Customer Reviews

Only With Your Love

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I did not know how much I enjoyed this book until I read it again!! The story is perfect. The heroine is naive at first and at conflict with her desires. The hero is dark and brooding!! And the sensuality....There were a few times when I thought the book would burst into flames.

While Celia appears to be delicate, timid, and insecure, underneath it all she has a depth of character and strength that is a common thread in Lisa Kleypas' heroines.

Who could not love Justin? The tormented "pirate" who is tortured by his past, struggling with the need to be free, yet needing to be loved.

Usually, sequels are not nearly as good as the first. But, I think "Only With Your Love", picks up where the story of Max and Lysette left off. We get to see Justin and Phillipe as adults, and we get to see how Max and Lysette's love has continued.

I highly recommend this book to anyone. It has romance, sensuality, adventure, depth, and characters who come to life. You will scream at Celia. You will get mad at Justin. But,you will cheer for them both as you watch them grow as individuals and as a couple.

This is my favorite Lisa Kleypas book, aside from "Dreaming of You".

In many ways, this is a lovely story and sequel to Kleypas' dynamite book, Only In Your Arms. However, there is one major drawback to this story that can't be overlooked and that is Celia, the heroine. She is inconsistent, contradictory, spineless, cold, indifferent and without charm or joy. I can find no logical reason for the very robust and vibrant Justin to be attracted to her in either love or lust. That said, the story is interesting and well-written and I did enjoy revising Max and Lysette.

While I can't give an unqualified thumbs-up, the passion is certainly first rate and I can say that most readers will not be overly disappointed. Some may even enjoy the book very much, depending on how they feel about Celia.

...and I've read them all except for her earlier books (before 1990) ONLY because I haven't been able to get my hands on them yet! Actually, all her books are great. This continues on the exciting Vallerand family but you don't have to read them in sequence to enjoy it. The love scenes are sensual and all throughout the book! That is one of the best things about Ms. Kleypas. She spoils us with wonderful and frequent heated, steamy romance. The two main characters who are destined for each other are very likeable and he wants her to want him as much as he wants her. I really like this aspect. Him wanting her more rather than the other way around as is usual in most romance novels. There is also a good plot and just when you think you have it all figured out, she'll throw you a curve ball just to make sure you're on your toes.

It also reads very smoothly. All her books are well written and I went thru all her books too quickly. I wish she had written more. I look foward to reading them all over again. Before her, I never had the desire to keep any romance books permanently but you will want to keep this book after you read it.

This book affected me the same as a nice glass of wine would have; warm, happy, content, and craving another one exclaiming disappointed disbelief that it's gone already.

I am a huge Kleypas fan, and this is definitely one of my favorites. I think the people who stopped reading after page 100 did themselves a disservice.

Yes, Justin is very unlikeable at first. He takes what he wants when he wants it. That is the point. His upbringing and personality have turned him into a person who has no regard for anyone else's feelings. He admits it himself. And Celia hates him for it.

When he is wounded and comes to his father's to be healed, he is very resistant to the idea of needing anyone, much less Celia. Celia is very resistant to having any feelings for him, and calls him a "filthy pirate".

As she is caring for him, though, his defenses crumble and the good person underneath the jerk starts to shine through. The story is about redemption, and how a bad person might not be all bad with the right elements in place.

I think his transformation from the terrible, selfish, nasty pirate to a caring, loving person is a wonderful story.

I agree, there are some eyebrow raising plot items, such as Celia not recognizing him as an identical twin, and his nobel brother Philippe having an affair with a seamstress, but it's a romance novel - they almost all have some plot items that wouldn't stand a lot of scrutiny. Also, I believe the reason she threw in the affair for Philippe was to make Celia leaving him believable. If he had come back from being a prisoner and been beaten down and broken, Celia's personality would not have allowed her to choose Justin over him as a matter of honor and because of the goodness in her heart. As a reader, I believed that choosing Justin was the right thing for her to do since Philippe was in love with someone else as well. It was necessary for the story to turn out the way it did.

Justin is a strong personality. Celia, not such a strong personality. It definitely takes some getting over Justin's early behavior, but I think he truly redeems himself at the end. His behaviors don't entirely go away, but it wouldn't be believable if they disappeared either.

I say, if you are going to read this book, give it a chance and definitely get past the scene by the lake.

I agree with the previous reviewer. This is Lisa Kleypas' best book by far. It also has one of the hottest love scenes I've ever read.

French-born Celia is a new bride on a voyage to her husband Philippe's home in New Orleans when her ship is attacked by pirates and Philippe is killed. She is taken to an island where a privateer called Griffin wins her in a fight.

Griffin takes her through the bayou, seduces her against her will, and delivers her safely to the home of the Vallerands, her husband's family. There she learns that Griffin (whom she hates) is also connected to this family. When he is injured by the same pirate that killed her husband, Griffin is brought to the Vallerand home and Celia is forced to deal with him in close quarters.

Evidently, the heroine, Celia Verite, is a coddled brat. Celia and Phillippe Vallerand were introduced, wrote letters to one another, and finally wed. Yet, the absurd marital attitude thrown in the reader's face . . .

. . . . . Good heavens, we can't consummate our relationship dear, dear Philippe until I decide I know you better . . . on our journey across the great Atlantic Ocean, we can sleep together but don't you pet me . . . . .

