Customer Reviews

The English Heiress (The Heiress Series: Book One)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Half-French and half-English, Leonie de Conyers is caught in France during the Revolution. Her father murdered and she brutalized by rebel soldiers, she is saved however, by Englishman Roger St. Eyre, who was sent to find Leonie and her father when the man inherits a title and an estate. But the violence catches up with them and Roger and Leonie are forced to remain in Paris under the pretense of siding with the Revolution. In the process, they become lovers, and then their position is compromised when they are swept away in a plot to free Marie Antoinette. In The English Heiress, Gellis bring the French Revolution to life in all its glory. I was on pins and needles throughout the entire book for the setting was utilized to a degree where it could have been possible for Roger and Leonie to be caught out and guillotined. The relationship between the two leads is fascinating as Leonie, despite her past, is strong and independent, which leads to much clashing of personalities between she and Roger. Forever on the list of comfort reads, The English Heiress is a marvelous book.

I don't get why people like this book. It was so tedious and boring to read. The first few chapters were OK, but it went downhill. The authors spent pages discussing someone's facial expression and how it might be interpreted. The main characters (who I actually felt were a bit boring and didn't have the best spark) were constantly misinterpreting what the other said or did, which is normal in a romance, but then they would go on for paragraph after paragraph about what they might be misunderstanding, whether they were wrong or right blah blah blah. IN addition, I like a accurate history in novels but this was so detailed it became confusing and ditracted from the main plotline.
I got about 50% of the way through and felt I shoudl have been building to a climax in the story - but no, there was still half a book to go. I started skimming before I hit 75% before I couldn't take it. I skipped to the end just to reassure myself of the HEA and then promptly deleted the book. Sorry but I can't recommend this.

This book is one of my favorite historical romance stories of all time. It has jostled from my number one, above all others, only occassionally since I first read it in the 1980's. I love both the hero and heroine. Roger is not the typical rake needing reforming, he is a man who - after an emotionally abusive relationship with his first wife - doesn't realize what a wonderful hero he is. He is not all that dark and brooding (though I love those type too), he is just you're average handsome, intelligent, English gentleman. Ok, he broods a little, but mostly over fearing he is not worthy of Leonie and how to get them out of the mess they are in. Best of all, Leonie is a heroine that can hold her own alongside him. I love the setting, that they are trapped in Napoleonic war torn France with no way to marry, yet living as a married couple (with a sexual relationship - he's not that insanely, unrealistically honorable!). I like the way Gellis lets the reader into the characters' thoughts. The ending is the laugh out loud funny, sweet, and totally in character for both the h&h. There is another scene where Leonie makes Roger mad (he never seems to loose his temper) and the resultant sex is explosive.

Spoiler Alert: For the longest time this was the only book in which I ever approved of a rape scene (I like my heroine's pure). The act itself, for anyone who has read anything about rape, is one of power and hate, not lust. This fact is reinforced by Marot, the villian, looking at Leonie's father, helpless to intervene, not Leonie while he deflies her. For Leonie, this act is creates not a tragic victim, but a stronger person who truly rises above it to become a survivor; at the same time, when confronted with the villain again, she can summon her own emotions in a controlled manner to seek vengeance against the man who symbolized the destruction of her world. It's believable.

One complaint: What happened to the little dog that is such an indispensible part of the story?

year is 1791 Europe. An English nobel is confronted with odd task
of saving Marie Antoinette and Leonie De Conyers from guillotine.
Step out of Roberts Gellis usual period. But very well worth the
trip. She brings you there, the struggles of people during
governmental outrage and growth. Intense characters, dynamic
story movement, excellent historical romance.

Truly, this book had so much potential. Leonie was a good heroine, Roger had a good basis even though lacking a bit of edge/flavor, the plot was different than the same ole-same ole, and even the French Revoluation is a great backdrop in which to be set...but it just couldn't get pulled together. The relationship between our lovers was annoyingly overwrought with misunderstandings played out in their internal dialog; All I wanted to do was yell at the characters through my kindle screen saying, "Be an ADULT already and just SAY THESE THINGS so you can work out your problems and we can be done with this!". The Revolutionary details and dialog became mud-like to trudge through, and wasn't ever lightened through witty dialog or even good love scenes. Every love scene was followed by more internal diaglog of insecurities and uncertainties and it was all just laborious. Yeah, this is free, but truly save yourselves the frustration and hours of your life from this read.

