Velvet [Mass Market Paperback]

Jane Feather (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994

Masquerading as a widowed French comtesse, Gabrielle de Beaucaire returns to England to destroy the man responsible for her lover's death and sets out to seduce Nathaniel Praed, Britain's greatest spymaster, into letting her become a secret agent.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Fanfare (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553564692
• ISBN-13: 978-0553564693
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most mature and exciting of Ms. Feather's novels, November 25, 1999

By 

Krystle Chow (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Velvet (Mass Market Paperback)

Jane Feather is one of my favourite authors and this was by far her best novel, unparalleled even in comparison to her other novels. I loved Gabrielle de Beaucaire, who was the most inspiring and liberated heroine of all Ms. Feather's books. I found Nathaniel Praed a little stuffy, but the romance between them was sizzling and the adventure was heartstopping! Definitely a novel I will treasure always.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jane Feather's best!, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Velvet (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my favorite Jane Feather book. A very liberated heroine, mature and experienced, is a nice change from the usual innocent virgin found in so many other romance novels, even Ms. Feather's. Enjoy!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, November 24, 2009

By 

A Book a Day (New England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Velvet (Mass Market Paperback)

There were limited reviews on this but since they were all positive, I gave it a go. I did enjoy the book overall, however I have to say it just didn't seem romantic or connected. The hero is a spymaster for England and the heroine is a spy for France set at the time of Napolean's terror. I loved the strength of Gabby as a character, but wasn't quite convinced of the love she developed for our hero. She had two great loves in her life, but she seemed more like a slave to sex than to love. On the hero's side, quite frankly, outside of being good in bed, Nathaniel seemed like a total loser. Still grieving his wife lost in childbirth six years before, he becomes a terrible friend, a terrible father and an all around not nice person. They both throughout the entire book do not trust or are trying to manipulate each other, but keep throwing caution to the wind because they can't keep their hands off each other...recklessly and indiscreetly so for two trained spies, it just didn't add up. Right from the start, Gabby is intent on seducing Nathaniel to become a double agent as part of her revenge because Nathaniel gave the order to assasinate her lover. She sleeps with him, even though she hates him, and because the chemistry is so great, she's already starting to fall for him. I just couldn't sink my teeth into it. As for the spy element, I'm not even sure why she needed to become a double agent in the first place, it was all wrapped up like they were fighting on the same side the entire time for the good of Europe, but just couldn't put their cards on the table due to their alleged loyalties. She was initially motivated by revenge, but I don't even know what that revenge would have been. It certainly wasn't to kill him or even make him look like a fool... I'm still asking what was the revenge she was plotting that would slake the emotion of having her lover die in her own arms? Having said that, the book was much more focused on sex as the mechanism to bring these two together and outweighed some of the more romantic aspects that go along with learning about one another and seeing the inner self. Right up until the remaining pages, Gabby chases after Nathaniel to try and save his life, when she gets there, he doesn't listen to her explanantion, learns she still has access to government secrets, calls her a whore and slaps her from feelings of betrayal... she has to scream she's pregnant so he won't hurt her further. If actions like this happened towards the beginning of the novel, I think I could have stomached it more, but with 22 pages to go, you'd think a relationship would have progressed a little further than that. So with probably more detail than most, I liked the heroine in principle, didn't care for the hero, and was confused when it was over.