Customer Reviews

A Lady At Last (de Warenne Dynasty)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1820 Kingston, privateer Cliff de Warenne, son of an English earl, understands the need to hang pirates. However Governor Thomas Woods using the pathetic Rodney Carre as an example will do nothing to stop the activity of his bolder ruthless Cuban rovers especially the notorious El Toreador. Cliff detests the circus that Woods has caused with the spectacle and wonders about Carre's daughter La Sauvage, who would do anything to free her father.

After the hanging of her beloved dad, Amanda has no place to go so Cliff agrees to take her to her mother in England. On their trek across the Atlantic, Cliff begins teaching Amanda how a lady behaves in polite society where she will find a husband. However, she realizes loves Cliff and he loves her, but neither will take that critical first step and reveal what they hide from their beloved.

The delightful tale of the youngest de Warenne son meeting his beloved is a warm Regency romance that effortlessly flows from Pirate of the Caribbean to the ball rooms of the Ton. The story line will remind readers of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady as Cliff falls in love with his creation, who returns his feelings, but doubts he could care for her inner wild soul. Fans of the series will immensely enjoy what may be the best of a strong series while newcomers will seek the backlist (see MASQUERADE and THE PRIZE, etc.).

Harriet Klausner

Cliff de Warenne is a gentleman pirate who prides himself on his conquests both on and off the water. So he's totally shocked when he finds himself playing protector to a young woman who is everything he normally tries to avoid. But Amanda Carre speaks to his heart and he will do what he must to see her safely settled after the death of her papa. This means taking her to England and the ocean crossing is going to test his strength in more then one way. Will he be able to turn the wild child Amanda into a diamond of the first water that society will embrace? Better yet will he be willing to walk away from her once his duty to her is at an end?

Amanda's world has been turned upside down in a matter of moments and she is not prepared for handsome Cliff de Warenne and the feelings he brings out in her. She loves him and yet he seems to want nothing to do with her. Will she be able to finally capture the heart of the man who has vowed never to marry or will she be doomed to heart break?

I must say that this read was slow in places but...Ms. Joyce did create some very touching moments that will engage the reader's emotions thus sparing this title from being simply ordinary. Fans of the de Warenne series will be pleased with this latest addition. On the other hand if your new to the series...this is a strong stand-alone. Cliff and Amanda are so opposite and yet at the same time they have more in common then either think. Make sure you have Kleenex handy.

I enjoyed reading A Lady at Last, but that's about as much praise as I can offer. It was "nice". Maybe too nice for me. I wasn't particuarly drawn to Cliff OR to Amanda, although they were pleasant enough characters. I have to say, however, that I totally didn't understand Cliff's resistance to being with Amanda. I understood that he had a reputation as a womanizer and that she wasn't really his "type", but once he realized how attracted he was and that she was in love with him...I was sort of lost as to what his hesitation was. And there was some tension with his father that was never developed to my satisfaction. All in all a pleasant read - but I wasn't as enthralled as I hoped to be. I enjoyed Joyce's "The Prize" a lot more.

She is a moon haired pagan godess, he is a well worn captain who must of had "hundreds of girlfriends" (to quote Stephen Colbert). It is just too much for me to go through another cliche novel.

I don't want a book to move at a snails pace but it felt like she shuffled the deck of romance cards and was dealing at me in rapid fire succession.

Card one: He is hot.

Card two: She is young and in trouble with a smokin' hot bod.

Card Three: He has a little baggage. She has a fresh perspective.

Card Four: They are thrown into a situation together.

Card Five: Sexual tension. This is all by page 10.

And finally the Ace: They do it some ridiculously tormented pages later.

And the rest of the book was just stupid filler: she cries, he consoles, they get to the bottom of things yadda yadda yadda.

What happened to taking your time? I really liked the way other pirate books were put together like Gentle Rogue by J. Lindsey, or maybe The Gift by Garwood, that was nice. Lisa Kleypas has a great pirate romance called Only With Your Love that was spectacular. Lets not forget my favorite the Pagan and the Pirate by V. Henely. Another example, although not pirate related was, Whitney My Love, slower, well drawn character development, was also a good book that had me biting my nails hoping they would work it out.

