Customer Reviews

Noble Destiny

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I was eagerly awaiting this follow up to Noble Intentions, and it truly is delightful. This book picks up several years after the first as Lady Charlotte Collins is returning to England from Italy after the death of her husband. Since she had shocked everyone, including her family, by running away to marry the second son of an Italian nobleman, she isn't exactly welcomed back with open arms. She soon decides that she must marry to regain her former status as the darling of the Ton. So, naturally, she chooses Alsdair, Lord Carlisle, as her new husband. Dare, who isn't exactly in the market for a wife, doesn't put up too much of a fight, and soon the two are man and wife.

The story started to get really good right about then, and I couldn't put the book down. I won't ruin a moment of it for you. I'll just say that you simply must read this book. In my opinion it's got all the elements of a great romance: humor, love, quirky characters, and a little outrageousness. I LOVED Noble Intentions, and I don't think this one is quite as good. But it doesn't miss by much! Go out and read all the Katie MacAlister books you can get your hands on! (I recommend Improper English for those of you who also read contemporaries-- most excellent!)

I happened to pick this book up in a megastore because the cover art caught my eye. I read the back cover blurb and thought I'd pick it up. I've never read such a hysterical romance novel! It kept my interested piqued at all times and I couldn't wait to turn the next page! It was cleverly written, with hilarious plays on words and innuendos in every chapter. The ending was quite unexpected, but well done. I haven't enjoyed a book as much in a very long time. I highly recommend it!

A little slow getting into.. however I thought this one had its own charm. Its a good book to read on a rainy summer day.. Definitly enjoyable

Cast of characters:
Alasdair McGregor aka Dare. A brilliant engineer with a tragic past.
Lady Charlotte Collins aka Abalongia aka Char. A breathtakingly beautiful (and she knows it) widow who has become a social pariah after eloping with a penniless Italian count.
Lady Caroline: Charlotte's long-suffering friend.
Lady Patricia: Dare's rather bewildered sister.
Batsfoam (yes, you read it right, Batsfoam!) Dare's long-winded valet/engineering assistant/groom/butler/confidant etc...etc...(The Regency era military equivalent was called a "Batman" I believe...hmmmm.)

I deeply dislike writing unfavorable reviews, since I somehow feel it reflects poorly on me, since I chose to purchase and read the book after all, and so I really tried to like this book. I really tried. Another thing I really, really tried hard to do was to finish it, since in all fairness, I couldn't review a novel that I had not read in its entirety.
It's worth noting that the first novel in the trio, Noble Intentions, wasn't bad---not by any means a masterpiece, but OK, amusing, well paced.
I'm not sure what happened with this one.
Where to begin...?
Ah! Charlotte, Charlotte and Charlotte. Here is a woman that makes the sound of bare nails raked across a chalkboard seem like a pleasant experience. She's shallow, selfish, arrogant, narrow-minded (though not sexually, apparently) in that she sees significance in the universe only as it relates directly to, and benefits her, and has a misappropriated vocabulary that would make a moderately intelligent seven-year-old cringe. It's as though someone told the author she had a knack for humorous prose, and she has then proceeded to try very hard (waaay too hard) to make this story funny. Although there are certainly some formulaic humorous episodes, in the style of, say, the Marx brothers or The Three Stooges, those episodes are used over and over again ad nauseum. Batsfoam's moaning, self-piteous soliloquies go on for paragraphs at a time (yes, paragraphs, and this is NOT Shakespeare) and are hopelessly redundant after the first couple of times; Charlotte's capriciousness, selfishness and inconsideration towards her new husband and his dire financial situation is not funny, it is at first annoying, and then infuriating; the infinite patience Patricia and Caroline have in remaining friends with Charlotte while she is self-centered, narcissistic and even condescending towards them...why? There is nothing to redeem this woman. I wouldn't be her friend. And poor Dare...the frequent target of Charlotte's whining...does he really love her? I didn't believe it.
Nevertheless, I plowed on, determined to finish the book so I could write this review. And finally, at Chapter 15, I began to "get it." Charlotte is SO unpleasant a character for 14 Chapters so that we readers can be stunned (at the turn of a page to Chapter 15) at the complete capitulation brought about by an "earth shattering event" (literally).
In Chapter 15, Charlotte becomes Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa and Susan B. Anthony all rolled in one. She's now sweet, considerate, loving, self-sacrificing, a veritable lioness in the cause of her dear, beloved Dare. Hah??
Now I'm as able as any reader to suspend disbelief, and I don't mind doing so if there is--metaphorically speaking--meat and potatoes to be had in the story. I just couldn't do it for Noble Destiny. If Charlotte's epiphany had been more gradual, a process of overcoming challenges and adversity which built and improved her character over time...maybe. But one event to effect such a sudden, dire, drastic turn-around in someone's essential character? No meat and potatoes...just watered-down gruel here.

