Customer Reviews

My Own Private Hero

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

 

 

Setting - England, May 1884 --- Miss Adele Wilson, the last and youngest of the three American heiresses, was the quiet, perfectly obedient daughter, never giving her parents any trouble. She had seen her two older sisters, Sophia and Clare suffer through scandal and heartbreak in their quests to find the husbands of their dreams, but this was not going to happen to Adele. She didn't join her sisters in their quest for adventure when they were younger, and she certainly wanted no part of a `season' in London now enduring endless balls and soirees. What she longed for was a simple life in the country with Harold, the British Lord who had asked for her hand in marriage. He was everything she had hoped for, steady, kind and sincere who, like her, expressed a desire to live on his country estate, rather than in the city. Although, her peaceful plans went awry, when after crossing the Atlantic, Adele was kidnapped from the ship when it docked to pick up more passengers. Drugged, Adele had no knowledge of how long she'd been held nor where, after having been kept unconscious during the flight. Some days later she was still hoping for Harold to come and rescue her. Only he sent his cousin, Damien Renshaw, Baron Alcester. He was not exactly her knight in shining armor but more of a dark avenger when during the fight, Damien killed her captor and she was wounded. Damien and Adele would then spend several soul searching days together before she could be quietly returned to her family without anyone the wiser and keeping her reputation intact.

Totally intrigued Damien treated her with the utmost courtesy and respect. A known rake, he loved his cousin Harold and though Adele attracted him as no woman ever had, he was determined to resist his cousin's very proper and quite beautiful fiancé. Adele, on the other hand, wasn't making it easy on him. Aware of the tales of Damien's scandalous reputation Adele was not immune to the pure animal magnetism he exuded and she, the most sedate and proper of the three sisters, was for the first time in her life having the most improper thoughts imaginable.

This was an extremely good story as the last of the American heiresses conquered the British aristocracy. It was so satisfying to see Adele, finally gain some spirit. Damien agonized over his guilt while trying to be loyal to the cousin he loved as he knew he'd finally found the one woman who should be his. This was especially apparent when he realized that she didn't really know Harold well enough to know that the life she wanted would truly be found with him. The author penned delicate and brilliant dialogs and compassion into a lovely sensual awareness as she showed us the metamorphous from the perfect obedient girl to a woman of passion in this fabulous end to the American Heiresses trilogy. While a total stand alone novel, this along with the other two entries are a total `series keeper set'! --- Marilyn Rondeau, for www.historicalromancewriters.com ---

I loved this hero so much, I read the book three times. The heroine, Adele Wilson, is kidnapped and rescued by the wrong man, who definitely turns out to be Mr. Right. Damien Renshaw, Baron Alcester, is the cousin of Adele's fiance. Her fiance is a nice guy, (and we all know what happens to nice guys). He can't leave off his experiments long enough to rescue his beloved, so it falls on Damien to do the rescuing for him. Damien is far from a shining knight. He wonders how much his cousin would regret the loss of his beautiful, angelic bride, and he's a bit slow remembering that "not coveting" clause in the ten commandments. He's even slower keeping his hands to himself. By the time he remembers, it's far too late. Angelic Adele has definitely been drawn into sin. But, if a girl's going to cheat on her fiance with his cousin, who's also his best friend, then Damien's the guy to do it with. Besides, she needed a little corrupting. She was in serious danger of becoming a dull old lady with too many cats, so Damien saved her from that fate, too. And since we know her basic goodness will rub off on him over the years, these two are a match made in heaven.

Ms. Maclean's "American Heiress" series ends with this final book "My Own Private Hero." This is Adele's story and it was well worth the wait.

Adele has always been "the good girl." She has always done exactly what her parents wanted her to do. She never got into the scrapes her sisters got into and always tried to do what was right. She now finds herself on her way to England to marry Harold, Lord Osulton. She is sure that she will find happiness with Harold and that's all that matters. She's not interested in titles, or the social whirl. She just wants a quiet life. Well, her life is going to be turned upside down when she is kidnapped during the middle of the night and her would be knight in shining armor is none other than Damien Renshaw, Baron Alcester, Harold's cousin. They spend several days together and the rake and the maiden learn a lot about each other. Damien will honor his cousin by acting honorably. Easier said than done when his heart aches for Adele. Can they have a happy ending without hurting anyone?

This was a wonderful ending and worthy to be a part of this series. Adele and Damien are wonderful characters and their romance is just that...romantic. I highly recommend Ms. MacLean and I look forward to reading her again in the future.

