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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lacking Emotional Depth, January 30, 2009
This review is from: When a Stranger Loves Me (Mass Market Paperback)
I've enjoyed this series until this point, but When A Stranger Loves Me was so disappointing that I'm not sure I'll pick the fourth book up. It's not badly written, the characterization is consistent, the actions taken make some sense based on who they are, but it's all of my least favorite romance cliches bundled into one neat package and iced with pages and pages of skimmable sex.
And it's all so neat. For such a messy bundle there should be one or two loose threads, but by the end of the book it's not just happily ever after - it's happily ever after for everyone without a bit of anything else. Villains are foiled, true loves are revealed several times over, motivations are forgiven or explained - babies abound. Yet in the middle I never could care about what happened to any of them. I cared more about Blake in The Mistress Diaries than I did here. Without having anything of his former life (where he feels suffocated by love) to compare his current situation with, his petulance is only childish. When he decides he wants to 'take measures' to prevent conception, it's just a sentence he tosses off so he can get mad about it later. Like all of his statements, there's no conviction. He feels angry with the world and entitled to act that way. The heroine is so willing to enable him that she takes every chance she gets to bolster his sense of injury. It is apparently beyond her to require anyone to bear their own burdens, never mind taking up her own.
They meet, they have sex, they like it so they have sex as often as they can, they find out they might not be able to have sex anymore, and they figure out how to have it again, the end. I don't mean to be so harsh. I really like the author, I wanted to like the book, but I found it an unpleasant read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointment in the series, March 13, 2009
This review is from: When a Stranger Loves Me (Mass Market Paperback)
I wanted to like this book but I had a hard time even getting through it. Interesting was the choice of location on the Jersey Islands and refreshing that, with the exception of Chelsea's wishy-washy harpy of a mother, she actually had a pleasant relationship with her brother and sister-in-law. Readers (I think, anyway) are a bit tired of the poor, victimized heroine who has cold and unfeeling relatives with evil in-laws intent on causing nothing but emotional pain and misery. How nice that Chelsea's sister-in-law Melissa was actually quite a decent character. But, of course, there has to be an evil relative in the form of Jerome and his oh so "generous" offer to marry Chelsea -- despite her position as an outcast. Kudos to her for standing her ground and wanting to decide her future. (although being "ruined" because she tried to elope with a ne'er do well could hardly be considered a "scandal of such notoriety" that this poor girl is banished to an isolated island -- it's not like she was a royal princess who fell from grace very publically)
The storyline is not as clever as others are giving it credit for being. Swap out names, locations, circumstances and an amnesia victim is still an amnesia victim. Haven't we seen enough of this in daytime soaps? It's almost ridiculous how easily Chelsea & Blake/"Jack" (haven't we had enough "Jacks" in the H.R. genre?) engage in sex and how frequently they do so. Others have commented on some "noble" aspects --- a stranger recovering from a life-threatening wound and with no memory quite easily takes advantage of his saviors' good will and hospitality (even though Chelsea virtually jumps in bed with him, over his mild attempt to refuse her at first) Then, the whole premise of WHY she is jumping in bed with him -- so far fetched; with the entire family in cahoots! I do GET the whole reason behind this scheme but there is simply beyond what I expect from a novelist of Julianne MacLean's talent..... because she DOES have talent --- but I have not seen her at the level she had previously displayed in books like 'To Marry the Duke" and "Love According to Lily" (and the others in that series) Those were very well written and with interesting plots.
When A Stranger Loves Me is the third book in the Pembroke series and, like other reviewers had commented, Blake was more interesting as the minor character (younger brother) in the two previous books. In this book, I found myself not even caring about the struggle for him as he regained his memory, the associated side-story as to what was going on when he was injured and subsequently ended up on Chelsea's island. I just wanted the story to end. Points for making this conflicted part of the story more interesting with a sympathetic Elizabeth and for showing that Blake's siblings have matured in their relationships. I'm really not trying to trash this whole story but it just did not come across in the sophisticated way that one hopes an experienced author would put forth. Not a whole lot of depth to the characters nor the story line. Yes there were moments when you felt their emotions but not deeply. I guess I prefer a "novel" that has the ingredients that will make me feel my time was well invested; stories that make your eyes tear up or put a smile on your face while you're reading.
