Customer Reviews

The Rebellious Ward (Signet)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

the story of ward and guardian romance-a classic regency theme. Some me be slightly off put with the fact that hero and heroine are cousins-second cousins to be exact-but realistically this was something that happened quite a bit in regency times.

A satisfying, years long tale is told in a short 200+ pages-with several secondary characters I'd love to see in their own books (and may well be for all I know).

A wonderful read for a traditional regency fan-4 stars!

The prologue alone is worth the money. The suspense is so cleverly done that merely peeking at the last page wouldn't give the answer. I was caught and "fooled" until the very last moment. And the way everything gets wrapped up is really satisfactory.

Joan Wolf is just a great writer--and it is a crime that her fiction and talent is not better respected. While she has stopped writing her shorter, romance-fiction Regency novels for years, they are among my favorite books. I would not think of selling the ones I own--some of them more than 20 years old.
The Rebellious Ward is just an excellent example of how she takes a common theme/motif and elevates it to quality fiction--her characters are always real people--I feel I could know Catriona if I met her today on a visit to England. Even the secondary characters--such as Freddy--are writen with nuance and insight which given them a depth lacking in most other writers' work in fiction--historical or not.
I just wish she would return to this era. I love her novels of Ancient Britian as well--not too crazy about the Red Deer work--but I wish that someone would realize what a gem these novels are and reissue them--even do a series on Brit TV because several of the novels share some common characters--
just great writing...

Ok, so I liked how the author made it seem like the possibilty that maybe Catriona didnt end up with Edmund - it was done in a clever way but i hate that we never really got inside his head, yes it was pretty obvious that after not seeing her for nearly two years and coming back to finding her all grown up that his feelings for her had suddenly changed but i wanted more. I wanted to see his confusion and then the realization that he's in love and hurt and doubt that she loved him too. Then the pain to think she was in love with someone else, then the relief that it was not so - all this and more, i wanted to see in order to connect to him. Also it is true the way the secondary characters were written was beautifully done which gets me to the point i am most displeased about - the Marquis Richard Hampton (Edmund's rival). I loved him and he truly loved Catriona and was left heartbroken and on top of that he didnt get his own book so that we can see that in the end he too was happy - we dont even get a mention in the epilogue of what happen to him - my heart ached and I was just not content with that and i dare say i like him far better than Edmund (After all i knew more about his thoughts/feelings than Edmund;s)! So though the book was good and i read it all in one sitting, i was left disappointed. For me it's all about the details and would have given it a higher rating had i known what happened to Lord Hampton...

My thoughts: Synopsis is the hero who is a cousin and also the guardian of the heroine, is in charge of making sure the heroine will marry and have a secure future despite her illegitimacy. But the heroine is in love with someone else - him ^_^ Yes, as the previous reviewer said, the prologue made me do something evil - skip to the ending!!! But they were right, I was not able to find out what the heck the story so I had to read the book correctly. I'm glad I did! The book was absolutely charming. The heroine was cute, spunky and full of fire and life. I thought it was funny and nice that she didn't shy away from kisses from other guys hahaha! The hero was also nice but I couldn't really imagine him as a mathematican, etc. And gosh, even though he wasn't the hero, the hero's rival was just so sweet! I felt SO bad that the heroine couldn't choose him =( I was hoping there was a sequel, that maybe he would have his own romance. Alas there wasn't. My only complaint is that I don't think there was enough "romantic" time between the hero and the heroine. I thought maybe there were stolen kisses or something but such was not the case. But despite all that, this book was REALLY good. That is why I gave it almost 5 stars. If you are semi disgusted by the fact that they are related, don't be. As mentioned by a previous reviewer, this was quite common in the olden days. I don't think they are first cousins. Heroine's father and hero were cousins. There is an 11 years age gap between them. Anyway, this book is highly recommended!

You can always trust Joan Wolf to give you a good story. The usual guardian-ward romance but written with such consummate skill , it turns out to be so beautiful, touching and heart-warming. I just love it.

The plot is surely something we've seen before but so charmingly told by Joan Wolf. One of my favorites and highly recommended.