Customer Reviews

Earl's Forbidden Ward (Historical)

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

 

 

I have to say that I agree with poor reviews. The entire story was boring and unbelievably predictable! I knew where the "list" was hidden within a quarter into the book. Seriously, she could have done a lot better writing this. Too bad they don't offer a money back guarantee.

The Earl's Forbidden Ward is the latest in Bronwyn's Scott's Regency romances from Harlequin Historical.

I first became acquainted with Bronwyn's fabulous books a couple of years ago, with her Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady.

Her characters are stunning, her dialogue quick and biting, her writing style rich and luscious, her pace quick, the historical details gripping.


In this book, Peyton Ramsden, the womanizing Earl of Dursley has never yet fallen in love, but...enter one Miss Tessa Branscombe, recently orphaned and taking care of her younger sisters.

The book is set in Regency England and St. Petersburg, and Bronwyn sprinkles luscious details of Bloomsbury and 19th century Russia from her historical research trips.

But writing a Regency is much more than costume description, architectural and historical details.

It is all about creating believable characters for the period piece that ring true today and which seem like our family, our next-door neighbors, ourselves.

A tricky line to walk between the past and present.

This Bronwyn excels in.


Peyton has broken off with his mistress of two years, and is ripe for the picking. Always guarding his heart, he was never emotionally involved with his mistress, nor with anyone. Enter the opportunity for Miss Tessa Branscombe.

Here is the beginning of Chapter Nine:

BEGIN EXCERPT:

"The girls were nearly giddy in their excitement over sightseeing the next morning as they gathered in the front room, fighting over a spot to look out the window and be the first to spy the Earl of Dursley. Tessa tried to share her enthusiasm. The sun was out and the prospect of seeing London under blue skies was quite tempting, but she'd rather see the sights without the pompous Earl of Dursley by her side.


"The irritating man had the audacity to kiss her not once, but twice. Once she could countenance. The spirit of their dance had transmuted into an energy that needed an outlet, as unconventional as it was. There were multiple ways to explain what had passed between them in the alcove. Curiosity on her part -- were all kisses as empty as Sergei's? ...

..."No one had ever kissed her in the manner Peyton had. Never had a kiss evoked such a flood of feelings. Simultaneously, she wanted to both give in, see where such abandon led, and to slap the arrogant Earl across the planes of his handsome face. How dare he make such presumption! Probably he wouldn't presume so much if she didn't give him leave."...

END EXCERPT

You will absolutely love this book. Bronwyn scores another major hit!

For a satisfying story, full of twists and lush with romance and danger, THE EARL'S FORBIDDEN WARD is a must-read! From the first scene, Bronwyn Scott spins a tale that is impossible to put down.

The wealthy Earl of Dursley is a consummate womanizer who fiercely guards his heart. Tessa Branscombe is an intelligent and lovely young woman who struggles to raise her orphaned sisters, while determinedly guarding her own independence.
When a international plot (involving Russia, Turkey and England) throws the two together, the sparks fly!

This tale is full of suspense, rich in authentic historical detail and a delight to read.
I can hardly wait to see Bronwyn Scott's next book!

I love the Bronwyn Scott stories. Not only does she provide a great historical backdrop to her stories, she gives us characters that we really want to know more about. In this case, she is also willing to take some new approaches by using characters that we might now always consider. The fact that the heroine comes from St. Petersburg is a small but nice twist to add that exotic feel to the story.

Keep these coming Bronwyn! I can't wait to read Crispin's story!

This book garnered rather good reviews here. I am starting to wonder how many of these "reviews" are written by those who stand to benefit from a book's sales. And, cynic that I'm becoming, I must start to rely on the worst reviews to determine a book's quality.

Two things that get under my skin:

1. Peyton and Tessa are remarkably aware of his or her own doubts and fears - and so are we by the end of the book. Understandable, given that the reader is privy to their thoughts. ALL of them. For pages and pages at a time.

2. The use of modern language and phrases throughout the book is distracting and jarring.

Pass!

I always know when I pick up a Browyn Scott story I will be swept away and this latest does not disappoint. Tessa and Peyton are delightful. Well done, Ms. Scott!

I didn't care much for the writing style- very choppy, shortly stated sentences. Emphasis with italics. That sort of thing. You see?

The characters were so cliche. The Earl was boring and typical, there exists nothing to make him stand out in the vast sea of Regency heroes. Tessa is a bit more original, but her personality can be repellent.