Yup, that is the storyline the author allows!

More incredible: Celia challenges Justin, her husband's identical twin. However, she does not recognize him as either Philippe's brother OR a relative! These men are identical for heaven sakes! Even with a dirty face, SURELY little miss Celia would see some resemblance!

Further nonsense: our sweet virgin, Celia, has a steamy affair with her husband's unrecognized twin. A barbarous criminal who raids and plunders throughout the Gulf of Mexico. So how does the author justify these actions? Celia's crafty husband, Philippe, was in love with another woman. OK . . .

A suitable vacation read - with the final word - your brain's memory chip disintegrates. Certainly, not one of Kleypas' finer moments.

MaryGrace Meloche.

Celia Vallerand is aboard a ship sailing from France to New Orleans with her new husband when they are attached by pirates. After killing her husband, the leader, Dominic Legare, takes Celia as a prize for his beloved brother. The exchange will never take place if Captain Griffin, another pirate, has anything to say about it. After Celia confesses to him that she is a Vallerand and he will be compensated well for her safe return, Griffin takes matters into his own hands to save this innocent bride. What ensues is a tale that tells of pirates, life on a plantation, and how a puritanical virgin can set her pride aside to find true love.

Okay, first of all, I have to agree that the idea of her being a virgin even though she's married is foolish and just a bit too easy. I would have expected more from Kleypas, but then they can't all be winners. I liked that Griffin's character stayed roughly the same throughout the entire novel. Yes he's demanding, overbearing, loudmouthed and obnoxious, but at least he's consistent. It's not like he's forcing her into bed one minute and then apologizing the next. I can respect that the characters at least didn't change halfway through the novel to make them more likeable. And believe me I didn't like them. Oh well, Kleypas has given me some lovely gems before in the form of Suddenly You and Lady Sophia's Lover. I can forgive her for this one.

After reading this book, I do have to agree with the other reviewers - the first 100 pages were bad. The first "love" scene was more of a rape scene and the main character Justin is mean and crude to Celia. But I think the first 100 pages accurately represent their time,in this case the early 1800's. And once you get past the first 100 pages, the story becomes amazing, so much so that I could not put the book down. The rest of the story is more a story of redemption, and no other author could have written such a superb story.

This is the only book I've read by Kleypas that I didn't like, and for several reasons. 1) The plot is contrived and incredibly far-fetched. I know that, with this genre, we are often asked to suspend belief, but this book really takes the cake. Among the plot devices are: married heroine is still a virgin, heroine doesn't recognize her "hero" as the twin of her dead husband because he has a beard, hero has to pretend to be his dead brother, dead brother actually loves someone else, thereby absolving hero and heroine of any guilt for betraying him...the list goes on. 2) The characters aren't...good. Celia is all over the place. She hates him. She immediately loves him. She slaps him. She cries. She hates him again. She can't live without him. She hopes he dies. She needs him to comfort her. She needs to be comforted because of something he did. She loves him again. She hates him again one breath later. Most of the time she's inexplicably using exclamation points after each sentence. She's manic. I can't imagine that any man would enjoy being around her. I guess she has pretty hair and soft hands, so that makes it okay. Justin is a straight up a-wad. And not in an interesing, redeeming way. He doesn' care that his brother is dead. He takes whatever he wants (and I do mean "takes"...more on that later). He isn't charming in a rogue-ish kind of way. He's just gross. 3) The hero rapes the heroine. I don't care that this took place in the 1800s, or that he's a pirate, or that, later, she started to "enjoy" it. It was rape. It's not hot. It isn't cute. It certainly isn't romantic. It's insulting and so very stereotypical and sexist. I can just hear the date-rape chorus in the background: "She said "no" but she really meant yes. She was asking for it. Deep down, she wanted it. She was playing hard to get. I just wanted her so bad that it didn't matter. I'm so hot, how could anyone really mean no?" I don't give a fig that they eventually fell in love. It's disturbing and pathological. I'm so tired of reading/watching women fall for their abusers. Kleypas, I know, is better than this crappola.

Filled with beautiful characters and bad situations, Kleypas has certainly outdone herself in this book. I had written a review for this novel before, but I didn't do it any justice, so I deleted it and I am writing it again.

This is the continuing story from the Vallerand family that Kleypas started in "Only in My Arms" which she later changed the title to "When Strangers Marry". She introduced us to two totally different identical twins named Phillipe, the quiet one, and Justin, the one who couldn't seem to get past his mother's death, which was rumored to have occured at his father's own hands.

But getting back to this novel, it begins with us meeting the heroine, Celia, who is on a ship with her new husband Phillipe to his family home in Louisianna. They are set upon by pirates and she sees Phillipe dead and then thrown overboard. She is rescued by the burly Captain Griffin (which turns out to be Justin, the other twin). Then he takes her virtue one night, (which I'm still not sure why), and thus begins the main story.

With suprises at the end, this novel is beautifully written and in my opinion, one of Kleypas's greatest romances. The hero develops from a confused villian into a respectable gentleman, all for the love of his twin brothers wife. One thing that I wish was made into another novel, but don't want to give much away, is the story of Briony and her lost love. It would have made such a great novel all to itself. Other than that, this novel is flawless and if you want to read a novel by her, this is one series to start with.