Customer Reviews

Speak Only Love

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I beg to differ with the main review for the book as "uninspired" This is one of the best romance books I've read and my first read of it was this year even though it was published 10 years ago! It has all the elements needed for a historical romance. It has passionate scenes, romantic tension/development between the hero/heroine, a tortured hero who at first appears a drunken wastrel, a handicapped mute heroine that develops her inner strength and love for the hero thruout the book. I was able to see inside both the minds of the hero and the heroine as the author wanted. Basically, the story is as the main review above says, but Piers (the tortured hero)'s family is maladjusted. Piers's father is verbally abusive to his wife, Piers mother, even as she is on her deathbed. Piers's father is also unfaithful and is sleeping with the household's snooty, mean main housekeeper. Pier is angry at this. He loved his mother so much.

Ever since the carriage accident as a child, Vivian, the heroine, can not talk but can hear and writes out her thoughts to everyone. She is being tricked by her greedy cousin to live in a nunnery while her cousin happily spends her money while bribing her lawyer to help him do it. Piers's father, Larne, a very old, cantankerous, bullying, verbally abusive father, states to her that he was trying to get ahold of her by naming themselves(Piers and his wife) as guardians because his wife was the goddaughter of Vivian's grandmother, but Vivian's cousin refused, so Piers' father has her brought over in the guile of a need for healers to help out his now dying wife. Larne has had the heroine's finances investigated and finds out she is a wealthy heiress and informs her of this. But she doesn't trust Larne and runs to her solicitor in London who traps her. She runs away and is thankfully rescued by Larne's people. Larne wants ahold of her money and land and must have a REAL heir (because he despises his weak son Piers), so he forces Piers as a matter of family honor/duty as well as Vivian (addressing her fear of her cousin's and lawyer's greed) to marry each other.

Piers hates being forced to marry, but relents, but their relationship is a happy one since they're both attracted to each other in the marriage bed and the fact that the heroine is sensitive to his moods and emotional pain. And the hero also (unknowingly to her) aids in her speech development as he hears her talk in her sleep while she's in bed with him which comes to a climax at the end of the book.

Now the rest I'm going to state may be a spoiler for you if you don't like spoilers!!

Why is Larne, Pier's father, so in need of her wealth? Because he says his estates do not produce enough money. He even pulls Piers from only 2 years of college schooling (In contrast to Larne, Piers' mother had wanted Piers to begin and complete his schooling), stating that there is not enough money to send Piers to school. So for a very long time, he has had his son undertake dangerous smuggling missions, stating that that was the only way to keep their tenants as well as their estates alive.

This however is not true as we read further into the book. It's a case of a madman father. He blames his weak spendthrift wife and his weak son repeatedly for no rational reasons when the blame should really be on himself. Think about the madmen fathers of the heroines in Catherine Coulter books and you'll see this is the same case except its directed against the tortured hero. Both this case of a madman father, a drunken hero who is actually a tortured family duty hero, and a mute heroine make this story a fascinating story to read.

Usually you have a jaded, bachelor nobleman with no parents around who is living the hedonist life with abandon, but in this book, which better reflects reality since EVERYONE in the past, whether man or woman, was pressured to serve their families one way or another. And good parents made sure the heir married before they died which is counter to what a lot of authors are putting out these days with the carefree, 30+ year old or more, no problem rich jaded bachelor nobleman.

And what really drew me in the beginning was the heroine's muteness, how it was handled. Well, she was able to write during those times when simple gestures or looks were not enough. And you'd think with a mute heroine there wouldn't be much of a story, but au contraire, the story is all about her and the hero relating to another.

Overall, it's a great read. The author had very complex, 3-dimensional characters, the kind you'd see in real life with many families that have problems.

Speak Only Love is your typical early 90's historical romance. This book had a lot of promise but it did not deliver. I expected a compelling emotional love story because the h was mute. I knew this book would have more than the average angst because of the challenges the h would face due to her disability. What I got was a lot of frustration with the H/h. There was no love or relationship developed between the H/h. The author used the sexual act as a way for the H/h to fall in love. I call that lazy writing. One minuet Vivian was terrified of Piers but after they had sex she developed feelings for him. For too long Piers thought Vivian did not have a brain when all the evidence said otherwise. Piers was a drunk for well over half the book and treated Vivian roughly. He constantly forced his attentions on her when she clearly expressed her fear of him. It was established very early that Vivian could communicate by writing notes. She could communicate with everyone except Piers. He either ignored or brushed aside her attempts to engage him in communicating. He talked at her not to/with her. Which was strange considering everything she edured because of his father and her guardian. You would think Piers would want to know her thoughts on what happened to her.

Vivian was mistreated by almost everyone she came in contact with. Her guardian put her in a nunnery so he could steal her money, the crazy Earl manipulated events that forced her to marry his drunken wastrel of a son, Piers and his father were forever pushing, pulling and grabbing her. The hired help also took pleasure in mauling Vivian. She was always tripping over things or falling up/down stairs. Vivian also got tangled up in a chair and could not get out of it. Was all that necessary?

There were many question that kept you reading although the answers were not satisfactory.Why was Vivian and her mother traveling during a deadly snow storm? Why did the Earl hate his wife and son? Why was Piers a drunk? Why did the Earl live like a pauper in a run down mansion if he was a successful smuggler for years? SOL was an ok read that could have been great if the author had used more in depth characterization of the H/h and developed there relationship through romance and shared problems.