Customer Reviews

Tears of Gold

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first read this book when I was in Jr. high school. It was the first Romance Novel I had ever read. Welcome to puberty. I am now in my 30's and still hold this wonderful story up to compare all others to. Very few can compete. I found one of my life long friends by loaning this book out. If you do buy this book buy 2, one to loan that you may never get returned and one for yourself, to read over and over and over. Ms. McBain has written one of my life treasures.

Along with Laurie McBain's other book, "When Splendor Falls," this book -- to echo a previous reviewer -- transcends the genre. It's not an average bodice ripper nor is it a plodding historical tome, with cardboard characters. It is a wonderful lively story--an American Girls story for women. It has a sea voyage from the "old" country, New Orleans and San Francisco as young cities, and California when it was still very much influenced and owned by Spanish colonists. There's love, action, adventure, nobility, and a little mystery.

Mara is a wonderful, sympathetic character with depth and Nicholas is the standard to which I hold all my romance heroes. He's Mr. Darcy and Heathcliff rolled up into one, delicious and flawed hero.

Nicholas and Mara experience a time when America was young and immigrants of varying nationalities were learning to put aside their native differences and prejudices. There are good folks and evil folks. In America, Mara learns that the stifling "caste" system which shaped her youth and perception of herself doesn't exist and Nicholas realizes that he is not defined by his Creole heritage.

I highly recommend this book. My second copy is much read and worn. It would be great if this and Ms. McBain's other books would be reissued in hardcover.

One of my all-time favorite romances, "Tears of Gold" has stood the test of time as a classic. Actress Mara O'Flynn travels around the world with her brother and nephew, struggling to survive in a world that gave them little and took much away. Nicholas Chantale is the embodiment of a dashing hero, and more than a match for the fiery Mara. From Ireland to England to the California Gold Fields and antebellum New Orleans, Ms. McBain gives the reader an authentic look into history and a sensuous romance with unforgettable characters. A must-read for the romance fan.

I read TEARS OF GOLD when it first came out. (I am that old!) I remembered liking it back then, and I wanted to see if it would hold up for me today. There are plenty of romance novels written during the 1970's and 1980's that I can't touch with a barge pole. Either they're filled with rapes, or they've got other weird issues that I just don't like. Most often, the romance is just too convoluted -- you're given a hero who has distrust and contempt for a heroine (although they don't have a problem shagging like rabbits) throughout the book, only to have him confess his love 3 pages before the end. I hate that.

But thankfully, TEARS OF GOLD is a full, rich romantic novel, with a background and a love story that feels -- well, like a real story is being told. Nicholas and Mara aren't cardboard figures. Mara is initially depicted as a beautiful opportunist, but she has a heart that's been wounded, and her love for Nicholas (as well as for her family) will change her over time. Nicholas is an alpha-male, but he has a past that's wounded him, too. And gradually, over the pace of the story, Nicholas learns to trust and to love again. Nicholas doesn't apply force to Mara or consistently treat her with disdain. There's always an element of attraction, and later, love, in his feelings for her, even though he's strongly convinced of her duplicity in the first part of the story. (And he's got reason to be. Even if she's not a devil, Mara is not exactly an angel either.)

This is a long, well-plotted romance novel. I was honestly surprised all over again by how detailed and involving this story really is. It opens in London; moves to gold-rush-era California, and progresses to pre-Civil War New Orleans. Most romance novels written today take place in just one setting, over a shorter period of time, and have fewer subcharacters. For me, it was a pleasure to read a romance novel whose story took place over the course of a few years, in different countries, and yet never let character development or the love story lie dormant. TEARS OF GOLD is going on my keeper shelf, for good.

I totally agree with the one reviewer...20 years and still one of the best..ON MY KEEPER SHELF! ! ! PURE GOLD! ! !

