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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent in many ways but........, August 2, 2009
This review is from: Mastered By Love (Bastion Club Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
Finally, after so many wonderful stories we come to Dalziel. And that may be the source of some of my difficulty with the finale. Expectations that are raised way too high to be met. I like Dalziel so much that of course I expect much of his story. Fortunately I was very satisfied with his lady. Minerva Chesterton was raised by his parents from the age of six and for the last eleven years she has served as Wolverstone's chatelaine. But she has been fascinated and infatuated with Royce nearly all her life. As a little girl she followed him all over the estate and even got a bit of early sex education when she was eight by spying on him with the blacksmith's daughter. She loves every inch of Wolverstone and its people. Since Dalziel has been banished for 16 years she knows more about the running of Wolverstone than he does. She has also made deathbed promises to his parents to bring him up to speed and see him settled as Duke. There could be no better duchess for Wolverstone than Minerva. My problem was with the plot. Dalziel is told that he must marry immediately because Prinny is so short of money that he is tempted to kill Dalziel so he can take back all his estates and his money. This is the thanks he gets after serving for so many years! I thought this was the most ignorant plot device I have ever read bar none. How can Prinny possibly pull this off since the whole ton knows about it? Nevertheless all the grand dames tramp out to Wolverstone to demand he marry immediately. They actually make up a list of women and tell him to pick one right this minute. This is Dalziel we are talking about. I expected him to raise one eyebrow and give them the Ducal glare. Let's not forget that Dalziel has not socialized in 16 years so doesn't really know any of the current crop of women. He was just expected to choose a woman and announce her name without asking her how she felt about it either. The grand dames were so adamant about it that they actually sat on their suit cases and threatened not to leave Wolverstone until he obeyed them. Every time these woman made a new demand I was just outraged. Completely outraged. Dalziel would NEVER stand for such a thing. But Ms. Laurens has him meekly agree to let them know the name within one week. I really hate it when an author has a character act completely out of character. Not only was the plot device too stupid for words but Dalziel would never have tolerated being given an ultimatum from anyone, much less a pack of meddlesome women. This almost ruined the story for me. Dalziel had to rush his romancing of Minerva because these women kept sending messages about what they were going to do next if he didn't comply. And he never makes a peep about how dare they, or what right did they have, or who did they think they were or anything else. Is this the Dalziel we know? I just had to close my mind to all that and concentrate on the developing love story. That was reasonably satisfying, more or less the typical Laurens. There were no surprises. You know the man is going to be surprised to find himself falling in love and the woman is going to refuse to marry just because he took her virginity. Many times I was reminded of Devil's story, probably one of my favorite Laurens novels, second only to his father's story. Just because I don't think the author was completely true to the character we know as Dalziel doesn't mean the book isn't worth reading. This is just my personal opinion and shouldn't keep anyone else from enjoying the latest offering from Stephanie Laurens. (Unless you're as outraged as I was, then all bets are off.) Several reviews have also mentioned disappointment with the way the last traitor was handled. I felt the same way but this didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the story the way the above mentioned ultimatum did. Actually the resolution of the traitor was kind of thrown in at the last minute. The identity of the traitor is revealed to us early in the story. He seems so weak and ineffective that you will find it hard to believe he has evaded the great Dalziel and the Bastion Club members for so many years. The last traitor also leads me to my last complaints about the book. These are spoilers so don't read the next paragraph if you want to be surprised. The end of the book feels very rushed. Minerva ends up actually saving Dalziel's life yet he never mentions it or even thanks her. Also thrown in at the end--Dalziel has guessed that their lovemaking has had the predictable result but Minerva never tells him the happy news nor is that discussed between them. These are conversations I would have liked to hear. With so many complaints you may wonder why I still give it four stars. It IS a good book and I doubt Laurens many fans will be disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high and others will not have any problems with the plot devices. I didn't think her rating should suffer just because I believed Dalziel would have acted differently than she did. Too bad we can't ask Dalziel! It is a testament to Ms. Laurens skill that her characters come so alive for us and that we grow so attached to them as to argue about how they would behave.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bastion Club novel - Dalziel's Story, July 29, 2009
