Chelynne [Hardcover]

Robyn Carr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1980

372 page novel by Robyn Carr published in 1980 historic romance complete with nobility and horses. it touches every subject you could want to read about.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown; 1st edition (1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316129712
• ISBN-13: 978-0316129718
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,754,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robyn Carr is the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author of many novels, including The Virgin River Series

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book !! Great Story, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chelynne (Hardcover)

This was a wonderful book !!! Highly Recommended- 5+ ***** One of my all time favorites !!!! I loved Chelynne and Chad. They were great characters !! Great storyline, writing and character development. A Brief Synopsis: Chad's father, Earl of Bryant is old and in failing health. He wants to secure the future earldom and inadvertently 'forces' Chad to marry Cheylnne, who's consenting family consists of a loving Uncle, an Overbearing Aunt and Devious cousin. There are circumstances, misunderstandings, past hurts and fears which causes Chad to feel pressured and resentful of his marriage so he does all he can to prevent himself from happiness, love and getting close to Chelynne, including avoiding 'consumation' of the marriage... which frustrates her to no end !!! You laugh, you cry... It has everything you want in a romance novel........ There are misunderstandings and bittersweet moments, alot of interesting characters and plot twists.... There is even Another Woman who still pursues Chad even tho he is wed ! .... She is his former mistress whom Chelynne suspects still is his lover.... I couldn't put it down the first time I read it and I have read this book many times over. It's definitely worth reading again and again!

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Long ago (1977) and far away from Virgin River, Robyn Carr did Restoration England HRs. Who knew?, October 2, 2011

By 

Old Latin teacher (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chelynne (Kindle Edition)

If you rate this book by how many words you get to read for the $1.99 paid out, this is a tremendous bargain. But if you factor in the time you spent reading that you'll never get back again, well, you have to ask "Is this book worth it?" I'd say 'no'.

Much before Robyn Carr was writing her very popular contemporary romance series such as Virgin River and Shelter Mountain, she was fascinated by the Restoration period in England and decided to write her first book with that setting. I definitely can admire that very young Robyn Carr (26 at the time), with two babies (1 and 3 years of age), who wrote this book at the table and had to clear off her typewriter at dinner time so her young family could eat together, but, honestly, sometimes an author's very early work should not be resurrected on Kindle. Sometimes these books are no longer in publication for a reason.

At that time Carr was inspired by Kathleen Winsor's FOREVER AMBER and Anya Seton's body of work. Unfortunately, she seems to have been inspired to compete in novel length, in addition to time frame, and this novel is much too long and wordy. To be fair, I have to say that the book has some good moments. If I hadn't already read so many historicals about the Restoration, I'd have found some bits of interest here. And she made her Charles II dissolute (as he was) but also very charismatic (which he also was).

Sadly, Charles II was my favorite character in the book, followed by hero Chadwick's friend John and by heroine Chelynne's uncle and these were all secondaries. The hero and heroine were not to my liking. Well, I'll cut some slack for the 16-year-old heroine. She's maybe too young to expect wise and mature actions from her. The hero, however, is 33. He gets no passes from me. There are no excuses for his actions.

OK, let's ignore the "ick" factor of a 33-year-old man marrying a 16-year-old girl. This was the 1600s and it happened frequently enough. We have to put aside our 21st-century sensibilities in that regard. But what I can't ignore is the hero's behaviour towards the heroine. Yes, this was a marriage of convenience he agreed to because of some actions on his father's part, but that does not justify his coldness, uncaring indifference, and even emotionally cruel treatment of Chelynne. He even refuses to consummate the marriage, leaving her feeling completely rejected.

Hero Chadwick's rationale for this is that he's not really over the loss of his first wife, with whom he had a son who is now 7 years old (or thereabouts). Now, this first marriage plays a big part in this story, because written registry of it is seemingly missing and his son's legitimacy is in question. BTW, I forgot to mention that poor little Chelynne has no idea of any of this (first marriage and son) because Chad leaves her in the dark about everything.

Enter villainess other woman (Chad's former lover) to fill in the voids in information left by Chad with lots of misinformation and to make Chelynne's life even more miserable. Evil Other Woman also connives with Chelynne's Evil Cousin to cause other problems, one among them being the puzzle of Chelynne's true parentage. This whole book is one big Lack of Communication, Big Misunderstandings and TSTL behaviour. That's probably par for the course in a 1977 HR but I didn't need to read it in 2011.

If you want some good Restoration England historicals to read, try Karleen Koen's Dark Angels: A Novel, Judith James' Libertine's Kiss (Hqn) and The King's Courtesan (Hqn), or Jude Morgan's The King's Touch.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carr Can't Go Wrong, October 7, 2011

By 

Piper - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chelynne (Kindle Edition)

I've read a handful of Robyn Carr's books and every time, I fall in love with her characters. CHELYNNE is no exception. The setting, plot, characters, and writing style keep me reading until the last page. I only wish there was more.