I thought a thicker book meant I was going to get my moneys worth. I have never read a book from her before but everyone here seems to think this author is great. I think I will thumb a bit more through the book before I every buy a book from her again.

Only With Your LoveThe GiftGuardian Angel / The GiftGentle Rogue (Malory Novels)Whitney, My LoveThe Pirate and the Pagan

A Lady At Last (de Warenne Dynasty) by Brenda Joyce is a great historical romance with some great twist. Cliff De Warenne is the 3rd son and gentleman privateer. Amanda Carre is the daughter of a pirate (about to hung) and a English lady. Her father will be hung in the morning and she only has her body to trade for her father life. Cliff De Warenne saves her and becomes her Hero! Wow what a great romance - pirates, great romance and the fun De Warenne family. Check out the next of the series The Perfect Bride coming August 2007.

I love Brenda Joyce's series on Francesca Cahill, so I am very familiar with her work. This book however made me want to skip to the end quickly. There was more hesitation than necessary on the part of the hero Cliff. The heroine of the novel, Amanda was an interesting character bent on living her life as she knew it. I think the novel is not one of Joyce's best and was too long for the content of the story. Many of the pages seemed like filler to me than packed with necessary development. Ah well. I will continue to read Joyce anyhow.

The De Warenne Dynasty series by Brenda Joyce is great. I found myself sitting up too late at night because I couldn't put them down once I started reading. Amazon's service is the best and my orders always arrive before I expect them.

I read this book months, and months ago. But it's a book that I can remember for every detail. There are certain books for me, as for everyone, that has you hooked mere seconds into the book. I found Amanda very brave. I enjoyed reading about her past, family and how she blossomed from "La Savauge."
Cliff de Warrene.... what a great character too. They meshed so well that you can visualize that this couple ACTUALLY existed.
The chaos at the beginning seemed true to the time, and his rescue of her seemed to be the responsible thing to do. It showed that he cared and was gentle, to help someone he didn't know. Even if helping Amanda didn't deem well in society.
I have to say my most favorite part was while they were on the boat, traveling. You could see Cliff trying hmm.. whats the word, DESPERATELY to ward her off and the feelings that came intwined with their relationship. The chemistry between them was amazing.
Even watching his family interact with Amanda was a treat. Sometimes there is too much background on the details of the house, landscape.. bleh bleh,bleh. Too many secondhanded characters. Everyone interacted so well.
I have probably given away too much. So just go read it yourselves. Either you'll love it, or hate it.

This is one of my favorite Brenda Joyce books. This story just flowed so easily and had you falling in love with both characters after awhile. They aren't my favorite couple but I still love Cliff and Amanda. They just had great chemistry and were perfect for each other from the start. You really feel like you see her transforming throughout the book from La Sauvage to a lady. I couldn't wait to get back to reading this story and would suggest if you are going to start randomly in the series to start with this one though it's alway better to read from the beginning to see your favorite characters over again and see how they are living. I even liked Elle in this book much better than in her own story.

I loved Cliff and Amanda's story beginning to end. I love that Brenda Joyce doesn't need to make her character "absolute" in that Amanda was not completely a tomboy or that Cliff was not completely a rouge. She writes such wonderful complex characters and the only complaint I have for this one is that it was lacking her signature "heat". Amanda is torn between wanting to be a "lady" and wanting to live her life on the ocean while Cliff is torn between wanting to be a gentleman and doing the right thing for his "ward" and lusting after her. I liked that Cliff was just not a complete "rich boy" who lived off of the family fortunes and instead chose to make his own way in life. Alot of this story is about Cliff resisting the "norm" and not wanting to be put in a box like the rest of his family. This is why he resisted Amanda so much...because the Dewarren men were supposed to "love once and love forever" and he just didn't want to be a "Dewarren Man". I enjoy a "swashbuckling" hero myself and this one did not dissappoint. Brenda Joyce has still got it!!!