Customer Reviews

Heartless

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lucas Kendrick reluctantly comes back to England after ten years of exile in France; now Duke of Harndon since his brother's death, he recoils at the idea of becoming reacquainted with a family that rejected him, and marrying is simply out of the question, even though bringing back his Duchess to Bowden Abbey is part of his duty. Bitter and cynical, he has stopped believing in love since his older brother destroyed his happiness, and yet his wedding to Anna Marlowe, barely one week after their first encounter, could easily turn into a love-match.

Anna Marlowe thought she would remain a spinster for the rest of her life. Years of self-sacrifice to take care of her family brought her to the age of twenty-five without the chance to find a husband; besides, it becomes quickly clear that a man of her past made sure in a most dreadful way that she could never marry. But her attraction to the handsome Duke of Harndon leads her to marriage before she could weigh the consequences.

On their wedding night, Luke discovers that his new wife, for whom he was afraid of feeling more than a simple attraction, isn't a virgin. A feeling of intense betrayal pushes him to confront her about it the next morning, and the cold conversation leads them to deny any feeling they might harbour for each other: their marriage is one of duty, and eventually meaningless pleasure. Love never entered the equation. But can their true feelings be hidden forever?

I'm so glad I didn't let myself be put off by the beginning of the book! At first, Luke appeared like such a heartless hero that I wasn't sure I could ever come to like him. I even wondered why he immediately jumped to conclusions when he discovered that Anna wasn't a virgin on their wedding night: given his past history, he could have considered other options than a past lover. But his cynicism explains his reaction, I believe.

But I shouldn't have underestimated Mary Balogh's talent. Her character development is extremely well-done: Luke isn't the heartless man he appears to be, but the face he shows to the world is the only thing that reaches through to the reader at first. This technique allows us to understand why Anna can't and won't confide in him about what terrifies her, but the downside is that it takes some time to see things from Luke's point of view and realise that he's not as cold-hearted as he seems.

As the novel progresses indeed, we discover a man who's hiding under the tough carapace of a rough exterior, who wants to let everyone (and himself) believe that he turned his back on love ten years before, that love is an emotion that only brings deceit and pain. He hardens himself whenever he feels in danger of showing weaknesses or vulnerability. But the influence of his new wife and the demons haunting her too much to confide in him pushes him to open his heart and progressively reveal his true self.

All the characters are masterfully drawn so as to give to the reader the very same feeling as the heroes experiencing the situation. For example, the man terrorising Anna is wrapped in mystery, making his involvement in the story even more frightening. The tension of a relationship that yet appears very easy-going between Anna and Luke is palpable. And last but not least, the secondary characters are very attaching, particularly Anna's deaf-mute sister Emily, whose story I'm looking forward to reading in Silent Melody.

Heartless is an unpredictable story, full of suspense and emotion, and with a steady evolution of the heroes. Yet another fabulous book by Mary Balogh!

Lucas Kendrick, now the Duke, has no wish to be back in the country of his birth, much less have anything to do with the family which rejected him ten years before. He certainly has no wish to marry. And yet, within the space of a week he has done all this: returned to London, reacquainted himself with his mother and remaining siblings, and married Anna, god-daughter of his uncle's long-term lover. He makes no claim to be in love with her, nor does she with him; however, they have engaged in several highly enjoyable flirting sessions in public. He finds himself attracted to her, and if he must marry, why not Anna? And he knows he must marry, since his older brother's widow is dropping hints that she would not be averse to resuming their childhood romance.

Anna had also sworn never to marry; all we know is that there is a mysterious man in her past who seems to terrify her. She knows, for the man told her, that he will come back for her one day. He also told her that no man would want her as a wife, since she isn't untouched. And yet she agrees to marry Luke, while dreading her wedding night and the consequences should the terror from her past reappear.

On their wedding night, Anna discovers that lovemaking can be beautiful and very pleasurable; Luke discovers that she was not a virgin. His reaction to that discovery means that no secrets can be confided to each other; their marriage becomes, for a time, a shallow affair in which neither talks of their real feelings: duty during the day, pleasure at night.

And yet, even as they hide their secrets from each other, the man who believes himself incapable of love discovers, day by day, that his heart wasn't buried after all the day he was estranged from his family. Luke is far from being heartless. But, as well as resolving his relationship with Anna, he has a long way to go to regain the trust of his younger brother and sister, and to discover the truth about his older brother's betrayal, the act which had caused Luke to become estranged in the first place.

