Customer Reviews

Scarlet Nights: An Edilean Novel

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I always buy Jude Deveraux's books the day they hit the store and even though I had some misgivings (her last two books of this series were a bust) I had high hopes of this being the one that would win me once again. Wrong, this book left me thinking that I should probably stop paying expensive hardcover prices and wait to get it used. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't good either and I miss the old Books that made me want to cry at the end because they were so beautiful.

This book revisits the modern Edilean featured in her first book of the series, Lavender Morning. Mike Newland, brother of Tess featured in the first book is a cop specializing in undercover work. An old friend of his is working on a case that has found leads in Edilean and knowing Mike's connection to the town he is asked to go there and guard Sara Shaw-the town's local girl next door. Sara is engaged to what the police believe to be a con man and if Sara marries him her life could be forfeit. Upon arriving Mike realizes that sweet Sara Shaw is just what has been missing from his life and getting her to leave her dangerous fiance becomes less of a chore than it has originally been. In a town as small as Edilean everyone gets involved in Mike's undercover mission and by the end of the book it really isn't very undercover anymore.

This book read the same as the last bunch I have disliked; some plot involves a man and a woman that forces them together, they try to resist their attractions but it is too much for them to resist. They must be together! Then one of their lives are threatened and the other one realizes that they mean much more to them than they had thought. Sigh. I can't believe I keep buying these books with the same exact plot. All of this happens over a period of a week, maybe ten days, then they move blissfully into each others' lives, happily ever after. One of the things that bothered me the most in this book however was that the description of the hero included a forehead that started several inches higher than most men's and Sara describes him to his sister as being "bald." He also is described as being short. I think it is pointed out a few more times in the book about his receding hairline and in my little mind I was unable to get past it. I want the hero of the books I read to be virile and manly and bald and short doesn't fall into my idea of either of these things. I know bald men can be sexy but a short man with a large shiny forehead doesn't enter into my description of dashing hero, it just reminded me of George Costanza.

Don't do it, don't buy this book. It's just going to encourage her to write more crappy novels and overcharge for them. This must be stopped! If you've (somehow) become attached to the Edilean series then this will help to further advance the story but really you can pretty much figure out the plot of most of the novel from the book jacket itself. I'm hoping that she writes something about the more attractive sounding Frazier cousins in the future but now that I've been burned by so many bad books I'm going to hold off on purchasing them.

Scarlet Nights is a wonderful read. If you are a Jude Deveraux fan this is a book worth reading. I admire how she is always growing as an author by bringing out books like this. This book has classic Jude Deveraux style yet she gives us a fresh new book that has a detective twist in it. I also love how she makes this a more down to earth book with characters like Mike Newland, who is a detective from a big city and is a bald slick guy that draws you to him. I actually like how Deveraux in this book strayed away from the usual cookie cutter type heroes that sometimes can make it almost non realistic. I actually pictured two men while reading this book that I imagined as "Mike Newland", a Bruce Willis and a Jason Statham type men who although short and bald, still very manly and attractive. I like the contrast of Mike's character to Sara Shaw's character. Mike being from a big city contradicts well with Sara's small town sheltered personality. I love the detective twist to it that also brings about a fight scene in the book that involves the Vandlo con artist family.
Although a more modern setting/theme, like classic Deveraux, she always connects her settings and characters to historical places and dates in her books, which is clearly well researched by the author. All in all I thought this was a great book and hope Jude Deveraux continues to show different sides of the proficient author she is.

I have to agree with the other negative reviews on most things. I don't find the balding hard to take; because Mike's perfect physique was described in such detail I pictured a buzz cut with a receding hairline like a lot of action heroes seem to have. My problem was with the same-o plot, different names. The worst to me was the ending, which I agree sounded rushed and I thought stretched things a lot. I don't want to do a spoiler, so I'll just say as I read the last chapter with disgust. I won't be advance ordering her hard-covers anymore.

I've read Jude Deveraux's work for years, but like many of my long-time favorite authors' works which have been released this summer, "Scarlet Nights" left me scratching my head wondering what went wrong? Warning - there will be some slight spoilers in this review.

Truly, the second half of the book wasn't horrible. The first half? I skimmed through it. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. We are introduced to the heroine, who is introduced to us as being dull-witted, spineless and blindly determined to marry a man who is obviously a no-good son of a witch. He treats her horribly and she lets him, which for me is just unforgiveable in a heroine whom I am supposed to like. We are supposed to believe this woman honestly can't see why her friends and family don't like the guy she's engaged to? Really?