The plot revolves around a group of eeeevil Russians (uh huh) who have all come to England to retrieve some list of names Tessa doesn't know she has. They also plan to kill the Earl, I guess just for kicks, because he doesn't seem to be standing in the way of their goal. The Earl is there to get the list too, but doesn't seem to be doing a good job of searching for it, or even watching the house, which gets torn apart during their absence.

And as another reviewer stated, boy is it obvious where the list was hidden.

And man oh man do these guys move fast. Three kisses and a hug is all it takes to get Tessa ready to give up her innocence! And the 'honorable' Earl is down with that! 10 seconds later it's done. And I felt confused.

I found myself skipping over so many paragraphs. There was waaaay to much introspection from the characters! It was almost painful.

Don't forget the cliche 'oh look they had twins!' scene at the end!

I will concede that I found the basic plot relatively interesting - a young woman, Tessa, raising her three younger sisters after their father's untimely death acquires a guardian in the form of our stoic, unemotional hero, Peyton.

But there were too many things wrong with this story - namely, it moves too quickly with not enough character development. I found Tessa somewhat interesting, but frankly, Peyton is boring and unoriginal. He's just like any other titled gentleman in a historical romance novel.

What bothered me the most were the execrable sex scenes. For one thing, it was entirely unbelievable to me that Tessa and Peyton have had sex after two kisses. I cannot understand what makes Peyton interesting enough that Tessa would just throw away the morals of the time to get down with a guy in his aunt's home. Furthermore? The sex itself was written hastily, with little detail, as if Bronwyn Scott has never actually had sex or even read about it before. Just a tip? A woman's first time with penetrative intercourse usually involves a bit of pain (unless you want to go with the whole "she's an excellent horsewoman" excuse, which Scott did not).

After the first terrible sex scene, I couldn't bring myself to read anymore, and I doubt I will finish this title.

Tessa's Father recently passed away, there is some suspicion surrounding his death. He was a diplomat stationed in St. Petersburg and his last assignment made him a target. Tessa senses tension and packs her 3 sisters and moves to London, where her Father has left them a home and modest dowry.

Enter Peyton. You actually meet him first as he's sending off his latest mistress, who he never has relationships with for a period longer then 2 years. There is a short paragraph here about him wanting to be known as Peyton and not his title - you could EASILY see that sooner or later Tess is going to call him Peyton and he'll fall hard for that. Anyways, so he bids adieu to his mistress and gets called to meet with a member of the foreign office. They know about Tessa's Father's last task (to pull together a list of Russians who are preparing to over-throw the Czar and the names of businessmen ready to finance that) and contrive to put him into Tessa's life, especially since a Russian delegate has just turned up in London - obviously searching for the list. This is done by forging a codicil to the will and making Peyton a guardian.

Peyton, who has honorable intentions meets Tessa for the first while she's with Sergei (of the Foreign delegate). Sergei of course has ulterior motives, but gives off the front that he wants to marry Tessa and can't believe she left him in Russia etc. Tessa's on guard all the time, carries around a weapon. At one point when Peyton contrived to get the house empty and Tessa came home and sensed an intruder about, they have a short meeting in the stairwell that apparently was the start of the relationship.

A few notes on their relationship. One, I've read tons of historical novels, none though that had a heroine who grew up in St. Petersburg. Is it normal for Tess to throw herself at Peyton? She is the one to initiate their first kiss, she is the one to initiate their first time together - all while knowing he, an earl, would never deign to marry her. Two, its a little tough to swallow. He's 38? she's 22? Its a little too much of an age gap for me, although its rarely mentioned so I was able to kind of ignore that fact. I think maybe the author has a thing for this though - there are some hints that Tessa's younger sister, 17, and Peyton's younger brother, 35, may have a future book together. Younger brother of course takes off before the end. This is so low in plot priority that i hesitate to even mention it, but 17 and 35? really? 22 and 38? This story would not have been changed in the least if he was 28.

So...yes a chance encounter in the stairwell kicked off their romance. Her later initiation of a kiss really heated things for him. And then later she wanted safety in his arms. There's an attempt to cause tension between them, after she storms into the Russian Embassy to single-handily attempt to save Peyton, but it kind of gets derailed. I found myself not really rooting for them as a couple, I think maybe the story was too big for the number of pages and unfortunately the unfolding of the romance took a back seat.