Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(4 1/2 stars), December 8, 2004
Egypt. 1870. A setting that gets an automatic thumbs up from me. And what was even more pleasing: the fact that this book is excellent.
Must Have Been The Moonlight is Brianna Donnally's story; the younger sister of the hero of the author's previous book "In My Heart". The hero, Major Michael Fallon is at turns enigmatic, sensual, honorable, conflicted and tender--a rare and exotic blend of character traits in the typical historical romance hero. Brianna, the heroine, is self-reliant, honorable, wise, and is possessed of a very down to earth sensuality that caused some very sensual moments in this book.
From a sandstorm to the halls of an English manor, MHBTM never let go of what it promised in the first page of the book: action, scorching sensuality, passion between the hero and heroine, passion for life and the friction that comes between two people whose lives are entwined with each other whether they want to or not. Unlike another reviewer, I didn't find myself frustrated with the reticence on Brianna and Michael's side when it came to declaring their love because it fit their characters. I also was glad there wasn't the oft-cliched "show-down" between Michael and his vapid mother--that also fit the story and his character. MHBTM wasn't a romance where the hero's entire personality(or lack thereof) was wrapped within the vagrancies of his family and past. It was a story of two independent and honorable people who were thrown together and who found an unexpected passion and love.
Another bonus was the vividly and near expertly drawn life of the British government within Egypt--one that wasn't sugar coated or washed over because the author was afraid of alienating those who mightn't want to read about the intricacies of the government and political system, as well as the tautly written suspense sub-plot. While the villain was somewhat obvious towards the end of the book, Thomas still kept me second-guessing my guess, and that was a delight.
If you're looking for a passionate, vividly drawn characterization, "unusual" setting and tangible setttings, Must Have Been The Moonlight is for you.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This romance was a very mixed bag for me, May 31, 2006
Melody Thomas can write and she creates a vivid and interesting backdrop for her story in the first half of the novel and also a vivid and interesting heroine. I'm a sucker for Victorian colonial settings and for unusual heroines.
Brianna was an engaging heroine, young, idealistic, courageous, self-confident but vulnerable and unlike other heroines she has had a life and purpose before she meets the hero. However the brilliant photographer, socialist and suffragist who wanted to lead an independent, self-determined life once gives it all up to lead a co-dependent life with the hero and submits herself to the rules of others, Michael, his mother and the obligations of his ducal home which was a big part of my problem with this book.
The moment Brianna meets Major Michael Fallon she is lost to the world. I have never seen a heroine who loved or sacrificed more for the hero. The fact that she doesn't admit to herself that it was soul-searing love from the first moment for her doesn't make it any less real. She might be lying to herself but all her actions speak a clear language. She's caught in a whirlwind of passionate emotions heightened to desperate degrees by a reticent and emotionally detached hero who shows her affection one moment and a cold shoulder the next. She pursues him relentlessly, not deterred by Fallon's outward show of casualness and negligence. Actually she goes so far in her pursuance that I cringed at some of her antics. Brianna is clearly beyond pride or a healthy sense of self-preservation when it comes to the hero. I found Thomas has captured the essence of female obsession very well.
Major Fallon on the other hand remains an enigmatic person. I never could make him out. He seemed emotionally detached even as he gazed hotly at Brianna. His behavior didn't make sense to me because the thoughts the author attributed him with seldom matched his actions. He allegedly feels like a green lad in front of the heroine and like wax in her hands but in fact his actions are that of an extremely controlled person who domineers the whole relationship because he's not ruled by his emotions as Brianna is. He claims later to be obsessed with her but you never actually see any sign that would indicate an obsession on his part especially compared with the very real seeming obsession his wife feels for him. He thinks of his wife only in sexual terms to the point where it began to repulse me. I had the nagging feeling he mistook sexual desire with love and never really was interested in what was behind the alluring form of his wife and erotic passion she showed to him..
One the surface Michael Fallon is the possessive, protective alpha hero with the standard problematic past but there was an undercurrent of something deeper here at work which was never fleshed out. Many threads were left hanging such as the issue with Michael's youthful painting and Brianna's problems with her mother-in-law and her initial reluctance to become a mother. She's actually unhappy to become a mother and this thread is left hanging also. And what became of the cottage that Brianna wanted to reconstruct for her photo-lab and which reconstruction her mother-in-law stopped eventually? What did Michael think of her work? Was he ever interested the least bit in that part of her?
Sadly enough, while Brianna's love for Michael seemed touchingly authentic, his alleged love for her never came to life for me at all. At one part of the story while she is already married to Michael Brianna demands from her husband that he courts her because she feels that he has never done so. The author closes that thread with the mere mentioning that Michael now courts Brianna. How he actually does this is not described at all which was most disappointing. I think Thomas should have pictured this instead of writing another superfluous sex scene where Michael exerts once more his tremendous sexual power over Brianna which successfully overruled her common sense every time (most annoying for this reader).
The ending left me quite sad for the heroine because I felt she was not happy with the life she never would have freely chosen for herself and which will be full of restrictions and obligations to subdue her once exuberant spirit. She had sacrificed everything and gained not much in return except a perpetually randy hero whose love for the heroine seemed shallow and of course a baby every year.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lush setting and great characters, October 14, 2005
I enjoyed this novel from beginning to end. This was just the kind of romance novel I love. Wonderful characters. Characters that seem real because they are not perfect-something most novels like this lack. There are interesting plot twists and we get to know several secondary characters well. The secondary characters are not boring. The chemistry between Brianna and Michael was very sensual and immediate. The heroine is the perfect foil for the hero's cynicism and intellect. It was written with an amazing level of intensity and feeling that my heart was pumping furiously with both the palatable passion and the keen sense of danger infused in the story. Brianna and Michael were both wounded, intriguing, complex, wonderful characters. The action/suspense was fast-paced and thrilling. The setting was beautiful and exotic. The sex was HOT and perfect for the story. Melody Thomas stories are humorous, romantic and interesting - and she is excellent and creating characters that are real, interesting people - and that you remember vividly from book to book throughout the series. You want to know them better! I love the Donally family. This is the second book I have read from Melody Thomas and I love them both. I'm looking forward to reading more about the Donally family. All I can say in conclusion is if you like a good, emotional, heart-tugging historical, with characters that leap off the pages, buy Must Have Been The Moonlight.
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