit more fleshed out. I also felt that the ending was rushed..I wanted more. A worthwhile read, but not one that is a keeper for me.

An excellent book. My first quibble is I really did not like Riana the heroine very much-even her brothers tell her she isn't the kind of woman suited to Tynan and she has to grow and develop throughout the book to be worthy of him. She is emotionally dishonest and a real cow as well as coward at times. He change of heart happens a bit too suddenly in the last 20 pages or so of the book. Lots of loose ends were NOT tied up, a cheat for the reader, especially as there is not a series so far as I can see.

My main quibble is that it could have done with much better editing. There were absurd typos and grammatical mistakes which any editor with half a brain should have picked up on and it diminished the overall power of the author's work.

I also was not convinced by the details of what happened in Ireland and his Catholicism-it is not something that can be hidden that easily, and he was a bit too mercurial at times. The getting to know you part of the romance was excellent, but there seems very little to love about her at times, and even she accuses him of just being obsessed with her breasts, which you can hardly blame the guy for if she is always flashing them at him. Intense sensuality within he bounds of taste make this an excellent read despite the quibbles.

Sorry, but my disappointment in this book had to do with a poor definition of the hero. How did he get his reputation? I kept waiting to see the man behind the reputation--and all I saw was a strong heroine, with a weak hero. She showed more of a rakish personality than he did! Also didn't like all the tangents the story went on--feminism, racism, relgious freedom. One theme would have been plenty. Why did I give it 3 stars. Barbara Samuel's writing skills do shine thru!