Customer Reviews

The Spare (Leisure Historical Romance)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Setting - Pennhyll Castle, Cumbria, 1812 --- Captain Sebastian Alexander, of His Majesty's Royal navy was home, recuperating from wounds received in battle, and from the summons that had finally reached him notifying him of his father's death and his bother's murder. Sebastian, `the spare' was now the heir and as such, the Earl of Tiern-Cope. It was his duty to marry, yes marry and set up his nursery - and to his mind get back to the sea, the only thing in his life he loved.

His very good friend James had assembled a house party along with a bevy of prospective brides for him to choose from, including James' sister Diana, whom he assumed Sebastian would marry. Included with this group and to even out the numbers, was another `spare' Olivia Willow who is the only witness and sole survivor at the scene of the murder that claimed his brother and sister-in-law's lives. The only problem being, Olivia had been so traumatized that she'd lost all memories of the day before and the two days following the murders. Sebastian was determined to `break' her, to probe within the mind that held the secrets and bring the killer to justice. What he was not ready for was Olivia, with her red hair, and her irreverence towards his arrogance and animosity towards her. While staying in the castle both Sebastian and Olivia were being assailed with visions of the ghostly Black Earl and themselves in sensual occupations, neither was ever sure what was real and what was not, except for the intense physical attraction that both felt and were trying to ignore.

This was quite an unusual love story with two very original lead protagonists. Sebastian was determined to uncover the murderer, always thinking that Olivia was involved yet fighting his escalating feelings every day for a woman whom he clearly felt had probably had an affair with his brother. Sebastian is clearly one of the more arrogant male leads I've encountered with very little finesse in courting the female sex, particularly after having led a sailors life for the past twelve years. Olivia on the other hand, was a delightful heroine, who on top of all the injustices she'd endured in life still had a positive outlook. The secondary characters were all well drawn out as to their parts in the story, and the ghostly apparitions were a fun touch adding a lot of depth and interest to the plot. I admit to reading this in one sitting, it certainly was an exciting page-turner and the `imagined and dreamed' sexual encounters were extremely hot. The only reason I have for not giving it a higher rating though, is that I believe it would have been nice to have seen a bit more reaction of James and Diana to Sebastian's abrupt marriage to Olivia, especially since James was his best friend and had himself offered marriage to Olivia. Bottom line, the story is terrific with an original plot that fans of this sub-genre should truly enjoy. --- Marilyn Rondeau, Official Reviewer at www.historicalromancewriters.com

Carolyn Jewel's second book The Spare really shows her growth as a writer. Her first book demonstrated her talent, but there were a few nagging problems, as if she did not fully know her hero and heroine and how they would react, or she made them do things that seemed totally against their characters. In this book, you see none of that. Her craft is stronger, and a subtle deftness is in her prose that makes this book so strong, so perfect.

The Spare is a touch more sedate, elegant, with a dram of Paranormal/Gothic saying Jewel really has found her meter. This book is just so "assured" and it lets the reader settle into the spiraling story and enjoy it completely. It really leads me to look forward to her third book.

Sebastian Alexander is "a spare" - a younger son who never thought to rise to the earldom destined for his brother. He has pursued a career in the Royal Navy and had his life mapped out. He loved the life at sea. But suddenly he is beached. The "spare" is now an earl. Through a series of mysterious events, his brother is dead. Sebastian is wounded in battle and is recovering when news comes of his brother's murder. He must come to grips with his fate and the trouble surrounding his brother's death. There was a witness to the crime, one who could supply the answers to the dark riddles - Miss Olivia Willow. She was there that night, and was almost killed as well. She is the key to Sebastian learning why his brother died.

Only opening that key is not as easy as he hoped. Olivia, a vexingly beautiful redhead, cannot recall what happened that night. Three days of her memory is missing. Haunted by the ghost of his brother, Sebastian thinks this loss of memory is too convenient, too suspect and he will not rest until he unlocks the riddle of Olivia and knows everything she does about that fateful night.

