Customer Reviews

Red, Red Rose

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

 

 

I was quite shocked to discover that this amazing book was given one star by not one, but two readers. While I value your opinions, I simply cannot understand how you could dislike a novel as tender and moving as this.

I am a seasoned reader of romances myself, and am quite picky when it comes to choosing my reading material. (You can't get more classy than paperback romances, can you? lol :^) I was wary when I first saw the title, thinking the writing would not do justice to Robert Burn's poem.

I was sorely mistaken. This was the first book that moved me to tears. Yes, corny, I know, but true nonetheless. And no, I did not cry of boredom because I couldn't bear to turn another page. I cried because I was so deeply attached to the characters.

(If you really want a book that will put you to sleep, try Les Miserables. Just kidding. But it's soo long! And to think I got through it. lol.)

I would also recommend The Odyssey, Our Town, and The Once and Future King as great bedtime reading. :^)

But seriously, this book is most definitely worth your while. I've read it about a million times (yes, I know I have no life. That's why I'm sitting here writing this review...)and each time felt like the first time I was reading it.

(Again, not because it was so forgettable, but because it was so amazing and piqued my interest time and time again.)

I really hope you read and enjoy this book, if only to prove that my review was correct. :^) best wishes

A delightful book with believable characters (versus beautiful Hollywood movie characters), who have flaws and all-too-human reactions to challenging circumstances. At times humorous, and often poignant, the heart of this book is in relationships--Val's & Elspeth's journey to love, Elspeth's closeness with her parents, and Val's struggle to get past his childhood hardships and learn to love his legitimate brother Charlie and his friend James, and to respect his father. I have reread this book several times over the years, and it is never disappointing.

Whe I finished this book, I was sobbing so loudly everyone in the house was convinced somebody has just died. This book is so wonderful! I cried, I laughed, and I closed this book with an intention to reread it again and again.

Val is probably the sweetest and nicest hero ever, and it is a pleasure to read about such a noble hero. This book is heavy in military tactics, but Ms Farrell manages to sustain my interest.

In fact, this book is a moving tribute to the casualties of war, the healing power of love, and the triumph of the human soul over darkness.

Books like this one make romance reading a pleasure. Thank you Ms Farrell!

I see that this book has had mixed comments but, for me, this was one of the best books I have read this year or, indeed, any year. It fulfilled all of my personal criteria: well researched, beautifully written, strong, adult characters and a solid story line. In addition, the author addressed some really difficult issues and handled them superbly well.

The story is of Valentine Aston, the bastard son of an earl who, following the death of his beloved mother, is taken to live with relations and then brought up in rough circumstances. However, he is taken out of this environment when his half brother Charlie (the earl's legitimate heir) seeks him out and he is sent to a rather typical English public (eg private) school. It is here that the future circumstances of his life are set in motion and also where he meets, as a teenager, the boys who will have a large role in his adult life. It is at this point that Marjorie Farrell is to be highly congratulated. For, she has portrayed the naive and not so naive homosexuality that has for centuries been part of the English single sex public school system. She has done this sympathetically and very realistically. She has far exceeded the efforts of Emma Holly here in portraying sympathetically a homosexual man in another time frame - something most authors would never attempt and could probably never get "right". The Marquess of Wimborne is a lovely man and the friendship between him and Val, despite their differences, is exquistely portrayed. Lord Stanton, a sadistic man, probably bisexual is also well done and the conflicts the three deal with in the novel are wonderfully drawn.

The other fundamental male relationships in this book are also outstanding. Val and his father have their ups and downs but Val is eventually reconciled to him and finds out that the relationship between his mother and her lover was not at all what he had expected. Val and his brother Charlie enjoy a close relationship and the nature of the loving and close brotherhood they develop is moving and poignant.

The story is set in a military background - Wellington's forays in Portugal in 1810 against Napoleon's army. I adore stories with a military setting and know enough about this particular period to know when an author has done her research. I think that Bernard Cornwell of the Sharpe stories (she mentions these in her preface) would admire the quality of her evocation of this thrilling time. Indeed, I recall an academic comment I read some years ago that the best fictionalised account of the battle of Waterloo was "An Infamous Army" by Georgette Heyer. So, women can write this sort of thing well and some of us like reading it too! The author gets the tone right, the descriptions right and the social setting correct. In this book we have an enlisted man made up to an officer and unlike Deborah Hale's book dealing with this, Ms Farrell has excelled in getting the social and cultural problems dealing with this on target. Excellent stuff!

The heroine, Elspeth comes from a family where the women follow the drum. She is excellent; she is adult, strong and perfect for the hero and her parents add greatly to the tale. The story is not rushed, the author takes the time to develop it and her characters. Indeed, I wanted it to go on further - I could happily follow them over several books as I did with Richard Sharpe.

I understand that Val and Elspeth reappear in Jack of Hearts. I have obtained a copy and look forward to reading it. I rate Marjorie Farrell's work very highly - I have read several of her books now. If you want an intelligent read with strong characters behaving like adults, set accurately in their time frame, then I cannot recommend her highly enough. Do read this book. Please consider what I have said against the other comments here; this book is a real keeper.

extremely uninteresting. Oh, how I hate to be in the minority on this review page, but I read through the book in a constant state of "what the heck?" There was no romance in this story. It was a military saga. And the main couple had absolutely no time on the page together until 3/4's of the way through the book. And don't even get me started on the loss of her virginity in such an unexpected manner. Like I said, "what the heck?" Maybe that should have been the title because there were no roses present.

