Customer Reviews

The Veil of Night (Signet Eclipse)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Worn out premise. Unbelieveable characters. The writing is so uneven that I could never get into the flow of the story - even if it had been better. The hint of the secret with the hero just wound up being annoying. Boring, boring, boring. Such a dissapointment.

What a letdown this book was. I've been anticipating it for a long time with much excitement because the author has said that her writing is influenced by Laura Kinsale and Judith Ivory, two of my favorite romance authors of all time. No one would love to come across another Kinsale or Ivory more, but I'm sad to say that I can't see any hint of similarity between their writing and Lydia Joyce's.

Joyce's prose style IS above average and pleasant enough to read, though here and there she overuses a word, like "challenge" or "whorl." But the main problem for me was in the characterization. I expected some complexity and layers to the main characters, but they were both lacking in depth. Victoria was your usual spinster heroine, prim on the outside but not on the inside, and Byron the typical "tortured" rakish aristocrat. I put "tortured" in quotes because while he had a good reason to be so, I never really felt his torment emotionally. At no point was I surprised by anything the characters said or did.

On the whole, Victoria and Byron were both pretty predictable, and as a result, their relationship was kind of lackluster. Perhaps part of the problem was that they psychoanalyzed each other so much in their conversations that I wasn't left any room to do any digging into their psyches myself. I also didn't get emotionally invested in either of them. They did not capture my imagination.

The love scenes were a bit more creative than usual, but they lacked the heat I am used to from Ivory and Kinsale. For the most part, the sex was just there. Joyce did a good job with the gothic atmosphere, but I felt that all the darkness in this book was on the outside, not matched any internal darkness in the characters. The book just did not have that sparkle or emotional connection of a favorite read.

To be fair, I should add here that the kind of darker, meaty historical romances I love are very hard to find these days, and I miss them terribly. For that reason, I'm sure I am guilty of having expectations that were too high for Joyce to fulfill. If I compare this book to your average first time author's romance, it is probably slightly better than that. It's only when I compare it to Kinsale and Ivory that I feel so let down. It seems that some readers below loved this book much more than I did, and I envy them and wish I could see the same qualities in it that they do.

I guess my reason for writing this review is to let other readers know not to raise their expectations too much. If you're looking for a formula story that's a pleasant way to pass the time but not too out-of-this-world or special, this book is a decent read. If however, you expect it to knock your socks off, well, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I think it is a slightly above average debut, but it's very far from matching Kinsale or Ivory.

An enviable beginning. I see some less than favorable reviews here, and while loving or loathing a writer's style is no more an exact science than any other relationship, I disagree adamantly with the notion that touching a nose instead of a breast isn't erotic. In the right hands, tying shoelaces can be erotic. The fact that the love scenes veer away from a well-worn path is one of my favorite things about this book. Not to worry; her breasts aren't neglected. He just takes his time getting there, by the scenic route.

The set-up seems typical at first: a woman is blackmailed into having a sexual affair by a man seeking revenge against her brother. Of course they'll fall in love, after fighting to quell their growing vulnerability to each other. The suspense is in how they find their way from sex to love. Secrets are revealed, emotional barriers are breached, and layers of character are peeled away in a long, slow, emotional strip-tease.

Victoria is a beautifully complicated version of a staple romance character: a wanton in old maid's clothing, hiding her true nature to protect her heart. She plays along with the role of indignant blackmail victim, but it's not as if she'd be left destitute if she refused Byron's shocking proposal. She enters into the bargain willingly, sacrificing pride for for the chance to explore her sexuality after years of self-imposed repression.

Byron is more true to type: the wounded male whose casual cruelty is thin armor against the pain of rejection. His secret doesn't take an Einstein to figure out, either. But if he's not the most original hero on the bookshelf, he makes up for it in bed. He's also a worthwhile verbal sparring partner for Victoria, who is a mistress of the sly rejoinder.

"Veil of Night" is like bittersweet chocolate. Delicious, dark, and rich enough to savor a chapter at a time. In a Hershey Bar world, this author is a welcome change. Not for everyone, perhaps. But how much fun would that be?

SPOILER Territory Ahead. Proceed With Caution...


Wow. I can't say for certain, but I suspect that the final paragraphs make romance-novel history. I'm being careful not to give anything away here, so forgive me if I make it sound like there's a huge shock at the end. That isn't the case. It's simply true-to-life. A serving of reality on the banquet table of happily-ever-after.

I'm always grateful when an author trusts her readers that way.

P.S. Speaking of banquets, watch for the "peach crumble" scene. Byron can serve dessert at my house anytime.