This review is from: Mastered By Love (Bastion Club Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
Stephanie Laurens' Bastion Club series of novels have generally been good reads, and 'Mastered by Love' was no different. Focusing on the spymaster, Dalziel, it follows his first few months as the new Duke of Wolverstone following the unexpected death of his father. Estranged for sixteen years, Dalziel/Royce regrets that he didn't have a chance to repair matters with his father, especially as his work as a spymaster had finished and he would shortly have been returning home. When Royce returns to his home, Wolverstone, he finds everything ably managed by his chatelaine, Minerva Chesterton. He remembers Minerva as a young girl when he left, one who followed him around; she has grown up rather considerably in the intervening sixteen years and runs his home ably. When society requires Royce to marry, he is given a list of possible brides. However, he very quickly realises that Miranda is the woman for him - only will he be able to persuade her? What was particularly good about this book was the way in which Stephanie Laurens described Royce taking up the mantle of duke and learning how his estate works, relating with his tenants and carrying out the daily business of a duke. His relationship with Minerva was believable, if occasionally requiring a few stretches of imagination. What didn't work for me was the sub-plot of the baddie, the final traitor that Royce has been hunting; very little book space was given to this part of the plot so it felt rather rushed, as if it were included just to create some kind of dramatic tension at the end. Still, overall it was a good enough read, with some nods toward historicity even if the behaviour of some characters felt a little unlikely. Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tedious, Detailing All The Wrong Things, August 19, 2009
This review is from: Mastered By Love (Bastion Club Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)
I struggled to finish this book in the hopes it would get better. The first hundred pages were an excellent set up for a compelling book. Over the Bastion series, Dalziel was set up as a complex and interesting character - a master of manipulation and strategy. In the opening pages of Mastered By Love he's also a sympathetic character, rushing home after his estranged father dies unexpectedly. Minerva is established as a capable and mature person, the estate's second in command. It would seem the reader is about to embark on a tale of emotional complexity. She's not. There are about a hundred or so pages of less than erotic sex. Dalziel decides, for no real reason, that he cannot be honest with her until she's granted him complete physical submission. Ok, whatever - so she does. For pages, and pages, and pages. He feasts on breasts and she turns "sopping wet" and it's all boring as anything while the story grinds to a complete halt. What about the last traitor? What about the allegedly dire (and actually both plausible and interesting) plot from the crown that's forcing Dalziel to marry? It's lost in crimson silk sheets and the declarations of ducal beds and possession. Then it's the last fifty pages and time to cram all the plot points in. Who could the traitor be? Well, since only one non-employed, non-befriended male character is mentioned by name, I wonder...... Right, but the traitor only gears up in the last pages where he swiftly puts his plot into action and talks endlessly through the whole thing. "First I'll rape her, then I'll kill her, no I'll cut her to pieces, no, I'll...." Seriously. Just like that. And it is preceded by all the past heroines saying her man won't tell Minerva he loves her until her Life Is In Peril. So duh, he HAS to kidnap her or they will Never Know Love, right? While the villain is doing everything but wringing his hands and declaring "MwaHaHa!" rescue is attempted! Which leads our villain to whisper ALL HIS OPTIONS into the heroine's ear. No, seriously, he does. Down to when he could or could not reload his firearm. This is supposed to be proof of his insanity, but is the final nail in the "Oh for ...." coffin of the reader's interest and suspension of disbelief. Filled with verbal tics (First you'll tire of reading the word Varisey, then crimson silk sheets, then....) and laughably staged peril, this end to an otherwise decent series is just a chore. Pages and pages and pages of detailed sex substitute for a rich and involved story. In it's place, the author delivers several pages where Dalziel just tells Minerva things. I don't have the book in front of me, but it reads like "He told her of his work, of the long hours, of the danger, of the friends he made and the bonds they shared, of the setbacks, and trials" (Hey, all of that might have made a great book!) And she's all "Wow, I really understand you now and love you even more!" At one point, in bed, she actually asks if the gift he wanted to give her was really the sex they just had. Yes, she does. I've read every book by Stephanie Laurens but I think it's time for us to break up. If Mastered By Love had been my first book by her I would have never picked up a second. And that's sad, because we've spent some great time together. (The final Cynster novel was almost the last book for us, maybe it's better to read her series without finishing them?)
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