I have seen that Katie MacAlister is a prolific author in various genres, including historical romance. I'm not ready to write her off yet...but this novel feels rushed and carelessly done, as if the author had something much more interesting she wanted to get to.
I have one more of hers (notice I mentioned "trio" above?) to read, The Trouble with Harry. I have hopes...I do really try to like the ones I choose to read...

Four years prior to this story, Lady Charlotte Collins, impulsively eloped with an Italian count. She scandalized the ton, and her family and now as a poor widow, she is attempting to return to society and take her rightful place once again. She had hoped that after four years, the ton would have forgot her scandal and open their arms to receive her - but not even her family was ready to do that!

Her only entry back into society would be to marry a title so that the ton would have to accept her. Enter Alasdair "Dare" McGregor, Earl of Carlisle a handsome suitor she remembered from years back and still single. Charlotte sets her sights, on Dare who inherited a bankrupt title and estates that were a constant money drain. Dare has no intentions of getting married and he knows he has to `economize' to keep the bill collectors at bay until he can complete the design of a marine engine and sell it to investors to refill the empty coffers. The problem was Charlotte, who is depicted as one of the most shallow, and the most irritating heroines one could ever imagine, who didn't know that Dare had so few funds! She only assumed that all Earls had money! She maneuvered him into a compromising position whereby he had to publicly offer for her.

Unfortunately, Charlotte is so irritating that it was a struggle to get to the point that she does finally redeem herself and start thinking of someone other than herself. I found some of her antics and her conversations to be totally absurd. The author has the heroine speaking words and phrases totally out of context, to portray her as a featherbrain which would have been okay if I were in a silly mood, and she were a secondary character! Unfortunately, as a lead, Charlotte didn't appeal to me until about the last 80 or so pages before she actually realized she was in love with Dare, and not just using him for her own selfish purposes. It was an amusing story with a lot of slapstick humor and I can see it appealing to some, but an intelligent and emotional romance it is not!

This is a sequel to Noble Intentions. Previous characters are revisited. This is a warm, funny read. Another excellent book by Katie MacAlister. I am looking forward to the next book in the series-The Trouble with Harry.

I was so pleased with this book that I had to read all 3. I laughed so hard I cried. a wonderful romance. written well. I love historical romances. these add silly humor for adults. It is a nice change to the more serious themed ones. The price is right and its not a short read. I hate short stories. You will enjoy this story.

The beautiful - but knows it - Lady Charlotte Collins, like all women of the Ton during Regency period, were raised to be vain, shallow and think little past the fashions of the day. They were taught to be gorgeous, in style and with only a generally nattering of polite conversation, never showing any amount of intelligence lest they be called a bluestocking. This was a doubled-edged sword for Charlotte was both the epitome of the Regency debutant, but she also chafes under the restrictions. Cousin of the vivacious Gillian Leigh (Gillians story is told in Noble Intentions where she married Noble Britton), Charlotte shocked the proper and stuffy Ton and outraged her family, by eloping with a second son of Italian noble, just after Gillian married Noble. But now she is back. A window, penniless - thanks to the hatred of her mother-in-law - Charlotte is more than ready to embrace the shallowness and adoration of the Ton again. Only, she is shocked to find the door of the Ton slammed in her face. Her father was furious with his daughter for the elopement scandal, and though now dead, her brother Matthew is determined to pick up where daddy-dearest left off and see she is not received by any of the families of polite British Society. Charlotte rushes to Gillian for aid and support, but Gillian, now a mother, is off to the West Indies with Noble to inspect their plantation. She gives her sage advice: marry well and marry soon.

