Customer Reviews

To Have and To Hold (Victorian Trilogy)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is my favorite romance novel; it is also one of the darkest love stories I've ever read. An extraordinary book unlike anything you'll ever read, "To Have and to Hold" is beautifully written and breaks new ground for the romance genre, but is not for those who like their romances sweet. It is the middle book in Gaffney's Wyckerly trilogy (begun in "To Love & to Cherish" and completed with "Forever & Ever")but it also stands on its own. This was the first book of Gaffney's that I read and I immediately looked for the rest of them; none of them were anything like it, although she's a wonderful writer. The hero is by far the most complex and morally ambiguous character I have seen in popular fiction outside of Anne Rice's vampire books. Rachel and Sebastian meet after she has been released from ten harrowing years in prison for a crime she did not commit and is about to be sent back to prison for vagrancy. Sebastian is bored, previleged, and beginning to cross the line from decadence to corruption. He rescues her at the hearing and offers her a position as his "housekeeper," meaning mistress. She accepts out of desperation. Sebastian soon finds himself obssessed with his reserved housekeeper and responds by tormenting Rachel psychologically and sexually. Just when I was afraid to read anymore the story did a stunning 180-degree turn (I don't want to give it away). Suffice it to say that "To Have and to Hold" is dramatic, suspenseful, harrowing, intensely erotic, and deeply moving. You have not encountered a love-hate relationship in a romance until you've read this one. What's more, the quality of Gaffney's prose is far above 99.9% of the authors in the romance field. To quote Susan Elizabeth Phillips from the back cover: "An emotional roller coaster, complete with a dark, tortured hero, a complex heroine, and sex scenes so charged...I was riveted."

I actually bought this book because so many people here and on the discussion boards raved about it, but I found it quite disturbing.

Sebastian is a dreadful man when we first meet him, and he does really unforgivable things to Rachel even after he realises how deeply he cares for her. Ms Gaffney does make his journey believable, but it a pretty grim one, from where he incites his so called friends to humiliate and mock Rachel, ..., to his entire attitude to their relationship.

But what disturbed me even more was Rachel's history. There is something quite disturbing about giving the heroine such a dark and twisted past. In fact all the women in the book (aside from the lovely Anne, the vicar's wife, whom I understand was the heroine of the previous book) have abuse in their background. In Ms Gaffney's world it is almost standard to have been sadistically abused. That just felt wrong to me, and that is why I won't keep this book.

I really didn't like the start of the relationship between Rachel and Sebastian -..., and even though she grew to love him, I felt very uneasy about it. Even though the development of their love is handled very well, the start of it was just too awful for me.

I've just written this to warn people - strange things go on in this book. Clearly there are those who really loved it, and revelled in love conquering such bitter darkness, but I found it a bit too twisted for my taste.

To Have and To Hold is my first novel to read by Patricia Gaffney and it will certainly not be my last. This was such a fantastic book in so many ways! Not only is the storyline highly unusually for romance writing, it is also very engrossing. Both leads are written with a great amount of depth and progress beyond all standards of typical romance character growth. This is a novel that you will make time to keep reading because its intriguing narrative just gets better with each page.

Sebastian Verlaine, a viscount and soon to be an earl, has recently inherited a country estate near the village of Wyckerly. As part of his new duties, he decides to adjudicate some of the local cases - only out of curiosity - not out of any sense of obligation. He is a jaded and disillusioned hero, bored with life and sinking further into depravity. He comes complete with many of the "neglected childhood" haunts typical of many dark romance heroes. But most of the similarities end there. This is a story of his redemption.

Rachel Wade is a country gentleman's daughter who has spent ten years in prison for the murder of her husband. Prison life has left her defeated and she seems to be just a shell of a woman. No one has stood by her during her imprisonment and she has no one to turn to once she is released. Repeatedly denied employment and robbed of her "start up" funds, she has no place to go. She is brought before a court of sorts (English nineteenth style) in the village of Wyckerly for vagrancy. It seems she is headed for a lifetime at a workhouse since she cannot provide for herself. Then a local viscount, sitting on the bench at her hearing, decides he will save her. He announces he will give her the position of his housekeeper. This is also a story of Rachel's rebirth.

Sebastian doesn't believe there is much good left in him. If any of his deeds come close to respectable, he immediately denies it. Although he finds himself defending and helping Rachel, he knows the real reasons for his seemingly altruistic actions. He is bored with the world and she can offer him a diversion. He wants to dominate her, defeat her, and attempt to break apart her protective shell. He sees it purely as a source of entertainment. And, of course, she may be hired as his housekeeper but he intends for her to be his mistress. For the first portion of the book, he truly is as miserable as he envisions himself.

