Customer Reviews

Desire

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you love to laugh, you'll love this book. I have read all of Amanda Quick's books and am anxiously awaiting her next. This one is definitely a favorite of mine and quite unique.

We begin with an illegitimate, landless, although still honorable knight. While quite the expert with his sword, he, unbeknownst to others, wishes to be a scholar. He loves to learn but has never discovered how to laugh. His father and liege lord recieves a recipe for a husband from our fair heroine, the Lady Clare. In her recipe, she requests a knight who is of medium size (Gareth is extremely large), of even temperment and good sense of humor (what's humor?), and intelligent (he CAN read). She wishes to choose between 3 or 4 knights, just not Sir Nicholas. The lord sends his son to compete with only one other, Sir Nicholas.

The fun really begins when you picture this great, masculine warrior in the midst of an island of flowers (Lady Clare makes perfumes and is quite talented). He is amazed to find that Clare is surprisingly cunning (he likens her to a lawyer) as she points out how he doesn't match her recipe. But since she has only a choice between Gareth and Sir Nicholas . . .

The laughs begin on the eve of her wedding when everyone, including a couple of nuns, her best friend, and her old nurse, question her virtue and supply her with what seems to be a gallon of chicken blood.

Through this and other hilarious episodes, Gareth learns about love and laughter. Clare learns that maybe bigger is better.

My only wish would have been to see Clare pregnant or ready to give birth before the end of the book. I love to see grown men (especially macho, grown men) get all panicky when the big moment arrives. A great read full of light-hearted romance.

As any avid Amanda Quick reader knows, she usually sticks to the London 'ton' for her settings, but in _Desire_ she uses the middle ages as her backdrop and it is glorious! As is evident in all her works, Ms. Quick has a talent for bringing an atmosphere to life and such is definitely the case with _Desire_. The setting for this story is a remote British isle known as 'Desire' -- a land rich in flowers which thrives on the perfume trade that results from cultivating those blossoms. Ms. Quick describes the panorama so wonderfully that you will feel as if you can smell the endless fragrances of the isle.

Not only is the scenery captivating, the characters are vibrant, lively and fascinating. Gareth is strong, brave and somber. When he arrives on the isle it is reputed that he never laughs. Clare is energetic, loyal and just exactly what Gareth needs to bring laughter into his life. Again, Ms. Quick delivers characters so well suited for each other that it is inevitable that they fall in love.

As is always the case with Ms. Quick's work, _Desire_ is full of humor. This is clearly apparent in the scene following the wedding night -- it is classic and oh-so-funny! It had me very nearly rolling on the floor!

Though not as prominent as in some of her stories, the mystery comes into play near the end and drives the book on to an exciting and touching finale. I was once again amazed by Ms. Quick's ability to snare a reader from the first and keep the story so exciting that it is impossible to stop reading.

All in all, _Desire_ is a delightful gem of a story full of love, laughter and heady aromas that will leave you wanting more. Possibly the only thing that could have made this book more enjoyable would have been a glimpse into the future of our couple.

If you're interested in seeing another book by Ms. Quick set in the middle ages, try _Mystique_. It is of the same high quality and showcases Ms. Quick's flare to adapt to any setting be it the ton or medieval times.

If I have things correct, this is one of the only two medievals that Amanda Quick has written and the more successful of the two. Again, you have to understand that historical authenticity is not what Quick is after. She creates an alternate Regency world (almost a costume romp) and here, an alternate medieval world.

The story is that of a landless knight who also is burdened by his illegitimacy. He is offered the chance to win the hand of a local heiress, whose estate consists of one small island. The heiress Clare is however slightly unusual in that she has developed the island's flower industry into production of perfumes, salves and other scented goods which are luxury items and highly profitable items.

The courtship of Clare by Gareth (the Hellhound of Wyckmere, as he is called) has its riotous moments, including the way in which Clare finally chooses her husband from among two suitors. There is also the notorious chicken blood scene (where the bride is given vials of chicken blood by her women friends and attendants to compensate for her apparently lost virginity). What follows is equally riotous - Clare scatters all the blood in a rage on the marriage bed, somewhat overdoing the illusion.

There is also a romantic young boy who wants to be a knight, and a love-struck minstrel afraid of his former master. And there is the inevitable treachery, the attack on the island, the deceptions and the ultimate triumph of true love and chivalry.

While the identity of a villain came as something of a surprise to me, I found the shift in tone from the middle of the book to the end somewhat jarring. The first two-thirds of the book were semi-farcical, a light-hearted romp. The last third was significantly darker, with the revelation of some pleasant secrets but also a few more unpleasant secrets. Also, the introduction of the themes of black magic and spells were somewhat jarring, given the emphasis on reason and rationality in the beginning and middle. [Reason and rationality were actually interpreted differently in the Middle Ages; most people would have believed in magic, black magic, spells and sorcery].

