Customer Reviews

Ravishing in Red

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What a thoroughly enjoyable book. Good, even by Madeline Hunter standards. The plot is solid, the characters are fully developed.

Audrianna is the daughter of a government official who committed suicide. He was implicated in a scandal resulting in the deaths of soldiers on the battlefield. Sebastian is the brother of a marquess, an MP, and Audrianna's father's accuser. They encounter each other as the result of a newspaper advertisement soliciting a meeting with Audrianna's father. The result is Audrianna and Sebastian being caught in a compromising situation and their eventual marriage. The understanding and love between them grows gradually, hampered by their adversarial history.

Well-written, great attention to detail. I always appreciate an author who can get the titles and addresses of British aristoracy right. A breath of fresh air in a genre crowded with poorly written dreck.

After reading many forgettable historical romances over the past few months, it was a true pleasure to pick up Madeline Hunter's latest. She has always been one of my favorite authors, but lately even that usually safe method of selecting investments had not always paid off. How relieved and happy I was to find that this book was a delight!

This first installment of a planned quartet involving "The Rarest Blooms" - a group of women who live together in a country house raising flowers, hiding their pasts and attempting to forge their independent futures- did a good job of introducing a series of interesting and compelling characters. "Ravishing in Red" focused on Audrianna, a not-so-young women seeking to clear her father's name in a war-time scandal. I found her characterization, motivations, thoughts, and dialog particularly believable and sympathetic for a woman of her time. From details regarding her relationships with her mother & sister, to her sometimes awkward yet beautifully poignant confessions to Sebastian, I felt I truly understood and respected her as a character and a Woman. Sebastien is a gentleman and a rake, forced to give up his wild times, in order to look into the war-time scandal for his disabled brother, a Marquess and an influential member of the Commons. The brothers' relationship is a refreshing and pivotal plot point of the story, underscoring Sebastien's character and motivations.

Though I have read this type of story before, Ms. Hunter's characters are fresh, honest, and compellingly mature. I can't wait to read the next in the series.

After a few weeks of reading historical romance releases that everybody but me seems to like I finally found a winner. I buy without reservation any book written by Madeline Hunter. For me, even the ones others say are bad, are good. She puts me back into the historical period her characters are living in, whether it be Victorian, Regency or medieval, and gives me a good romance at the same time. I don't skim or skip pages but rather savor the whole reading experience and don't want the book to end. In contrast to the characters found in many other romances, her characters speak and behave much more closely to the way I imagine people would at that particular time. If we do find a heroine doing something inconsistent with what is expected it is not an annoying, cutesy, immature action, but rather something circumstances have forced her to do in spite of customs of the times. Because of this, the dialogue in a Hunter book is not full of contemporary American speech patterns and vocabulary and may sometimes sound a bit stilted to the fans of certain other historical romance authors whose characters speak and act in a way that makes me feel as if modern-day people had time-traveled back in history. So, this review is not a summary of the plot. That can be found here online or on the back of the book. Suffice it to say that this is a great Regency romance with an interesting plotline and a great cast of characters in addition to our heroine and hero. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series which will develop the love story of two of the secondary characters we meet in this one.

I LOVE Madelene Hunter's books and this one is no exception. The characters are well-written, believable, and memorable. Her heroines are smart and filled with common sense and her heroes are real men that can show tenderness and love to the people they care about. No stupid, vapid dialogue or misunderstandings. This a very nice start to another great series. I can't wait for the rest!

Let's hear it for a well-written romance!

Madeline Hunter is a rarity in mass market romances: she writes great characters, interesting story arcs and realistic relationships. This isn't one of those contemporary romances disguised as a Regency; Hunter's characters actions and words reflect the sounds and customs of the early 1800s.

OK, now let's talk about the plot. I found the story to be a bit reminicient of other recent Hunter novels, where the conflict between the hero and heroine have to do with a family scandal and the heroine's loss of reputation and status at the hands of the hero or his family. But I honestly didn't mind that, and quite enjoyed the secondary relationships (Audrianna and her brother-in-law, Audrianna and her "Rarest Blooms" friends, Sebastian and his brother, etc.) that I'm guessing will serve as a basis for subsequent books.

While the relationships and character development were the strengths of this book, the mystery that creates the conflict between Audrianna and Sebastian was a bit uneven. The discovery of the "Domino" character, which was set up to be a major plot development, was anticlimatic and the final resolution of the mystery was rushed into the last 30 or so pages. Was that enough to spoil my enjoyment of this book? Not at all. Hunter's prose was enough to maintain my interest and get me invested in Audrianna and Sebastian's relationship.

I'm looking forward to the next installment, which is set for release in the next few weeks.

Plot Summary: Audrianna Kelmsleigh risks her reputation to meet a strange man called Domino at a roadside inn. When her father's career was destroyed, he committed suicide, but Audrianna is determined to clear his name. Sebastian Summerhays was the man who exposed Kelmsleigh, and he hopes to meet Domino too, but instead he finds Audrianna. When her pistol discharges their meeting is exposed to public scrutiny, and the gossip races like a wildfire through society. Marriage is the only way to salvage both Sebastian's and Audrianna's reputations.

