Customer Reviews

Someone to Love

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Deveraux, the early years, has always been a favorite author of mine. My all time favorite book is a "Knight In Shining Armor". It is well written and a great story. Many of her early books are very good as well.

In the last 5+ years her books have gone downhill. This one is at the bottom of that hill. This is not a romance. Its a mystery...but a weak one at that. The characters and story are so incredibly dull, you expect that something has got to happen. Yet, it doesn't. The story goes on and on, but never really goes anywhere. The characters are boring. The dialogue is boring. The book is boring.

Save your money!!!!!!!!!

This is an odd style of romance book. It's set in modern times, but involves both the romance of a modern day couple as well as the love of a couple back in the 1870s. The hero is an American, while the heroine is an English woman. It's a blending of cultures and times. Oh yes, you have to be prepared to accept ghosts as well.

I don't mind ghosts, and I am an avid fan of English culture. I realize that it can be boring to write the same-old romances over and over again, and give Jude great credit for trying something quite off the wall. I can't imagine there are a great number of books involving this combination of situations.

I went into this really wanting to adore this oddball combination and to applaud Jude's venture into something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to connect with all of the characters and their situations, it was very difficult.

First, the two main characters. Jase Montgomery is a wealthy American who does general business "stuff" despite his degree in history. His fiance - a legal secretary - commits suicide in England and he's been distraught for the past few years. He finally decides to go to England, buy the house she was interested in, and figure out why. On the other hand is Nightingale Smythe, a CNN-style reporter who first ridicules him and then is drawn into his quest.

Both are painted with very broad strokes, and it's not really believable that their instant connection is valid, or that they are drawn together so quickly. In fact, during the first scene or two, I felt that she was going to be a nemesis that would cause trouble for him and a woman he *really* would care for. No such luck.

The encounters with the ghosts are equally odd. It's very stuttering in style, hit or miss affairs that leave you wondering if he really cares at all about what they are doing.

The plot unfoldings really require you to suspend disbelief about what people would choose to hide from others - and what objects people would carry around with them. In some cases individuals' memories are incredibly accurate - and in other situations things people should remember easily have been completely forgotten. I realize that romance stories expect you to take things with a grain of salt - but again, I was really trying to love this story. It just became too much.

I read the book in a few hours, and it was an OK way to pass the time, but to be honest, I would much rather have re-read several other books I own rather than have gone through this. It's not that it was bad - but it just didn't draw me in.

I picked this up out of nostalgia for Deveraux's early work... and was hugely disappointed. Boring characters, wandering plot, and a tepid conclusion. I thought maybe I'd get to at least enjoy a tender & passionate love scene as the main characters channeled two of ghosts, but apparently that happened between one chapter and the next.

I give it two stars because I can't quite bring myself to give it the one star it deserves. Time to go back and re-read Velvet Promise.

Jace Montgomery, a rich American, is still struggling with the suicide of his fiancée Stacy three years ago when he discovers a note sent to her just before she died which indicated she had visited a house in Buckinghamshire in England. Jace is trying to get to the bottom of why happy Stacy killed herself and ends up buying the house so that he can investigate further 'in situ' (fortunately for him, and the plot, his grandfather is a billionaire and lends him the money).

When Jace arrives at Priory House in the village of Margate (no, not the port town of Margate in Kent but apparently a very pretty and quaint village) he gets to know the locals including his dragon of a housekeeper with her adulation of Jamie Oliver, a British cook, his gardener Hatch, some other local people and the local policeman who also doesn't believe Stacy's death was suicide. He also meets Nigh Smythe (short for Nightingale), a journalist who is taking some time out after a colleague was killed in Afghanistan.

Jace's cover story for arriving in the village is that he is investigating Priory House's resident ghost and he soon meets the ghost, although it's not the female highwayman that the locals talk about but instead a young woman, Ann, who was about to be married to local lad Danny. The middle of the book rather meanders away from the plot as Jace tries to tempt Ann into appearing to him so that he can ask her about Stacy's death.

Of course all the time that Jace and Nigh spend together, including travelling to the village in which Danny apparently went to live after Ann died, affects them and they begin to fall in love. However can they get to the bottom of Stacy's death and can they find out how to make Ann and Danny happy again so that they can stop haunting the house.

This book is perfectly acceptable for a light read. There are no really in depth characters, the plot is very easy to follow, the stereotypical characters are just what you'd expect in an American-authored novel set in England and the ghost element adds some amusement. The denouement was surprisingly easy and the lead characters' declaration of love hardly unexpected.