Official reviewer for www.romancedesigns.com

I felt the same as one of the other reviewers that there was something missing. I somewhat skimmed through the book as it never really caught me on fire as the two previous works of this triology had. The chemistry between Adele and Damian was definitely lacking. I am not giving me up on reading Ms. MacLean's novels in fact I will certainly read Lily's story. I have been reading romance novels for several years and this is not the first time that an author will have written one that just did not seem to have the spark that previous works had. I had great expectations about this book but like in the real world sometimes they just doesn't live up to them.

As a romance reader for 15+ years, I have developed both a passion and a descerning palate for my favorite genre: historical. I have read the 'Grand Ladies' over and over again, Mary Balogh, Jo Beverly, Mary Jo Putney.

I'm thrilled to say there's another historical romance author who is fast rising on the heels of these wonderfully talented ladies: Julianne MacLean. What a delight to disappear into one of her books! If you enjoy multi-layered characterization, detailed, authentic historical atmosphere, and a truly beautiful, gut-wrenching lovestory, Ms. MacLean is the author for you. Mary Balogh can alway gets my heart tied up in knots, often with one line. The talented Ms. MacLean can do it, too.

In this, the third instalment of her best-selling 'American Heiress' Series, Damien and Adele are forced to question their loyalties as they experience a passionate desire which overrides everything. For MacLean's characters, love always comes with a huge pricetag--maybe that's why I love her books so much.

I anxiously await her next historical gem!!

The third and final installment of Maclean's American Heiress trilogy is a major let down from the author's previous books. Where the previous two installments were saved by the author's delightful voice, the weaknesses in My Own Private Hero were glaring because of the absence of the author's natural voice. In an attempt to create a deep, moving story a la Edith Wharton, Maclean seemed to not notice that when emulating another author, one tends to end up muddying their own natural style.

Because of this problem, the weak characterizations of nearly all of the characters, the tedious pacing, and the uninspired plotting of this book were obvious from page one. The pairing of a "good", sensible heroine with the wild, aristocratic rake is one that has been done a million times over, and seems to be one that readers never tire of, but in this book, it was just plain tired. The majority of the book's conflict was _told_ to us within the first three or four chapters, causing the remainder of the book to seem pointless. And the only "connection" between the hero and heroine seemed to be a tepid physical attraction.

To be truthful, I found the "villains" of this book; Violet and Frances, to be more vividly drawn and more interesting than the remainder of the characters. I can only reccommend this book to readers who have to finish series', and those who like characters from previous books to appear in subsequent books. Other than that, skip this book.

Every now and then, I need to take a break from serious reading and dive right into something romantic and fluffy. Not that romance can't be serious, but I want something that just makes me feel good, and a good historical romance can please both my mind and the spirit. In the last few years, I've discovered that the novels of Julianne MacLean fit quite nicely into the niche that I need.

In My Own Private Hero, the tale of the third of the Wilson girls is told. Adele Wilson is the youngest of the sisters, the 'Good' one, eager to please, muffling her emotions under a mask of docile obedience. And that has lead her into agreeing a marriage with a young English nobleman with rather tight finances. But that is alright, Adele's father has made heaps of money, and is more than happy to grant it to his forthcoming son-in-law.

Harold, Lord Osulton, is nice. He's achingly nice, and sadly for Adele, so dense that he's more interested in his scientific experiments than in courting his lovely bride-to-be. But poor Adele doesn't even get that far -- in a temporary stop to pick up passengers, she's abducted right out of her bed on board ship and finds herself in a remote cottage in the wilds of the north of England. To stifle any hint of scandal, Lord Osulton sends his best friend, Damien, who is the bad, bad boy of the family to get Adele back.

Damien does get her back in the best mold of a dashing hero. But what no one counts on is Damien and Adele falling for each other, and both them struggling to fight what they want -- namely each other, and behave as proper upper crust folk.

It was this rather melodramatic start that nearly turned the book off for me. It was such a contrived setting and so overblown that I had a hard time to keep from laughing and trying to finish the rest of the book. Fortunately, once Adele is returned to the company of her fiancee and family that the story improves dramatically and actually gets to be interesting as our would be lovers grapple with the issue of mutual desire crossed by personal honor.

