Customer Reviews

Keeper of the Swans (Signet Regency Romance)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first book I have read by Ms. Butler and loved every word. Diana Exeley is very different from the mealy mouth missish types in so many books. Who couldn't love Romulus Perrin with his gentle strength. Her story is out of the ordinary, from the usual Regency and has some secondary characters that will surprise you. I highly recommend this book and hope to find more written by her. Loved her unexpected ending.

Since Nancy Butler's first book, LORD MONTEITH'S GIFT, was released last year I've awaited another one from this marvelous author. KEEPER OF THE SWANS is no disappointment. It is the story of a very real human being and how life can deal you a hard blow, but also how the touch of another human being can help heal your wounds. Allegra/Diana is delightful in her innocence and worldly in her instinctive ability to know what needs to be done.

I commend Nancy Butler on a wonder second book, an extremely enjoyable read and characters that will stay with me until her next book. Get this one now, you'll keep it forever.

I loved this book. The story was unusual as it's set in the quaint cottege, of the tortured hero Romulus. The heroine, Allergra, is well written and caring.

Most of the other reviewers pretty much summed up this lovely book. But I disagree with two reviewers points.

1-was racy-while this book did have more intimate scenes than most regencies, it was no where near as explicit as most historical or contemporary romances. The scenes are very tastefully written, with love and not just sex, and should not offend MOST readers.

2-the book was melodramactic-I found that it was exciting, and that the action helped to pull all the characters together and finish the story nicely.

This the the second book I've read by Ms. Butler and I highly recommend her.
5 stars

If you like heroes wounded in body and spirit, heroines with soft hearts and solid characters, adorable critters, enigmatic gypsy matrons and poachers on the Thames...and villains to hiss at... you will love this romance novel.

A marvelous and unique setting (an island in the middle of the Thames) is the main location for much of the story. I like my Regencies well-researched and this one appears to fit the bill. Engaging hero and heroine, and even the nasty fiance' is somewhat redeemed (I like it when even the villains are human!).

I am a sucker for sentimental, touching romance. I really loved the setting, and the parts about the swans were unusual and interesting. The only thing that kind of spoiled the whole effect was that I found the abduction and incarceration of the hero to be too melodramatic for me(and I usually tolerate melodrama well!) It just didn't ring true for some reason. I felt that it was over-done. I do like the writing style of the writer, and will try some of her other books. I probably will keep this book, just because it is unusual, but is isn't one I would tend to re-read as often as some of my other "keeper" books.

The Keeper of the Swans was an unusual story with a setting and H/H that did not really fit into the regency frame. It is, briefly, the story of a young woman from a good background who finds that the arranged marriage she is about to enter is unacceptable to her. Diana learns that her fiance is full of flaws that cause her to lose any esteem for him. She flees, precipitately, and nearly drowns in the Thames. Rescued by the hero, Romulus, she elects to pretend amnesia in order to stay with him and, ultimately learn more about both him and herself.

Romulus lives on a small island in the Thames and is a gamekeeper looking after the waterfowl in the immediate area to keep them safe from poachers. Rom is a man with A Past. There are secrets, allusions to madness and a whiff of a foreign background. Gradually we learn more of his sad background and heroic military past but always there is a little hint that Rom is not what he seems.

There are peripheral secondary characters, gypsies, suspicious villagers and poacher-villains who move the plot along but, in essence, this is a Lost Heir story which I had guessed in the first couple of chapters and, indeed, I figured out who early on.

The main surprise is the redemption of the original villain, the purportedly "nasty" fiance from whom Diana flees.

There is a somewhat mystical aspect to this story which I felt could have been set in any timeframe you care to mention. If you like fairy tales with happy endings where the players must suffer in order to triumph, then you will like this. It's quite sweet but the hero is damaged ehough to make him and his spiritual journey and recovery very poignant. It was not quite a keeper for me and I don't think I will want to read it again. But the author writes very well and her story line and island setting are satisfying and attractive.

I adored this story. Lovely, feisty headstrong heroine, damaged, to-die-for hero! Nancy Butler's angst reminds me of Mary Jo Putney's. Her descriptions are lyrical, her settings charming, her secondary characters memorable! Some nice plot twisting at the end. All puts KEEPER OF THE SWANS on my keeper shelf. I'm so glad Nancy Butler is writing for delighted readers like me! highly recommended.

For me, part of the reason I read Regency romances is that I want to avoid the overtly sexual romance novels of today. A romance novel is much more romantic if it is sensual rather than erotic.
Unfortunately, Keeper of the Swans,fell into the latter category. While the story was intriguing and often touching, it was ruined by descriptive sex. I hope this is not going to be the trend for other Regency romance writers.