Customer Reviews

My Only Love

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Maggie Brown's mother dies, she and her friend Anne are about to lose their home. Maggie's mother had been the mistress of the man who owns the house, and he wants them gone. Before contemplating their future, they take a few days' seaside vacation. At the same time, Adam St. Clair, Marquis of Belmont, and his brother James are also getting away. Adam is a very eligible bachelor and is tired of endless simpering misses and matchmaking mamas. They also go to the seaside, and meet Maggie and Anne there. Adam and Maggie pair off as do James and Anne. But Adam has obligations to find a wife of consequence, and James and Anne fall out when he learns that she has been mistress to several men. Vibrant characters and eventful plotting kept me involved from page one in this 4 1/2 star read. Cheryl Holt is a fresh new voice in historical romance that is truly delightful. Bravo!

Maggie Brown is the illegitimate daughter of a Duke who has just lost her mother. Now life that was once comfortable and secure is in danger. Her mother's last protector wants her gone in three months. Together with her companion Anne they take the holiday at the sea that was already paid for as a way to find peace, plan for the future and mourn for her beautiful mama. While at the sea she meets and falls in love with Adam. She has no idea that he is a Marquis or that this chance meeting is going to be the beginning of a romance that will know no bounds.

Adam St. Claire knows his duty and will do what he must to always do the right thing. He won't follow in his father's footsteps taking a mistress and forsaking his family. So when he ends up in love with Maggie and is to marry her half sister his well ordered life is turned upside down. Will he turn away from the only woman he will ever love?

This is classic Holt at her best. "My Only Love" is full of heart, romance, and angst. This reissue is the perfect blend of sensuality, romance, and storyline. Maggie and Adam are wonderfully developed characters and the secondary storyline between Adam's brother James and Anne is a fine addition to this book. This is a perfect example of why I fell in love with Holt's writing and I'm glad to see that this story has been reissued in order to capture the fancy of new readers that are only now finding the magic of this author.

This was the first book by Ms. Holt I've read, I will try others because I did enjoy her style, and, this one left me torn. I found the inital attraction between Maggie and Adam to be sweet, the way Ms. Holt described their first meeting was compelling. He wanted to protect her, she was drawn to him, wanting him to smile. You felt the pull between them, very believable. Then real life intrudes and the staid Marquess rears his ugly head, and keeps on rearing it. By the middle of the story, all I wanted was to see Adam get what was coming to him, a swift kick in the rear, to be exact. Maggie was and good heroine, kind and caring, realistic about her life as an illegitimate daughter of a courtesan and in her dealings with an absentee father who never wanted to claimed her. Never really pining for what couldn't be, just living her life with what she has, right now. Much better and stronger than a heroine, who always feels regret about something she couldn't change anyway. Adam on the other hand, was not a good hero, he never made me want him to succeed or provail, at least past the first chapter. He was constantly demeaning Maggie, with words and actions, consistantly refusing to accept her as she was, always regretting what was obvious to everyone else. Love doesn't care who you are, where you're from or where you'll be going tomorrow, it just is. If he had come to that conclusion earlier in the story he may have been easier to like, as it was I was rooting for Charlie. James and Anne were wonderful secondary characters and that they found happiness was very satisfying, even the absentee father was more likable than the hero. I can't say this was the worst book I've ever read, not even close, in fact, it was well written with good character development, with a true sense of what it might have been like to be a woman in a time when women were secondary citizens with no means of living beyond what men provided. Scary time to be female. I'll try another of Ms. Holt's stories, I always give an author a second chance.

Although this book was written almost a decade ago, it's realistic viewpoint of how difficult it was for the majority of women in Regency times, is rare to find in current historical/romantic fiction. Do we, as readers, insist on fairy tale views of women's roles because so many of us are working so hard today? How the choice of starvation or becoming a courtesan for a (sometimes) thoughtless noble were THE choices
if parents did not leave resources behind after their death. That said, there is still a lot of good stuff in this novel. The lead relationship is just as tricky as it would be in reality. But the secondary love affair between the older-but-wiser widow and the lead male character's best friend is priceless. Well written and meaningful sensuality, a small "frisson" of tension between all characters as they exist in a rigid society in England makes it all too easy to understand the mass migration to America. To be free to love who you choose, earn a decent and diginified living--we have been so lucky to be born American! Enjoy this well done book and relish the independance that keeps us always able to say "no, thank you."