This book was killing me. It was so boring I had to keep clicking to find something good about it,which I did not. This book was All about them being trapped in france for years. I wanted to pull my hair out. Thank God This Was FREE.

This is the first in Gellis' Heiress Series and begins during the French Revolution. The De Conyers family home ransacked, the women sexually abused and now imprisoned by the revolutionaries, Roger St. Eyre is sent into France to rescue the De Conyers family and bring them home to England (they are half French/half English). The only member of the De Conyers family to make it out of prison alive is Leonie and she and Roger flee for Paris in an effort to find a way out of France and end up unable to leave the city and masquerade as French citizens as the revolution swirls around them until they are finally unwillingly drawn in to a plot to rescue Marie Antoinette and the young Dauphin.

Of course love blooms (it _is_ a romance novel), although in typical Gellis style the misunderstandings keep the couple from avowing their true feelings until the final payoff at the end. Roger was always harping to himself he had no right to ask for the hand of such a wealthy heiress (he's a younger landless son) and Leonie always worried about how she let a prison guard "use her" and that Roger would think she's a "whore" just got a tad bit old after a while.

Although I do love Gellis, this is one book of hers that just didn't rock my boat. The retelling of the revolution and The Terror was just a bit too dry for me, and I think Gellis would have been better served to lighten the story up a bit more and keep her tongue firmly planted in her cheek - at least with the relationship between Roger and Leonie. She finally did that in the last 50 or so pages and things became quite fun leading up to the final payola (that was a cute scene), but wading through the first 300 + pages to get there was just a bit too long for this reader. 3/5 stars.

The next two in the series,

The Cornish Heiress
The Kent Heiress

Years ago I read her books but had my fill of medevil(sp) stories. When KINDLE offered this for free I decided to read it. I, personally, like the Regency era; close enough. Will read the others in this series- $1.49 ea. is too good to pass over.

really boring book thank goodness I got it for free. This book could have been exciting and a great read but it wasn't. So we are left with a young lady and old gentlemen who has decided he needed some excitement in his life and he decided to rescue his father's old buddy's last heir. He does seem pretty clever but he doesn't really stink of I am Hero make room for me and are young lady the heroine doesn't quite seem to be all there. My guess is that all the tedious descriptions are meant to drag us in and keep us but it doesn't, it just makes my eyes wander.

I rarely write reviews - I would far rather be reading a new book than spending the time reviewing one I have already finished. However, the number of negative reviews on what is one of my all time favorite books has pushed me into trying to balance the scales. This is the story of Roger St. Eyre, widower, father of a young son and dutiful son in his own right and Leonie de Conyers, heiress to the de Conyers fortune after the death of her uncle and cousins in an accident at sea. Leonie is half French, half English and has lived in France, where her mother had extensive estates all her life. However, it is the start of the French Revolution and the elder St. Eyre, executor of the de Conyers English estates has sent his son Roger to France to find Leonie's father, who is now the next heir; unfortunately, he arrives just in time to see Leonie's father killed, leaving him with the unenviable task of trying to get Leonie out of France in the middle of the first stirrings of The Terror.
If you are looking for a light romance, with the emphasis on the romance, similar to Mary Balogh or even Georgette Heyer, this is probably not for you. This is a novel of the French Revolution which includes a romance between Roger and Leonie, both complex characters moving in a dangerous and fascinating world. The romance is, perhaps, center stage, but it is never the only action on that stage. There is the danger and the madness of Robespierre's Terror, the tragic story of the deposed King and the even more tragic story of the Queen; there is constant danger and espionage; and finally, there is a daring and dangerous escape. Roger is not your standard romantic hero but a man deeply scarred by his first, disastrous marriage, suspicious of any woman's motives and torn between duty to his country, duty to his charge, Leonie, and the feelings he considers improper. Leonie is younger and less complex, but she is hiding her own problems. The working out of this complex relationship is highly interesting.
What makes this book even more interesting is Ms. Gellis real understanding of history and her meticulous attention to detail. Would recommend it wholeheartedly.