It's here that the novel gets to be worth it. Damien is a proud man, wanting nothing more than indulge his desire to run his manor and enjoy equestrian sports. Unhappily for him, it's the chronic lack of liquid cash that frustrates him enough to build a reputation as a rake and scoundrel. Too, there's the horrid past of his parents' death that has scarred him psychologically and fueled his own self-destructive impulses. When he runs into Adele, he's certainly attracted, but the fact that she is an innocent girl and Harold is his best friend and cousin that keeps him from letting his urge to toss her into bed run away with him. While he certainly fits in with a moody, angst ridden hero, it's the fact that he works through his issues and decides to change his life to get Adele that makes it interesting to get past the first fifty pages or so.

Adele, happily, proves throughout the book that she's hardly a wallflower either. While at first she does behave a bit helpless, I liked the fact that she did mature throughout the novel, gradually finding out what it was that she needed in her life and realizing that she didn't want to marry her fiancee, despite that he was the 'perfect' man for her. It's far better than most romances where the main characters pretty much just stay as they are throughout and never really change.

Characters from the previous two novels in the series -- To Marry the Duke and An Affair Most Wicked -- do make appearances. There is also Harold, his manipulative sister Violet, and Lady Lily, who gets her own novel in the future. While the minor characters do at times try to take over, MacLean sensibly keeps them in the background. The setting of late Victorian England is one that isn't used too often, and MacLean knows her research, from the manners, clothing to the social codes that were rigidly enforced by the threat of gossip and ostracism. It gives the right sort of 'feel' to the novel, and helps to make the situations believable towards the end.

Julianne MacLean is one of those authors that has talent, but is rather spotty about the quality of her novels. While she does use rather standard plot devices, it's her exploration of the lead characters inner lives and motivations that keep the story flowing. This one was rather satisfying after the clumsy begining, and while her more recent work is a bit overblown, I'll be keeping her on my reading lists. Her next novel is Surrender to a Scoundrel, due out in January 2007.

I LOVED this book! I'm keeping it, and going to read it again and again. Every single character was so well written I hated to see any of them leave a scene, except of course, when they were leaving Adele and Damien alone! Talk about sparks! The historical setting and atmosphere read like a picture book. I literally could not put this book down, nor did I want to.

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I wanted to love it because I liked the first 2 in the series. But for some reason, I felt something was missing in this one. I suppose the heroine, Adele, never really appealed to me.

I generally liked Damien--her certainly had no intentions of betraying his cousin Harold--although his wordiness at the end seemed almost out of character.

It's not a bad story at all, but for me something I cannot put my finger on seemed to be missing. Because I'm so wishy-washy on it, I'm giving this one 3 stars.

The last of three American sisters to wed, Adele Wilson finds herself crossing the Atlantic for her own wedding to an English Lord. When she is kidnapped in the middle of the night from her ship, it is not her dashing fiancé that comes to her rescue...but his cousin Damien, who could ruin her reputation.

Dark and considered unsuitable as a marriage prospect, Damien Renshaw is perfect to perform a daring rescue. It is only the time he spends with Adele, his cousins fiancé, after saving her that leads him to believe she is more suited for him as a wife than his scientific minded cousin.

I have to admit, I was all set to not like MY OWN PRIVATE HERO. Adele always came across as perfect. She always did what she was told and is very agreeable. Wow! Did she ever surprise me! Its not that she doesn't want, or yearn to be adventuresome, its that she has an ingrained, very strong streak of sensibility. When she was returned to her fiancé, she quickly knew he wasn't the man for her. So she was torn between what she had agreed to do (marry Harold), and reaching out and grabbing what she did want. I did so enjoy watching Adele grow as she learned that sometimes the things you want the most you have to fight for, and that IS the sensible decision!

Damien is your standard rake and would have thought nothing of taking advantage of Adele, except he is honor bound to return him to his cousin Harold. It is because of this boundary he sets that he is attracted to Adele as a person rather than just another female. What could she have seen in Harold that would make her agree to marry a man so obsessed with science that he lived in a laboratory? So for me, the romance between Damien and Adele is very heart wrenching and tender. They are perfect for each other and yet fight their attraction for each other because of a man neither wants to hurt.

MY OWN PRIVATE HERO doesn't have your traditional villain; instead we just have Violet, a scheming sister that wants the money she will get when Harold marries Adele. Because of this, the story has a different "feel" to it than your normal/typical novel. I've read stories lacking a villain were it didn't work; however, for me, and in this case, it did. There was enough going on with the story as a whole to keep my interest and I really enjoyed some of the secondary characters...I'm really looking forward to Lily's story.

I recommend Julianne MacLean as an author and MY OWN PRIVATE HERO. Even though this is the conclusion to a trilogy, it can be read alone. Just know that Adele is the third sister to get married.