As another reviewer mentioned, the hero in this mess is bald. I don't have a thing against bald guys in the real world, but I want my fictional heroes to have a full head of hair. Add to that, the author's descriptions of the man just were not all that flattering. It was almost as though she were ticked at him, or didn't personally like this guy when she wrote about him. The fact that he disregards the report of abuse of a family member, even though it was years in the past, doesn't make him hero-worthy in my eyes. Especially since he is a LEO (law-enforcement officer). Neither does the fact that he has no compunction whatsoever seducing and having sex with women just to further his cover and investigation endear him to me. I know, I know - it probably happens in the real world, blah, blah, blah. When the hero rubs his past conquests, whether they are in the line of duty or not, in the heroine's face? Um, ew? If someone did that to me, I'd kick him to the curb so fast he wouldn't remember his own name. Besides, this is fiction. It's okay that he is flawed; he just isn't supposed to be THAT flawed.

The ending of this novel felt a little rushed to me, and I think it could have been tied up a little better. The story lost all credibility for me in the end, and left me feeling like the H/h would probably end up splitting up after a couple of kids came along.

One more thing that bothered me was the texting. Yes, 99% of the civilized world (and 80% of the UNcivilized world) do it these days. A couple of instances would have been okay, but there were points where Deveraux relied on texts for dialogue. Ugh.

All in all, another disappointing book that leaves me wondering what in the world publishers are thinking these days. On a positive note? There were no vampires, werewolves or zombies.

Just like my title states, What happened to the Jude I use to love? This story was so rediculous i wanted to just throw it out the window. But because I have a vague memory of the great stories Jude use to write i kept on reading and was once again disappointed. I didn't even care that the hero was odd looking or that the heroine was nuts to be with and ready to marry an abusive guy. My problem was the plot made no sense. Okay so the villain, Greg was marrying Sara to get her inheritance, and the cop came to stop the marriage. The way it unfolded was dumb. The cop married her so she couldnt marry Greg. They "created" tarot(?) cards to bring out the creepy mother. The treasure is hidden behind a door that no one but the cop could find. Really? The evil fiances relationship with the town is mentioned so much that i would have appreciated seeing some interaction between him and anybody.
There is absolutely no way that the person that wrote Knight in Shining Armor wrote this piece of trash. I gave it too many stars.

I have enjoyed this series tremendously! Each book moves to a different character that you already know from previous books. This series has everything needed for a page turner. Mystery, small town and folksy, lots of good loving and hot sex. Intelligent characters that you always learn something from. Jude's books completely hold your attention and leave you feeling so good!

With all the upsetting things happening in our country today I, personally enjoy a book that takes me away from the harsh reality of our country's woes. Be sure to start this series at the beginning. Great read.

Scarlet Nights (really can't stand the story tie-in to the title) is a cookie-cutter Deveraux romantic suspense (seemed very close in storyline to Sweet Liar, High Tide, Secrets). If like me you're a long-time JD reader, the borrowing from other of her past storylines (speaking of which, what is with her obsession with heroes named Mike and shopping???) is very obvious and gets old quick. JD (or *cough* her ghost writer *cough*) almost seems out of touch with some of her scenes (really, what kind of guy goes on a CD shopping spree at Best Buy?). There were also a few times where I caught myself doing a doubletake after reading a few lines, but I finally just gave up trying to cross reference or figure out what exactly the author meant to write.

All that being said, Scarlet Nights is an okay installment of the Edilean trilogy. The main characters certainly aren't strongly written or memorable (Sara is annoying in her damsel in distress role, Mike is difficult to take in his super healthy, super cop, gym junkie role), but this entry updates readers on the other characters in modern day Edilean. I'm glad that Tess's comment about her grandmother being wronged (in Lavender Morning) was one of the main themes in this story, however I was NOT happy to read what exactly that 'wrong' was or that it was addressed so lightly because the old lady was a known liar and might have made it up! I also couldn't understand why Ariel's character was thrown in as the anti-Sara (seemed too much like the Luke vs. Ramsey tug of war also in Lavender Morning).

As I wrote in a previous review, this trilogy did not go the route I was expecting, but Scarlet Nights definitely fit with what I expected. If you are new to the series or unsure if you want to even bother reading the latest from JD, I'd definitely start with Days of Gold (the second installment, and imho the best of the series) and then read Lavender Morning and Scarlet Nights. Hate to admit it, but you may have to take notes with all the different family names and bloodlines Deveraux throws in there.

Oh, how I miss the simple days of the great Taggart/Montgomery novels...

(SPOILER)... Incidentally for those reviewers who commented about the way Greg was caught, Deveraux has used that same "corset ending" in a number of her other novels. As I said before, a cookie cutter JD story...

Again, since reviewers have already told the plot, I'm going to limit my comments to observations about the characters and the storyline. I absolutely *loved* Scarlet Nights and was thinking about it for days after I finished.

I thought it was a great story and am really dismayed that so many reviewers seem to be missing so much of it. Jude doesn't write formulaic novels, IMO, and this is no different. This is a lesson in how victims are chosen and created, both personally and professionally. It's informative and empowering, and how people missed this is beyond me.