Tears of Gold is one of the first romance novels I read when I was a teenager, and is still a standard I hold up to more modern books. I think I read the entire book in less than a weekend, and proceded to re-read it several times (I still have my origanal copy!). I loved Mara and Nicholas, as well as the other characters. Even after all these years, I can recall stunning scenes forever frozen in my imagination (the jelly scene just sizzled!). The ending was a great tear-jerker. Twenty years later, I would still recommend this book for anyone who enjoys romance.

i absolutely love this book. its one of my all time favorites. highly recommend also check out rosemary rogers and kathleen e woodiwiss for great romance

This is the first book of it's kind that I read. I was hooked just from the words on the cover. I think I will read it again. It is WORTH it!

Different parts of mid-nineteenth century America come to vivid life in this book. The setting is unusually colorful and descriptive in this moving book, one filled with spunky characters and melodious dialogue. The beginning is sad, as are other parts of this book, but that gives it more poignancy.

Mara is an interesting heroine, an Irish lass traveling with her light-hearted brother, Brendan, his son, Paddy, and their maid. The two Irish siblings sure know how to get into trouble. Their adventures are entertaining.

They end up in California during the time of the gold rush. Rich details bring this era and world to life and even offer the reader a deeper understanding of the people there. Later, New Orleans and life there is
presented vividly.

Nicholas, a sexy Creole man is after Mara for something bad she did: hurting a member of his family. They meet up and donąt get along, to say the least. I was startled a bit by how quickly their relationship went from hatred to courtship. Nicholas goes from suspecting she was his villain, the one he searched for and yet they end up in the bedroom with little development to get to this point and then they become enemies again shortly after.

The story has its share of suspense as well. I wondered what would happen when the siblings' deception was discovered. The history is vivid, interesting and spot on. Readers will be entertained and learn a lot.

Itąs also good that there is character growth for the two leads. Something quite sad happens and, while unexpected, fits in with the developing plot.

Occasionally, the story rushes over certain parts, and in other areas, there are so many details. At times it becomes annoying that Mara and Nicholas see the worst in each other so easily and so often, despite the passion between them.

Still, this is a good tale filled to the brim with adventure and romance. It's on the long side but worth it, having a satisfying ending and enough suspense to keep up the tension.

Originally posted at the Long and Short of It Romance Reviews

Sweeping from London to the ranchos of Spanish California, gold rush San Francisco, and antebellum Louisiana, Laurie McBain's TEARS OF GOLD plunges headlong on a vivid, heart-pounding story of love, adventure, deceit and mystery.

Mara will never end up like her mother, the cast-off mistress of a rich man. Mara spurns men first--until a young London suitor shoots himself after her rejection. The young man's uncle, Nicholas, vows revenge on the villain who hurt his nephew.

Not knowing the young man's fate, Mara, along with her con-artist brother and his son, leave London for the gold fields of California. Mara masquerades as a California ranchero's long lost niece as she reluctantly becomes part of her brother's latest scheme. Here Nicholas first encounters her, unaware she is the woman who rejected his nephew. Thus begins Nicholas's fascination with the beautiful and enigmatic Mara. When he discovers her identity, he smothers his growing admiration for her with contempt. The attraction is mutual, and Mara also fails to keep her distance, even as she knows she should.

TEARS OF GOLD is big story in every sense of the word--historic events, life-and-death consequences, and dramatic settings. Today the book would be a series, with each of the three major locations, all full of historic and descriptive detail, a separate connected novel. The story itself is a wider-ranging, mid-nineteenth century version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, although I found the leads less appealing. Ignoring the introduction of new information, Nicholas continually mistreats Mara, his prejudice blaming her for something that was not her fault. Mara is strong and independent, but her too-strong pride prevents her from explaining her side, and she makes excuse after excuse for Nicholas's continued ill-usage.

Despite the hero's and heroine's shortcomings, I enjoyed this big, sprawling, complex novel. If you also long for stories like this that no one writes any more, TEARS OF GOLD , published in 1979, is the book for you.

ARC provided by Sourcebooks