Customer Reviews

The Vanishing Viscountess (Harlequin Historical)

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

 

 

"The Vanishing Viscountess" grabbed me from the first paragraph -- actually, from the first sentence! I was swept up into the drama and urgency of this love story as surely as if I was there. Tanner (Adam Vickery, Marquess of Tannerton), is every woman's dream of the ideal man -- kind, handsome, strong, brave, at times quite funny, and oh so romantic! -- but not once does he become a cliched Regency hero. I admire Marlena from the first scene (unknown to Tanner, she is actually a viscountess, wrongly accused of murder, and a fugitive), and I long for them to fall in love. Their path to love is fraught with peril, and I couldn't put the book down until I reached the end... it was more than worth losing sleep for!

Diane Gaston employs her wonderful narrative skills once again, weaving a story both compelling and believable, in a book that's one of her very best (IMHO) since 'The Improper Wife' and 'The Mysterious Miss M.' She is a master at conveying the spirit of Regency England -- its mores and manners and turns of phrase -- and her research into the details of the actual route that Tanner and Marlena use to escape the law (and the man who wants her very much dead) add even more to the story's realism. This realism is one of Gaston's hallmarks.

Best of all is the relationship between Tanner and Marlena, both of whom have known great loneliness in their lives and who have despaired of finding anything like real love. In scene after scene, as they are forced into flight, they are also becoming closer and closer, and when the love scenes come, are they EVER *great*. There are quite a few gorgeous, steamy love scenes - the kind you re-read immediately, they're so good...

This is a book to be treasured again and again, and I cannot wait for Gaston's next one. I always know her stories will be satisfying, real, and beautiful.

Happy reading, romance lovers!

Until now, Adam Vickery, the Marquess of Tannerton (Tanner) led a life filled with gaming, sport, and loose women, but now another woman intrigued him. A proud, defiant woman and he cared not what crime warranted her to wear leather shackles! In part, saving her life had vindicated his tormented past and he vowed he would see her safe.

Marlena Parronley had once idolized the Marquess of Tannerton. During her London season, the foolish, young baron's daughter from Scotland had experienced an innocent obsession for the dashing marquess. Now, she lay naked beside him. The Marquess of Tannerton, the man with the tousled brown hair and soft green eyes had become her rescuer! She owed him her life! The warm, friendly, flirtatious marquess had plucked her from the hands of death and now she would grant him this brief time!

She was a fugitive! An accused murderess! Marlena Parronley, the baron's daughter from Scotland, had become Viscountess Corland and Viscountess Corland had been found standing over the body of her dead husband! And neither Tanner's money nor his influence could aid her. Soon they would part . . . forever! So for now . . . this time was his!

Reviewer's Comments:
In THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M, Diane Gaston showed great poignancy. In THE IMPROPER WIFE, written under the pseudonym Diane Perkins, the author displayed humor and sensitivity. In her latest release, Ms. Gaston decides to try her hand at a road romance and success is THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS!

This reader has long enjoyed road romance, simply because the hero and heroine spend a significant amount of time together. En route from one locale to another, the couple is forced to work on a relationship through danger and isolation. If done properly, the hero and heroine appear to be the only ones on the page. In THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS, Diane Gaston sticks to this formula, yet quietly attaches sub-plots and the entire package ties together beautifully.

From any author, my single request may seem selfish, but I want entertainment! In THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS, Diane Gaston entertained me!
Grade: A-

MaryGrace Meloche.

I've been impatiently awaiting this book, and at last it is here and definitely did not disappoint.

Diane Gaston possesses a rare gift for creating believable characters. The "good guys" (not only the hero and heroine but secondaries as well) have wonderful qualities but are blessedly flawed. I was impressed by how she was able to reveal the similarities and differences between the peerage and working class. The villains also demonstrated the same depth of personality. And I was delighted by several of the unexpected turns and chilled by others.

I know when I curl up with one of Diane's books it will be a thoroughly satisfying read from first page to the last. This one lived up to my expectations and then some. There where moments when I felt the discomfort of the journey through her incredible details. The romance throughout warmed my heart. I think I'll go read it again.

Bored and angry with himself, Adam Vickery (Tanner to his friends) watches a beautiful captive being brought from Ireland to England. When a storm breaks up the ship they're traveling on, Adam saves the woman, little suspecting that she is the notorious Marlena, the Vanishing Viscountess, accused of having murdered her late husband. The two manage to survive the storm and the ship-wreckers who watch from the shores in hopes of gathering plunder, but Marlena knows she cannot stay in England. Perhaps Scotland will be safe.

