Customer Reviews

Brothers in Arms: Retreat From Love

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

 

 

Brett Haversham has finally returned to the country after being home for years from the war. Not without ghosts, Brett's biggest problem is the desire he feels not only for his best friend Freddy, but for Anne Goode, the woman who was supposed to marry a fellow officer prior to his death.

Freddy Thorne, now the Duke of Ashland, has treasured and wanted Brett and Anne for years. His craving and love for Anne was put on the back burner when she became involved with his older brother but he never stopped wanting her.

Anne Goode knows she should feel guilty about wanting two men. She knows she is wanton and she knows that her reputation could be in tatters but she can't help it. She has loved and desired both for so long she has no choice but to follow her heart.

Samantha Kane's Retreat from Love explores how guilt will influence lives in different ways. Brett's guilt eats at him because he is alive and the man Anne Goode loved is not. Anne's guilt for loving two men doesn't interfere as much as it worried her about Freddy and Brett's reputations. Freddy worries that he is simply not good enough. Both men are attracted to Anne but Freddy also wants Brett who seems to Retreat from Love.

Not her strongest Brothers in Arms installment, Retreat from Love seemed to drag at times. The plot was well thought out and interesting but fell short of holding my attention. I did not, however, skim the love scenes. Those babies were scorching hot and intimately tender. Slowing moving but sensuous, Retreat from Love adds another story to Ms. Kane's Brothers in Arms series. For that reason alone, I kept reading.

Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I really really enjoyed the story in this book, I found the building relationship between two men and one woman to be believable, angst ridden enough to satisfy me, but not whiny and I really enjoyed the characters and them trying to get through traumas caused by post war grief, lost friends and brothers and just trying to start living again.

I loved it, so why am I giving this book only three stars?

See, because author set this book in Regency England and that caused me to scratch my head more than once. Let's forget the language that in my opinion was too modern for Regency England in my view, but I coud be wrong about that. I also do not need small details that would point to specific time, as long as author gives me some significant events and maybe names, I will be fine with it.

But but the attitude that characters show about two men falling in love with each other truly boggles my mind.


POSSIBLE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW.

I mean thank goodness they are not showing it openly on the streets, but for all their angst neither Brett not Freddy ever seem to have any doubt about the fact that the second person whom they will be loving in their relationship is a man. It is 19 century, they are not afraid for somebody to learn about it and for them to be in prison or dead? It seems that once all other reasons for not falling in love with each other dissappear, they feel that loving each other is the most natural thing.

And I mean, it should be the most natural thing of course, but again, it is 19 century for crying out loud, the way characters think to me seems couple centuries ahead.

And Anne's mother, who was in a similar relationship too of course lol, and of course she is totally cool with it. Um, right, sorry not buying it.


If author would have given this book a fantasy settting, I would have enjoyed it so much more, I would have accepted it as is, but since she did not, I just feel that characters' mindset is way ahead of its time and place.

Brett Haversham returned from the war a broken man. He like many that served sustained injuries, but his scars were on his heart. As crazy as it sounded, he had fallen hopelessly in love with a woman he could never have. He thought many times the only thing that saved him was hearing letters written by a woman he had never met. Anne Goode had become his lifeline, but she would never know how much she meant to him. She had belonged to another, and as much as it killed his soul, he had to keep his distance. Anything else would be a betrayal he couldn't live with.

Freddy Thorne has finally come home after a long absence to take the title of Duke of Ashland that he was born into. He was waging a war within. He had grown up with Anne, and loved her madly, but he also had feelings for his good friend Brett. He had been making sure Brett received the care he needed to fully recover from all his injuries, but there was still one wrong that he took upon himself to be set right. Brett needed to be united with the woman he knew his friend loved - his love, Anne. Freddy took it upon himself to arrange for them to all be in the same location so his plans could begin to unfold.

This is the next installment in the Brothers in Arms series. It is a pretty good story with some very sensual moments. We finally get the story of Freddy and Brett. They have been key characters in this series, and their story needed to be told. While I enjoyed their story, it was an enormous letdown that all the other characters we have grown to love were conspicuously absent. One of the elements I really liked about this series was that in every book, we got to catch up on the lives and loves of our hero's and heroine's.

Romance, sex and a nice story...I liked it; I recommend the rest of the serie.

I really enjoyed this Brothers In Arms story. Very sweet and one that I have enjoyed reading again and again.