Romance novels are by nature a love story. If there's no conflict, no keeping them apart, no misunderstanding, no challenge, then there's no story. What's she going to say, Dick and Jane met at the grocery, fell in love and lived happily ever after? *Every* romance novel has to have a challenge.

Scarlet Nights is based on a real life crime family who run scams on innocent victims, and her portrayal of how the family members work together to isolate and then exploit victims, woven into the story, was absolutely brilliant. I found it fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

Mike got bashed a lot for being short and bald with a high forehead, but seriously I didn't picture him as unattractive at all. Jason Statham is short and bald with a high forehead and he's a favorite with the ladies, so what gives with this? If Judith had made him tall, dark and handsome I'm willing to bet there'd be reviewers who would criticize her for being unimaginative, and I LIKED that he was original and unique in his appearance. Besides that, he's damned smart, likeable, and I would go out on a date with him in a heartbeat, LOL.

Sara also got bashed for sticking with an a-hole who was abusing and using her. Let's think about this for a minute. She's smart, pretty, talented, loving, loyal - she has a lot going for her. Have you ever known a woman in real life like this, and couldn't figure out why she stuck with that jerk of a boyfriend/husband? Why do women do this? It's so easy to look at them and judge and criticize and be completely frustrated with them when we don't understand.

Jude showed us - told us - why Sara did, and then led Sara to the big "Ah ha" that she needed. I think she did all of us a favor by outlining how a man chooses a victim, charms the hell out of her at first, and then slowly changes, while the victim keeps hanging in there waiting for him to "change back", afraid to look like a fool or a loser, afraid to leave for all kinds of reasons. If one, two, five women who are in abusive relationships read this book and the light bulb goes on, then she's done an enormous service. In fact, putting this out there for everyone to read and hopefully be more understanding and supportive just might help diminish the number of abusive relationships. All you have to do is loan this book to your friend.

Scarlet Nights is a keeper for me, one that I intend to re-read several times.

This is by far one of the worse books I have ever read. The male and female protagonists were pathetic. The plot was simply stupid. I kept reading, spurned on by my feelings of incredulity, certain that there had to be a surprise twist that would redeem everything. Jude Deveraux used to be one of my favorite authors. "A Knight in Shining Armour" is remarkable. The "Forever" series (in which Jude had cunningly and tantalizingly laid the foundation for subsequent books in the series and then never wrote them!!!) is delightful. "Scarlet Nights" is awful and my time is too valuable to waste ever reading another one of Jude's books. I may listen to her next one on CD that I borrow from my library, since I am hostage to my work commute. I will not buy one of her books again until she redeems herself and returns to her excellence of the past.

Author Jude Deveraux is the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of thirty-eight books. There are more than sixty million of her books in print worldwide. Other titles include: Days of Gold, Lavender Morning, Return to Summerhouse, and Secrets. She resides in North Carolina with her family.

This book is part of the EDILEAN SERIES, though can be read as a stand alone novel.

In the quaint little town of Edilean, Virginia, Sara Shaw is making wedding plans, much to the distress of her family and friends. Greg Anders is not the man they would have chosen for the town's "golden child." Greg isn't like everyone else in town--he's abrupt, rude, and has a superior attitude. Plus, most think he's cheating on her. But Sara is devoted to him, assured that Edilean just doesn't know him. Then Greg leaves town unexpectedly, leaving Sara to wonder when he'll return and where they stand in their relationship. Strangely enough, undercover cop Mike Newland shows up just after Greg leaves. And the town all but bows down to the newcomer. When Sara learns that Mike was sent to Edilean because her fiancé and his mother are career criminals and planning the heist of a lifetime, Sara doesn't know what to do. Worse, she's finding herself attracted to the man, a man who cannot emotionally or physically commit to her. Either way, Mike and Sara need to figure out what it is Greg's family wants from her, before they find it first and she becomes expendable.

The only fault I found with the book was that the characters backgrounds and inner thoughts didn't always seem to match their actions. For instance, Sara is witty and smart, yet she lets this Greg guy push her around and doesn't see through him. And Mike, who refuses to ever commit and marry, who lives a thousand miles away, quickly falls for Sara and is a bit soft at times.

In saying that, I always take pleasure in a Jude Deveraux book. She writes with a poetic simplicity that makes her stand alone. Though a romantic suspense, this is heavy on the contemporary romance with intrigue elements. The hero and heroine were hilarious in their dialog. Back and forth, back and forth. I laughed out loud. As typical of her books, Deveraux is at her best when describing her settings. It puts the reader right there in the pages with the characters. The secondary characters were a nice add to the storyline. I can't wait to read more about them. Recommended.

Kelly Moran,
Author and Reviewer
Bookpleasures