Customer Reviews

Voices of the Night (Signet Eclipse)

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

 

 

I picked up this book looking for a simple afternoon read that I could finish and then add to my ever-growing pile of books to donate to the salvation army. Much to my joy, this was not that kind of book.
A lot of romance novels lately are sacrificing excellent plot lines in exchange for large quantities of sex, which is comparable to dating a beautiful brainless man. Its wonderful at first but eventually you just end up dissappointed and annoyed.
Voices of the Night had everything I look for in a romance. Great sex, yes, but also wonderfully crafted, easy to relate to characters and a story line that draws you in immediately and doesn't let go.
Maggie was wonderful. She wasn't a martyr, but she was willing to do just about anything for the people she considers her family. When situations force her to accept Lord Edgington's offer to help him win his bet, she is very practical about it. A woman in her situation wouldn't allow herself to get caught up in dreaming. She knows her position in life is so far beneath Lord Edgington that their isn't any hope for them but she allows herself to fall in love anyway, knowing that their time together is finite.
Lord Edgington likewise was an extremely well-developed hero. He seemed like a real person to me, and by the end of the story you were rooting for him and Maggie to work things out.
And the twist at the end of the story, was really a surprise to me. Its usually so easy to see them coming, but in this book you don't know what is happening until the author reveals it.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It will be going on my keeper shelf to be re-read until it falls apart.

This is the book where Lydia Joyce finally fits into her "voice". In the previous books the writing style felt forced to me, and the characters were overwhelmed by the painstaking job Joyce took of creating a dark, dense atmosphere. Thankfully in "Voices of the Night", she seems to hit her stride and from the initial chilling scene wherein the heroine, Maggie, is coerced into an unforgettable crime to the fitting end, the pace never slackens, the atmosphere is grimy and decadent, and the protagonists and secondary characters leap to life. I look forward to seeing more from Joyce, and hope she is in for a long career.

Maggie Knight grew up in the London slums where thugs and hookers were the norm. By 1860 though still young, she becomes a surrogate "Mother" to even younger orphans protecting them from the lowlifes who would prey on these innocents.

In 1864 Lord Charles Crossham bet his sister Millie that he could make a purse out of a sow's hide. He selects Maggie as his metamorphosed target. She rejects his proposal until he offers to help her orphans as Maggie would do anything for her wards. As he teaches Maggie to behave as a lady, he falls in love with her. However, she knows a lofty aristocrat like her Charles needs better than a polished street ragamuffin especially since a dangerous gang leader threatens her "children" and her beloved.

Placing Pygmalion in Dickens' London gives the audience a taste of VOICES OF THE NIGHT, a delightful Victorian romance. Whereas Maggie is a precocious nurturing Eliza, Charles is somewhat her Henry but actually is much more to her; and Danny the gang leader is Bill Sykes (of Oliver fame). The story line has a freshness of its own as sub-genre readers will rejoice with this fine historical.

Harriet Klausner

In the beginning I liked the way the author wrote. Ms. Joyce is very descriptive when describing London, but not so much her own characters. I thought that the two lead characters became intimate too soon, and they did not seem to share much of a spark. Having said that, I enjoyed this book and it moved quickly, and then towards the end it became a little silly, the villain lost all sizzle and it seemed that things were wrapped up too quickly without much detail. I found myself not caring anymore towards the end, and what was originally a quick read became rather laboured.