Olivia is very beautiful, but a "poor relation". She is leery when the new earl invites her to his house party, invited to "even out the numbers". This gives Sebastian the chance to probe her story. Olivia is a strong character, one the readers will immediately identify and love. She lives on the edge of the gentry, but her poor means has held her back, yet she carries herself with a grace, serenity and ability to see past the surface of others. It's in Olivia where I see the most maturing in Jewel's writing. Olivia is just such a strongly defined character, so believable that she quickly has the reader wrapped around her delicate little finger. She is an outsider in this wealth and tries to remain on the edge, not attracting attention at the gathering. However, Sebastian will not permit that.

Their acquaintance begins as an adversarial one, though both sense an attraction. As Sebastian's investigation moves forward, he shifts from doubt to grudging respect, then into love. Again, Jewel demonstrates the growth in her talent by having such a strong relationship between these two wonderfully crafted characters. Sebastian's growing love for Olivia even has him fearing what he might learn as he unlocks the truth hidden in her mind.

Jewel just goes all out in this utterly radiant turn of the screw, where a ghost walks, romance sizzles and characters are so bloody brilliant!

I really loved the hero and heroine in The Spare. I disagree with the first reviewer who said that you did not get to know Sebastian and that he was not likeable. I think that he was. I think his behavior was perfectly suited to his position as Captain. I do think his behavior sometimes towards Olivia was more Medieval - but I chalked that up to him possibly being the reincarnation of the Black Earl (that is just what I supposed). I also have to disagree with the first reviewer that said there was no sex until page 330. There were tons of erotic scenes throughout the book. Also Harriet K - said that the amnesia thing was a bit much - but I didn't think so - she couldn't remember just one day of her life - which does happen in traumatic circumstances. And I have to admit I think Olivia's character was so likeable that my eyes filled up with tears at a few of the scenes dealing with her poverty or her attempts to fade into the background. I would have given this book 5 stars (I couldn't put it down and read it within a 24 hour period) but there were a few things that bothered me and left me feeling unfulfilled at the end of the book. 1) James. The reader never gets to find out his or Olivia's reaction to Sebastian marrying Olivia. I felt a little cheated by that. I hope that she writes a book with James as a main character - he wasn't such a bad guy. 2) I didn't mind the murder mystery taking a backseat but I just wished that the whole black earl thing was a bit more settled by the end - was Sebastian and Olivia the reincarnations of the black earl and his wife? Was that why when they started the seance that Sebastian's head began to pound etc? All in ALL I really liked this book! It was the first that I read by Carolyn Jewel - but I am going to head out and purchase Lord Ruin tomorrow.

I wanted to like this book far more than I did. It had so many good ideas, potentially interesting plot points or character points or just something I hadn't seen before, but it never quite got off the ground for me. I liked the introduction, liked meeting Sebastian and learning about him, but his and Olivia's interactions didn't work and I didn't believe their relationship or care enough about either of them to spend 300 + pages. I started to skim, then jump, then jump backwards and even with all that dancing around, it didn't add up. Because I couldn't read it from beginning to end, I didn't give it 3 stars (my minimum requirement for a 3 star rating - that I read the complete book) and I put it back in the reswap pile.

The Spare starts out as a fairly typical regency romance. A wounded naval officer sent home from the war, the heir to a title and great estate with the passing of his older brothers. A country house party during which he is to select his bride to be. The on-the-self spinster who catches his eye despite the prettier, younger girls in attendance. But The Spare soon leaves this familiar territory in the dust to draw the reader into a sumptuously, sometimes chillingly, gothic realm of visions, dreams, and, of course, unleashed passions, at the heart of which is a murder mystery to be solved. The plot is excellently constructed and the mystery beautifully explored. While Sebastian Alexander, now Lord Tiern-Cope, was away at sea, his brother and his brother's wife were murdered at their home. Olivia Willow was also there, and she was also attacked, but survived. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember anything about the event. Sebastian is an intriguing mix of stalwart war hero, stoic, arrogant lord, sexy seducer, and determined sleuth, for he's certain that the key to the murder mystery lies in Olivia's lost memories. He treats her (rather roughly) as a suspect at first, but his feelings for her, and his conception of the past alter and develop throughout the book as his inquiries unearth disturbing truths about his own family history and the way it has intersected with Olivia's.

