Customer Reviews

Venus

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

 

 

This book was previously published as "Heart's Folly", in 1988. It IS dated - I throughly agree with the review by Kathleen, above. The heroine is irritating, and way too self-sacrificial. Feather has written much better books, since.

The author has a gift for interesting dialogs appropriate to the time period she is writing of,(despite the alltime most irritating word "mayhaps"in that genre). In this case the setting is in the 1600s in King Charles reign. The aristocrats are powerful and conniving with a mishmash conspiracy plot by Lord Buckingham to control the King and bolster his own ill defined power grab. He is the sleezy villian in the yarn.

The Baron Kincaid is the flummoxed rescuer of another of Feather's trademark inane and very unsympathetic heroines. In this case the damsel in distress is Polly Wyat, a 17 year old of unremarkable birth who is currently serving in a sleezy pub at the mercy of her cruel and abusive uncle. She is a fleabitten, filthy bar maid in search of an escape from her strife filled life and looking for a protector to help her fulfill her dream of becoming a stage actor.

There are so many loose ends in this book that despite a different and potentially interesting plot the end result is confusion. What happens to Lord Kincaid's career after his false imprisonment? What about his grand plans to overthrow Buckingham? What does he do with his new bride and his irascible sister Lady Margaret a puritan of preachy morality who bites the very hand that feeds her? In this story the hero is also dimwitted even though he is an experienced at the art and folly of politics. On many levels this story made no sense as it progressed and proved ultimately frustrating.

But I think most of all, my objections to this book is that this is another one of the dimwit females that the author seems to have in every one of her books. This one is obnoxious in her posturing and cutesy mannerisms to the point of teeth grinding by this reader. If you like this sort of helpless female in embattled situations falling into the arms of a strong man with a big "sword" then this book is for you.

The research that must have gone into this book was tremendous, and for that, Ms Feather should be commended. From the blurb, the story had a lot of potential, but for me, it didn't live up to it. I got tired of Polly always backing down when she and Nicholas disagreed. The emotional connection between the two just didn't come across as convincing for me, and I don't feel like I got to know them very well to be able to empathize with them. I got to page 270, but I've had enough.

The book started off as a very interesting book, it ended as an almost terrible book. The only reason this book did not receive a one star is that the love that these two felt for one another definately took precedent over everything else in their lives. The plot was well written and the book originally showed promise, however some of the actions that some of the characters took in the course of the book were incredibly displeasing. (I wont spoil) But I also wouldnt recommend. If you are wanting a sappy love story that is alls well this is probably not the best choice. However if you like a little bit of intrigue and a whole lot of dissapointment this might be the one for you.

I've been reading historical romances for awhile now but I just recently started reading books by Jane Feather. This is the 2nd one I've read and I had a very hard time finishing it. The reason I had such a hard time was because of Polly, the main female character. I couldn't stand how stupid she was...yes she was only 17 yrs old but c'mon...it was just too much. I'm going to continue reading Feather's books but I'm hoping the other books are much better..if anyone has any good books by this author please let me know so I can begin again with a good one by Feather...

Feather uses an interesting time and setting for her book and while I've seen books that had more atmosphere this one does fairly well. She also includes a great deal of information (nicely presented) about the role and lives of actors and Restoration theater. It was not uncommon for high ranking men to marry female actors so the ending for Venus wasn't out of bounds. But I do wonder how many of these women continued in their professional careers after marriage (as Polly seems set to do).

Polly is also a mistress for most of the book (nice change) but started out as a 17 year old virgin (sort of hard to believe she had kept her maidenhead in her circumstances for that long a time). Feather balances this by an event I wasn't expecting towards the end of the book when no punches get pulled as
Buckingham takes his revenge.

I like Nick even as he cold bloodedly prepares Polly for her role in his plan. I get a sense of him as a man of his times who doesn't hesitate to put the little woman in her (lesser) place even though he loves her. He goes for the win in all battles of wit and precedence (though Polly does seem able to control
him fairly well) and their relationship is similar to the battles of the sexes in the plays in which Polly stars.

There are some nice secondary characters but I was a bit disappointed that Feather didn't use more of the great calamity of the year (the Great Plague of 1665). This book also featured Feather's low key sexual tension style but as I was expecting it, it didn't bother me as much.

This book was previously published as "Heart's Folly", in 1988: and it IS dated. I agree with the other reviewer (Kathleen) - the heroine is a ninny, and way too self-sacrificial. A man who makes you do the things this "hero" does, ain't much of a real MAN.

I have been reading historical romance novels for about 20 years (I started early). This has got to be one of the most boring one that I have read. I could barely finish reading it, but I just kept hoping that it would either get better or just plain end. Polly was childish and whiny and Nick didn't have a backbone. (...)

I am hoping that the next Jane Feather novel is better than this one. What happened to good romance novels, it seems that they are more about being political correct than probable.

The hook to read this was so intriguing - but after that, the book was a massive disappointment and shows the 1980s type of story. Hero was too modern and didn't fit his time period - like wanting a woman with a career. That didn't happen in the 17th century! Everything is building up to the Polly and Buckingham story - and we get cheated out of that. Don't bother with this read, folks. Some stories are best left in the past.

All I can say is that the people who rated this book before me, must have limited reading experience. I ALWAYS finish a book, and I found myself angry that I had wasted my time. The editor must have really been riding her ass to put this drivel to print.