Customer Reviews

Miss Truelove Beckons (Zebra Regency Romance)

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

 

 

"Miss Truelove Beckons" is a rather touching love story about the meeting of true minds and spirits, misunderstandings, and of how (in novels anyway) true love always triumphs.

Wycliffe Prescott, Viscount Drake, has returned from the wars a weary and broken man. The horrors of the Napoleonic Wars are still fresh in his mind, and his mother's constant reminders that he should marry and set up his nursery, only adds to the his feeling of malaise. He does however attempt to pull himself together, especially as his mother has invited her good friend, Lady Swinley, together with Lady Swinley's beautiful daughter, Arabella, and her niece, Miss Truelove Becket to Lea Park for the summer. Both Wycliffe's mother and Lady Swinley have hopes of promoting a match between Wycliffe and Arabella. However Wycliffe confounds everyone by being drawn to the poor cousin, Truelove Bucket, instead. Her sweet voice and gentle nature is a balm to his troubled soul -- Truelove seems to be instinctively able to sense what is wrong with Wycliffe and to know how to deal with him, much to the horror, chagrin and anger of Lady Swinley and Arabella. Before too long Wycliffe and Truelove have fallen in love with each other, though neither suspects that their love is reciprocated. And then Arabella, suspecting that she is getting no where with the viscount, lies to her cousin that she is in love with Wycliffe herself. Truelove is a humble vicar's daughter who has no expectation of ever winning such a man as Wycliffe Prescott for herself, so that when a letter arrives from her father bidding her to come home, she leaves Lea Park with little ceremony.

Arabella Swinley now makes her bid to win Wycliffe's affections. But she has been trained to be the perfect tonnish young lady, and has no understanding for Wycliffe's humours or the kinds of issues that move him -- making things easier for his tenants, relief for the war veterans, etc. However she must obtain a proposal of marriage from Wycliffe, for Arabella and her mother are quite penniless, and they face a life of abject poverty, unless Arabella marries well. How will things pan out? Will Arabella sacrifice her cousin's happiness for her own self interest? Will Truelove and Wycliffe find true happiness and fulfillment in each other?

I rather enjoyed this novel. The book doesn't boast of a very complex plot, and the characters are all pretty much the average stock of characters: hero, heroine, silly male friend, manipulative older woman, understanding mother, difficult to like younger woman, etc. Truelove Becket is probably one of the gentlest and sweetest of heroines -- I don't think she lost her temper even once in this novel, not even when Arabella was having one of her hysterical tantrums. Wycliffe Prescott is true to form as the troubled and dashing hero. Strangely enough however I was most intrigued by the character of Arabella Swinley, who veered from seeming quite shallow and manipulative to showing some backbone and affection for her cousin. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is a novel in the works that features the rehabilitation of Arabella. I do hope so for I'm quite looking forward to that!

"Miss Truelove Beckons" is a very tasteful romance novel, and is well worth a five star rating.

Miss Truelove Beckons is a book with two people who falls in love after a few months in each others company. Lord Drake is a true hero in every sense. He was a major in the war and barely survived. And because of that he has extremely bad nightmares and it does not seem to get any better until True (the heroin) shows up as her cousin's, Arabella, companion, along with Arabella's mother. True and Lord Drake builds a friendship, because she is the only one willing to listen and speak openly about his real experience in the war. After months of friendship they find themselves in love, but her cousin will do what ever it takes to trap the Lord Drake for herself.

I liked the book because they actually got to know each other throughout the summer months. I also liked that they were friends before they fell in love. I did not like True's cousin, Arabella, character. If anything I think she kind of spoiled the book because she would not stand up to her snobby mother until the end and then she still gave in. I also did not like Lord Drake's friend who ended up persuing True's cousin, he was not a true friend. But overall the book was a good book to read on a Saturday.

When Viscount Drake meets Miss Truelove Becket, he mistakes her name for Truelove Beckons. For Drake, the lady's sweetness and purity of spirit do beckon. Wounded in soul from the war and his near death at Waterloo, Drake is plagued with nightmares. With Truelove he finds peace. As their friendship evolves into love, the couples' families resist. Drake's parents expect him to wed Arabella. Lady Swinley, who is Arabella's mother and Truelove's cousin, does not want Truelove to steal this prize. Truelove will seem either refreshing or unrealistically good, depending on the reader. Arabella is an interesting companion wavering between being the sweet child Truelove recalls and the simpering, scheming creature Lady Swinley has instructed her to be. The story gets off to a slow start, but the pace picks up midway through the novel.