As the book gradually unraveled the issues at its heart, I really liked the direction it took and how. Sebastian's estate, Pennhyll Castle, is reputed to be haunted, and as the reader gets drawn further and further into the mystery and the romance, things get very creepy and confusing - playing with the reader and the characters, tantalizing and inciting the imagination. The line between dreams and reality blurs fantastically. The prose is rich, evocative, and compelling. My only complaint would be that, though the characters are very well drawn, Olivia fades into the background after a while, and it becomes more and more about the hero, more from his perspective. But since he's such a fascinating character, I don't mind in the least. The Spare is a very different, original, and captivating romance.

I liked this book, but some of it was confusing and I didn't understand why it was included in the story.

Sebastian was an interesting but frustrating character. I didn't understand why he was wounded in the story. It added nothing to the storyline except to make him wait to investigate until he was better, which (shockingly) aligns precisely with Olivia's visit. He was a rather cold, arrogant fellow. It took me a while to warm up to him. I also thought his turn around from standoffish to thinking nauseatingly sweet thoughts about Olivia was very sudden.

I didn't understand why Olivia felt that she had to play the nitwit for everyone. It seemed odd and I didn't see the point of it. I liked that she was willing to help Sebastian find out what happened and insisted on him trying to make her remember. I didn't understand why Sebastian didn't tell Olivia what he discovered about her missing days right away. I thought that was very wrong of him. Even if he didn't want her to be angry and embarrassed at him because he was the messenger he still should have sucked it up and told her.

Despite the problems I had with this book I still enjoyed it. I read it quickly and was entertained by it. I think that Carolyn Jewel has a skill with words and atmosphere. She succeeded very well in creating a very gothic setting. I did feel that large chunks of the story were skipped though. I would move to a new chapter and it felt like I missed something. I had to reread the end of the chapter and make sure I hadn't before I came to the conclusion that Jewel just has an abrupt way of transitioning at times.

Be aware that there is a paranormal aspect with a ghost. I wasn't expecting it and didn't really enjoy it, but others might.

I do love a great regency/historical book. That being said, I dislike more than I like. I guess I am particular. But one thing that has to be strong in any book is a desire to finish! And one needs to be interested in the characters. Sebastian Alexander is perhaps one of the most unlikable hero's (and I use that term loosely) I have ever read. Sure, handsome, but there was really not a facet of his personality that came across as likeable so unless our feisty spinster Olivia has a martyr complex, why be interested? And yes, Sebastian spent 12 years at sea but geeze, sorry, having zero manners does not make that much sense. I found him creepy is his coldness. And the murder mystery just did not hold my attention.

I completely disagree with the first reviewer. This book is both entertaining AND unusual, encompassing the rather poignant love story of a restless spirit, murder, rape and the actual love story between Sebastian and Olivia.
It seems that the first reviewer has been flicking through the pages just looking for sex scenes! and missed the endearing characters - particularly of Olivia Willow - and the quite mesmerising story. It is completely untrue that the only sex scene is very late in the book and that it is full of boring conversation. Indeed from about Chapter 11 onwards a large part of the book is about either Sebastian or Olivia fantasising aboutmaking love to the other - and the mometum/detail increases from chapter to chapter! And there is VERY little conversation at these times!! So I don't know what that reviewer was on about - could it be a different book they are writing about?

Sebastian and Olivia are being haunted by the spirit of the Black Earl who is trying to use them to re-enact history and put right the dreadful crime he committed against his own wife, whom he was very much in love with. Therefore many times they find themselves making love with each other - even though the line between fantasy and reality is blurred. They are unable to figure out whether they have fantasised what happens between them or whether it has actually taken place, although later it seems that some of it was indeed real. It is almost as if they are a reincarnation of the Black Earl and his countess.

