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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fluff that doesn't annoy, June 1, 2010
Really enjoyed this book. The protagonists are sweet with not too many harsh edges around them. While I prefer the darker stuff of the old romances, when I'm in the mood for something light and pleasant, books like this are a nice and quick change of pace that don't overstay their welcome or overdo it on the "happy-happy."
I particularly liked Ariana, the actress who has no illusions about how actresses are viewed by society and isn't uptight about being respectable & trying to convert opinion. It's Jack who is more conscious of her reputation, and her admonition to him that if he's seen going into her room, it's only what they expect of her profession fit in with her character. She's worldly-wise, due to her mother's own looseness and her own uncertain paternity. She's the bastard get of some unknown gentleman, and she accepts it as the harsh times dictated.
The hero, Jack, is the more uptight one in the relationship, dealing as he has to with his mother's infatuation with a callous nobleman and her willingness to have her family be said nobleman's doormat. He also suffers from PTSD, caused by the siege of Badajoz, and it crops up at convenient plot points. He conquers it a little too cleanly, but whatever. It was a nice depth of character for him to seek therapy in his artwork, and how his healing and his love for Ariana blossom on canvas as well as in real life.
This is the first Gaston I've read, and I'm looking forward to reading more.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Usually a Diane Gaston book is at least 4 stars for me., November 29, 2009
But something is missing in this one. I like the fact that the characters are real people, not those silly dukes running around marrying milkmaids or pickpockets. War and its ravages on soldiers is depicted rather well. There is a sweet romance, actually two sweet romances, so that satisfies the requirement for being a romance novel. But here's the problem for me: the writing was flat. If there hadn't been some sex in it, I would have thought it was a (Very)Young Adult novel. Usually I enjoy the way Gaston writes. THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M and THE WAGERING WIDOW are two of the best historical romances I have read. That's why this one disappoints me so much.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 stars - stronger than average characters; plot devices, November 29, 2009
This romance novel, very unusually, depicts a man who's experiencing post-traumatic stress after having been in a particularly bloody battle in Spain and its aftermath of looting and rioting. Jack Vernon, the hero, is now returned to England and training to be an artist. For once, this Regency-era hero has no rakish past (or present); no quarrelsome parent withholding an allowance or trying to force him to marry for his own good. I liked Jack immediately - he's a decent, honest, and hardworking man.
I also liked the fact that this author departed from the usual overprotected virgin-heroine. Thank goodness, this heroine is not a schoolmistress, or a poor relation; not a plain duenna and not an innocent "Lady". Ariana is (gasp) an actress, just beginning a successful career and as determined as Jack is to succeed in her chosen field. One prior sour love affair hasn't soured her for life, either - she's as attracted to Jack as he is to her.
Jack's mother is the mistress of Lord Tranville, who was Jack's commanding officer as well as being the man who paid for Jack's schooling and his commission. Although Jack despises the man he can't help feeling indebted to him - an unusually well-plotted emotional conflict for a romance-novel hero. When Tranville commissions Jack to paint a portrait of Ariana, it increases the tension between all three characters, as Tranville would like nothing better than to win Ariana as his mistress.
So why didn't I give this book a higher rating... well, although I liked these characters, and I really liked the unusually creative, thoughtful elements of this romance - for me, it just didn't maintain a must-read element. The pace seemed to slow down just before the last few chapters. All the ingredients were there for a compelling ending but the story lost steam (I don't mean romantically, just in the terms of the story's pace and plot). But it's a good read, if not a great one. If this story is any indicator of Diane Gaston's quality as a writer I will definitely read more by her.
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