For a change - Balogh usually tends not to write in simple black and white and her villains are rarely one-dimensional - in Heartless we have two pure evil villains: one Anna's tormentor, and a female accomplice. This is unusual for Balogh, and even more so in that she never really gives her villain a clear motive - except, perhaps, insanity. This aspect of the story is less important than Anna and Luke's relationship: as another reviewer noted, Balogh has done an excellent job of showing how Luke was falling in love with Anna without even realising it. When Luke finally tells Anna of his feelings, it was no surprise to me, and in a way I was surprised that Anna hadn't already realised.

This is a wonderful book, and I'm looking forward to re-reading it. I'm also very much looking forward to reading the sequel, Silent Melody; Heartless has some very likeable secondary characters, and I'm keen to meet Emily and Ashley again.

This is one of my favorite romances, for a subtle reason. The plot is not unique (how often do we read of heroes rather childishly withholding love due to a slight from the past?). The conceit of a Georgian hero who is all-man despite some quasi-effeminate mannerisms is a bit different, but again, not totally unique. What I enjoy is the way Balogh follows the "show, not tell" rule of storytelling. She has Luke constantly insist to himself that he is "heartless" but she shows us that he simply can't help himself responding to Anna in a deeply loving and compassionate way. Even when he believes she is deceiving him, his impulse is to protect her. No matter how often he considers their sexual encounters mere "pleasure", they are in fact deeply romantic and "making love", much more so than the generic sex scenes in most romances. Just lovely.

I tend to enjoy all of Mary Baloch books because of the mix of sensuality and emotional intensity that they carry. This, however, is her best. I feel better reading about Regency or Middle Ages periods, but the timeline works for this novel. Luke, who is reluctant to assume his ducal responsibilities due to severe emotional trauma, Anna who is afraid to hope, their sheming enemies and their scheming relatives are all dynamic and brightly colored. Both Anna and Luke carry secrets around with them, and they are not the ones you would expect from the hints either. Buy it. Read it. You will not be disappointed.

Balogh is known for her intelligent, strong characters--especially for the bad boys and rakes whose painful childhood shapes a life with which they are unsatisfied and a reputation which they would gladly give up for a lasting love, home and family. When the Duke decides to marry and return to the home he has been avoiding, he chooses Anne--a mature woman who has her own hidden pain, and a secret reason to have given up all thoughts of marriage. With Anne's insight and kindness, the family tangle of half truths and outright falsehoods unsnarls and reweaves in whole cloth, proving that the combination of intelligence, unselfishness and love is a powerful one. This novel has the requisite misunderstandings and a classically evil villainess who tries to come between the couple, but with Balogh's skill, even stock characters are believable--the moreso when paired up, as they are in this case, with a truly evil villain. Not only does love triumph in this well-crafted Regency, but the stage is satisfyingly set for the sequel, "Silent Melody."

This is my favorite of all of Balogh's historicals. It is NOT a Regency, but a Georgian-era book.

Other reviews here describe the basic plots.

What captured me was the depth and detail of the characters, and not just the main ones. I have two copies of this marvelous book and have read it over and over.

Some things about the book are difficult to face, such as the truth of Anna's "secret" and the Duke's initial reaction after their wedding night.

When Anna's story's truth is uncovered, some readers may be puzzled and/or upset. If one keeps in mind her sheltered and yet upsetting upbringing, and the easiness with which a charming man can enthrall a young, vulbnerable woman, her feelings about the "secret", which she feels will kill her marriage, are all too beliveable to me.

The Duke's developing character is enchanting to me, and he has secrets of his own as well.

The story of the development and growth of the main characters, both first smitten with each other and then determined not to love each other, then (of course) finding themselves in love after all is marvelously drawn by Balogh.

It's not a perfect book, and repeated readings have alerted me to minor flaws but in the end the story is too powerful to resist!

A must have book for any Balogh fan!

For new readers of her books, while I don't recommend this one to start with, it is one to add to your reading list!

The first edition has a lovely cover, by the way.

This book is not Victorian as stated in the synopsis. It is an excellent Georgian romance/ mystery. I don't like all of Mary Balogh but this one is a keeper!

Can Mary Balogh do no wrong? This is another GREAT book by this talented author. I'll give you a quick synopsis, and then tell you all the reasons why I think it's great!

