Customer Reviews

Unexpected Blessings

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I believe that Barbara Taylor Bradford has "milked" Emma Harte for all she is worth. In the past I have enjoyed her books - although the characters Paula O'Neil and Emily Harte were a little too flawless for human beings. This story doesn't seem to go anywhere. I never read any resentment on the part of India's family towards her "blue-collar" boyfriend, as a matter of fact, the most snobbish member of the family (according to A Woman of Substance and Hold the Dream) Edwina, Dowager Countess of Dunvale - is eager to meet him and embraces him right away. The complete change of Edwina's character really bothered me! Also, she (BTB) invents a son for Frank and Natalie Harte, when it was mentioned in AWOS that they only had 1 daughter.

It seemed like pages went by for the ONE day that Adele was missing, and then at other times weeks went by in a blink of an eye. Actions attributed to Winston Harte and Emily Barkstone in Hold the Dream, were then 'remembered' by Paula about her and Shane.

Storylines started in previous books - such as Michael Kalinski, after divorcing Valentine, starting to woo Amanda Linde (Emily's sister)that would have linked the three clans in marriage, which is harped on incessantly in this and Emma's Secret; and the fact that Lorne and Tessa where left substantial shares of the Yorkshire Consolidated Newspaper Company, but neither one work for or even act like that business exists; are completely dropped! If you only read this book, you would think that Winston Harte owned the newspapers & media company outright.

Why isn't Daisy part of this story? Why does Tessa look like a "Fairley" when her description in Hold the Dream is listed as "another Harte - red haired and green eyed"

These kinds of gaps and leaps make me crazy. Was ANYONE employed to edit this book?

Usually I love Barbara Taylor Bradford books. This one was quite boring. It seemed to plod along with very little happening of interest. A very uninteresting murder plot was left unresolved in the end, but by then I really didn't care. This is a continued story of the family introduced in Woman of Substance. Which was outstanding. Perhaps she has milked the dynasty and characters with too many characters that are now best forgotten. Sorry to say it was not one of her best. Be sure to read most of he other books. Most are excellent.

This book, one more in a continuation of the Emma Harte saga proves that it's difficult to create an encore that rivals the performance of the wonderful 'A Woman of Substance'. This book had too many characters, storylines and insufficient detail. I had the feeling the writing was rushed, written too quickly to get it to press and not enough time was taken to give both the characters and storyline the depth that Emma's descendants deserve and that was originally created in the first book. I thought the twin tower replay was in poor taste and was both overdramatized and underutilized in the story line. This book was, in short, boring and disappointing. A pity, because so much more could have been done with this series, as I have found that each successive book is rather lackluster.

The only people that can enjoy this book are those that have read the series. I havent and it was unbelievably boring. How can a great grand mother who DIED OVER not 5, 10 or 15 but 30 YEARS AGO have so much influence on her family memebers. There is nothing that makes me care for the characters when all i read about is how much they are snobish and cliquey, and wealthy, privelged and no outsiders allowed and Emma said this Emma said that. Its just not possible that family members down the line will mention emma's name evey single day of their lives. The book is also poorly written, so much exposition without any story. I througly hated this book. The writer should have ended with emma hartes story. The hartes are so elitist, i though i was reading about a secret society. Imagine ones daughter is kidnapped by her crazy father. What do you do? No, dont call the police because a long dead woman said no outsiders allowed. IT is much better if the father harms the child than having the GASP police(outsiders) involved. I am ranting now, but that book was a waste of time. I couldnt finish it. PLS dont waste your money.

"Unexpected Blessing" is the fouth book in the Emma Harte series by Barbara Taylor Bradford. This book picks up in the summer of 2001, as Evan Hughes a newly discover relation of Emma Harte continues to get closer the Harte family as her own comes to England, while others members of the family are dealing with there own romantic relationship problems.

I did enjoy this book more than "Emma Secret" but I can't understand why Ms. Bradford keeps doing the flashback chapters, its seems to pull away from the story. Overall, this book was better than "Emma's Secret" and a good read.

"Unespected Blessings "is filled with past writing of Emma Harte and her huge family. Why do we have to again hear how each person in this novel is related to Emma and how beautiful they are and how they love each other. Also what wonderful houses they live in, in detail, teeth grinding detail. If I want to decorate a house, I wil buy a decorating book. Also as the head of a large family, Emma does not set much of a role model, with her children born out of wedlock and her living with a married man for many years. I wonder if we are going to read about her great, great, great, grandchildren and their love affairs which also will produce children without marriage. The time that she really got hold of a interesting plot, was the World Trade Center, which was written off immediately after Shane's part was disclosed. Going back to Emma in the final chapters is a page filler, is there anything we have left to learn about her? At the wedding, more time is devoted to thedescription of the brides dress than to the horrible problems that exist right outside the church door. Will Dusty and India marry? Will Tessa last with Jean-Claude until her divorce? Will Evan and Gideon have their marriage before she gives birth? Who cares? I hope Ms Bradford has all the money she needs, she deserves it, she is a wonderful author, this was an un-necessary book. If you have never read Ms Bradford, go back to " Woman of Substance" and start at the beginning.

I am only half way through it and am struggling. I feel as if she loaned her name out to a new author or something. There is alot of repetition in the book and the characters are lifeless. Mind you, I couldn't write a book but I sure know what I like to read. I have read all the other books about Emma Harte but I loved them but if I have to read one more time about Emma's philosophy, which is repeated alot in this book, I might scream. I will get to the end but I certainly will think twice about getting the next one.

I really enjoyed the continuing saga of Emma Harte's family. I don't agree that she has used up the story line. I hope that another continuation of these great love stories will be coming soon. I would look forward to reading another book about this family.

I did finish the book, so I guess it wasn't all that bad, but it didn't seem to have much purpose and it wasn't that entertaining or interesting. Despite the list of 'characters' at the beginning of the book, there are simply to many folks and generations to keep track of. Usually I like this type of book, this one was disappointing.

I read Unexpected Blessings after picking up a copy in London on my way back to Baltimore. Some six hours and 400+ pages later, I finally put it down. I just couldn't stop reading until the last page.

Few authors, if any pay such great attention to detail as Barbara Taylor Bradford. She is a master storyteller who seems to get better with age.

Unexpected Blessings is the 5th book in the Harte family series. While nothing beats the original, A Woman of Substance, this new saga is captivating, and even better than the earlier sequels, Hold The Dream, To Be The Best and Emma's Secret.

Those who have read the earlier books will be completely stunned by a shocking discovery. But there is enough background information here to read this book, even if you haven't gotten to the others yet.

Highly Reccomended!