As an Englishwoman reading a book set in my own country, however, there were some terrible errors which really should have been picked up by an editor. For example the English character Nigh says "she went toward the back, to the hill. One day I climbed the hill and there's a dirt road up there. I saw candy bar wrappers and some soda cans." Four errors in that we don't say "toward the back", a 'dirt road' would be an 'unmade road', 'candy bar wrappers' are 'sweet wrappers' and 'soda cans' would be 'fizzy drink cans.' Another glaring error was the description of some food, "there was no great roast of beef with four vegetables, but a takeout of curry over rice;" we would say "no great roast beef" and curry would always be 'with', not 'over', rice. These are just two examples of the inaccuracies littering the text where English people speak with American sentence structures much of the time, although at other times they speak authentic English.

Another reason that I felt this book was unsuccessful was the toe-curlingly cringy last two pages where the hero and heroine finally lay the two ghosts to rest in a rather... erm... horizontal way. Some rather twenty-first century views on the inappropriateness of dying a virgin were forced onto a woman of the 1870s and it just didn't sit right.

For the most part, however, this book is an easy read with some amusing moments and a likeable hero. The setting in England might be fun for some (as long as it's clear that it is a very false view of England) and the slight supernatural element adds a certain something. However it was largely an unmemorable book and not one to inspire me to search out other books by this author.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007

I wish there was a money back offer. What a waste of money and time. I have read all of her books and this by far seems to be written by someone other than the author.

This wasn't Jude's best, but I did enjoy it. It wasn't as spicy as most of her books but entertaining none the less.

I did enjoy reading about the house and the English village. It was almost like taking a mini vacation. It was nice to see the main character work through his grief. That part was very believable.

I knew early on who the villan was. It was pretty obvious. She could have made any of the three ladies the bad guy.

I always enjoy Jude Deveraux's books because of her incredible imagination. This book showcases imagination. Wouldn't it be nice to be a Montgomery and to have unlimited resources?

I am always amazed at some of the savage reviews on Amazon. This book was no exception. I enjoyed the return to the Montgomery family. Ms. Deveraux had been criticized by fans eager for another Montgomery family book. So Ms Deveraux obliged. This book had the usual elements found in Deveraux books fan have always liked... quirky characters, funny dialogue and some unusual twists.

What a lot of readers probably do not know is that in the year before this book was published, Ms Deveraux lost her beloved son, Sam, in a tragic accident. Every parent's worst nightmare. I truly thought about, prayed for and worried about Ms. Deveraux in the months following his sad death. In short, I think this book concerning the death of a loved one, is Ms Deveraux's way of dealing with this horrible issue. Jace Montgomery's fiancee dies in what appears to be a suicide. He is haunted by this. Personally to me, this book made a lot of sense. It tied in with what was happening in her personal life. I applaud the book as a great effort and an interesting read.

I love reading Deveraux's books ~~ they always manage to transport me away from the realities of working and taking care of kids, hubby and a dog ~~ not that my reality is bad, just sometimes, I need some fiction to read and relax. I can count on Deveraux usually to carry me away (along with a bottle of Calgon and chocolates ...). This novel is so far-reaching that it's more silly than romantic ~~ it was going great till the end where it just got to be really cheesy. But, it was still an engrossing book for me to read ~~ who wouldn't love a good old-fashioned ghost story? And this one is pretty good, but if she's trying to write a suspenseful, who did it, type novel, she flunked it. If she's trying to combine two love stories ~~ one from the past and one from the present, she flunked it as well.

The story lines are weak and almost laughable ~~ though this book had a strong start, it ended weakly and really creepy. But I won't give up on her just yet ~~ after all, she did write "A Knight in Shining Armor" and that will always remain my favorite novel of hers.

12-17-07

The story line itself was okay, although I completely agree with the previous comments on the "ew factor" of the final ghost scene.

However, I found it extremely annoying that she mixed up her families and past characters. Jace's uncles portrayed in the book: Frank from one of her Christmas short stories and Mike from Sweet Liar are NOT Montgomerys. They are Taggerts. This does not mean that Jace couldn't be a Montgomery since there are intertwined relationships between the two families, but she specifically names them Montgomerys which is a big editorial error and should have been caught.

I loved this book...it was fun and a good beach read! I laughed out loud a few times and it help my attention from beginning to end. I am looking for more from Jude, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!