Customer Reviews

MAVREEN

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This book is well written and holds your interest till the end. The bad thing is that the heroine of the story seems, despite her intelligence in all other respects, to be completely braindead when it comes to her beloved Gerard. He disappoints her and lets her down many times, and proves that he doesn't love her as much as she loves him. Yet she still risks her life several times chasing him all over Europe, even though she has a wonderful man named Gideon who's madly in love with her. She just can't ever be happy without old Gerard. It's just silly. But she is a likeable character, and this book is a good read if you can get over your urge to slap some sense into Mavreen

Mavreen is the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Danesfield, a result of an affair with his daughters' governess. Sir John learns of the existence of a child years later, and hoping for a son he heads for the Sussex farm where the child is living and despite the disappointment of a girl (gasp!), he is so impressed with Mavreen's intelligence and indomitable spirit that he makes arrangements for her proper education. Sir John also has a young ward, Gerard de Valle (Gerard's mother put him into Sir John's care during the height of the French Revolution), and Mavreen has loved him since she was a youngin'. When he matures, Gerard returns to France to fight for the royalist cause and eventually returns to England years later to find a very grown up and most delectable Mavreen. Of course it's true love until death do they part, but Gerard needs a rich heiress to help restore his family home and being a penniless by-blow Mavreen is pretty much out of the running.

What follows are plentiful ups and downs and too-brief reunions amidst looooooong separations as our pair of lovers battle fate, amnesia, ill-advised marriages, the Napoleonic wars, the Russian winter and more. Despite some OTT situations that might seem a bit of a stretch (you would think that finding one soldier in Napoleon's army in a country as vast as Russia would be like finding a needle in a haystack but our Mavreen she can do it all), this was still an enjoyable romp. Note: whilst our heroine is stubborn and independent to a fault and she does have quite the adventurous life, this is not your usual foot-stamping TSTL always needs the hero to get her out of her latest pickle kind of heroine. Our Mavreen takes care of herself, with a little help from her faithful servant Dickon. This is the first in a trilogy, the next two being Tamarisk and the last Chantal (oh, wait until you see that cover). There's a bit of telling instead of showing here and there, but otherwise a solid entertaining romance with a good dollop of history.

My father bought this book and fell in love with the name Mavreen, so when I was born that was the name he gave me. He told me that I was named after an aunt of his. Then about 3 years ago for Christmas he gave me the book. I read it and fell in love with it. I think that Claire Lorrimer is an amasing author.

Mavreen - illegitimate daughter of an English aristocrat and a prim young governess. Gerard - handsome French nobleman who steals her heart. This book takes you on an adventure during Napoleon's wars and leads you through the love and loss between Mavreen and Gerard.