After reading the plot outline, I was really looking forward to this book, but it kind of fell flat for me. I thought it was mediocre, despite one very interesting scene with peaches. I liked the hero and I loved the fact that he had a legitimate problem with no magical fix and the heroine was able to love him in spite of it. But it didn't live up to its potential.
Also note, this is NOT a paranormal romance. It's more of a gothic romance.

I think a reason why so many reviewers disliked that book is the wrong marketing. This is actually no Gothic romance because none of the heroes have a really dark secret and both are actually quite nice people. The sinister atmosphere is entirely misleading, there's nothing sinister about it at all which is why I loved it. I cannot bear a hero who treats the supposed love of his life cruelly and is miraculously redeemed in the end just to provide for a conflict. The conflict here is really a believable one on the hero's side, he's a true tortured hero, but in this case there's no bad momma, evil mistress or traumatic war experiences that made him so tortured.

The problems he has are very real and any person who is faced with such tragedy would live like a hermit though he would possibly not make his personal tragedy such a secret. Unfortunately I knew his secret from the beginning because I had seen a movie before which dealt with something similar. The heroine's past is another matter, I couldn't quite believe that an adventurous character like her would shut herself away like that and become so stiff and conventional because of one misstep that nobody ever knew of-I bet many ladies made such mistakes and continued to pursue love and marriage nonetheless. That Victoria reacted to her past the way she did felt entirely contrived.

But the reason why I think this romance is still way above average was the heroine (contrived past put aside). A ripe woman of 32 and no childlike virgin queen here, she has not the romance-typical abused past and not a self-sacrificial bone in her body. The reason she gives in to Byron's indecent proposal is that she wants to give in for the thrill of it and to save her own skin. There's an instant erotic attraction between her and the hero. People who have enough of the self-flagellating Mary Balogh type of heroine or the To stupid to live virginal heroine I-want-to-have-sex-just-once-in-my-live-with-a-handsome-stranger-but-rather-commit-myself-to-eternal-drudgery-and-misery -than-marry-a dashing-duke-afterward will be delighted. The book has its flaws but it has IMO a beautiful love story and interesting un-formulaic characters. The ending was quite believable even if the whole premise of the story is somewhat wacky and contrived.

I read the synopsis of this tale and instantly felt the pull of attraction to it. Mystery, a desperate hero, disillusioned heroine, the supernatural, enforced closeness ... Sounded good, possibly engrossing.
Alas, expectations were gravely disappointed. Gravely.
Lady Victoria Wakefield, a cyncial spinster of 32, confronts Byron, the Duke of Raeburn to wipe out her brother's gaming debt to him. However, there's more to the 'debt' than meets the eye. Byron has another, more serious, connection to the brother, that fires him to want revenge. He also has a mysterious, unnamed secret of a personal nature. Hints of the supernatural here.
He makes a 'devil's' bargain with our heroine.
The stage is set for an explosive, exploration of hero and heroine by each other within the claustrophobic atmosphere of dark night and darker passion.
Except it didn't do that. It just was yet another tale of the heroine sacrificing her 'all' for her family. Actually it didn't do that either, as the lady was more interested in her own arid desires. Altogether too modern and no thought for the consequences.
A lot of bedroom steaming, but no romance alas. No meeting of anything, but bodies.
The dark mystery also slumped.
A disappointment on all counts.

this book started strong with some wonderfully descriptive first few chapters, but soon the captivating, almost gothic setting wasn't enough to sustain the story. Victoria's a surprisingly un-likeable, stiff, churlish and nasty-for-the-sake-of-it protagonist who never really warmed up or had any true introspection. She calls Byron out every second for all of his insecurities and faults, but remains tediously blind to her own right to the very end (and the most ironic part of that is that she is the one who needs the personality overhaul, not Byron--who at least had manners and a shred of self-esteem.) by the middle of the book, i was doubting these two had a prayer, and as it went on, i just didn't feel any of the overwhelming sensuality between them the author kept trying to sell me on. i'd pass on this one.

It's not nice to be hard on anyone's debut novel - after all, they all gotta start somewhere, and writing well is one tough job. That being said, I'd say this debut novel shows promise in some ways but doesn't deliver in terms of having a consistently interesting plot and in creating original characters who act from believeable motivations.

Some of the writing is simply laughable - so over-done. The author's editor was lying down on the job. For instance, there's a line in the first couple of chapters that particularly sticks in my head - the hero and heroine are eating dinner and he reaches over and "touched her nose with delicate inquisitiveness". I admit I almost gave up on the book right there. Not to mention the physical impossibility, let alone ridiculousness, of reaching over an ornate Victorian dining table and touching someone; let alone someone's NOSE, "with delicate inquisitiveness"... The whole line just made me laugh. I could "see" this line if the author had used it, say, when the man was touching the woman's body, "with delicate inquisitiveness" - well, maybe I should stop right there.

