Customer Reviews

Whisper to Me of Love

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This is a hard to find book but if you get the chance this is a book to read. Pip is a raven-haired waif from the streets of London-a wild innocent to be rescued and tamed. Pip and her two brothers are told to pick the pocket of Royce Manchester, but Royce captures Pip and spirits her away. A spirited beauty, she would captivate handsome Royce Manchester's jaded heart-while resisting the smoldering desire she felt for her virile protector. In Royce's glittering world of money and privilege, young Pip discoveres the shocking secret of her true identity, she is Morgana the child stolen from her dying mother's arms. With grave peril and entangling aristocratic family intrigue only feeds the flames of a love that knew no bounds and a glorious rapture that would not be denied.

She was a raven-haired waif from the streets of London-a wild innocent to be rescued...and tamed. A spirited beauty, she would captivate Royce Manchester's jaded heart-while resisiting the smoldering desire she felt for her virile protector. In Royce's glittering world of money and privilege, young Morgana discovered the shocking secret of her true identity-entangling the wealthy American planter in a deadly skein of aristocatic family intrigue. But grave peril would only feed the flames of a love that knew no bounds...and a glorious rapture that would not be denied. I loved it! Morgana was a perfect spitfire and Royce the virile male protector all women crave for. Shirlee knows her stuff!

Shirlee Busbee's newest release, Whisper to me of Love is a romantic step back in time to London England during the summer of 1815. Thirty-three year old Royce Manchester a wealthy American from Louisiana has the fine good looks to go along with his fat wallet. Royce venturing to London for summer holiday with his twenty-year-old cousin Zachary in tow soon finds that he is the object of much attention. Not only do the marriage eligible women find him fascinating he has also caught the ire of Lord Stephen Devlin the Earl of St. Audries. Lord Stephen unpopular as he is within the members of the ton carries a resentment that an American can find himself welcomed there. Royce has also garnered the attention of the notorious one-eyed man who heads the knot that contains the bulk of pickpockets and thieves in all of London. The three Fowler children considered the best among those taking their orders from the one-eyed man; find themselves put to service to lighten Royce of his finery. Jacko the oldest, followed by Ben and the ever-elusive Pip with the lightest fingers of all set out to find their prey, in what should prove to be another day of easy pickings. All too soon, the plan goes awry and sets into motion the chain of events that bring to the surface a twenty-year old secret of deception and greed pushing to the forefront the most unsuspecting of participants as its victim within the center of it all. An exciting read, full of danger and lies while weaved within are the threads containing a true tale of romance! (All 537 pages of it!)

For full review including excerpt and dialogue highlights, please visit Reader's Edyn.
readersedyn (dot) blogspot (dot) com

Review:

So I threw in a bit more morsels for all of you to enjoy than I usually do within the excerpt and highlight. I did so because Whisper To Me Of Love is a bit longer then the average novel length. Seems to me that the average length is somewhere between 380 and 420 pages based on my own observations. But this book gives you cake and some icing to go with it at 554 pages. Weeeee! And the best part was that I didn't feel that the book stuttered at any point. Sometimes book tend to drag out - not so this book. In any case, I felt that with the added content, you could share in a little extra love for this book. The cover of this book has a quote saying basically that this book contains everything that you read a romance for. Well, I couldn't agree more. So let's get started.

Royce is an American, kicking it in England for a bit. He is very well off and has family within the ton. So basically, he is eligible, sought after, and very much in demand. But lately Royce has felt a bit bored with life within the ton. He is considering cutting his trip short to return home when he literally grasps the hand of a crook attempting to pick his pocket. Royce is cornered into reforming the filthy thief and soon discovers him to be a her. Well, the game changed from that moment on. And Royce finds himself entertaining the most delicious fantasies with Pip as the star. But more to the point, Royce has some suspicions as to Pip's true identity, but he'll have to protect her from those who intend her harm before he can prove who she truly is.

Pip is a rather talented thief. She and her two brothers are quite handy for the one-eyed man, who frequently sets them to particular targets to steal from. And the one-eyed man is pretty ticked off with Royce. Every time he turns around the blasted American is thwarting his plans. And when Royce ends up with Pip, he has a lot of work ahead of him if he is to carry out the plans he has had for Pip since the day of her birth. For Pip is truly Morgana. No, not a spoiler. The reader will pretty much guess very early on at Pip's true identity, so I am not giving anything away here.

I enjoyed this book so much! The transformation in Pip from street urchin to Morgana was a joy to "watch" unfold. And how can you not love Royce, the brooding American who constantly castigates himself for his rutting tendencies. That was priceless. The chemistry between both characters was phenomenal. And of course, they had a long way to make it to HEA. I cannot tell you how much I prefer the HEA to face conflict prior to achieving it. The story is frequently enhanced in so many ways when the characters have to work toward attaining their one great love. My only issue is toward the end of the book. There are a lot of secondary characters in one location and they all seem to just melt away. The reader is left to assume their reasons for being where they are and then there is no reaction from any of them when a death occurs. I found that odd. I just dislike unanswered questions.

What I really want to know is why, for Pete sake, why, have I not read Ms. Busbee before. I have to tell you that I have found some truly entertaining authors since I started reviewing and cannot believe how much I used to limit myself without even knowing it. I had my favorite authors and I stuck with them - end of story. My best piece of advice that I can give to all of you is this: DO! NOT! LIMIT! YOURSELF! You have no idea the injustice that you are committing on yourself. Get out there and break outside of your bow. Explore the writing of new authors. Maybe you won't enjoy them all, but when you come to that terrific book that you would have missed otherwise, it will all be worth it! And on the heels of that advice, I strongly recommend that you read Ms. Busbee if you have yet to experience the joy her HR has brought to me. So hop to it! Get this book, give it a try, and get ready to fall in love in the best way possible for a reader of romance.

(ARC Paperback received from Kensington for review)

Busbee ( Midnight Masquerade ) tries to fill this quart-size romance of Regency England with a pint-size plot, most of it predictable. The tale repeatedly bogs down in the uninspired ruminations of the hero and heroine as they rehash what's going on around them. And a dreary ''one-eyed'' villain also doesn't enliven the action any. Royce Manchester, an American in London, doesn't know the reason for the Earl of St. Audries's ill-repute, but when Royce nabs Pip, a pickpocket who tried to rob him at a boxing match, he notes in passing the youth's strong resemblance to the arrogant earl. Prodded by a kind-hearted companion, Royce reluctantly agrees to give a job to Pip, who turns out to be a beautiful young woman named Morgana Fowler. However, the thief Morgana answered to, a shadowy man who knows her true parentage, plots to regain control of her. Royce, infatuated with Morgana, extends his protection to the young woman and soon makes her his mistress, bringing him into direct conflict with a murderer whose influence extends from England's sewers to its most fashionable drawing rooms.

Shirlee Busbee did another excellent writing.
Whisper to Me of Love a pleasure to read! One that I
found hard to put down.