Customer Reviews

Marylebone

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

 

 

Vivacious and beautiful Caroline Kent, daughter of an earl in Regency England, bursts into a "gentlemen only" area (that is, into a gaming room!) during a social outing. She takes one look at perfect stranger there, and falls madly in love with him. Okay, so far we're reading a romance novel set in a very popular era. One of many such novels...ho hum.

Nothing could be further from the truth, though. The man who has captured Caroline's heart is a Keith of Dunnottar, a Scottish nobleman who's in London on a mission that must come before all else in his life right now. As James Keith pursues that mission (keeping his true identity concealed, even from Caroline, through much of the book!), he discovers secrets from an earlier era in his own family's history - and some rather more recent ones in Caroline's.

"Marylebone" is going to make you smile, and it's also pretty likely to bring tears to your eyes in some places. It's a very different book than its prequel, "Dunnottar," but it is every bit as well worth reading!

As a member of Clan Keith and having completed a solid genealogical trace as far back as Ol'Hervius circa 1080-1130, I am perhaps too critical of Smith's work. I greatly enjoyed the re-telling and historical novel approach of the first book - Dunnottar. It was splended how Smith incorporated a vast bank of history into this story. The second volume deviated significantly from the historical facts but still had some insight of the times and was a worthy read. The 3 book was simply entirely fiction and although ripe with harlenquinesque romance, was an odd sequence to the first two. While the 1st book should be a must-read for all Keiths, the 3rd would be of only entertainment value. In summary, the series rates a 5, 3, and 1 , respectively. To be fair, I would delete the 3rd book of this series and rate Smith's overall treatment as a solid 4. - Trellan