Customer Reviews

A Precious Jewel (Thorndike Romance)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I bought this book on the basis of the fabulous reviews it received on this page and was *not* disappointed. I read it straight through in one sitting, and then had to read it again the following day. It captivated me. This is not one of your ordinary "missish" Regencies, this presents real problems and a heroine who courageously (and with a great deal of dignity) overcomes them. At times she is almost too perfect, but the bittersweet quality of the story of Priss and Gerald falling in love put any complaints far into shadow. Mary Balogh is one of my favorite authors, but this has got to be one of the best books I've read by her. Definitely going onto my "keeper" shelf and is sure to be a favorite edition on it. Be sure to give this book a try!

This is a wonderful book! It actually made me cry and that is really saying something because I *never* cry over books or movies. Bravo to Mary Balogh for being brave enough to write a story set in Regency times with a *working* prostitute for a heroine! I confess that I hate the more typical prostitute-but-still-a-virgin historical romance plotline.

Priscilla Wentworth is an impoverished gentlewoman who has been working in an uppercrust brothel for two months when she first meets the hero, Sir Gerald Stapleton, as one of her clients. Priscilla is a beautiful literary creation--a woman who is able to make lemonade out of the lemons that life has dealt her. She is a strong, intelligent, very sweet woman who has managed to retain her sense of self and dignity despite her sordid profession. Gerald is a less heroic but still incredibly sympathetic character. Not very adventurous, average in looks and intelligence, and feeling betrayed by all the important women in his life, he deliberately avoids any meaningful relationships with women until he meets Prissy. She is so sweet, warm and accommodating that he finds himself drawn to her and eventually sets her up as his mistress. Both Gerald and Prissy are so afraid of getting hurt that they deny their growing affection and try to treat their relationship as a business arrangement.

The love that develops between Gerald and Prissy is very believable, as are the issues that keep them apart. Gerald feels inadequate and cannot bring himself to trust any woman's love, particularly one like Prissy who has been trained to please and deceive men. Prissy realizes that even if Gerald could ever bring himself to trust and commit--gentlemen do *not* marry women who have been prostitutes (especially known prostitutes with other clients who are members of his own social circle.)

In summary, this is a really unique and heart-wrenching story! Highly recommended!

Who but Mary Balogh could make a prostitute the heroine of a Regency romance, and pull it off? Well, perhaps Carla Kelly, but few others.

Yes, Prissy is really a prostitute, and has been for several months before Gerard becomes her client. He is a shy, not-very-bright young man who quite simply does not know how to relate to women and finds comfort in the routine. He doesn't know how to show love or affection either, and when he finally decides to set her up as his mistress he has to pretend it's all a business transaction; Prissy likewise compartmentalises her life because it's what Gerard wants.

Their love story is beautifully portrayed by an author who has a gift for such angsty relationship tales. The characters' motivations all become clear over time, and Balogh uses introspection to great effect in developing the relationship and the characters' personalities. If you love books which make you want to cry before you smile at the ending, you'll love this one.

I did finish this book in one sitting, and was engaged enough to keep reading long after my bedtime. Like all of Balogh's books, it is well-written, with characters whose words and actions are an honest and accurate reflection of their psychological states. The novel also offered an interesting look at the lives of mistresses and prostitutes who are too often dismissed in other Regency romance novels as simply "non-heroines." I liked that Balogh dared to follow through on the possibility that a man could fall in love with his mistress, a women who had been an actual prostitute, instead of the cliched "pretend prostitute," or "virgin prostitute." I liked that she had the guts to make the sex scenes as cold and loveless as I'm sure they would have been in the real Regency world. However, I was left feeling that while the hero and heroine's actions made perfect sense, it didn't make me want to root for them as a couple. This is one of the few romances I've read where I was almost pulling for the heroine to make a life for herself on her own. I was a little sick of seeing her repeated submission to the selfish wants of the hero.

As others have mentioned, the hero, Gerald, is not really the stuff that heroes are made of. I usually like the not-really-hero-material hero, but in Gerald's case, his unfeeling treatment of the heroine, while in line with his psychological state, went on way too long for my liking. It didn't seem like he had any great redeeming traits, nor did he do anything that I could really consider heroic or romantic, or even really loving. When a hero is as cold and thoughtless as Gerald was, I think there needs to be a point in the novel where he makes it up to the heroine, the wild "GRAND GESTURE" (realistic or not.) No grand gesture here. Gerald struck me as lonely, without close family or friends, and not really wild for the society life; risking that to marry the mistress who is bearing his child and provides him with unconditional and completely undemanding love seems like a no-brainer.

Bottom line: Interesting historical novel, but not really the romance I was hoping for. I think I needed to see more of Gerald and Priscilla in love and happy...either in the middle or in an extended epilogue.