Lord Wycliffe Prescott, Viscount Drake, has returned home from Waterloo to a hero's welcome. He doesn't feel much like a hero though. He's seen too much death and came too close to dying himself to feel jubilant about being one of Wellington's youngest Majors. Drake is haunted by his experiences in the war and he dreams about it every night. His mother is worried sick and thinks that a lovely bride will take his mind off things. She has just the girl in mind - the beautiful Arabella Swinley, the daughter of her old school friend. She has invited Arabella and her mother to come for a long visit so the young people can get to know one another. Arabella brings along her cousin, Miss Truelove Becket, a poor Vicar's daughter. True is happy to go along with her younger cousin, whom she practically raised. She needs some time to contemplate her future and decide whether or not to marry her father's former curate who has accepted a position up North. True longs to do good works and care for the people of the parish as she does for her father but she has her doubts whether Mr. Bottleby will provide her with true companionship. When Drake meets True, he hears her name as Miss Truelove Beckons and is instantly attracted to her plain yet beautiful looks. True proves to be true of heart as well. As she gets to know Drake, she is able to draw him out and listens to his stories of war without judging him. She is peaceful and calm and knows all the right things to say. She would make a lovely wife for some man but not for Drake, for he feels he is too damaged to make anyone happy. True falls in love with Drake, attracted to his handsome looks, his sensitivity and his wounded soul. Only she can make him happy, but she knows that Arabella will make a better Viscountess and future Countess. Arabella is repulsed by Drake's forthright manner and his horrific night terrors but her mother has her sights set on Drake and won't back down. This is not a typical Regency romance. It doesn't really follow any of the conventional plots. It is different and more serious than the usual lighthearted fare but also different from the traditional villain plot.Though I felt that Drake's PTSD nightmares were gruesome and repeated too often, I liked the wounded hero concept. Drake and True have a special relationship that is pure and sweet. I liked both the main characters though I think some people might find True a bit too selfless. The secondary characters were mostly stock characters but they mostly exhibited some depth as the story went on. The moral of the story is a tiny bit heavy-handed but only just a little bit. The writing is excellent and the descriptions are beautiful.Some might be put off by the relationship between the hero and heroine but I thought it was sweet and romantic. I loved this book because of it's uniqueness and highly recommend it to those who like their Regencies to have substance.

Here is a well told story of PTSD in a regency setting and it is very well done indeed. Here is a story of a man's mental anguish, self doubt and difficult path to recovery. How often we read of dashing heros at Waterloo: how infrequently we see them as real people, full of the inevitable self loathing a sensitive man might bring home as a souvenir.

Our heroine is sweet but not cloying, a clergyman's daughter with high ideals but a strong streak of self-knowledge - a woman well up to helping a man in torment to find some inner peace and utterly deserving of the deep and abiding love he develops for her.

This is also a novel about mother love. Sadly, the previous reviewer here misses the point - yes Lady Leathorpe is a good "mom" (!!!) but she is firmly fixed in her own regency timeframe and she makes decisions wholly credibly in this historical context and social strictures of the times.

Donna Simpson is an interesting writer; she deals with issues that are slightly different in her books and often not quite what one would expect. I adore the regency genre but sometimes, too often in fact, it is hard to find a novel with a slightly different perspective. This one is different but well pleasing. A satisfying and worthwhile read on a cold winter's day.

I really thought this story was so-so. The characters are all so ordinary. Anyone who reads regencies knows these characters well: the handsome hero, who is wounded on the inside and outside; the selfish beauty; the silly, pompous friend; the scheming prospective mother-in-law; the incredibly, naive, sweet heroine and the mother who only wants what is best for her child, who goes about it in the wrong way. Yep - that sums up our story here. Nothing new in this story. No clever writing or characters. Just so bland. Obviously, the author takes pains to make Arabella, Drake's (our hero) perspective wife, both mean and, underneath her selfishness, actually nice, as I am sure she too will have her own story. Almost every page has a moment where Truelove bites her tongue over something Bella says. Please...while she might be a Vicar's daughter does that mean she has to be a doormat? Also, Drake's Mom. She proclaims that she wants him to marry and be happy. She is concerned for his mental health. Yet, even after she witnesses the peace he has with Truelove, she tried to get him to ignore True and make a match of it with Bella. Why? Sure, True was not a Baron's daugher but she was respectable, noble blood in her veins. Any real Mom, seeing how happy he was with her, would have pushed True in his path, not out of it.