Customer Reviews

His Lordship's Desire (Super Historical Romance) (Super Historical Romance)

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

 

 

Alexander Devize returns home from the war to take up his duties as the Earl of Standish. Everything has changed since he left. His oldest sister, Sally, is getting ready to make her debut, his mother is anxious to turn the estate reins over to him, his father has passed away, and his love & cousin since childhood, Diana Sherwood, has turned her back on him. Diana bitterly resents the fact that after Alex first makes love to her, he enlists and leaves for the war. Diana has extreme feelings of abandonment because her father was killed in the war while she was little, and in her mind, Alex leaving was her father all over again. In fact, she feels so betrayed she can barely look at Alex. The entire book is Alex trying to get Diana to forgive him. While the book was well written and did hold my interest, I was completely out of patience with Diana by the end of the book. Her character came off as being childishly immature and completely self-centered. Alex looked like an idiot for continuously feeling guilty and saddened over her. Come on! It's not as if he left her to join the circus. He left to fight Napolean, as all the young men of that time did. It was considered their duty. I actually found myself really captured by the side characters in the story. Alex's sister, Sally, found a love interest in the notorious Duke of Sinclair, and their secondary love story was more interesting and believable than the main characters' needless angst. Thank heavens Joan Wolf has returned to the world of Regency England. Nobody does this particular time period quite as well as her. That said, this particular book was not up to her great standards in this genre.

This book was terrible and very tedious. The ENTIRE store that revolves around Diana and Alex was ridiculous. Alex left her to fight in the war. Okay - so what is the huge deal with Diana - hello, he was fighting for his country? And Diana felt abandoned by him, as her Dad too left to fight. Grow up!!!! There are more important things in this world than you, Diana. Alex comes across as an idiot for practically spending the store on his knees begging for understanding and forgivness. Diana comes across as self-centered. Frankly, Alex deserves better!!!! While reading a romance, when the reader, in this case me, gets repelled by the heroine, it is not a good sign, especially since I wished he gave up and moved on. That is what any good therapist would have told him. It is NOT romance when a hero in the story is practically emotionally abused by the heroine. The sister's story, however, Sally and her Duke of Sinclair was more interesting. Too bad Ms. Wolf did not write a book about them instead!!!!

At last count there were 3 love stories going on here, possibly more. I could have missed one in that mess. What is going on with JW? Just when I finally started connecting with one love story, she skipped to another couple. Sally and the Duke stood out, far more than our heroine "Dee" and Alex. I had no connection to Alex whatsoever. Based on the storyline, he was boring and needy. And, of course the reader knew all along that Diana was going to end her engagement to be with Alex. There were a lot of elements of JW's earlier book "The Guardian". Too many similarities. My suggestion is to skip this one and read "The Guardian" instead.

Boring, predictable. The characters are stereotypes; there is little, if any, character development. The dialogue is stilted and tedious. There is no suspense and the reader knows what is coming pages before it happens. The story/plot is spread far too thinly by trying to manage three romances at the same time and the reader never gets any character insight into any of them. How much more interesting to have explored one couple in depth - but NOT Diana and Alex - she is supposedly 21; but behaves like a 10-year old and he has no spine whatsoever.

I have read previous books by Ms. Wolf and found them vastly more entertaining than this.

Lokk for earlier regencies - they are a far better read.

My guess is that this might be an early manuscript, which Ms. Wolf later mined for ideas for her very much better books, especially The Guardian. His Lordship's Desire reads in a very simplistic style, the plot is overly complicated, and the characters are often unlikeable (we certainly walk away with the feeling that the "heroine" has ended up marrying the wrong man) -- it all feels like a much younger writer. Under pressure from her publishers, she may have decided to pull out this old manuscript and send it to them. I have all this author's books, but this went into the "donate" pile immediately after reading.

Note: Try to guess where the chimney boy plot came from.

I actually rather liked this book. I know the previous reviews have focused on how juvenile Diana's mentality seems, but I actually think it's more realistic than some may think. I liked the various plot threads - the intermingling of stories reminded me somewhat of Eloisa James's fashion of writing. I also like Joan Wolf's dialogue in that I can read it out loud and it sounds like something a person might actually say. I do think Joan Wolf has a very distinctive style and it either works for you or it doesn't. I think this book is the strongest of her three releases under the Mira publisher, though the Arrangement remains my all time favorite. I found this to be a pleasant enough read, if not completely enthralling.

