Customer Reviews

An Impossible Attraction (Hqn)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I would give this one star but it seems so mean-spirited. And if I were to listen to the advice of the father of Bambi's friend Thumper, I would not be writing this review at all. I am hard-pressed to find something good to say about this book. Maybe the obvious warm affection and loyalty among the members of the de Warenne clan? That's good. But not enough to make this cliche-ridden story with one-dimensional characters worth reading. I like to read a romance for the romance and developing love between H and H. I failed to find anything but lust in this one. How the silly heroine decided she was in love with the irrational hero is beyond me. There was no attempt by the author to allow the reader to see their immediate physical attraction to each other develop into a deeper relationship. This review is probably not a useful one. Apparently I just needed to vent.

In the past I have hugely enjoyed Brenda Joyce's de Warenne novels. This family had brave heroes and heroines and their mates were interesting and likeable. This author's latest novel, An Impossible Attraction, does not meet these standards, instead the heroine is weak and the hero too controlling.

Heroine Alexandra Bolton is a Victorian Cinderella, totally duty bound to her father and two sisters after the death of her mother. To her credit her sisters are kind hearted but her father is a wastrel and a drunk but Alexandra is forgiving of his misdeeds and worse an enabler, making excuses for his actions.

She is set to marry an older gentlemen, hand picked by her father but her plans are interrupted by hero Stephen Mowbray, the Duke of Clarewood, who assists her at a ball when her father proceeds to get drunk. She is attracted to the handsome Duke immediately.

Stephen pursues Alexandra. She is flattered but determined to marry her older gentleman but when vicious gossip causes problems for her she turns to Stephen who is willing to make her his mistress but not his wife. Stephen is duty bound to his estate and in many ways to the ghost of his hard hearted father. I had a difficult time warming up to Stephen as he was incredibly stubborn and arrogant.

Alexandra went through phases in this novel. She began this story as a martyr for her family, then became independent (I liked this part of her story best, when she tried to make it on her own) then back to being an uncertain irrational woman. Several times she shakes and trembles around the hero and this is not in passion but in terrible anxiety. She is almost immobilized with fear around him and cannot answer simple questions.

What I did like in this story was the blooming romance between Stephen's mother and a rough rancher from California. This tale was sweet and the growing feelings between these characters were very nicely written. Theirs was a romance with maturity (and not just because they were an older couple) and respect.

Stephen and Alexandra's romance was rather on the boring side. Alexandra was too frightened of her feelings for Stephen and he seemed distant from Alexandra for most of the novel. I never understood why he liked her and why she was championed so heartily by his family.

I used to really like Brenda Joyce, even some of the earlier de warenne stories... this one unfortunately was dull to the point of me not wanting to finish. I eventually got through it, but skimmed probably the last 75 pages.

This story had such promise and I was so looking forward to spending time reading this book. Then I started reading it...uuuuuggghh. Im sorry but since when should the heroine be such a door mat for every other character in the book!
Brenda Joyce should be ashamed to create such a weakling. It was so painful to read I couldn't even finish it.

**SPOILERS** I've loved Brenda Joyce for years, but her recent books have left me very disappointed. I forced myself to finish this book. The heroine, Alexandra, was such a doormat. I found the opening scene so ridiculous...why spurn the man she loved and who loved her in order to care for her family??? In this era, couldn't she do more for them as a woman married to a kind and generous man who understood her devotion to her family, than she could as a single woman sewing clothes for a living, for Pete's sake??? Ludicrous. Her relationship with her father was downright dysfunctional. Look up "enabler" and you'll see her pic. I liked her sisters more than I liked her, and I'm hopeful that maybe they'll reappear in future novels.

Where to even start with Clarewood? He's an angry, immature, pompous snob. His repeated accusations toward Alexandra, constantly suspecting her of being a scheming opportunist...it grew tiresome. So many of their interactions revolve around Clarewood throwing accusations at her, and Alexandra offering such wimpy defense that I really grew to dislike them both by the end of the book. I found myself wishing she'd take off with Owen, at the very least!

This story was just unlikeable to me. From start to finish, I felt frustrated with the behavior of the main characters, and found their fairy-tale ending to be abrupt and incredibly unlikely, given their personalities throughout the entire book. This one isn't a keeper.

This is probably the worst book I have ever read. The heroine is insipid, weak, pathetic and a bore. The hero is one dimensional and also a bore. What a waste of money!!! DO NOT BOTHER WITH IT. IT IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!!!! I would give it a negative rating if it was possible.

