Customer Reviews

Philippa

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

 

 

"Philippa" is the third novel in "The Friarsgate Inheritance Series," a series that started with "Rosamund," and continued with "Until You." Rosamund Bolton, Philippa's mother, was the featured player in the first two books, but now that she has arrived at the ripe old age of 30, married for the fourth time, and the mother of seven children, Ms Small turns her attention to Rosamund's oldest daughter.

From her introduction in "Until You," it has been obvious that Philippa wants to escape what she sees as the deadly dullness of Friarsgate for the more exciting life of the court of Henry VIII and Queen Katherine. Her mother sends her to serve the Queen when Philippa is twelve years old. The story opens shortly before the girl's sixteenth birthday, when she is jilted by her fiance, who has decided to take holy orders. Disappointed and humiliated, Philippa indulges in some wild pranks that result in her being sent home to Friarsgate, where her family hardly recognizes the self-centered girl she has become during the past four years.

Fate then takes a hand in the person of Philippa's much older cousin, Thomas Bolton, who buys a piece of prime property and secures Philippa a husband in one canny move. There is an interesting subplot involving a plan to kill the king at the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold, but the focus of the story is the unfolding relationship between Philippa and her husband, Crispin St Clair. As in her other books, Small's strong suit is her ability to re-create the world of the past without belaboring the historical background for those whose main interest is the love story. For those of us who want as much history as possible, it is obvious that Small has done her research.

The Friarsgate Inheritance Series has introduced several memorable characters to the readers, especially Rosamund, her various husbands, and most especially Thomas Bolton, whose gayness seems to be a secret to everyone but the reader. Philippa herself is less interesting than her mother, and her inconsistencies of character were somewhat problematic for me: she is bold and wild in the first part of the book, but later in the novel, despite her mother's frank sexual advice, the girl suddenly becomes an overly timid and pious bride with no knowledge of what will happen on her wedding night.

For those readers who started with the Sky O'Malley series, The Friarsgate Inheritance series will be a bit of a surprise: There are very few of the steamy, erotic sex scenes that made Ms Small famous. Her choice of language recalls the romance novels of the early 1980s, where writers seemingly tried to outdo each other in coming up with the most outrageous (and frankly laughable) terms for parts of the human body. This has the rather odd result of giving her books a slightly old-fashioned feeling. There is apparently a fourth book in the series, if the ending is any indication. If so, I am looking forward to reading it next year.

As I find typical with most BS's books, she goes into excruciating detail about what everyone ate, although I don't mind the wardrobe being described in depth. I am fascinated with the fashion of that era. An on going difficulty I have with relating to the heroines of this time period is the marriage of such young ladies (teenagers / adolescents) to much older men - almost twice their ages. As with Phillipa, I had to constantly remind myself that she was a pampered, obnoxious 16 year old girl trying to live up to the expectations and responsibilities of a levelheaded mature woman.

Being that we're dealing with a snobbish, pouting 16 year old girl, I'm contributing BS's constant repetition of what and how she insists her immediate future evolves into her picture perfect fairy tale; demanding that even the king and queen bend their moral standards and ethics to allow her back into their courts following her drunken, lewd behavior in the tower, to Phillipa's immaturity.

As always, I find Uncle Thomas very intriguing, however, I feel as though Rosamund and Logan allowed him too much authority over the girls. This may be due to his feminine qualities, but I found it troubling that not even Rosamund wanted to address her eldest daughter's attitude problem and marriage dilemma, as well as Logan's lack of parental participation -- easily stepping aside allowing Uncle Thomas exclusive decision making authority in these areas. As the head of his household, especially a Scots man and father / step-father, I was disappointed in him with respect to the girls / step-daughters. He should have been more involved in their lives, not just with the boys / males - the children of his lions.

Once you get pass the heroine's irritating, constant whining you can move on to a romantic story involving her husband, Crispin St Clair. What a patient and tender man; particularly when snobbish Phillipa repeatedly told him he wasn't beautiful, but he'd do. And to think that he was the Earl marrying socially beneath himself to her. However, I enjoyed the intimate scenes, especially the cream, strawberries and honey...mmmm.

The plot of the story was too short (20 pgs), leaving too much room for Phillipa's whining (300+ pgs). I do hope that Bessie's story is more mature and adventurous like her mother's.