Even at his worse, Sebastian is a delectable hero. He does everything he plans with Rachel and in doing so, unknowingly aids her recovery. He also begins to sense some kindness in himself - but that can't be. He is past saving. So he attempts to show himself to be even more depraved. But it's not working. Rachel responds to his kindness and is gaining some self-confidence in her new position as his housekeeper. Oh, imagine this - Sebastian may have to admit to himself that he is actually doing something for someone else for the right reasons.

Rachel and Sebastian develop an endearing friendship. The development of their relationship is at times heartbreaking and at other times so uplifting! They are a very unusual romance pairing and their story totally captivates you as the reader. There are definitely some serious sensual scenes that rate high - about a 4.5 to 5.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). This couple's sensual scenes are, for once, very intricate to the overall story line and are very well written.

I highly recommend To Have and To Hold. You have to put up with some alpha male behavior but you also see that behavior evolve. Rachel is a precious heroine that you may expect to be weak but you will be surprised. She is a true lady as she begins to enjoy life again. This is such a precious story. It is a definite keeper for my read again shelf. I know I will enjoy reading this book again and again and probably again.

This is a tough book for me to rate. It's definitely somewhere between a four and a five for me.

On the one hand, this book is a phenomenal character study. Too often authors use the term "rake" as shorthand for a fun-loving libertine. When Gaffney uses the term here, she means business. Sebastian Verlaine is a rake of the first order. Debauched, selfish, lazy, and privileged, Sebastian uses the people around him for his own enjoyment. As the book begins, there's nothing lovable about him. He's not a bad boy with a big heart underneath, he's just a plain ol' d-bag.

Rachel Wade is the completely damaged woman who catches his eye while he plays at country magistrate. Rendered scared and meek from ten years spent in prison for the murder of her abusive husband, she's brought up on the charge of vagrancy, as she's been unable to find employment to pay for lodging. Seeing a fun little diversion, Sebastian offers her a job as his housekeeper as an alternative to prison, with the intention of seducing her, of course.

Gaffney didn't mess around with Rachel's emotional scars either. Girl is busted up. From the rigid discipline of incarceration she now has trouble making the simplest of decisions. Far from the typical genre fare of feeling an inexplicable attraction to the hero, she's understandably terrified of him. Their first coupling is not quite consensual and there are no miraculous orgasms caused by the hero's magical wang. In many ways it's ugly and sad, and she resents him for it, even though she accepted it.

Despite this ugliness, Sebastian's transformation is believable, as is Rachel's recovery. Upon a visit from his libertine friends from London, Sebastian begins to see in them his own ugly nature and resents it. He throws them out of his home after one of them makes unwanted advances towards Rachel and, after wallowing drunk in self-pity for a few days, begins to show through his actions that he is a changed man and worthy of Rachel. For her part, Rachel stays wary of Sebastian, while taking comfort from him at the same time. You see Sebastian act more and more selflessly while Rachel becomes braver and more independent.

Where I take issue with the book is with Sebastian's journey. I felt that he did not suffer enough or grovel enough for his truly despicable behavior earlier. All he had to do was change his ways, and he got what he wanted. I wanted more penance from him, for him to feel loss, humiliation or pain of some sort. Just being sorry wasn't enough.

Regardless, To Have and To Hold was a superbly written book of truly memorable characters. It is absolutely worth the trouble of tracking down a copy.

I have to agree with the reviewer who found this story too dark for a romance. I was really looking forward to reading it, because of this very warning, but found it disappointing. It took me a while to pinpoint why. It boils down to the fact that while it is well characterized, developed, written, and more original than most romance novels, it is almost too realistic to be in this genre altogether. It has a gothic feel to it, but without enough of the gothic trappings to keep us fastened.

Sebastien Verlaine does things in the first half (and even later) that are truly unforgivable. His languid ennui somehow makes it all worse; better a quietly enraged villain who can feel something, even the wrong thing. The novel does get very fascinating in the middle as Sebastien changes, but the resolution of his character evolution is not clear nor sufficient. It made me "uneasy" as the other reviewer said, not so much because of who Sebastien is, but who he comes from. His horrid familial background is so realistically sketched that it's hard to fathom him changing to the point where he and Rachel will find happiness in love.