Tanner feels an immediate attraction to the beautiful woman, and decides to help her with her escape. But Marlena refuses to tell him of her true identity--or that she harbored a crush for Tanner from the days of her youth. The two make their way through northern England, pursued by a Bow Street Runner and by Marlena's cousin--the real murderer and the man who stands as heir to her vast estates.

Forced to stay off well-traveled roads, Tanner and Marlena have ample to time to explore the attraction that flows between them--and Marlena learns that not all men are as condemning of women with sexual appetites as was her husband.

Set in Regency England, THE VANISHING VISCOUNTESS hints at the transitions England is going through after the Napoleonic war and with the beginning of the industrial revolution. Intriguingly, author Diane Gaston is careful to make all of her characters, even the antagonists, sympathetic. All of them love their wives and seek what they believe to be right.

Tanner makes an appropriately tortured hero, filled with guilt over the deaths he believes his actions caused. Naturally, he is wealthy and wants nothing more than to protect Marlena and shower her with gifts (after all, what's the point of a Regency hero who doesn't do these things?). Marlena is intriguingly independent, but I would have liked to see a bit more character growth on her part. Some of her decisions were so frustratingly bad, I did have to wonder if there might not have been smarter ways to put her in the danger the plot demands. Still, Gaston's writing kept me involved in the story and reading on to see how Marlena could escape the noose that appears to await her.

A great, fast paced adventure love story that takes you on a life-or-death chase through England and into Scotland. It was hard to put this book down! Tanner (Marquess of Tannerton) and Marlena (the famous vanishing viscountess), both survive a horrible accident, and together they make their way from the shores of England into Scotland. Her past is catching up with her quickly, but she does not know if she can trust Tanner. He plans to help her to safety without fully understanding what he risks. I loved this story, and the ending was well done and so satisfying. A very sexy read too. ;-)

I usually turn to the Harlequin Historical line for Medievals and Westerns which are hard to come by nowadays, rather than Regencies, which are churned out by seemingly every publisher out there. So this is my first HH Regency and I picked it up because I'd heard Diane Gaston is a good writer. Well she is, at least on the evidence of this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Tanner is a wonderful hero, strong and protective but kind, flirtatious and with a sense of humor. We are told that he feels guilty for some deaths that happened a while ago (was this in a previous book?), and that helps explain why he latches on to Marlena right away and is so determined to save her. He becomes devoted to her pretty quickly and has no problem making sacrifices to accompany her on her escape. I like how he learns to do things for himself, make his own travel arrangements, when he has always had a staff to rely on before.

Marlena is a strong woman. I liked her, although I wished she would have confided her full story to Tanner much earlier. He was a good guy and deserved more than the half-truths he was getting. She held out too long IMO and cost this book a star.

This story really worked for me because of the action. There are no ballrooms or parties. It starts with a shipwreck and continues with a road romance, with the hero and heroine being pursued by villains and a Bow Street Runner. Tanner and Marlena spend most of the book together, the focus is squarely on them, and I liked that.

This fast-paced romantic melodrama began with a ship wreck during a gale off the west coast of Britain. Lady Marlena Parronley and Adam Vickery, Marquess of Tannerton, began their story as they fought to survive the breakup of their ship. On board ship, she had been in shackles and was traveling in the custody of a Bow Street Runner. Initially Tannerton did not know who Marlena was or why she was in custody, but he helped the mysterious gentlewoman because he was drawn to her, felt guilty over the deaths of three people in an earlier book, and was contemptuous of the cowardly behavior of the Runner when the lifeboats were being loaded before the breakup of their ship.

With Tannerton's assistance, she evaded the persistant pursuit of the Runner, and together they made their way toward Edinburgh, near her childhood home, Parronley. During the course of the story she very gradually and grudgingly releases details of her past to Tannerton, but never trusts him with her whole story until forced to do so near the end.

The story was highly romantic, and the shipwreck was a highly effective dramatic device with which to open. (Diane Perkins's The Improper Wife opens with a dramatic birthing which is also wonderful). The tale has a lot of emotional power created by the increasing bond between Tannerton and Marlena, as well as the deadly chase they are engaged upon. There is a compelling secondary romance between a barkeeper, Bram, and a serving maid, Fia.