Rosamunde's eldest daughter, Phillipa has rosy dreams of marrying, until her fiance' returns home to announce he is going to Rome, to be a priest. Heartbroken, she does something very stupid, gets drunk, plays strip dice, and gets caught by Henry VIII. Sent home in disgrace, she is more heartsick over having to leave court than losing her wretched fiance. Then, things get brighter when she meets a man who wishes to marry her and accompany her to France with Katherine's court. In his arms she learns things that totally disprove Katherine of Aragon's training. On the less sensual side, Phillipa's involvement in intrigue has the potential to stop a plot against her liege.

**** Bertrice Small continues to win readers, even those not enarmored of historical romance. While she is noted for writing sensual romance, the sensuality never strays into tackiness, as some others might. Phillipa is a fit continuation of her mother's legacy, though a bit less complex. ****

In 1519 Giles FitzHugh breaks off his betrothal to Phillipa Meredith, a Lady in Waiting to Queen Katherine of Aragon, because he has decided to take holy vows instead. Stunned because she had expected to one day marry Giles, she informs him there will be no one else. Her mother Rosamund asks her uncle Sir Thomas Bolton to find a husband for his niece. Thomas selects an Earl, Crispin St. Clair as the groom.

Crispin finds the charming outrageous Phillipa quite fun as he sees her inexperience and youth as an asset. He courts her with passion and she falls in love with him. She accepts his proposal even as the Kings of England and France prepare for a historic meeting. Phillipa has knowledge that a plot to kill Henry is afoot and must be stopped.

Bertrice Small fans will take immense pleasure with her latest heated historical romance starring two enchanting protagonists caught in the middle of major events that shape that part of the world for years to come. The story line is action-packed but clearly belongs to the intrepid heroine as she rebounds with love but also deals with treachery. PHILLIPA is a fine sixteenth century romance with a strong cast caught in the maelstrom of momentous happenings.

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed the thrid instulment of the friarsgate inheritence series. I thought that it was a very sweet story and Crispin was such a wonderful man. He was patient and taught Philippa things that she never even dreamed existed.I found her to be kind of whiny at times, but it's also a big part of her innocence and her charm.It was hard for me to put this book down at night to go to bed! Overall, another success from Ms. Small. I am really looking forward to the fourth book, I believe it is called The Last Heiress. If your a fan of Small or you like romance novels pick this one up, but make sure you read the first two: Rosamund and Until You first.

this book was very good but not as good as the first 2 in the series.

I enjoyed Rosamund and Until You but I didn't like this book at all. When I read this book I did something I've never done before - I skimmed through a Bertrice Small historical romance. I hated Philippa - she was so annoying. Crispen was a huge bore. All of the sections written about life at court put me to sleep. I liked Thomas in the first two books but for some reason he annoyed me in this book. I found it odd that Rosamund would let him control how her daughters would live their lives. Bertrice Small has many great books but this book is one of the worst books she's written.

I'm sorry, I love Bertrice Small, but this book was awful. I wanted to take a stuffed capon or a wheel of hard cheddar and bash this brat over the head with it. (and yes, I can see describing one meal in length, but when the characters eat the same things over and over again - salmon, trout, eggs poached in marsala wine - there's no need to drone on for 2 pages about it.) Philippa was such a stuffy, prudish, uninteresting character that I really could have done without her story. Banon seemed interesting, or maybe she should have just skipped right into Elizabeth's story. I don't know. I bought this book because I didn't want a gap in my Friarsgate Inheritance collection, but I'm thinking it was a waste of $14.95.

Because I enjoyed the first two books of this series so much I gave this one a chance as well. Philippa spends a great deal of this book complaining about how awful her life is being a rich hieress and being dumped by a man she hardly knew. The story only pickes up and becomes half interesting when Crispen enters her life. The small sttempt at suspense will be negated if you paid attention in history class. Not one of Ms. Smalls better efforts.

Don't get me wrong. I love Bertrice Small's books. And even her worst books are still better than most. However, this book was just plain boring. I would continually flip through the book to find passages about Rosamund and Logan. Now there is hot couple! I wish Ms. Small would have written about about them instead. Logan was always my favorite of Rosamund's loves. Anyway, Philippa is a sad imitation of Rosamund. And the whole "conspriracy to kill the king" lasted less than a chapter! Sorry, but Philippa and the entire book was boring.