Customer Reviews

The Offer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When I first picked up this book, the plot summary on the back definitely intrigued me. I bought it hoping that it would be every bit as exciting and interesting as you would think it would be. An evil brother-in-law bent on defiling poor innocent Sabrina...an evil sister...a kind, but feeble grandfather who tries to keep the wolves at bay...Silly romantic that I am, I had visions of a fabulous hero racing to the rescue of a lovely maiden. If that's what I expected...Wow...was I ever disappointed!!

The main character, Sabrina, was lacking on all counts. The constant descriptions of her as a skinny, unattractive girl outweighted by the length of her hair made me a little wary. I don't need a Kate Moss look-alike as a role model or heroine. Of course, looks aren't everything. A personality would've made up for everything else--but the "heroine" didn't have one!! I did not like the fact that Sabrina showed little spirit to evil Teresa Elliott's nasty, viper-like comments to her (Teresa was Sabrina's competition, in Theresa's own mind at least, for Viscount Mondevale). I kept thinking, "Come on, girl--show some spirit! Slap the hussy!"

Also, it bothered me that she was so stupid that she felt she could conceivably spend five days alone with Phillip without her reputation being compromised. The book was completely untrue to the times, and lacked any historical authenticity. If a young, unmarried girl had been compromised, there would be no course of action except for her to marry the man responsible, and she would not have been such a fool as to protest under the premise of "not wanting him to be forced to marry her for something that wasn't his fault". The entire plot of the novel--Sabrina making Phillip an offer to marry HER--was very manipulative and poorly-conceived. It also bothered me the way so many of the characters called Sabrina a whore, harlot, etc. etc. repeatedly. That got quite tiresome! But, I felt no sympathy for the girl because it was not just stupid, it was absolutely moronic for her to think she could get away with spending time alone with a bachelor with a rogueish reputaiton and not be harmed by a hint of scandal! What was Catherine Coulter thinking when she wrote this book??

I felt the dialogue was very stilted. The characters' interaction with one another was extremely bland, without a touch of the passion I had come to expect from Catherine Coulter. Every word one character said to another had the feel of a badly-written script. I got no feel for who the characters really were, neither through dialogue nor their actions.

I didn't even like the hero, Philip, of the novel. I thought it was in poor taste for Catherine Coulter to write him as frequenting his mistress's on his own wedding night. Whaaaaat??! He needed to show some personality, too.

I have read other books by Catherine Coulter, and never did I imagine she would write such a book devoid of passion or characterization, but this is one such book. I guess there's always bad with the good, but if you are looking for a good read by her, I advise you not to pick up this book, because I think you will be disappointed as I was. She has so many other good books--read one of those instead!! I'm not ready to give up on her novels, but I know she can do better than this. What happened??

I have read quite a bit of Catherine Coulter's book, which I've mostly enjoyed. This book is the worst book I've read all year. The Hero is a total big time womanizing, male chauvinist pig! He continues to sleep (and vastly enjoy it) with his mistress even on his wedding night to the heroine. He feels absolutely no guilt at all over it. This even happens close to the end of the book when his wife the heroine follows him and finds him on the point of having sex with his mistress. She kicks him in the groin and runs away. He then decides that he loves her and is going to be faithful to her.

He doesn't grovel, he doesn't apologize, nothing and the stupid heroine just falls into his arms professing her undying love! Stupid! We, the readers are suppose to believe that 5 pages after he almost sleeps with his mistress he is now a changed and faithful husband. Yeah right!

If you want to read about an unfaithful, unrepentent pig this is the book for you, otherwise save your hard earned money for a real romance...where the hero is redeemed and you can actually believe it and care.

While I normailly find Catherine Coulter's work stunning, "The Offer" was a grave disappointment. This book is a re-write of "An Honorable Offer," published by Regency in 1981. I did not read the original and am now glad. I may have been angry with Coulter for changing the story. Phillip Mercerault (Viscount Derencourt) and Sabrina Eversleigh (second granddaughter of the Earl of Monmouth) are fairly good characters in and of themselves. As a couple, they just don't click. Other than the Viscount's kindness to Sabrina when they first meet, he has no endearing qualities to make the reader actually LIKE him and want the couple to get together. Thus, when he begins to act as a chauvanist, the reader wonders why Sabrina doesn't just pack up her broken heart and leave. When she professes to love him, he claims that she is simply hero-worshipping him. Other than her angry reactions to his infidelity and unsensitive nature, Coulter gives the reader no evidence that this is not true. When he suddenly "realizes" his love for her less than thirty pages from the end of the novel, it seems a farce. The heroine, Sabrina, is described fabulously at first--from her grandfather's adoration of her violet eyes, so like his late wife's, to her wild auburn hair. But when she becomes ill and disheartened, she is remarked simply as "skinny." Did Coulter's discriptive tastes end before the book did? While this read has spunk, I feel it has lost something vital to all historical romances in this re-written version. Believability.

