Customer Reviews

Brash

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

 

 

Even though Brash is a short novella, it takes the reader on a believable journey of newfound love between a shy lady and a naval officer looking to begin a new life beyond the sea.

Lieutenant James Norris loses his best friend in a freakish accident on shore leave which has him reevaluating his life, James decides to settle down and begin a shipping business. He travels to Barrington Manor to ask the lovely Virginia Barrington to marry him. She is away from the estate with her parents but this proves to be fortuitous for not only James but Virginia's younger sister Stella.

Stella is a charming girl, she has been overly protected by her family because of a limp and she has missed out on many playtime activities as a child and even horseback riding. Stella has always had a tender spot for James, she's been secretly in love with him for years.

James is startled to realize Stella has matured and even more she has become an interesting selfless lady with an abundance of grace. He is genuine in his affection for her and in just a couple of days he realizes her heartache at being left behind for so long.

This is a darling of a romance, sweet and unaffected, much like the heroine whose longing for her hero has been kept under wraps so long that she just cannot contain her joy at being in his company. These leads are thoughtful, considerate and above all kind to each other.

I loved this beautiful story of a disabled young lady with dreams that came true. Allowed to be seen out of the shadow of her beautiful older sister, this sweet heroine is seen for the first time, as a truly lovely woman, by the man she has loved for a long time. Sweetly told!

VERY good story. I like strong females; she has a disability(limps) but doesn't let it stop her from persuing the man she loves! Thank goodness he sees beyond her infirmity. Very satisfying read.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Hero comes home emotionally scarred from war. Hero counts on marrying a bit of fluff from the past and instead finds smart, lovely and crippled sister of bit of fluff. Hero promptly falls in love with smart, lovely and crippled sister, CUE IN BIG MISUNDERSTANDING - while she thinks it's impossible for him to notice her with her sister around.

Come on, you all know how this one turns out.

I knew it even before I bought this. I'm a sucker for this storyline, and though it's been told ten thousand times before, a good narrative using this plot keeps me up until morning; otherwise, a familiar story with a boring narration is just not worth the time and effort. Unfortunately, for me this one is the latter kind. How to explain the falling in love in the course of a day? I mean, I get love at first sight, that instantaneous chemistry - but this? How much can you find out about a person in a day enough to fall madly, irrevocably, I-want-to-jump-your-bones-forever in love with him/her? In short, the way the story was told had no depth, at least not enough to really engage the reader. The love story was not believable.

So I'm left with the feeling that it was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am sort of love story where the writer is reduced to saying, so here's the part where the hero is damaged beyond repair, and then here's where he meets the heroine, and then here's where he finds here attractive and fun to be around... and then here's the part where he falls in love with her in course of 36 hours... Narration was not convincing. It was very rushed and not enjoyable at all.

There was nothing brash about Stella, the heroine actually, she only took advantage of James company while he visited but the whole time she was thinking he would never want her over her beautiful but shallow sister Virginia. It was because of this thought that she tried to stay away from him so as to not get hurt but I would have love to see her be brash! Nonetheless, is was a lovely read and I liked Stella and James together. And even though they only spend one day alone together, it was all James needed to realize that he wanted Stella - the intelligent woman who took interest in him and supported his ideas, not Virginia. I liked that they've known each other since childhoood but since Stella was frail in health she never participate in kids play so it was easy to see why he would have prefer Virginia but once he took notice of Stella - he went after her. The only real brash thing here was his proposal to Stella after being in her company for only a day or two but overall, I enjoyed this short novella and look forward to reading other works from this author.