Heartless tells the story of Lucas Kendrick, the Duke of Harndon and Anna Marlowe. Both are very wounded from their pasts and believe love is not in the cards for them. Anna believes that she is tainted and unworthy, Lucas has been burned once and has vowed never to be vulnerable again....fortunately for him, this is a romance novel! They marry "for duty and pleasure, but agree that both entered the marriage for convenience..(yah right!) Long story short, this book is about their marriage and how they mature not only in their marriage, but as individuals. It is remarkable. Spoilers ahead********

Here's some of the great parts of the book:
1. I love that Lucas verbalizes love first.
2. I love how Lucas defends Anna against his mother.
3. I love how devoted and loving Lucas is as a father to Joy.
4. I loved the love scenes between these two and how Lucas makes Anna feel beautiful.
5. I love how Balogh allows Lucas to work through the feelings he has for Henrietta and doesn't just assume his devotion and love for Anna are enough to quench all the feelings of his past,and yet he stays completely faithful to her.
6. I love that Balogh isn't afraid to make her men into atypical hero's. This book is based in the Georgian Period when some men, including Lucas, wore makeup, heels, and powder in their hair! Don't worry, this really is a masculine man!
7. I love that I really don't have anything negative to say about this book except that it's out of print...if you can't find it at your local library, this one just might be worth the Amazon marketplace price.

Since there are many very good summaries here, I won't bother with my own and instead get to the point. Heartless is a near perfect historical romance; a heart warming and poignant book thats well written and contains wonderful characters (who stay with you for weeks ,if not for years afterward) . A book thats firmly planted on my keeper shelf.

So why not five stars? Thats just my personal opinion and should not affect a romance readers decision on whether or not to read this book. The bottom line is that I like my hero's to be manly. And Lucas with his red high heeled shoes, frilly clothes and makeup (including rogue), which are repeatedly mentioned to my dismay, just doesn't do it for me. I know this book is set during a time (Georgian era) when this type of appearance was the norm but I still couldn't get past it. I didn't understand Balogh's purpose -describe it once and be done with it. Really it didn't matter to me if Lucas was a fashion leader. The man carried a FAN for goodness sakes!

So while its only a minor complaint, the hero's masculinity is crucial to me when reading a romance, I dropped my rating a half star. I highly recommend purchasing (even at the steep used prices) and reading this book. Despite the feminine features of the hero (which I will skip in re-reads) Heartless is well worth a romance historical readers time and money. I agree with all the other comments mentioned -this one is definitely a keeper.

"Heartless" is the first Mary Balogh book I have read that isn't set in the Regency period. I didn't initially realise that events were taking place in the 1750s rather than early 1800s but was clued into it by the different language used and the descriptions of clothing. And of the hero. Now I have to say that I wasn't 100% convinced by the hero initially - although he's dishy and has waist-length long dark hair (phwoar!) he wears cosmetics (a bit of rouge and powder) and carries a fan. These descriptions of him rather made me think of 1980s pop stars and didn't really work for me as a dashing man with whom the reader tumbles into love.

However, despite these unfortunate downsides, Lucas Kendrick, the Duke of Harndon, is a manly man. He has spent the last ten years in Paris after being banished by his family following a duel with his older brother, and in those ten years he's lived the traditional dissolute rake lifestyle. However his uncle Theo has finally persuaded him to return to England, now that his older brother has died, and take up his responsibilities as Duke. One of these responsibilities is to get married and have sons, and conveniently for Luke he bumps into Lady Anna Marlowe at a ball and finds himself interested in her.

Lady Anna seems bright, engaging and smiley - but as one of Mary Balogh's heroines we know there's more to it than that. She's on the shelf at 25 but has no expectation of marriage - she has a very deep dark secret that prevents it. However she finds herself in a whirlwind romance with Luke and then, lo and behold, they are married.

She and Luke return to Luke's family home, Bowden, and she meets the rest of his relatives whilst having her younger sisters come and live with them too. But things aren't going as swimmingly as one might hope - Luke her husband is heartless, appears to treat his brother and sister unlovingly, and Anna wonders if he can feel more for her than he does for his old flame Henrietta, widow of his elder brother. And then Anna's nemesis arrives in the area and she realises that her secret is still controlling her life and there is to be no happy ending.

As always with a Mary Balogh novel the strength of this book is in the characters - the way that they change and grow. How can a heartless rake learn to love again when love caused him so much pain ten years ago? How can Anna ever hope for happiness when her secret is so all-encompassing. There are a number of other characters through whom we see the story, including Anna's deaf-mute sister and Luke's restless younger brother (whose story continues in "Silent Melody"). "Heartless" is a delicate and yet heartening love story, particularly in the scenes with a newborn baby and the way in which the birth affects the parents. The fact that this book is set before the Regency doesn't really change its overall feel and if you can get over the fact the hero wears blusher (which I did manage to do - eventually - by pretending it didn't happen) you will probably very much enjoy this book.