This was one of the worst romances I've read in a long time. As others have mentioned, the adultery was nauseating. I've read many books where the hero cheats, but this is the first where the author actually writes the hero and his mistress' 'making love' in painful, excruciating detail. Was it really necessary to put in detail how much the man enjoyed it? To top it off, this Phillip is totally unrepentant and guiltless. Though it's understandable that his bride was afraid of him and gave him his freedom, he didn't have to cheat on his *wedding night* of all nights. Apparently, he has no respect for his new wife even if the marraige was strained.

Another frustrating incident occurs when Sabrina, the heroine, follows Phillip and catches him about to cheat. She thereby throws a tantrum and makes a fool of herself...only to fall into his arms by the end of the book when he claims that 'he wasn't going to cheat' in that crucial scene. Um...excuse me? His mistress was NAKED, he was HALF NAKED, and it's quite OBVIOUS that he was LYING to get the heroine to return. And it worked, because Sabina doesn't seem to have any pride or self respect!

Are we supposed to believe that Phillip somehow managed a complete transformation only a few pages after this? He threatened his wife with violence, shouted that he would 'see his mistress whenever he wanted to', and all of a sudden, he gives this profession of undying love and fidelity...which is totally unbelievable.

Although the plot got off to a good start, I was disappointed in the hero's moral character. How he could initially be so gentle, and then turn selfish and self-gratifying was a bit far-fetched and extremely disappointing. I like the heroine, thought she was very funny and sweet, butI would have preferred that she ended up with Richard, the hero's friend and a notorious rake. At least he seemed genuinely interested in making the heroine happy!

When I first bought this book, I must have read it about 5 times in a row. I really liked the story, however, I feel that Ms. Coulter should have spent more time on the ending of this book. There were too few pages between the time that the heroine finds her husband with his mistress and when he professes his love. The book started off really well, but the ending was a little dull.

Catherine Coulter lets this story get a bit off course. When the hero Phillip finds and takes care of Sabrina for five days because of her illness and the snow storm leaving them trapped in a hunting cabin. During the time in the cabin he is very attentive and ready to protect her after he finds out her brother-in-law attemped to rape her but failed and still planned to do so later. When Philip finally succeeds in getting Sabrina to marry him for he compromises her by taking care of her the five days in the hunting cabin. He later becomes so insensitive to her feelings almost one step from being just like her brother-in-law when he physically hits her. I thought she went why off character then. The story redeems itself towards the end. I love her bride series and the Calypso Series, but this book left me lacking.

I liked the story, but it seems like characters appear out of nowhere, (like Richard Clarendon, and Charles) that leave me wondering if the book is part of a trilogy or series. There is a feeling like walking into a movie part way through. I do like the fact that Catherine Coulter does not summarize the other stories in a series like so many other author's do, ruining the story if you did not start at the beginning. By accident I bought the Wild Baron, and it appears to be a paralel of The Offer, connected through Phillips friend Rohan Carrington. I wish that the trilogy's or series were identified more clearly. I like to read a whole group at once, but can't if I don't know what the other books are called. The Offer had no reference to the Wild Baron on its cover. I must say though, that I am addicted, as predictable as these books are they keep you turning the pages into the wee hours.

I was really disappointed after reading this book. I bought it expecting to have a romance, but it wasn't even! The author constantly made the heroine, Sabrina, sound desperate, skinny and very frail. And the hero, Phillip, proposed marriage to her in the beginning and them slept with his mistress on their wedding night! And to make matters even worse, she forgave him without a second thought. How this book came from the same author of "Rebel Bride," which I loved, is beyond me.

I don't think I'm hard to please when it comes to curling up with a book, but I have to say I hated this book..... and the characters...... Philip does not deserve Sabrina (what a primo JERK!) and I kept rooting for her to leave him, hurt him like he hurt her and find someone who treated her as she deserved... but she never did... she hung onto him like a love sick puppy who tolerated his physical and mental abuse telling him over and over "I love you". What a joke. Okay........ so the first 90% of the book sucked.... but at least the author could have tried to pull the ending together...... NOPE. Philip goes from being a complete womanizer, openly sleeping with his mistress (even right in front of her!), screaming at her that he WILL keep his freedom and her too, but that she cannot have a lover....... (this jerk spends his wedding night with a wh___, not his wife......) and then all of a sudden, the last five pages he pledges his undying love for her..... Better yet, the ending doesn't even focus on them...... five minutes after he finally gives her pleasure in bed, he goes to wake up is friend and collect a present- the rest of the ending is about some stupid racing cat! What a joke..... DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS ONE GIRLS!!!!!!!!!