Customer Reviews

Still in My Heart

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Brahm Ryland was bethrothed to Lady Eleanor Durbane years ago but she cancelled their engagement after she caught him in bed with her sister Lydia. Lydia had crawled into his bed while he was drunk and since it was dark and he was drunk, Brahm thought it was Eleanor. Brahm was a notorious alcoholic who always did outrageous things when he was drunk...several years go by and Brahm, who has been sober for three years, is invited to a month long hunting party by Eleanor's father. Brahm is elated because he will finally have the chance to make amends with Eleanor whom he still carries feelings for after all these years. When it seems clear that Eleanor is not as happy to see him as he is to see her, Brahm vows to make her see that he is a changed man before the month is up and if possible to win her hand again. Eleanor's sisters know Brahm broke her heart but not the details and it becomes clear that Lydia is still jealous of Brahm after all these years. Eleanor had to help raise her younger sisters after their mother died and she is too blinded by love to see Lydia for what she is, however she finds herself forgiving Brahm the more she gets to know him and the more she researches alcoholism. The attraction between Brahm and Eleanor grows and they start falling in love, but Lydia will do anything to keep them apart. Brahm struggles to maintain his sobriety while dealing with the past.

This book did an excellent job of describing what alcoholism can do to a person. Brahm is a wonderful hero, vulnerable with his heart and body but sexy to a fault. I had problems with Eleanor though, even after it long became clear that Lydia had been the pursuer in the one night stand, Eleanor doesn't blame her and overlooks everything she does. She does keep throwing the past up in Brahm's face but holds the guiltier party guilt free....by the time she comes to her senses, I kind of think she would have deserved being dumped by Brahm.

Brahm has decided to accept the invitation to Lord Burrough's party as it will give him the opportunity to apologize to Eleanor, his former betrothed and Lord Burrough's daughter. Brahm has a drinking problem and many years ago he was very drunk and found himself in bed with Eleanor's sister Lydia. The result, any hope that he had for a future with Eleanor was destroyed. Brahm is determined to apologize and in the process, he hopes that Eleanor's forgiveness will allow him to finally move on with his life.

When Brahm sees Eleanor at her home, he notices first that she is even more beautiful than he remembered and second she is definitely still angry with him. He takes the first opportunity he can get to explain what happened that fateful night. Eleanor has never fully recovered from Brahm's betrayal. She is surprised at Brahm's confession and without admitting it to him that she is relieved and optimistic and she may actually be able to forgive him. Eleanor begrudgingly admits to herself that she likes the man that Brahm has become.

As Brahm and Eleanor begin to rebuild their relationship, Lydia has other plans; in her jealousy and unhappiness, she creates many problems for them. Along with Lydia's attempts to keep them apart, Braham's alcoholism is still an issue. Will the love between Brahm and Eleanor be strong enough to see them through these hurtles so they can finally be together?

Brahm is good man and Eleanor is kind and beautiful. Their love is endearing and their passion is hot! Lydia is a snake and I so wished she had gotten what she deserved. Although the storyline in Still In My Heart easily captivated me, poor Eleanor was betrayed repeatedly and eventually I just needed to see her find happiness. The constant feelings of angst and sadness I felt for Eleanor and Brahm made it hard for me to fully enjoy this book. However, I did enjoy the emotion of their long lost love and I found myself cheering for them throughout the story. Brahm and Eleanor's desire for each other stands the test of time and separation, but in the end does their love does triumph?

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Having read the previous books in this series, I waited patiently to read Brahm Ryland, Viscount Creed's story. Portrayed as complex, yet deeply loving of his brothers, I always knew that discovering the reason for his deep sadness was going to make one heck of a story. I was not wrong!

Brahm was a drunk - plain and simple, but for the last few years he'd fought the battle and had remained sober. Slowly, he was building bridges and being accepted back into the society that had labeled him bad ton! Receiving an invitation from Lord Burroughs, father of the woman whose betrothal he'd ruined ten years before, offered him a chance to finally make amends to the one person he'd never wanted to hurt.

Eleanor Durbane, had many years to get over the ache left in her heart after Brahm's betrayal, but to have him show up unexpectedly at her father's invitation was just about more than she could bear. With her sisters warning Eleanor against him, Brahm knew he walked a tightrope in convincing her to trust him again. If nothing else, Brahm was determined to do anything he could to tell his side of the story, to apologize, and if the God's were kind give him one more chance to woo the one lady who after all these years still held his heart captive.

*** Completely stand-alone, Smith does a marvelous job in this wonderful character study exposing the pain of betrayal, and the agony faced while trying to win back the trust of the one true love Brahm had hurt so badly. Neither did she sugar coat Brahm's struggles of taking `one day at a time' in his battle with alcohol addiction, weaving this into a compelling and poignant storyline. I found this to be an exquisitely sensual, romantically poignant and emotionally powerful read that I highly recommend.

