Customer Reviews

When Love Commands

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

 

 

WHEN LOVE COMMANDS

When Love Commands is the last and most exhilarating in a trilogy of historical novels by Jennifer Wilde. Most of the narrative is set against the background of late 18th century Russia and the intrigues of the Imperial Court of Catherine the Great. The story begins in the English countryside, where Marietta Danver realizes that she's almost thrown away her life for the wrong man. Hastily returning to London to find Jeremy Bond, her true love, she has an accident and is seriously injured. A party of Russian aristocrats, traveling the same road, happens upon the wreckage. Count Gregory Orlov and his niece, Lucie, immediately stop and give generous assistance. After weeks of recuperation, and in exchange for their kindness, Marietta agrees to accompany them on their homeward journey, as a paid companion of Lucie. Escorted by a rough ensemble of servants and Cossacks, they travel in enormous sleighs across a freezing, windswept Russian landscape. Their destination is Count Orlov's country estate near St. Petersburg. Marietta soon discovers that Count Orlov is using his niece to further his own ends, keeping her under constant guard. Lucie finally escapes, with Marietta's help, but Count Orlov now holds Marietta prisoner. Later, in a blind rage, he hands her over to his Cossacks, telling them to do with her what they will. Meanwhile, the Russian peasants, having been crushed under the yoke of serfdom for centuries, are now in open rebellion against Catherine. Thousands of them, led by a huge treacherous Cossack, travel in bands, ravaging the countryside. How will our heroine escape the clutches of these madmen? Will Jeremy ever find her again? Does Marietta's heart still yearn for him? This is pure pleasure reading, with adventure and surprise at the turn of every page. All the ingredients for an excellent historical romance abound here: love, passion, royal intrigue, murder, and greed, but especially love.

This book, like the whole Marietta series is an absolutely ravishing tale from beginning to end. A writer of historical romance myself this book is the perfect example of a perfect romance! It has danger, sex, violence, love, tenderness, intrigue and more. I have read it countless times!

This is the third of three books about the life of Marietta Danver. It is definately worth a read, even though it is a third book in the story, it could stand on it's own easily enough.

I reviewed the second in this trilogy, Love Me Marietta, and found it to be a really different romance. Likely it is because Jennifer Wilde is actually Tom Huff in real life and his views of women come through in his writing.

The story, like the others, takes place in the 1770s, this one mostly in Russia and London. It takes off from the end of the second book when Marietta has just figured out that Derek, the man she thought she loved, is actually the cad we all knew him to be and realizes she is in love with Jeremy Bond, the handsome rogue who told her he loved her the first night they met (which was a bit unbelievable, frankly). In this one, through a mistake and misunderstanding, Marietta believes Jeremy has forsaken and betrayed her so she accepts the offer from the handsome Russian Count Gregory Orlov to accompany him and his niece to St. Petersburg where he is a legend in the court of Empress Catherine. Trying to get over Jeremy, she is seduced by the sexual prowess of the great Orlov but that only makes her realize she really still loves Jeremy so she plans to leave and join her friend Em in Texas.

The author can write well though his descriptions of the women's clothes and the scenes are a bit long and I found myself skipping some of that (how much satin and lace does one really need to read about?). It is written from the first person so the only head you'll be in is Marietta's and I wasn't sure I liked that. I have grown accustomed to the romances where more than one perspective is being given. The characters are well developed, however they do act inconsistently in my view (Orlov's treatment of his niece when she was 13 was out of character as was Jeremy's act at the end). The action is good and the story one that will hold your interest (though there are a few slow parts in the middle which was the same in book 2). He comes closer in this one to giving us a happy ending but then ruins it at the end with Jeremy's action. [Spoiler alert] I'm sorry, but what guy having come half way around the world to save the woman he loves, after finding her, sleeps with a fat aging empress just because she asked him to? Not real.

I'm giving it 4 stars because I thought it was better than book 2. The writing is good and it will hold your interest, but I'm not giving it more because I was disappointed in some of the characters' inconsistent actions and Jeremy's action at the end was a downer. How could she ever trust him?

I could not wait to receive this book that is third in a triology series about Marietta Danver. Love's Tender Fury and Love me Marrietta were the first two books to ever make me cry. I just didn't get into this book as much as the others and I think it was partly due to the main characters being separated so much. This author love to surprise you at the end. I was especially suprised that with these being my favorite romance books, that they were written by a man. Great series. I highly recommend them.

i have read the two previous books, and could not wait til i got to read "When love commands." However, the story seemed to drag in the middle of the book, there was nothing really happening. When i finally got to the end, and i thought everything was going to be happily-ever-after, there was this very unpleasent surprise... and it totally ruined it for me, i did not like jeremy bond anymore, and the whole thing seemed like a waste, i wish i had just stopped reading the series at "love me marietta" so i would have stayed satisfied with the books.

this book is great i like it better than the second one although the characters are apart almost through out the holle book but is facinating but my favorite is still love's tender fury

i love this book i read the first one and loved it read the second one and loved it but this one is just wow. i think the author has such great imagination and i am his biggest fan. i highly recommend reading the first two books, and i love jeremy and i loved jeff and uh is just wonderfull