Customer Reviews

Emerald Garden

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

 

 

Possibly Kane's best book, in my opinion. _Emerald Garden's_ characters will endear themselves to you within the first few pages. Quentin Steel and his Sunbeam, Brandice Townsend, are pulled together in the wake of their parents' murder. Apparently only Quentin, Brandice, the not-quite-stuffed-shirt butler, Bentley, and the Emerald manor gardener, Herbert, want to get to the bottom of the mystery. This book is full of romance, intrigue, and laughter that will capture your attention and hold it to the very end. A must read!

I discovered Andrea Kane only 2 weeks ago, when I read The Music Box. One of the best romances I have ever read (and I have read thousands), it was filled with intrigue, juicy love scenes, emotion, and damsels in distress! A great read! This book caused me to go back to the library and hunt down ALL of Kane's other titles. GO GET THEM!! You will NOT regret it!!

This book started years of reading, and gave me the passion to read everything that she writes. I read it when I need to be comforted or reminded that not all men are idiots.

I've read about 10 of Andrea Kane's novels, and I find each one better than the last! "Emerald Garden" is no exception, and the characters are so perfect for each other. It's the classic story of two friends who suddenly realize that they are in love. Quentin is the ideal hero - romantic and charming and passionate. The only thing that I missed is the party scenes that Ms. Kane usually incorporates. Enjoy!

I thoroughly enjoyed the mixture of romantic intrigue, playfulness and challenge, inter-laced with innocence that blossoms into sizzling seduction. It was a pleasure to read of the story's romantically obtuse hero Quentin (Captain) Steele's equally stubborn awakening at the hands of our innocent, rumbunctious and spirited heroine Brandice (Sunbeam) Townsend. Sprinkled throughout with spontaneous humour it inspires laughter and the romantic in us all!

The magic of Andrea kanes writing takes readers to the very edge of excitement and romance.

This book just makes you feel so good and makes you believe in true love and that love and trust makes everything possible.

Even when everything seems dark - love will shine and make you believe again.

Don`t miss this great book :o)

I really liked this book. I do not read a lot of historical setting books, but this one was good. I liked how they were childhood friends and then it grew. The mystery of who killed their parents was fairly easy to figure out. But the characters personal relationships keep the story going.

I've read other Andrea Kane books and they were so much better than this one. The characters were kind of 'blah'. They aren't very interesting. Brandi "Sunbeam", I disliked. Her character was very immature. She thought and acted like a child in the book. Quentin was the type of guy that was to good to be true.
He had no annoying traits at all. Which made him bland. This could have been a good book if the characters had more depth.

This is the 4th Andrea Kane book I've read (picking up the lot in a used book bin). While the back cover blurb is interesting and brief excerpts look good, overall the book like her others are sadly lacking.

1) Historical Period: Kane has no grasp of the period in which she writes. For the Regency time setting, servants are far too familiar with their employers, as are the characters with each other. There's lip service done to Regency landmarks such as Almack's and the ton but no real understanding of the perceptions of the day or what society's demands were. Her most grevious error is part of the main plot complication: titles could not be willed away! I highly doubt Ms. Kane does any historical research before she writes.

2) The intrigue plot was so transparent I felt myself thinking the hero and heroine were complete idiots for not figuring it out sooner. By chapter 4 even I was asking the questions they should have. This is not a complicated story but one of blind ignorance.

3) The romance and characterization read like a children's novel. Every feeling is revealed by the characters in such sacharine sweetness and textbook transparency, it just can't be real. There's no drama between the characters or a smooth revelation of their characterization. If a character feels anything, they tell each other (and the reader) in a long dialogue diatribe resembling a psychologist's diagnosis. You never feel their anger, frustration, fear, desire or ultimately love yet you are told in explicit detail that they feel that.

Other books of hers I've tried are the Black Diamond series and The Music Box. Only the Music Box had a remotely comfortable feel for history, which leads me to think Ms. Kane envisions all her historicals as a late Victorian piece with modern sensibilities.

really stupid book. very predictable. flat characters. granted, i don't expect great "literature" from the romance genre but expect and generally receive entertainment and escapism. but this book provided neither. it is first kane book i've read and it will be my last. save your time and your money. don't bother with this one.