For these reasons, I give Desire a 3.5 instead of a higher grade. The book is a comfort read , but it is not an instant re-read for me. Nor did I spend my time puzzling over motives, the dynamics between the hero and the heroine (as I did for Hunter's THE PROTECTOR which also features an heiress forced to marry a landless knight). Those darker deeper threads which keep me awake a bit is what I look for in four and five star reads. Not that I don't appreciate a nice comfortable read such as SCANDAL, or any of Quick's earlier books.

Oh my word! This book was soooo boring and repetitive that it was painful to finish. No effort was given to the plot or characters, and every conversation was discussed four or five times. If I had to read the heroine's exclamations to Saint Hermione one more time..."By Saint Hermione's nose!" "By Saint Hermione's toes!" "By Saint Hermione's hair, elbow, teeth, eyes, maidenhead, sainted slipper, sainted brow, merciful heart, girdle, thumb, little toe...!" --She exclaimed this on almost every darn page. UGH!!!

I can't believe the same author who wrote this waste-of-time story also wrote the enchanting book RAVISHED and the fun book WITH THIS RING.

After reading some of her recent (very) idiotic books, I went back to the book that got me started on AQ. I swear, it does not compare. THIS is a wonderful story. But lately, all her books are THE SAME: Bluestocking/spinster obsessed with unfashionable stuff (metaphysics, ancient cultures, godawful precious stone, unsolved something or other, etc) hires man of affairs (I swear, if AQ uses that phrase ONE MORE TIME) and even though she has kept herself pure, she has sex with him at the first opportunity. Then, there will be a sex scene in some bizarre setting (cave, dusty museum, etc) and some run of the mill complication, but, aided by their nutball relatives/house staff/friends, the mystery is solved/treasure found/murder solved, etc, and there you have it. In the godforsaken case Ms. Quick reads this. Please please, stop assembly-line-ing your books. I have a computer program that does better, and I want a hero and heroine I have not met before, for god's sakes.

It could be such a good book but the hero and heroine are so infantile that it really annoying. There are endless dialoges about nothing and the whole setting is not believable. shame

This is by far one of Amanda Quick's best. Lady Clare is one of the most life-like characters and her hero Sir Gareth is priceless. The humor is appealing and refreshingly placed throughout the book and often takes you by surprise. Definitely recommended when you have all day to read. You won't want to put it down until you finish.

This was my first Amanda Quick novel and I am hooked. She writes characters who are open and real. In this historical romance, the heroine runs an island (named Desire) after her father's death leaves her in charge. The hero does not swoop in and save the day because she can't cope; he just brings love and romance. And helps her solve a mystery that arrives with him! Wonderful. Quick avoids the stereotypical romance novel theme where most of the plot consists of misunderstandings between the two leads because each refuses to tell the other of their feelings. Quick's story involves both steamy love and mysterious murder. A great read -- I couldn't put it down

Forced by the necessity of someone to protect her lands, Lady Clare of Desire must choose a husband. Since the choice of whether to marry is out of her hands, she decides that the man himself must be of her choosing. She has three requirements: the man must be of moderate stature, have a pleasant disposition with the ability to laugh a lot, and be a learned man who can read.

Sir Gareth of Wyckmere, known as the Hellhound, has equally set ideas of what he wants in a wife: someone with lands to provide him with a hall of his own, and who will bear his children. Lady Clare will do for him just as well as the next woman, but he only fits one of her requirements: he can read.

These two are an unlikely match, but Quick does a good job of making their courtship lighthearted and fun. Desire isn't like a lot of her other books, in that the mystery/crime thriller isn't really evident from the beginning of the book and when it came at the end I found it surprising, but not unexpected. I think I liked this book more than some of her more recent work because the love story was showcased outside of the crime caper that the hero and heroine typically get involved in. My only problem with this book was that I didn't really like Clare and that feeling never went away. If she mentioned one more part of Saint Hermione's anatomy before the end of the book I thought I would scream. Gareth was a nice balance though and I liked him enough to tolerate her. The story and hero get 4 stars, but Clare takes it down to a three for me.

I should have known better...
These type of books are all the same.
The main characters always are instantly attracted to each other with a little stubborness and foot stomping thrown in to make it seem like they are not really attracted to one another.

This book is very very very repetative. Expect to hear "Hell hound", 'window of hell", "he looks fierce and intelligent", "she was outraged " and other such phrases at least a trillion times!

There's no real depth to this,and so read only if you like romance books with a bunch of fluff. I have never read any of Quick's books and thought why not give her a try...well now I know why...