Kindred Spirits [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Allison Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

Reunited after the war, a soldier and his young admirer have to fight their own feelings...for each other.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Honorable to a fault and unable to accept a perceived lapse in his behavior at Waterloo, Col. Jack Caldwell heads for the seacliffs near his home to end his life. However, his plans are foiled by a young woman from the neighboring estate, whom, it turns out, Jack had rescued in France 12 years earlier when she was an orphaned child. Kept prisoner on her country estate by her guardian, who has designs on her inheritance and has convinced everyone that she is mad, Marianne Barnett is in danger, and Jack is determined to help. A melancholic hero whose self-esteem is damaged almost beyond redemption and a heroine whose physical and emotional isolation has rendered her hysterical around strangers find new life-and love-when they begin to help each other to heal. Darker and more introspective than some Regencies, this thought-provoking, intelligent romance is sure to appeal to readers who expect more from their Regencies than light diversion. Lane (The Purloined Papers) is a popular Regency writer who, in the tradition of Mary Balogh, pushes the edges of the genre; she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. [Note: Signet has changed the look of its Regency covers beginning this month. They now bear a surprising resemblance to those of the Zebra Regencies.]
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Ms. Lane never fails to deliver the goods. (Romantic Times) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Chivers; Lrg edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075407322X
• ISBN-13: 978-0754073222
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars painful to read, September 10, 2010

By 

Aidan McBride (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kindred Spirits (Signet Regency Romance) (Kindle Edition)

After reading the sample and the three for-the-most-part positive reviews already posted, I took a chance on what sounded like a potentially overly-dramatic, corny novel. I was heavily disappointed. While it is not the worst I've read, this story is not one I'll be wasting my time re-reading. The characters fell in love unbelievably fast, and I would have missed it completely if I hadn't been told that they were "in love". The same issues were rehashed over and over, until the entire situation grates on you so much that you want to shake the hero and heroine. There was also massive build up to the love scene, but it never arrived. After a cheesy one-liner, the scene ends. All of the problems were resolved quickly and unbelievably, and made for an unsatisfactory ending. I would not recommend this book to anyone who likes mature, intelligent characters in a romance.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a riveting read, November 9, 2002

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kindred Spirits (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

A word of warning: while I really did enjoy reading "Kindred Spirits," quite a bit, I must confess that the novel did drag a bit halfway through the book, and that while (for the most part) I did find myself sympathising with the heroine, Marianne Barnett, I did also find myself growing mildly exasperated with her inability to come to grips with her fears -- and perhaps this was because Allison Lane dwelt a little bit too long (and too often) on this subplot!

Colonel Jack Caldwell, haunted by what happened at Waterloo, and afraid that he had finally succumbed to his family legacy of brutality and cowardice, has decide to try and end his life. However when he finds the spot from which he will hurl his body off, he's interrupted by Miss Marianne Barnett, a young lady he rescued from the horrors of the French Revolution twelve years ago. It appears that Marianne owns and has been living on the estate next to the one he has recently inherited. Now, Marianne has her own share of demons. Twelve years ago, Marianne watched her family die at the hands of a French mob. That, together with the unkindness she experienced at the hands of her remaining family has given her a fear of strangers, and she's spent the past twelve years living in seclusion at her family estate. Now, however, with her trust about to end, Marianne will have full control of her inheritance, and she realises that she will have to learn how to overcome her fears. How she wishes that there was someone she could turn to and confide her fears. And then she sees Jack and recognises him as her valiant rescuer from the past. Realising that she had interrupted a suicide attempt, Marianne quickly decides to confide her fears to Jack, hoping that she will turn his mind from thoughts of death, and that he will, somehow, rescue her again. Will Marianne diversionary tactics work? But little do Jack and Marianne realise that danger comes not from their pasts but from a desperate and unscrupulous relative out to steal Marianne's inheritance, and who will stop at nothing in order to obtain this desired result...

On the whole, "Kindred Spirits" was really good read. Allison Lane has real knack for spinning a good yarn and for providing with us with sympathetic and engaging primary characters. However, while the story did unfold seamlessly for most of the book, once the scene of action changed from the country to London, I did think that things began to lag a bit. I didn't think that there was any good reason why it took until the third chapter from the end for Marianne to confront her detractors and successfully defend her right to run her own estate. Also, while I truly did sympathise with Marianne for all that she gone through (and believe me, she has survived and experienced a great deal of cruelty, brutality and grief), I found myself growing a little impatient with our heroine's reluctance to face her fears. Perhaps it is because this coincided with the sudden bogging down of the storyline? Whatever the reason, I did wish that Marianne had started showing a little more backbone and grit earliar than she did.

On the whole, "Kindred Spirits" was a wonderful read, and one (despite the few niggles) that I would have no trouble recommending.

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, February 7, 2011

By 

Shelley Godwin (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kindred Spirits (Hardcover)

I didn't read any reviews before I purchased this book but I saw it in the bookstore and it seemed interesting so I decided to read it. I purchased the book thinking that Jack and Marianne had fallen in love during the escape from Napoleonic France, that they were separated and Jack returns injured from the battle at Waterloo and Marianne's tendered love for him still burns deep as she helps him to heal. I really would have liked to read a story like that, instead I find that Jack escorted a traumatized twelve year old Marianne and her nurse to her relatives in England and then returns to duty. The fact that the "couple" first meet when Marianne is too traumatized to even speak isn't very romantic and that Marianne meets him at such an impressionable age infuses the relationship with an awkward sense of hero worship.

Jack and Marianne aren't likable as a couple or even as individuals. Marianne suffers from anxiety attacks or something, which makes it difficult for her to interact with strangers and Jack is the poster child for overreacting, seeing every minor infraction as a precursor to debauchery and damnation, as he seeks to distance himself from the uncouth and cutthroat behavior of his father and older brother; those characteristics in and of themselves aren't bad it's as another reviewer stated, the two of them constantly rehashing the same problems. The "relationship" between the hero and heroine is forced and unconvincing and in spite of the interesting premise I found it a chore to slog through and eventually ended up skimming it.

While romance isn't my main genre of reading I do like to step outside of my box every once in a while and read something different,and while I can't off the top of my head suggest another author to read I do suggest passing on this book if you like fully developed likeable characters.