Once Charlotte embraces the notion, one man comes to mind: Alistair Macgregor, known as Dare. He looks well on her - i.e. they make a beautiful couple - he is an Earl, and he is still unmarried. There were sparks five years ago, and Dare likely would have offered for Charlotte, but when he inherited the Earldom, he inherited a mountain of debts that would take three life times to pay off.

In London, to see his sister Patricia married, and to find financing for his marine steam engine, he was thrilled to see Charlotte again, disappointed to know he feels the same, but still cannot offer for her because he has nothing to offer any woman. Especially, he has nothing to offer Charlotte, who will need to be supported in lavish style. To his surprise, she proposes married to him! He declines, which does not deter Charlotte. She sets up a situation to trap him into marriageand what a situation! The plan works, but suddenly things are not going as Charlotte planned.

A faulty codpiece, a circus for a wedding - literally! - and a husband who refuses to bed his wife because he is determined, she may have caught him and used his honorable ways to get him to marry her, but she cannot force him to be a husband, a lady just has to take matters into her own handssuch as shooting her husbandto cheer him up, mind you!!!

In Macalisters third novel - (Improper English and Noble Intentions her others - with Men In Kilts, A Girls Guide to Vampires and Heat Wave due out later this year) she shows she is a force her to stay.

Dare is enchanting and Charlotte and her murdering the language is a howl. Maybe not quite as extra special as Improper English or Noble Intentions, this is still a winner that will have you howling. If you scored books 1- 100, her first two would rate 100s, this would be a 98. You cannot get much better than that!!

Cannot wait for the rest of her works coming our soon. Fans that love Lynsay Sands or Amanda Quick, will love the second in the Noble line!!

I inhaled the first in the "Noble" series (Noble Intentions) as Ms. Macalister's humor pulled me through the pages that could have easily slipped into tired cliche.

So I immediately downloaded this second book with high expectations. The book itself is ok - not as good as the first, but still fun. I enjoyed Ms. Macalister taking the tired cliche of Earl trapped by desperate damsel and turning it on its ear. It was lovely to see a hero insisting on love in his marriage...not to mention a heroine who <gasps> actually grows and matures as the book progresses!

The prose is fun as Lady Charlotte bungles the English language attempting to use words which she doesn't understands. Ms. Macalister's style is light and fun: she understands her audience and aims to please.

The problem lies within the transfer from paper to Kindle. The scanning for this leaves a great to desire: lines break inexplicably in the middle of the line and there are additional characters scattered about. Plus, the spacing between lines is so uneven that some paragraphs are squished and others are far apart. It's as if someone sloppily scanned the written page, created a PDF and then uploaded that. It's very sloppy and amateurish and, at times, detracts from the reading experience.

Returning widowed to England five years after an infamous elopement, Charlotte Collins finds herself in a quandary: where once she was the darling of the ton, now she is cut by them. Where once she had no shortage of suitors, now she finds herself in desperate need of a husband - and a rich one at that.

Imagine Charlotte's frustration then, when, after trapping Alasdair McGregor, Lord Carlisle, into marriage, she finds that he has no wealth, few connections, and absolutely no desire to bed her without both parties being in love. And to top it all off, Dare's cousin - long thought drowned at sea - shows up (or at least someone claiming to be this cousin), stripping Dare and Charlotte of the one thing Charlotte thought they had left: their titles.

This was a charming book. It doesn't quite live up to the first in the series, Noble Intentions, however: Charlotte is flighty and sometimes hard to keep up with, and makes the most astounding leaps of "logic". Nevertheless, it is an enjoyable story with a satisfying ending.

I look forward to reading the third in this trilogy, The Trouble with Harry. Having read pretty much all of MacAlister's other work, I have no doubts that it will be just as enjoyable as Noble Intentions and Noble Destiny.