7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth more than 5 stars!, July 9, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Game (Mass Market Paperback)
This book was wonderful. I couldn't put it down. I wanted to soak up every word, and litteraly sat at the edge of my bed at times while reading it. I just loved the part when Liam told Katherine "I am coming back, and when I do, I am coming for you." I nearly fell off the bed. I am pretty picky when it comes to romance novels, don't like sappy predictable fluff. This book is a definate keeper. I've read it over about 3 or 4 times. I have read several others by this author and the only other that can compare to this is Promise of the Rose worth more than 5 stars also.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Game, May 11, 2007
This review is from: The Game (Mass Market Paperback)
When Brenda writes well(often) she is one of the best you will ever read. She has the best romantic tension, and follow up (ha ha) you will ever read. This is one of her best, but she has many more, Innocent Fire, Violet Fire, Promise of the Rose, After Innocence. Hot and intelligent reading too, just try the books I've suggested and see what you think. One of the very best authors. But try the books I listed!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Elizabethan Romance, June 24, 2008
This review is from: The Game (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read several of Brenda Joyce's books and they had all been set in 19th Century America so it was a surprise to pick up "The Game" and discover that it was set in England and Ireland during the time of Elizabeth I, around 1571. It's a complex book in some ways with lots of plotting and machinations by various Irish nobles as well as the Queen and those around her. Most of the characters in this book are actual historical people and that added a great deal of interest to the story.
However I found myself rather ambivalent about the book as I was reading it. It wasn't dull and I was happy to keep reading but I did found myself rather wearied by the heroine, Katherine FitzGerald. She spends the first half of the book fearing for her virtue, protecting it at all costs, and going on and on about being raped by the hero, Liam O'Neill. O'Neill is a pirate and has captured Katherine and wants to make her his mistress; however, Katherine has a dream of family life with a husband and children and so will not submit, especially as her father is a nobleman, albeit stripped of his lands and title, so she feels she deserves more than the pirate son of a murderous rapist.
O'Neill seems very patient, even if he does have a one-track mind. He is also extremely forgiving, putting up with an amazing amount from Katherine and apparently still finding her fascinating. It was never clear, when reading this book, what was so great about Katherine, apart from her beauty. She didn't seem particularly loyal or trustworthy, breaking her word on a couple of occasions during the course of the book. She also seems rather self-centred which seemed odd for someone brought up in a nunnery. She had a certain amount of spirit and fire but most of the time seemed to me like an annoyingly whiny woman and it was hard to understand why virtually every man she met seemed desperate to make her his mistress.
The strength of this book was the historical setting, the machinations of the various Irish Catholic lords who were trying to break away from England, and the doubts and difficulties of Queen Elizabeth as she tries to rule her nation but can't tell who to trust. The weaknesses, for me, were in the central character of Katherine and also, to some extent, of O'Neill who never felt entirely convincing. It was an interesting read but not satisfying enough in some important areas.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008
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