This is my first book from the author, Kathryn Smith and I could say that it was a disappointment. The premise as explained at the back of the book was promising in that you have a hero realizing he has lost his one true love and him having a second chance. The synopsis at the back of the book pretty much is the whole storyline. Lord Burrough, Eleanor's father sets up a shooting party and invites mostly eligible gentlemen, including Brahm with hopes to marry Eleanor. I love books when men compete for the heroine but this book does not even really expound on that. The book becomes very tedious in that you see too much into their mind, too much indecision, conclusions, thinking etc. etc. The heroine would trust the hero, then not, then does not trust herself, then does and likewise for the hero. I am giving it 3 stars because maybe the other Ryland brother books that I have not read gives much more insight to Brahm's character and situation (as I saw one Amazon review on how the reviewer cannot wait for his story.) Better to borrow this book from the Public Library.

What was Ms. Smith thinking??? I fail to see why authors give their characters quirky little oddities. For example, why in heaven's name did she make the heroine, Eleanor, have duck lips. That is her description--it even mentions in the book about Eleanor quacking. What???? For the rest of the book, and I will say that that is the only mention of those creepy lips in the entire book, all I could imagine was Donald Duck. Since Ms. Smith didn't feel the need to expound on the lips in question at all during the rest of the book, why give her heroine such an odd feature?? It meant absolutely nothing to the plot of the book. All it did was jar me totally out of the flow of the book. And, the book itself was very good. I really liked this book. I liked it all, except for the lips.
Authors, listen up. Be careful how you describe your characters. It gives us readers some terribly unflattering pictures of your creations.

This books finishes the Ryland brothers series nicely. It is not a perfect story but an intense one. All during the series we saw glimpses of Brahm and wondered what his past was all about. The author starts the book ambiguously which works and the mysteries start unraveling! It is evident how much Brahm loves Ellie even though the words are not used. This book is about finding courage to love, working past your demons so that you can love completely.

Don't want to give too much away so I won't go into the plot line. I did wonder how the author was going to write a story that seemed to have the hero boxed in from the beginning but she did a great job! My heart was pounding because I found some scenes intense. I would recommend reading the other books in the series first, so that you can get to know Brahm before his story unfolds.

I really enjoyed Brahm's story. This was I pretty good series. However, This book was the best of the series. The chemistry between Eleanor and Brahm was wondeful. The plot was very realistic. Entertaining drama and unsusal scandel between sisters. Kathryn Smith is on the top list of my favorite authors. I love how she shows so much emotion and personality in all her characters. The love scenes are so sensual they take your breath away. Great dialogue as well. Very well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The engagement of Brahm Ryland, Viscount Creed to Eleanor Durbane was broken off some years ago, when he was seen by his fiance, to be in bed with her sister. It seems Brahm is an alcoholic, and the sister took advantage while he was drunk. Brahm has now been clean and sober for several years, after a carriage accident that killed his father and left him with a limp. He's hoping to have another chance with Eleanor, while still dealing with the past consequences of his alcoholism. There are some humiliating past public incidents while he was drunk, as well as the contempt of familiy members.
Eleanor has to deal with Brahm's betrayal, as well as his drunken behavior, yet still see him as someone worthy to love. She is someone of strong character while still being a woman of her time. She has to circumvent her conventional inclinations to reach out to Brahm and give him some unconventional help once she decides she really wants to work things out with him.
Brahm is an interesting personality, in that while he is sober, he is a responsible, caring, competent and protective head of his family. His degradation as a drunk is realistic, and a facinating contrast. He's flawed in a non-romantic way which makes him all the more interesting. Those who have read Smith's previous books about Brahm's brothers, will recognize Brahm as the strong older brother. This book in the series gives a wonderful additional dimension to the character and gives the romance with Eleanor that much more depth.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. I was interested in the characters and had a vested interest in all of their happiness. However, somewhere after the H leaves the h to go back to London the writing just became and so bipolar it was almost hard to follow who was trying to make amends the H or the h.

A lot of the other reviewers mentioned how annoying it was that the h kept changing her mind and I kind of agree with them. IMO, it was not so much of the h changing her mind but more of just really inconsistent writing. The lack of consistency in the characters actions and thoughts towards the end of the story resulted in a very sloppy ending. For example, there was a visit from a mistress that served absolutely no purpose what so ever other than to add to the inconsistency. Before the h was extremely jealous but when the mistress visited the H she was not bothered in the least. In fact she practically became BFF with her. The most confident of women would have an issue with a mistress paying her love interest a visit. If the author was attempting to show that the trust was beginning to strengthen between the characters then she could have found a more realistic way of doing this, not taking a character from exceedingly jealous to having little reaction to a mistress over night. This is just one example of the inconsistency of the characters towards the end of the story. If that does not bother you then you might enjoy the book. I gave it three stars because the story did have some elements that I enjoyed. However, if I could, I would have given the first half of the book four starts and one and a half stars for the second part.

Still in My Heart is my favorite book in the set of books about four brothers by Kathryn Smith and as always a wonderful book by her!