I liked this book because it was unusual. The only drawbacks for me were that the character of Sebastian was at times far too rigid and that the murder mystery part of the story was kept too far in the background. It is a well thought of plot and the author should have made more of it.

This was my first book by Carolyn Jewel and I shall certainly look forward to more. It was a refreshing change from the usual.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric historical romance set in Cumbria in 1812. The hero of the story is the gothically handsome and forbidding Captain Sebastian Alexander, naval hero of the Napoleonic wars and younger son of the Earl of Tiern-Cope. Sebastian was born a third son or "spare" but finds himself inheriting following the deaths of his older brothers. At home recuperating from a war wound, he intends to "do his duty" to the earldom -- marry and set up his nursery prior to returning to the sea. His friend, James, arranges a houseparty at Pennhyll Castle to introduce Sebastian to likely young ladies--including James's half-sister, the beautiful and spoiled Diana.
Also included among the guests is the heroine, Miss Olivia Willow, an impoverished former governess who was present on the fateful night one year previously when Sebastian's brother and sister-in-law were murdered and Olivia herself gravely injured. Olivia claims to have no memory of the night, but Sebastian has his doubts about that and wants to question her himself.

Olivia is an excellent heroine--intelligent, honorable, hard-working and unaffected. Her poverty is dealt with in a very touching manner and her choices are brave and appropriate. I am not quite sure why she went to such pains to appear to be a silly flibbertigibbet at the beginning of the book (weren't most of the other houseguests local people and wouldn't they have known her already?), but once she set that act aside she proved to be a very appealing heroine.

Sebastian was an interesting and compelling hero. A naval officer who has been largely at sea for the past 12 years, he lacks social graces and makes no apologies to anyone. (The fact that he is handsome, titled and wealthy help everyone overlook his rough edges.) After coldly deciding that Diana would make a perfect countess, he finds himself perversely attracted to the flame-haired Olivia and drawn into the mystery of her past and her relationship with his older brother. Further complicating the picture is the castle ghost (the Black Earl)--visible only to Sebastian and Olivia--who seems to be pushing them together.

I *loved* the gothic and paranormal elements in this book--particularly the sequences where it was hard to know what was real and what was fantasy. The sexual tension was wonderfully done and the characters of the hero and heroine well developed. My major quibble with the story is that the murder mystery wrap-up was rather anti-climactic and the ending seemed to be a bit mundane compared to the very unusual and original middle section of the book.

In summary, this is a very well-written, unusual historical romance with lovely gothic touches and an appealing hero and heroine.

Highly recommended for historical romance lovers looking for something a little bit different!

In the village of Far Caister, Sebastian Alexander spent his early life as THE SPARE to the spare. However, over a decade ago his oldest brother died making the middle son Andrew the heir and Sebastian the prime spare. Still as expected of a third born aristocratic son, Sebastian joined the Royal navy in the war with Napoleon. In 1811 his father and his sibling die not long apart. Sebastian inherits the title to Pennhyll Castle.

As Sebastian heals from a near death war wound he plans to do his duty by marrying and siring the heir and a spare. However, most important immediately is to learn what happened to Andrew as the new lord believes someone murdered his brother. He plans to start his inquiries with Olivia Willow who has survived tragedy twice. Her father and brother died in a carriage accident that also crippled her mother and she was thought dead when his brother and sister-in-law died. However, Olivia insists she remembers nothing about what happened on that fatal day. Sebastian begins to fall in love with her, but wonders if he is besotted with a serial killer?

Though the who-done-it remains too much in the background, fans will enjoy this entertaining Regency romantic suspense. Sebastian is a delightful lead protagonist who is obsessed with learning the truth. Olivia is the classic female sub-genre character struggling with tragedies and poverty though the amnesia is too convenient of a gimmick. Still fans will find THE SPARE is a fine jewel of a tale.

Harriet Klausner