SPOILER:
******

The author does show imagination in making the hero genuinely afflicted by an incurable disease that makes it impossible for him to experience sunlight.
******

END OF SPOILER

But I think that's the only original thing about the man. I've met this tall, dark, unhappy, brawny-shouldered, lean-waisted, somewhat repressedly sensual man in other romance novels, many, many times. Aside from his particular problem, there's nothing FRESH about him. I did appreciate that both the hero are heroine are in their early thirties. It's nice, for once, to read about mature people working out their romantic relationship, instead of the usual 18 year old virgin and 30 year old rakehell.

But I just didn't feel that interested in Victoria or Byron; didn't really get pulled into their story. I didn't feel that Victoria's past, once revealed, was especially compelling, or that her character was anything above and beyond a typical romance novel heroine (aside from her not being a virgin). Also, it's not as if her previous experience created any sympathy for her (with me). At the very least, the prior experience should have been something that touched or changed her in some way. In this case, Victoria didn't even have a love affair, as such- she admits to the hero that she had an itch that she scratched, but then her fiance died. And she wasn't upset by that loss, or by the loss of the child that could have come from that union. Because Victoria didn't seem to care about her losses, I didn't care either. I could feel the author trying to make me care, but the trying didn't succeed.

The hero, Byron, to give the author credit, was a more interesting character than Victoria, but that was because of his problem (illness) and the way he was dealing with it, and its impact on his relationship with Victoria. At least 80% of Byron is, like Victoria, made up of somewhat typical romance-novel-hero-elements.

And what other romance writer ever thought of ending a romance novel with the heroine's telling the hero she has her period? (And he still suggests they make love... Bleh.) Sure, they end up happily, but... bleh.

I must also mention something I personally found really annoying: all the hero's servants (he lives on an estate in Yorkshire) use the word "thoo" for "you". This pronunciation may really be a part of Yorkshire speech patterns, but it was mighty annoying in print. "Thoo must..." "Thoo are..."

As for the sensual scenes, well, to each his own, but I have to say they didn't do anything for me. The peach crumble scene, which seems to have been a big hit with some readers, seems clumsily written (about as clumsy as actully having peach crumble in bed), and is not really sensual at all. I could sense that the author was TRYING very hard, but she just didn't have the ability to create sensuality between these characters, and that's a necessity in a romance novel.

2 stars for some of the imaginative and different elements created by this author: the hero's problem; the non-virgin heroine (even if she's not most successful creation), and, making the hero and the heroine over thirty. But frankly I began to skim after the first two-thirds of this book and was bored before the end.

Better luck with the author's sophmore effort?

To settle her rakish brother's debts with Byron Stratford, Victoria Wakefield is reluctantly willing to sleep with the enigmatic lord. As she is already "ruined", it seems a small enough, albeit hateful price to pay. Yet, their alliance develops into something beyond business or passion, and before the agreed upon tenure of the deal, each begins to lose their heart to the other. Trapped like Beauty in the fairy tale, Victoria can not completely give her heart to this "beast", nor he to her. Only if they can break from their tacitly assigned roles do they have any hope of a future.

** There is a great deal of unfulfilled potential in this book; from Byron's illusury darkness to Victoria's spirit that is never fully kindled. One of the most intriguing characters never appears. You have to wonder about the brother who inspire such a strong woman to go to such lengths. This is likely not the best book you will ever read, but watch this author. In time, she may write something that will belong on your best list. **

Sorry Ms. Klausner. This is not a paranormal romance. There are no ghosts, vampires, time-travel or otherwise supernatural elements.I almost didn't read this book based on that previous review. Thankfully I had already bought the book and decided to give it a try. Boy, am I glad I did.
Byron Stratford is just the kind of hero I like. He's dark and tortured. He's not perfect but is never cruel to our heroine. Lady Victoria Raeburn is a spinster with a secret. She's given up on life in a way and shocked to find that she is a desirable woman. She shows up at the spooky manor to plead the case of her brother who owes Stratford money. Stratford wants revenge for wrongs done. He draws up a contract with Victoria. He will delay payment if she will stay with him for one week. Thats the basis of the plot but it doesn't begin to do justice to this wonderfully written book. It's hard to keep my attention these days. This book did.
The author has a very descriptive writing style. The gothic feel of the book comes across in a wonderful way. The two main characters have an instant attraction. I get so tired of "I hate you. Lets go to bed". There is conflict but no hate.The only quibble I have is that the reason for the hero's condition is never fully explained. But, after all this is fiction.
Do yourself a favor and give this gifted new author a try. You won't regret it.