The novel is definitely worth reading for its rich and unusual character and setting development. I loved the intelligent dialogue and shades of perceptions between the two lovers. However, I found most sex scenes distasteful or dissatisfying rather than erotic and exciting, because of how Sebastien treats the whole experience and because of the heroine's stoic detachment, another obstacle in the novel.

I didn't quite buy the premise that he looks for his opposite in her, someone who feels more because she is just a survivor; she is not his opposite in this sense but his equal. They both have lost the capacity to express their feelings, though for different reasons. The feeling I kept getting is that the story kept asserting one thing, but showing something else. There was a gap in the telling and showing that made it unsatisfying as a romance but intriguing as story, in the final analysis.

Four years after first reading it I this still love this book just as much, and ther romance website AAR has done a survey of its readers on their favorites among Gaffney's novels, and this book came in in #1. Updating my review from March of 1999, which 20 of 22 people found helpful:

This is my favorite romance novel; it is also one of the darkest love stories I've ever read. An extraordinary book unlike anything you'll ever read, "To Have and to Hold" is beautifully written and breaks new ground for the romance genre, but is not for those who like their romances sweet. It is the middle book in Gaffney's Wyckerly trilogy (begun in "To Love & to Cherish" and completed with "Forever & Ever") but it also stands on its own. This was the first book of Gaffney's that I read and I immediately looked for the rest of them; none of them were anything like it, although she's a wonderful writer.

The hero is by far the most complex and morally ambiguous character I have seen in popular fiction outside of Anne Rice's vampire books. Rachel and Sebastian meet after she has been released from ten harrowing years in prison for a crime she did not commit and is about to be sent back to prison for vagrancy. Sebastian is bored, previleged, and beginning to cross the line from decadence to corruption. He rescues her at the hearing and offers her a position as his "housekeeper," meaning mistress. She accepts out of desperation.

Sebastian soon finds himself obssessed with his reserved housekeeper and responds by tormenting Rachel psychologically and sexually. Just when I was afraid to read anymore the story did a stunning 180-degree turn (I don't want to give it away). Suffice it to say that "To Have and to Hold" is dramatic, suspenseful, harrowing, intensely erotic, and deeply moving. You have not encountered a love-hate relationship in a romance until you've read this one. What's more, the quality of Gaffney's prose is far above 99.9% of the authors in the romance field.

To quote Susan Elizabeth Phillips from the back cover: "An emotional roller coaster, complete with a dark, tortured hero, a complex heroine, and sex scenes so charged...I was riveted."

TO HAVE & TO HOLD is the second book in Patricia Gaffney's the Wyckerley trilogy. Again, Gaffney brings her reader to the fictional English village of Wyckerley, this time into the lives of Sebastian Verlaine, Viscount D'Aubrey, and accused murderer - Rachel Wade.

When he agreed to serve as justice, Sebastian Verlaine was howling drunk. During his vile life, society had called Sebastian many things, but "Your Worship" had never been among them. He a magistrate? Why the entire affair would be a merry romp - a glorious way to relieve boredom. He continued to marvel over the absurdity of his well-chosen lark, until Mrs. Rachel Wade entered the prisoner's box. Then suddenly, Sebastian discovered an even better way to relieve his boredom.

Rachel Wade fascinated the jaded, bored viscount. He saw her as a straight-laced enigma and quickly became obsessed with her seduction. Cruelly, relentlessly, he pursed her. His intent? To be pleasured!

In earthly hell, Rachel Wade had spent ten years. She had served ten long years for the brutal murder of a deranged pervert - a demonic man called her husband. Now, Rachel Wade was "free." She had the dress on her back and the ability to hide her feelings. She would never again feel pain; she would never again feel pleasure, for defensively Rachel Ward knew better. Now, without choice, she would become the Viscount D'Aubrey's "housekeeper."

Gaffney pens a first-class Victorian novel. Sebastian Verlaine is not the normal run-of-the-mill romance hero. He springs from the pages as a single-minded, self-gratifying aristocrat. He is not an evil man, just a man existing in overindulgence.

Rachel has all the characteristics of a woman raised in a patriarchy social system. A system where: the head of the family is the eldest male, a husband rules a marriage, and overruling men govern society.

Patricia Gaffney does a remarkable job on this dispiriting novel. TO HAVE & TO HOLD may have started with much gloom and roughshod desire, but it finishes with renewed growth and glorious affection.
Grade: B+

MaryGrace Meloche.