The period of the Napoleonic Wars provides fertile ground for writers and readers of Regency Novels.If I have one complaint about the genre in general, it is that the history is usually relegated to background status. It was refreshing to read a novel where the characters were a part of history. And kudos to Marjorie Farrell for excellent research!

The romance between Val and Elspeth was realistic and touching; you really ached for them to realize that they were perfect for each other. The secondary characters were equally involving, and the espionage subplot drew the reader deep into the dilemma Val faced in exposing the traitor.

I recommend Red, Red Rose to readers who like a dose of history and mystery with their romance. I look forward to reading Marjorie Farrell's next book. (I hope she lets us know a little more about Elpseth and Val as they march through the long years of war in the Peninsula).

Set during the Pennisular Wars, the story of Val and Elspeth is a powerful one. With movingly drawn characters and intriguing sub-plots, Marjorie Farrell again manages to captivate her readers with this testament to the power of love. This is a book you will find hard to put down. I am grateful to Romantic Times for recommending it.

a bit slow going but still entertaining. Much more of a novel about the hero, Valentine, than a Romance. Regency, but the characters are involved in the war and most of the story is set on the frontlines. The heroine is the daughter of a Major who "follows the drum" along with her mother. Medium romance and love scenes pretty tame. 3 stars.

I class Red, Red Rose (RRR) as one of the small but growing group of historical romances that work in a subtler, quieter fashion than the historicals of the 80s and 90s, but that nonetheless work, and work well.

The writing is streamlined, with a large amount of dialogue and very little description; we do not even know what hair color the female protagonist has until about halfway through the novel (although we are told, several times more than necessary, how unusually tall she is). Ferrell mostly avoids the unwieldy dialogue tags and adverbs overused by new writers, but I think she or her editors have gone a little too far in trying to "show, not tell;" the matter-of-fact writing is just this side of "spare." Because so much else in the novel works, and because you WILL eventually grow attached to the characters and their struggles, I will describe Ferrell's style as "emotionally understated" and predict that you will be surprised at how effective it is.

Instead of an aggressively self-confident "alpha" male protagonist, Ferrell gives us what some commentators have called a "beta" hero, a man of good nature and even temper, sometimes with low social standing. Our heroine is not "fiery" in the least, nor is she beautiful; in fact, she is several times described as plain, and may put you in mind of a rather wittier and more charmingly direct version of Jane Austen's Ann Elliot (Persuasion). These two quiet people are unconventional in their own ways; Val is a ba_stard son with low social status, and Elspeth has grown up in military camps with her mother and officer father. Neither is likely to make any marriage at all, much less a good one.

Although many romances are told with a sort of split Point of View, alternating back and forth, often in chapters, between the hero's and the heroine's, I'd say about 80% of RRR is told from the male lead's POV. In fact, there is a very lengthy prologue--about 45 pages--that delves into Val's boyhood and troubled history. One of the surprising things about RRR, and perhaps one of its weaknesses, is that Elspeth is not fully formed as a character for the reader until the last 1/3 of the novel. On the other hand, this may be a boon to people who prefer a more realistic POV; in real life, we rarely get to peek into the psyches of more than one person. And Val is certainly a well-drawn character with whom the reader empathizes.

Quite a few historical romances are heavy on the history, including war, and educate the reader rather well. But RRR, with its Napoleonic/Iberian military situation, is a bit heavier on the war strategy than many novels. I'd say at least half of the book is taken up with scenes of strategy, reconnaissance, and the aftermath of battles, though combat is never described; there is very little violence depicted "on-stage." These are, for the most part, interesting, unless you dislike military stories of any kind.

The relationship between the two leads develops slowly, and without much fanfare. Although there is a dramatic meeting, there is little of the witty banter, flaring tempers, and vocal show-downs that characterize courtships between an alpha male and alpha female lead. Val is drawn to Elspeth for reasons one might expect of a beta hero: he is not turned on by challenge or conflict, but by the heroine's thoughtfulness, consideration, and forthright but always gracious manner. The romance does not really take center stage until about the last 1/3 of the novel, but when it does, it is quietly poignant, and very believably rendered. (Well, I'll say it is believably rendered but for the way in which the couple's marriage comes about--that part is a bit hurried and contrived.)

I will also add that there is a plotline involving a homosexual character's struggles, as well as a realistic and disturbing look at the gentry's abuse of those lower in the pecking order. There is an uncomfortable scene of child abuse. All are tastefully and matter-of-factly presented.

So, is RRR for you? If you do not care for books in which the historical/military doings are front and center, in which the hero and heroine are quiet and of relatively humble social status, or in which the romance develops in an understated and subtle fashion, then you may want to pick up one of the better-selling Regencies flooding the market today. But if you are looking for an unusually slow-"blooming" romance that is well-told, please consider RRR. It rewards the patient reader, and the thoughtful one.

This is far superior than the usual romance. It features, for once, a likable, vulnerable hero and a heroine who is not brainless or so beautiful or accomplished as to be unbelievable. The research is well done but not overwhelming. The hero, his father and his friend James are all sympathetic characters whose plight will make you cry.