I've actually read this book twice (the second time by mistake but I kept on reading, anyway) and for me it was an ok read (both times). It had most of what I usually look for in a romance book: Alpha Male, Beautiful Heroine, and lots of crazy & illogical mix-ups, etc. Yes, you can call me shallow LOL. But that's why this is fiction. It's not meant to be taken so seriously as most of the reviewers seem to be doing with their literary critiques. By the way, I'm not making sarcasm here-just being droll :D I love most, if not all, romance books (this one included) simply for the escapism of it. That's why I read these types of books (badly written or otherwise), not for their critical acclamation (although some authors have done it!). If it's bad, just point at it and giggle.

With that said, I'd like to hypcritically offer a few of my opinions on what I read (a few spoilers coming up) heh heh. For one, the hero was doing the Alpha routine a tad overboard and venturing into jerk territory. I mean after he's supposedly figured out his feelings for the heroine and then thinking he's lost her (twice!), what does he do? Why, he "made the mistake of letting [his vindictive ex-mistress] back into [his] bed for a night or two". What, he couldn't even remember if it was one night or two? And then on the second time he screwed up his chances with the heroine, he's so morose and dysfunctional that he went to bed with different prostitues (foreigners, of course) every night. Yeah, I'm not sure what the significance of the foreign cyprians was.

The first instance I can accept, as it was part of the whole pain and heartache the heroine must seemingly always have to suffer in these stories. But I believe the author could have held back on the second information about the expensive London madame and her foreign hoes. It just made the hero that much more callous in my view when I was just starting to like him (and this was towards the end of the book). So note to author: sometimes too much information is just that.

Also, I'm really not a big fan of sub-plots that include secondary characters having their own little romance on the side. In this book that second love story was the hero's mother finding a second chance at love, well technically the first as her first marriage was a loveless one. The story was kinda sweet in an icky kind of way. So on my second reading, I just skipped over those parts. No, thanks.

Overall, if you like your heros and heroines to lust at first sight (I mean love), or if you like alpha males who tip the scale of the cad-o-meter, or if you like a lot of really screwed up logic and misunderstanding just to cause the necessary friction in a story, or pretty much NOT want to delve too deeply, and read some sexy scenes - then this book is a good read. :)

My only problem with this book was the ending. I brought this book at night. Started to read it and it was very good despite the reviews. I was surprised somewhat because it held my attention. I woke up the next morning and started to read it again. I just didn't want to put the book down. I wanted to know what would happen next. I actually had to go out on a few errands and it's a good thing I was with someone because I didn't have to drive and I could read my book while driving from place to place. I was one of those things when a book is so good you just don't want to be bothered.

It was a rags to riches story. Alexandra is improvised and Stephen is wealthy. I honestly wish we didn't have so much time spent on Julia and her love story. I mean it was a good 8-10 pages though the entire book here and there.I just didn't care enough because I wanted a read more about Alexandra and Stephen. The reason for me not giving this book a 5 is because I feel towards the end she could have developed the story a little bit more with the two. Maybe they could have had a picnic or went to the park. The love scenes were not the best. They had one and then after that they kissed and such and we were told they kind of made love. I feel Brenda could have added an extra 20 pages to help develop the love they shared because at the end Stephen did not even tell Alexandra that he loved her. He told her everything but. He needed her, She was his light, He couldn't live without her and such but not "I love you" I couldn't believe it I was so mad. I think this book fell off when Owen came into the picture which was well towards the end.

My complaints:

Lacked great love scenes
Lacked development of characters spending time together and falling in love
Lacked hero telling heroine he loved her'

Otherwise I would give it a 3 but I can't give it less than a 4 just because I enjoyed the book and could not put it down until those last maybe 20 pages when Owen came into the picture. It bothers me how the book ended.

Not at all up to Joyce's standards. Alexandra is unbelievably weak and timid. The Duke is Alpha male squared -- arrogant, unfeeling, rude, unlikable. Not redeemed. He was supposedly handsome but came across ugly to me. I also felt a good editing job would have cleaned up some sloppy writing.

This book is not your typical Brenda Joyce novel. First, the hero is a complete bore, and is totally not the "Alpha-Male" type that I'm used to reading from Brenda Joyce. He seemed so weak to me. Constantly being afraid of his fathers ghost, and not stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for his actions quickly enough. Second, the side stories took up too much space, making the actual story for the hero and heroine seem a lot shorter, and completely lacking in so many ways. There just wasn't enough growth or progress, and very little angst and passion for Alexandra and Stephen.

After finishing the book, I came away thinking that the hero and heroine are best suited apart, rather than together. I didn't get the feeling that these two actually LOVE each other.