Customer Reviews

With This Ring

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Don't be fooled by bland reviews, _With This Ring_ is classic Amanda Quick. Teeming with the usual mystery, romance, adventure and passion readers have grown to love, _With This Ring_ is right on par with all of Ms. Quick's earlier works. I'd even go so far as to say it has become one of my favorites by her.

In Beatrice and Leo Ms. Quick has created two strong minded, mature and well rounded characters. Beatrice is lively, funny and intelligent. I really enjoyed reading about a heroine who was nearing thirty years old and who'd been wed and bed before. It was a nice, refreshing change of pace to see an older heroine who had a sensible head on her shoulders be swept away by desire. So many times romance authors inundate you with simpering beauties whose only attribute worth mentioning is their looks. Ms. Quick continually sets forth heroines who make you proud to be a woman and Beatrice does just that. Leo is exciting, sensual and has a magnetism that the reader feels right along with Beatrice. Watching him fall in love with Beatrice is a beautiful experience and when he gave her the legendary 'Mad Monk' token of love I cried.

As always, the plot was engaging and full of twists and turns that kept me absorbed right from the first. Another thing I really enjoyed about _With This Ring_ is the fact that Ms. Quick alludes to a character from one of her previous books. It was nice to see a name I recognized and be able to recall another extraordinary book of her's that I'd read.

Anyone who has read this book and didn't like it should give it a second read through, surely you must have missed something the first time! Anyone who hasn't read this book -- what are you waiting for? Buy it now and be prepared for a marvelous read courtesy of Amanda Quick.

This is one of my favorite by Amanda Quick. Her stories are always original. You don't read that many romances with a 29 year old woman and a 40+ male. Beatrice is one of my favorite Quick heroines. She is no young, naive girl. She's strong, confident, stubborn, practical and intelligent. Leo is also one of my favorites. He is a recluse with no use for society, but Beatrice drags him out of his self-imposed seclusion and takes him on a wild ride that changes his life.

There was nothing dull about With This Ring. It takes off from the first page and doesn't drag. Beatrice and Leo are both strong characters, and I got a few good laughs reading about them locking horns. They also both deserve happiness and it was great to read about how they find it with each other. If you are a fan of Amanda Quick, you should definitely read this one.

This is the first regency novel I've encounted with the hero being --gasp!!-- nearly 40. I was glad that the heroine wasn't some little baby of 16 as I hate those kind of books. But this book, my second Amanda Quick, was good. The 'murder' plot wasn't really that intresting but the situations that Beatrice got herself into were funny. I borrowed the book from my library and I'm not so in love with it that I'll buy it but it does make a good read for a rainy afternoon.

I have read a number of other Amanda Quick books and have adored them all. This one, however, now stands head and shoulders above the rest. It was engaging, enthralling and captivating !

I especially enjoyed the fact that the hero and heroine, Leo and Beatrice, were older than the usual historical romance, and both had been jaded by past relationships. It gave a more realistic and understandable feel to their characters and also made it all the more romantic that they discovered eachother. Another aspect of their relationship I enjoyed was how much they had in common. Passion is definitely evident, but one gets the feeling that their common interests will hold their relationship together forever !

I highly recommend this book !

I found this book a refreshing change from her one word title books. Although they are always wonderful, it seemed Ms. Krentz was stuck in a writing rut. Her books were just different variations of each other. Don't get me wrong, if you find something that works, go with it! But With This Ring was a delightful change of pace. Leo and Beatrice were so three dimensional that they seemed to hop right off the page. The mystery was fascinating, and the heat between Leo and Beatrice fairly crackled through the pages. They are some of the ultimate love heroes of all time, and you want them to get together. Take my advice and buy this book!

I loved hear early books. They were delightful, light, entertaining, but still, her heroines were real Regency ladies, with the restrictions and convictions of that time, and they somehow developped during the book, learning something about themselves, growing beyond some old fears, or so.

The last few books are getting ever flatter. The story is still delightful, but the heroines are much too free for Regency, the period is just used as a costume backdrop and not as a real part of people's lives and values and, and I miss this most, they do not grow. They are already happy with themselves and life as it is, and the man is just icing on the cake. This is not romance for me, romance is a void being filled, a growing up of the whole person.

So, both in her contemporaries as Jayne Ann Krentz, as in her historicals, I still find a fun read, but it gets flatter and flatter in every book and I will probably not buy her next one as a hardcover, it is just not worth that m! oney.

Mrs. Beatrice Poole is a woman of many mysteries--including a secret identity as Amelia York, authoress of horrid novels. Upon learning of the death of her uncle under most improper circumstances, Beatrice takes it upon herself to find out what happened. When the young widow finds herself on the verge of becoming the heroine of one of her grim and fanciful tales she looks toward the Earl of Monkford for assistance.

Leo, the Earl of Monkford, has a family history with mystery and intrigue. The men before him who held the title Earl of Monkford became known as the "Mad Monks." Leo himself is believed to have supernatural powers, including the ability to turn himself into a wolf. Followed by his trusty hound, Elf, Leo sets out to help Beatrice discover what happened to her uncle, and finds himself falling for the lady in the interim period.

This novel was an engaging read and passed the time quickly. Quick's signature mysteries rarely disappoint. One of the best things about this one is that both the hero and heroine are of a certain age (nearing 40 and 30, respectively) so there is little need for the high drama typically associated with Regency romance. This would be an excellent book to read by the pool in the summer.

Mrs. Beatrice Poole needs help in recovering the small inheritance promised to a young lady in her family as a dowry. Since the inheritance is a legendary treasure, she turns to expert collector Leo Drake, Earl of Monkcrest. Monkcrest, also known as the Mad Monk of Monkcrest Abbey, is fascinated by the forthright, headstrong widow. Little does he know that Beatrice is also know as horrids writer, Mrs. Amelia York, and that she helps prostitutes get off the streets by training them as French ladies' maids.

Thrilling passions, mysterious treasure, brooding heroes, what more could one want? Well, how about strong heroines, witty repartee, and unusual supporting characters? Quick's novels have it all and this one is no exception.

This is the second book I've read of Ms. Quick's. I truly injoyed it. I loved the fact that Beatrice is nearly 30 and not a raving beauty. I agree with other readers when they say it's nice to see a heroine that has a good head on her shoulders and is very intelligent and self-sufficient. Both characters are strong and that's makes for interesting dialogue. I loved Beatrice's "horrid novels". It was clever the way Ms. Quick had a passage for each chapter of "With This Ring" from Beatrice's book "The Ruin". Well worth reading.

This was the first Amanda Quick novel I read. I loved it so much, I bought all her other books in one (or two) amazon.com shipments. Beatrice Poole is an unconventional Regency heroine in that she is an accomplished novelist (complete with pseudonym)and a widow. The hero is tall, imposing, and steeped in legend. The interaction between the two characters is bewitching, and I loved the various secondary characters. The whimisical subplot involving alchemy is one Quick has explored in other novels and makes a delightful departure from standard Regency fair like Vicar's Daughter Reforms Rakish Earl, or Rakish Duke Must Marry to Beget Heir and Marries the Wrong Girl Who Has Loved Him Silently for Years But It All Works Out Anyway. As per her usual, Amanda Quick paints a delightful picture of Regency England. With This Ring is the book I buy for friends who are just tuning into the Regency era.