Customer Reviews

More Than You Wished (Zebra Historical Romance)

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

 

 

Fierce Bria still struggles to recover her family's losses ten years following the conclusion of the Civil War. The years of reconstruction in the wake of the death of two of her brothers, and her mother's remarriage have resulted in the ownership of Concord Plantation falling into the hands of her stepfather Orrin Foster. When New Yorker Lucas Kincaid arrives at the plantation looking for work, Bria sees her opportunity to regain ownership of her home.

Luke can't help falling for this woman who rides like a Valkyrie and defies convention when necessary. Soon Luke finds himself living for stolen moments with her and falling into her plans for a marriage of convenience. Luke has his own reason to seek vengeance on Bria's cruel and abusive stepfather. As the love between Luke and Bria blossoms, and transforming Concord Plantation into its original beauty, a dangerous game of murder begins, threatening the lives of both Bria and Luke.

MORE THAN YOU WISHED will fulfill the most discerning romantic heart's desires. The touching love story, intriguing plot, and wonderful characters create a fascinating read. Jo Goodman masterfully recreates the Reconstruction with an eye toward historical accuracy and a heart toward love of the time and place. This is one of those marvelous romances that you won't want to put down! Indeed, MORE THAN YOU WISHED comes very highly recommended.

I am finding that past good authors have fizzled out, and I have been searching for more good authors. To me a good author writes for the mature reader, and doesn't follow the traditional plot lines. This was my first book by Goodman. I found it to be excellent. I read the negative reviews and really have to wonder about those who wrote them?? As I was reading this book, I suspected that Bria was raped. I wondered how the author would handle it? She dealt with it straight on as reallity would have. It was obvious that Bria was very effected by the rape. Luke was a very giving and considerate man. When it came to Bria, he was mostly selfless. His love and gentleness gave her back her soul! The first love scene was extreemly moving and those that followed held their own. The intimacy was boldly written and very well done. Are there any men that make love the way Luke did? Men could learn a lot from reading this story. I liked how the story didn't follow convention, like a murder that was highly suspect but no one persued their suspicions. At the end, instead of the usual story line of the female lead being in danger, it was the male lead that was in danger. And, the ending surprize was very uplifting. I, also, loved the dialogue between Bria and Luke. It was at times short and to the point. I loved how they were honest with each other and their wasn't a lot of withholding or lying. This was a very good story and I hope the negative reviews won't stop anyone from reading it. I hope Goodman has produced more good stories because I will definitely buy more of them.

My favorite authors are not writing good books anymore (in my opinion, anyway). Authors like Judith McNaught and LaVryle Spencer. It seemed like all the other romances were really insipid and I couldn't read past the second page, until someone lent me this book. I'm sooo glad I can look forward to many books by an author that I can take seriously (as seriously as one can take romance books). I loved the first time Luke and Bria "did it". It was unique, touching, and a bit, uh, stimulating. I really enjoyed this book.

In 1875 Carolinas, New Yorker Lucas Kincaid asks Bria Hamilton for a job as a handyman on the family estate. Bria offers an entirely different position. Desperately wanting to gain ownership of the Concord Plantation back into the Hamilton family and away from her stepfather, Philadelphian Orrin Foster, she offers a marriage of convenience to a surprised Lucas.

Lucas sees Bria as an avenue of vengeance for his own demons. As Lucas and Bria become better acquainted, they fall in love. However, as they come closer to changing Concord back to its pre Civil War name of two-plus centuries, Henley, someone begins killing people and threatening Bria and Lucas.

MORE THAN YOU WISHED, the sequel to MORE THAN YOU KNOW, is a warm Reconstruction romance that provides intriguing insight into the era in the Charleston area. The historically enriched story line moves quickly forward due to the actions of the lead characters, people the audience will respect and hope that they overcome personal and external land mines. Jo Goodman has written a novel that her fans will care what happens to the key cast members.

Harriet Klausner

Jo Goodman is an author found on my favorites' list, but MORE THAN YOU WISHED is a miss! When I start counting the pages left in a book, I realize the story is in trouble!

So what went wrong?
Could it be the story's pretense was inadequate? Yes!
Or was it the substandard, shrouded mystery? That too!

MORE THAN YOU WISHED is Book 2 in Goodman's HAMILTON SERIES, too bad it didn't have the same "superb" design as its predecessor, MORE THAN YOU KNOW. Jo Goodman introduced Bria Hamilton in Book 1 and the shadows and implications of her life were well drawn, causing this reader to fully anticipate and picture her story. However, the long awaited results were pure disappointment!
Grade: C-

MaryGrace Meloche.

Jo Goodman's More Than You Wished was lacking as a sequal to Rand and Claires' story. Part of the problem was in the printing chapters seven and eight were printed twice and nine was omitted entirely. There were to many issues touched on briefly surviving a rape, domestic abuse and racial discrimination. It would have made a better story to take one of these substancial issues and explore it more. It was nice to have Luke's character as gentle as he was with Bria. I liked their relationship but the story didn't flow.

There is one thing I can't get over in this book...the non-stop head-hopping. It seems like every paragraph changes POV, and I have to stop and backtrack to figure out who's thinking. It keeps taking me out of the story, so I really can't continue with it. It doesn't seem logical that she would be sitting there in a job interview (and how did she see every detail of his body when she was sitting behind a desk? and why did we have to know every detail of everyone's body down to their fingernails?) and freely tell him (a stranger) about her family's buried treasure.

Overall, it's the head-hopping I can't get behind.

I read the first hundred pages and found that to be a rather laborious project. I could not connect with either Bria or Luke. The history seems to be very accurate, however, the story line falls so flat in the beginning of the book that I just could not waste my time waiting to see if things improved.