And another thing that I have found -- not just in this book -- but in (unfortunately) quite a few others. The lack of editing -- what I mean by that is: not having the prose reflect the "period" If this is a "historical" novel, there should be more attention to customs, behavior, vocabulary, etc., that would have set the tone, time and place. The reader has to rely on the author to take us to the setting they are writing about. Many times, the text could easily be a contemporary story rather than a historical. I had to flip back to check the fictional date (1874) because the behavior and attitudes seemed a little too current for me. Call me a stickler but it's little things like these that turn me off. I just can't help but think that the author wasn't thinking of this and the copy editors weren't either.
Sadly, there is simply not enough authors who have the ability to transport readers to a different time and place and open a window into a time period that many of us enjoy escaping to. That's the main reason I read historical romances -- to escape the hustle and flow of our real world.
Julianne MacLean is better than this. If she can recapture the writing style she had in her earlier books, I will continue to read her. But I will not be paying full price for the remaining books in the Pembroke series. I almost feel that she has a ghost writer assisting her. Read "To Marry The Duke" and compare that with these recent offerings... you'll see what I mean. Sorry if I offended anyone. Just frustrated with some disappointing books of late; especially those which are anticipated, such as a continuation of a family's saga.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tender, character-driven historical romance!, May 1, 2009
This review is from: When a Stranger Loves Me (Mass Market Paperback)
When a Stranger Loves Me is the third installment in USA Today bestseller Julianne MacLean's Pembroke Palace series. In the previous book, The Mistress Diaries, Lord Blake Sinclair went missing and we find out precisely what happened in When a Stranger Loves Me.
Lady Chelsea Campion has lived somewhat in exile on the island of Jersey for the last seven years. At 18, she ran off with a fortune hunter and created a scandal that her family has never been able to live down. And now she feels the pressure of possibly having to marry her father's cousin and heir because her brother (the current earl) and sister-in-law have produced no offspring after ten years of marriage. Despite this, she is happy living on the wild Jersey coast. She loves walking along the beaches and cliffs and listening to the pounding waves crashing to the shore. Doing so feeds her imagination and breathes life into her writer's soul. While on one of her seaside excursions, she discovers a man's gold watch with the initials B H S inside and immediately starts daydreaming about whom it might belong to and what the initials might stand for. She then enters one of the sea caves and is stunned to see a man laying face down on the ground. A naked man. Chelsea checks his pulse and then hurries home to summon help. The unconscious man is seen and treated by the doctor and when he later awakens, he has no idea where he is, how he got there or even who he is. Chelsea befriends him and eventually conjures up a plan that may save her and her family -- she intends to seduce the handsome stranger and conceive an heir. What she didn't intend was losing her heart in the process. When her scheme is exposed and her lover's identity is revealed, Chelsea is left wondering if their love will be enough to withstand all of her lies.
Chelsea is one of those characters that, despite the fact that the reader knows she is doing something dishonest, you can't help but sympathize and root for. She has a good heart and good intentions in wanting to atone for her past sins by helping her family out now. And as much as she thought she was happy with her life, it isn't until she spends time with Blake that she realizes that writing a romantic story and actually living one are two completely different things.
Blake is confused and discouraged because of his memory loss. He has no clue of his name, his station in life, of any responsibilities he might have or of any family or friends. It was as if his life started the day he was rescued in that cave. Because of that, he clings to the only thing he does know - the beautiful woman who saved his life, Chelsea. Ms. MacLean did a fantastic job conveying Blake's amnesia. It was extremely realistic and I truly felt his frustration in needing to find out who he is and also his trepidation in not wanting to know because it might disrupt the happiness he found with Chelsea.
When a Stranger Loves Me is a beautiful, tender love story full of the heart and emotion that Julianne MacLean's books are known for. If you're longing for a stirring, character-driven historical romance, look no further - this one is definitely for you!
Andrea
Romance Novel TV
4.5 stars
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