My Only Love by Cheryl Holt was roller coaster of emotions but quite the ride. The story begins with Maggie and Annie being kicked out of their home by her deceased mothers ex-lover. Maggie and Annie decided to take one last holiday where they meet the St. Clair brothers. Adam is such a jerk and through out most of the novel he is stuck in 'doing the right thing.' Overall my favorite of her books.

Maggie Brown is young with light brown hair and a gorgeous little figure when Adam St Clairs sees her by chance when she is frolicking on a beach. She cuts her foot and Adam comes to the rescue. Tbere is a strong sexual attaction between them but as they have both disguised aspects of their identity and Adam thinks her an innocent they don't consummate the relationship. When Maggie learns that she is to be put out of her dead mother's,(a courtesan) house, Maggie has no option but to put herself on the same career path. Her mother's protector meets Adam by chance and auctions off both house and Maggie to him. Adam is incensed at having been deceived by Maggie as to her identity, her protector having informed him falsely that he had already bedded Maggie and can vouch for her charms. There follows a very hot scene where Adam forcibly removes Maggie to her house and has sex with her for the first time. The rest of the book twists and turns around their developing relationship where Adam's rigid ideas about the correct way to lead his life (being a marquis and having the marry the right woman etc)are put to the test. He finally realises that he cannot live without her but in getting to that stage he hurts her so badly that he very nearly loses her in the process. This is a thorougly engrossing read which pulls on the heart strings and other areas of the anatomy having all tbe explicit qualities Cheryl Holt is known for. Highly recommended.

I have read almost all that Holt has written and this being one of her earlier works I am truly impressed. Maggie was just a truly lovely heroine. She was so full of goodness, honesty and love she actually made Adam at times a loving bearable person. Unfortunately Adam was not raised in love and he knew only duty and responsibility and hated ever aspect of his dreary life.
It is so evident from the first moments that Adam and Maggie fall hopelessly in love - even though at times Adam does and says such dispicable things - only Maggie could love him enough to forgive him. He is so stubborn and allows his beliefs to rule him. He refuses to attend his brothers wedding because he is marrying his mistress. Adam just cannot accept that James would lower himself. As you watch Adam totally make a mess out of his entire life, and loose all the relationships that mean anything to him and is left alone with his dreadful mother and a horrible unfeeling finace while Maggie is surrounded by all those that could have loved Adam. This is a story so full of love and pain that you cannot stop reading because you are hoping for a wonderful ending to some of the tragic and sad events that fill the last 1/4 of the book. While at times you want to scream and throttle Adam, you have to know that if wonderful Maggie could always see the good in him that eventually he would come to terms with the disaster that is his life and rectify all his errors - if it is not too late. What an emotional book this is - truly much deeper that Holts newer books, but oh what a beautiful love story!!

I picked this book on an impluse. I didn't really expect to enjoy it because the plot seemed old. However, I loved it I ended up in an all night read. I loved the character Maggie Brown, she follows her hearts but still faces reality. It made me think how horrible life could be for women of that era who did not have a male protector and thank god I have the opportunities I do. Very rich emotional feelings.

I bought MY ONLY LOVE based on the positive reviews here on Amazon. And while the book is touching at the end and well written, it was also a very difficult read.
Maggie is a *very* vulnerable, poor, 18 year old woman who is basically alone in the world and becomes the mistress of Adam to avoid financial disaster. In fairness, Maggie claims to have fallen in love with Adam before he takes her virginity. However, Adam is looking for a "suitable" wife while at the same time expecting Maggie to service him sexually.
The way Adam treats the sweet and open Maggie throughout the vast majority of the book is degrading, and there is a constant emotional undertone of pain. For example, the night after he first has her without taking any precautions and roughly, he tells her he will throw her out if she becomes pregnant. If Adam does, she will be homeless and without any resources, open to more abuse from men.
Adam does "change" into a better man at the very end, but overall the book was just painful to read. Some readers may enjoy this type of book, but I wanted to caution those of us who don't.

Four 1/2 stars overall
One star as a romance novel

This was my first Cheryl Holt book and I absolutely loved it, I could not put it down. It had its intense and hot moments, great characters and plot. Highly recommend this to all romance book lovers! Cheryl is great!