What an astonishing book this is. I read a lot of romance and mostly they are forgettable stock characters doing the same things over and over. Occasionally a book comes along that has such unique characters and riveting storyline that you will never forget it. These two characters have imprinted themselves on my mind forever.

I had no problem with the dark beginning, it was what made the book truly great. The risks Ms. Gaffney took in having Sebastian take advantage of Rachel drew criticism from some of the reviewers but I thought he was magnificent. Rachel was so withdrawn within herself and damaged by her years in prison that it would have taken someone as ruthless as Sebastian to draw her out. Did he take advantage of her precarious position in his household? Yes. Did he rape her? No. I don't think so. These two were bonded from the very start and Sebastian was probably the only man who was tough enough to reach her. Any man who came along too tenderhearted and afraid of pushing her was never going to overcome the wounds her abusive husband had left on her. She was never going to be coaxed out of the shell she'd built, she had to be bludgeoned out. And Sebastian was just the man for the job.

Rachel knew that too. That's why she didn't really fight him when he took her the first time. And Lord have mercy were those some sexy love scenes! Rachel's vulnerability coupled with strength made watching her slowly come back to life a joy to witness. Seeing her effect on the jaded, bored nobleman, knowing that she is saving him just as much as he is saving her was delicious reading at its finest.

This is a book not to be passed up. Buy it, read it, keep it forever because you'll want to read it again.

This is the best effort of one of the romance genre's finest writers and on my top five list of best romance novels ever.

I don't know that I have ever encountered such rich character development---the story is almost entirely character driven. Sebastian Verlaine is no cardboard cut out of a hero. He is infinitely complex with the potential to realize either extreme of good or evil. The book opens at a crossroads in his life where he must decide which path he will follow. Rachel is the playing field for his experiments. Sebastian's moral ambiguity is fascinating and you will love him even when he is at his worst.

Rachel is an amazing heroine no less richly drawn than Sebastian. Ms. Gaffney has done an excellent job exploring the character of a woman locked away for ten years forbidden even to speak to another person. Rachel is by no means a pathetic character, however. Her strength and the inner core of integrity that sustains her is one of the most subtle pieces of development I've seen.

Additionally the cast of supporting characters are vividly drawn. They have real lives and individual personalities ---never serving just as "props" for the main story. They add a richness and veracity to the tale that is sadly lacking in many books today.

To Have and To Hold is a shining example of how very little "action" can be completely engrossing particularly when so many romance novels today seem determined to toss the reader from one outrageous happening to the next. This story reaches right into your gut and grabs hold of you. It is a rough ride at times and the scenery gets a bit dark, but it is a journey well worth the undertaking.

The author knows little of the human mind and behavior, especially in terms of minds of the sexually abused (Rachel) and minds of those capable of abusing them (Sebastian). Simply put, in real life, Rachel would be in a psychiatric hospital getting treatment and Sebastian would be in prison for multiple rape and battery counts.

The prognosis for either changing totally would be improbable. Any change would take lots of hard work on both sides by them wanting to get better for change AND requiring efforts from those knowing how to help both of them.

I'm not saying a story such as theirs could never happen, it could-- in fact, it does, it's just extremely ugly. Because Rachel's damage would feed Sebastian's sickness, spiraling into a more damaged Rachel and an even more twisted Sebastian. We've all seen it on the six O'clock news, just to have it romanticized in a book is disturbing. And wrong! And well, misleading in a damn near negligent way.

So no Virginia, a man capable of raping a woman in Chapter 3 does not develop a soul and be nice by Chapter 20, and a woman who's been sexually abused by more than one man does not develop normal sexual behaviors & orgasms in the presence of said man, much less him slapping on his own version of 'sexual healing'.

Again, this is NOT how human's work-- a damaged woman with a dark history can't be the savior of a selfish, mean spirited man.

For someone like Rachel to heal, she'd need time, autonomy and freedom. And bluntly, a decent amount of asexual time and total rescripting of her sexual memories. For someone like Sebastian to become human, he'd also need a crisis that would cause a need to change and a woman that he couldn't abuse. So, for their relationship to start with rape? And for her to 'heal' and him to become 'good' is just horsefeathers!

I guess for me, reading this was like reading how someone poured gasoline on a floor and put a match to it--- but instead of a conflagration, you get pixie dust. Or a book where someone climbs Mt. Everest in 3 days in a bikini. Insane, unresearched and total fantasy. And scary too that people would actually believe it would happen, just because it was written believably.

So for me,it was an extremely dark, unpleasant and problematic read requiring more suspension of disbelief than I am capable of providing.