This is one of the most unusual and most moving romances I've ever read. Heroine, a gently-bred girl, is thrown into poverty and, unable to find any other employment, becomes a prostitute in a brother catering to upper-class clients. She becomes hero's favorite girl and he offers her a position as his mistress, under his roof. Hero's upbringing has left him half-frozen, afraid of women and terrified of being vulnerable again. He wants a woman who will do it the way he wants it done, every time (which is plain and simple - no porno stuff here). Over the course of time their relationship changes from commerce to love, and they must deal not only with their feelings for each other, but society's feelings about a lord and a whore who marry. This is one of the few romances I've read where if the love/sex scenes were deleted, the idea of the book wouldn't be the same. I liked it both as a brave attempt to do something different in a regency, and as a darn good read

With Mary Balogh, You are sure to get a good story. This one is no exception. but it is different from the usual Regency. It's plot is refreshingly original.It presents a situation which was realistic but never explored. I'm glad that Balogh did not write about the heroine as a beautiful, voluptuous and seductive creature decked out in all her glory and fineries but rather a gently-bred,simple, sensible and amiable girl forced by circumstances into prostitution and then became mistress to the hero.I love both the hero and heroine. They are so human and commonplace with ordinary situations and emotions. You feel so comfortable with them and feel for them.But Balogh has a way to make them touch your heart.I hope other readers would enjoy it as much as I did.

Since I discovered Balogh's novels, I've been entranced with her characters, the lives that intertwine among and between books with such intriguing grace. So when "Precious Jewel" glowed from the rack, I grabbed it, devouring it at one sitting. It is my first disappointment among Mary Balogh's Regency novels.

Neither hero nor heroine caught me, made me like them, or care about their lives. As one reviewer has already stated, Gerald is a much more tragic character that Priscilla. Perhaps the problem is that, knowing the mores and expectations of Regency Britain, I cannot believe that a young woman of Pricilla's background would simply slip into prostitution without exhausting every other possibility. Perhaps it is that Balogh had already created a truly heroic woman in Viola Thornhill of "No Man's Mistress", and Priscilla is somehow empty, too passive, too willing to surrender to her circumstances by comparison. Perhaps it is just that Balogh has pushed the envelope too, too far with this love story. Viola might just have been redeemed in the 19th century; Priscilla and Sir Gerald would always existed on the gray, seamy fringes of society. Fair? Perhaps not, but true. Many others have been touched by this novel, but I found it a pale imitation of Balogh's other, richer novels.

Like many others, I like the fact that Balogh chose to create a different plot where a prostitute can find love. Regardless of my problems with the book, and the three star rating, it did have me turning page after page to see how Gerald and Prissy finally come together for true love. I thought that the writing of the story was great but ended up choosing when it would like to be realistic, and when it would like to stretch reality. For instance, it is very realistic that the "hero" (if you can call him that) dislikes women, is sexually challenged, and therefore shows no finesse when it comes to the sex scenes, but rather turns the scenes into a very cold and business-like transaction. But at other times we're supposed to believe that a well-born lady would choose to be a prostitute over simply her ex-governess's helper, realizing that she would be giving up her whole world and ruining her chances of any marriage and children. This is even more ridiculous since, Prissy would only have to be a helper for so many years until she came into her inheritance. I never really saw why Prissy chose to be a prostitute, and frankly, it was a little too far-fetched.

I did believe that Prissy was in love with Gerald (for whatever reason). Sometimes, love just happens, and there's no rhyme or reason. But I never got the same sentiment from Gerald. I thought for sure that eventually Gerald would warm towards her in the bed, want to please her, ask her about her past...something! But instead the only inkling we get that he feels more towards her is that he spends the night after sex sometimes and takes offense when people call her names. This, maybe, where the whole page-turner comes in. I kept turning in hopes that it would be a wonderful transformation. But instead, I was left somewhat bereft with how he fell for her. In fact, I thought Miles, a second character, had more personality and more potential than the main character.

I also grew very tired of the same phrases used between them: "You are a good girl.", "I will give you pleasure.", and "I will be ready." I thought it made the two so cold in their encounters with one another. Eventually, they end up together, and supposedly her prostitution is a complete non-issue. It is something they'll just have to "deal with" when it comes to society. Balogh cannot be serious. If having an 8 month baby is risque, I can't believe that society would allow, even begrudgingly, a prostitute among their ranks. There's no doubt in my mind that the story would have benefited from another 100 pages detailing their early marriage since it's sure to be a hard. Moreover, I wanted to see them together where Prissy was no longer forced to please Gerald in everything she did, and instead was Priscilla Wentworth with her own needs. But the story ends and the reader is left wondering.

Since I got the book free, I don't regret the read. The reader needs to be really open in their willingness to forgive the cold nature of the relationship. Other than that, the story is still unique and a good read if you're bored, or want to complete your Balogh collection.

This is nothing like the average run-of-the-mill Regency. The central male character is certainly no hero: he is a not-very-bright, not-very-handsome man who doesn't know how to love, so he treats women simply as sexual partners, to do only what he asks of them (which is pretty unadventurous). Prissy, on the other hand, is not a typical Regency heroine: she is, in fact, a fallen woman, a prostitute. The way in which Balogh tells the story of how the prostitute, now Gerald's mistress, falls in love with her protector and he with her is wonderfully touching. But even love isn't enough: they also have to learn to trust each other. The final resolution is heartwarming, and will bring tears to your eyes unless you're particularly hard-hearted.

Thoroughly recommended.

I purchased this book thinking that it would be as good as her other books. It was just okay. I found Gerald to be a spoiled brat. Priss should have left him alone a long time ago but he was an ends to a means. I wouldn't buy this book. Wait until it's in the library. I will be donating it soon.