Alexander Devize returned home from the Peninsular Wars to assume his duties as the Earl of Standish. He has been gone for three years and in that time, though he has not heard from her, believes that his childhood best friend and sweetheart the beautiful Diana Sherwood will be waiting for him and they can be married. When he first sees her Diana is more beautiful than he remembers, and she's still single, but her animosity towards him comes as a bit of a shock.

Diana had loved Alex all her life, but he broke her heart when he chose to go to war rather than stay with her after a single night of passion. Her father had been a soldier killed in a war and she wanted a safe and dependable husband not a soldier. Diana hoped to find such a paragon as she and Alex's sister Sarah make their come-out debuts this season in London. Relentlessly nursing the hurt from Alex's choice so many years ago, she encourages the attentions of the admirable and handsome Earl of Rumford. Diana would not realize until it was almost too late that her headstrong choices would precipitate a series of treacherous deeds with serious repercussions.

*** As my first book by author Joan Wolf I was not overly impressed with this offering as I found many things problematic; the first and most serious being a very unlikable heroine in Diana and the almost `lapdog' worship of Alex. The romance just didn't shine with the two leads. However, the secondary romances between Lady Sarah and the Duke of Sinclair, and Diana's mother Louisa and Sir Gilbert were much more agreeable and much easier to swallow.

Diana though she had reason in being at odds with Alex after he made the decision to go to war the very next day after having a passionate interlude with her was understandable but what wasn't was for her to continue with her mother to live on his estate and largesse. Also as first cousins, I was always under the impression that this was too close a family connection for marriage. Diana's admirer Robert, the Earl of Rumford was immensely likeable and this added further reasons to not like Diana who made it appear as if she was using him while she was still harboring romantic yearnings towards Alex.

The pace when featuring Diana and Alex was slow, but much more satisfying and faster with the lively romance between Sarah and her duke. I will not completely write off this author by this particular example of a lead couple's lack of chemistry as I was more than satisfied by the engaging secondary romance that shored up the disastrous pairing of the main couple. On the plus side, Wolf's writing of the Regency period was extremely well done with excellent research that will keep this reviewer on the watch for further offerings.

Marilyn Rondeau, RIO - Reviewers International Organization

Courtesy of www.themysticcastle.com

There is so much wrong with this book, starting with the fact that all of the plot elements are re-hashes of previous books: The Guardian, Rebellious Ward, The Pretenders, to name a few. I cannot stand a silly heroine who keeps turning down the handsome, kind, rich man whom she loves and who loves her for no good reason!!. I also agree with the other reviewers that there were too many romances in this story (the mother romance from The Pretenders; and the quiet cousin romance from The Gambler, mixed with the notorious rake from The Rebellious Ward.

I am glad Joan Wolf is back in the Regency period, but she has got to work on her plots and characterizations.

Couldn't agree more with Annie of Pearl River. I was very disappointed in this latest effort of Joan Wolf. It was certainly not up to her previous books, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The heroine was a spoiled, selfish nitwit and the hero a doormat. Lost interest by page 80.

Joan Wolf used to be my favorite author. I used to look forward to her new releases haunting my local bookstore until they came out. Her latest efforts have been mediocre at best. I don't think she has written a really good book since Royal Bride. His Lordship's Desire is not a great book. It's not a bad book either. It's just an average book. I had no trouble finishing the book. Joan Wolf's writing style always flows smoothly. Her writing is deceptively simple. But at no time was I engrossed in the story. As others have said, Diana and Alex's story lacked emotional depth. At times, the secondary romance overpowered the romance between Alex and Diana. This story also seemed as if Wolf was recycling elements from several of her previous books. I thought of The Guardian and Rebellious Ward, and the romance of Diana's mother was similiar to one in The Pretenders. I think Joan Wolf desperately needs new material. She is too good a writer to keep rehashing the same stuff over and over. This is a good book to read on a rainy afternoon, but not a story that you will remember for years to come.