Ravishing in Red was a bit of a slow starter, but each layer of the story built up in a wholly believable way. Normally in these `marriage of convenience' stories, the man is secretly burning to marry the lady, but not so in this case. They found each other attractive, to be sure, but they went into the bargain in a rational, cold-blooded manner. This historical romance was far more realistic, and far less fanciful than other stories I've read, and while I missed some of the melodrama, the realism was even better.

The side plot turned out to be much more interesting than I had anticipated. I liked how Audrianna was willing to break `the rules' to investigate her father's supposed crime, but she also had the intellect to realized her limits. After her attempt to meet Domino at the inn failed disastrously, she used less direct methods to continue her search. She stayed within the boundaries of what a single woman could do without causing further scandal, but she never lost her focus.

I am a big fan of Madeline Hunter's work, and this series already shows promise. She spent a good amount of time introducing the other players who will have their own books, and I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's stories. You know how there is usually an excerpt at the end for the next book in the series? Well, I read the beginning to Provocative in Pearls and now I'm dying to read it. I think I'll have to buy it when it goes on sale February 23.

Loved it! Madeline Hunter is able to capture the essence of the years she so eloquently writes about. The dialog, the formality of the relationships, and all the details are written in a way to whisk the reader to another time. Ravishing in Red is a lovely start her new romance series about the ladies of The Rarest Bloom.

The rating is really closer to a 3.5. This was my first Madeline Hunter novel, and it encouraged me to try her other books. Audrianna inadvertently meets Lord Sebastian at an inn where she had planned instead to meet a mysterious figure, the Domino, the man she hopes will help clear her late father's name. Accused of conspiracy in a plot to profit from sales of faulty gunpowder to the British army, her father committed suicide after Lord Sebastian's investigation implicated him. The meeting at the inn goes awry when the Domino escapes after seizing Audrianna's weapon and firing at Sebastian, drawing a crowd and exposing them to public scrutiny. Caught in an compromising position, Audrianna is ruined. The news of her disgrace quickly travels to London, where, no surprise, she must marry Lord Sebastian to save her reputation. But she is determined to continue her quest to exonerate her beloved father.

The depth of research and attention to detail are impressive, the plot is off the beaten track, and the progression of Sebastian and Audrianna's relationship is credible, meaningful, and emotionally satisfying. But the two story lines, the gunpowder investigation and the couple's deepening relationship, are at odds with each other. The author effectively describes the truly horrendous effects of the gunpowder on the soldiers in battle and the sufferings of the survivors. Then we jump to a romantic love scene??? The juxtaposition is jarring. And Audrianna's attitude toward Sebastian: --"You hounded my father into an early grave, oh, Baby, you are so hot!"--was too much for me. In the hands of Carla Kelly, the late Edith Layton, or Mary Balogh, this novel might have soared. But for me, the two elements of the story never gelled. Also, the continuing investigation of the gunpowder sale meandered and plodded along without building suspense or intensity.

Don't get me wrong. Ms. Hunter is clearly a writer of merit, far above the many semi-literate wannabes currently polluting the historical romance environment. I applaud the realism, the grit, the emotion, the honest communication among the principal characters--it's so rarely found in these novels. I'm thrilled that the author didn't dumb this down to mitigate the consequences of anyone's actions. This book is an absorbing read. But I suspect that Madeline Hunter has written better books, and I certainly plan to start reading them.

I read a fair amount of Regency romances and sadly I usually end up disappointed 90% of the time. I'm delighted to report that I was very pleased with this book. Ravishing in Red contained so many things you usually don't encounter in romances: well-drawn characters who are neither annoying nor idiotic; lead characters that don't behave like 21st century couples who just took a ride in a time machine; engaging, well-drawn secondary characters that add a lot to the plot; a plot that actually makes sense. But most of all, vocabulary and actions that fit the time period, not misplaced modern slang.

Ms. Hunter has talent to spare and she hit all of the marks with this tale. Her sentences and verbiage are so beautifully constructed I lost myself in this tale and the book vanished in my hands--a good sign. I also found myself caring deeply about these people as if they were old friends. I won't bother summarizing the plot since so many others already have but suffice it to say that the mystery of the gunpowder was quite good and its resolution very satisfying. The author went to pains at research down to the 19th century process of making gunpowder--most impressive. I liked both leads and rooted for them throughout ( a real rarity for me). They both behaved realistically to the time period and had to overcome a great sore spot between them. Audrianna never lost her spunk or power as a woman but she behaved as a woman in the early 19th century would have, and still never surrendered her quest to absolve her family name. The hero--Lord Sebastian was powerful--brooding at times--but was a good man despite the flaws of being a realistic man. The love story between them was both erotic and heartbreaking.

I don't give 5 stars lightly and am very hard to please, but this one deserved it. This was my first Hunter book and won't be my last. She has won herself a fan.

Although Hunter is a superior writer in the Romance genre, this new series lacks the zippy dialogue in her previous novels. This new series (I read Provocative in Pearls as well) just isn't as interesting, her characters aren't as well developed and the plot simply not as well developed. I was actually bored reading parts. I am rereading the Saint right now which is wittier, faster paced and frankly delicious. The only reason I gave this book 3 stars is because Madeline Hunter is a good writer. I simply expected more from her.