Fia's fear of the consequences of confessing what what she knows about the murder of Marlena's late husband is credible, and her growing love for Bram is believable. Bram is a strong character who is the perfect counterpart for Fia, unfortunately his role is minimal at the end of the story.

On the downside, I did not find Marlena believable or particularly likable; her utter nobility and selflessness was incredible. The romance of Marlena and Tannerton was basically a string of sexual encounters combined with the excitement/desperation of being chased. Though one reads a romance willingly suspending disbelief, the plot turns and twists in this tale, taken as a whole, were too convenient to be plausible.

On the upside, The Vanishing Viscountess's plot was tightly woven, contained clever twists and turns, and had both a great dramatic opening and climax. Tannerton, Bram, Fia, and the other supporting characters were strong, appealing, and believable. I would rate this as a 3-1/2.

Adam Vickery, Marquess of Tannerton and Marlena Parronley, the notorious Vanishing Viscountess find themselves on the same boat that is about to crash. Marlena is accusted of killing her husband and trying to escape her cousin and the police. Adam feels that he has no use in life and feels good about trying to save Marlena. Adam and Marlena travel to Scotland with everyone chasing them and everything going wrong. I really enjoyed this novel - wanted to close my eyes near the end - because everything bad was happening at once..but it's hard to read with your eyes closed! Enjoy!

If you enjoy this genre, I would also suggest;Surrender to Sin , Sin and Scandal in England,Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady (Harlequin Historical Series) and A Lady's Pleasure.

Adam Vickery, the Marquess of Tannerton (Tanner) led a life of pleasure as befitted a man with his wealth. His pursuits were many but now he looked back on his life and found that he was no longer happy, especially as he reflected the outcome of his last quest that inadvertently led to the loss of three lives. Now on a ship, he stood not able to take his eyes off of a shackled prisoner - a woman who stood defiant and dignified as the sea around them raged in turbulence.

Marlena Parronley, the notorious Vanishing Viscountess, was a fugitive. She remembered the dashingly handsome Marquess from days long ago when as a debutante she'd shared a dance at a masquerade ball. He didn't recognize her which was a good thing, because she couldn't afford letting anyone help her escape and share the same punishment that awaited her back in London - the hangman's noose.

*** Diane Gaston aka Diane Perkins has thrilled me since her debut of THE MYSTERIOUS MISS M. She followed that up with several more of her sometimes gritty, creative, always sensual and original Regency historical endeavors. In her previous book, INNOCENCE AND IMPROPRIETY Ms. Gaston first introduced the Marquess of Tannerton, where he pursued, but didn't get the girl! So as a follow-up (thank goodness) we get to see Tanner acquire another chance at happiness.

With the Regency period being a particular love of mine, I am always eager to read Gaston's romances, and I am thrilled to have found an author who has taken the period and mixes a dash of the `downstairs' side along with the `upstairs' side of the ton. In the previous book, Tanner was portrayed as somewhat bored but used to getting what he wanted, money being no object, and perfectly content at having all his whims catered to with no more than a word to his secretary.

While this book is completely stand alone, the greater enjoyment for me was that having read INNOCENCE and IMPROPRIETY I was able to see how much Tanner had grown. With that realization he wasn't really happy with his carefree life so far, which was why it was so important for him to save Marlena, without really knowing what her crime had been.

Marlena was crafted beautifully - dignified, determined, and brave. Her initial crush on Tanner from a dashing young man, was only intensified as he attempted to help her escape. His pleas to let him help her to use his influence as a Marquess to extricate her out of her troubles were heartfelt. Unfortunately, Marlena knew if Tanner were discovered aiding her he would suffer the same fate as she, which was why her refusal to reveal all to him was a perfect scenario. As they traveled along the road to freedom their romance was sensually spun at a perfect pace to build up beautifully into a most wonderful love story.

Gaston has once again spun the most perfectly delicious winning tale of romance with captivating characters, paired with an adventuresome journey. The readers' attention will be snared from the first page to the edge of the seat exhilarating end. Bravo, Ms. Gaston with this latest charmer!

Marilyn Rondeau, www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

This was a nice story but the writing left a lot to be desired in the first half. It seemed almost elementary - generic conversations, not a lot of depth, not much development of the romance. I felt like I really didn't start knowing these characters until the latter part of the book - maybe the author didn't either. It improved as the story progressed and ended well though. And at least, thank God, it wasn't another I love him and he's doing everything he can to show me that he loves me but I don't believe it story....high marks for some originality for a change.