Customer Reviews

In My Wildest Fantasies (Avon Romantic Treasure)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lady Rebecca Newland has had a girlish fantasy of love for Devon Sinclair, Lord Hawthorne since he rescued her and her father from a carriage mishap on his property four years prior. Sensual sparks flew but since Lady Rebecca was only seventeen at the time, Devon knew nothing could come of their attraction and saw them safely to their destination. From that moment on Devon Sinclair, Lord Hawthorne and the future duke of Pembroke, was her hero and her heart's desire.

Four years have passed and Lady Rebecca is in a terrible bind she will do anything to unravel. She has been betrothed to a cruel man she loathes against her will. With the help of her Aunt Grace, she sneaks from her father's house to masquerade given by the Duke and Duchess of Pembroke with the hope of enlisting Devon's help. He saved her once maybe he can save her again.

Devon has just returned from three years abroad to discover his father is on a downward spiral and issued an outrageous proposition to him and his brothers. Marry or be disinherited. Devon has no intention of going along with this farce; his father has surely gone mad! However, past transgressions have never really healed and he will do almost anything to make amends. Then he sees a familiar face in his ballroom and is instantly captivated.

I absolutely adored this book. The sensual tension was electric and I found the erotic diary entries only added to its appeal. This book had hero-jealousy and hot love scenes-which I found not at all gratuitous. I kept waiting for a "big misunderstanding" to happen and was so happy that there was NONE. This couple communicated. I was completely convinced of their love. The romance was emotional without being angsty and the mystery is a extremely small part of the book

A definite KEEPER!!!

For some time now I've been reading the historical romances of Julianne MacLean . I've enjoyed them for their interesting plots, unusual characters, and the ability of the author to weave in the small details of life among the aristocracy in Victorian England. But with the onset of her new series called "Pembroke Palace," I found myself actively disliking the story and questioning my reasoning for reading this author in the first place.

As the novel opens, Lord Creighton and his daughter, Lady Rebecca, are returning to their home when there is a coaching accident. Rebecca is just seventeen, her head filled with romantic tales and still seeing sprites and magical creatures in the night. So it is no surprise to her when dashing Lord Hawthorne, the eldest son of the Duke of Pembroke comes riding in the night and offers to help them out of their predicament. Then and there Rebecca decides that he's the only man for her.

The story then skips ahead four years, and Rebecca has managed to slip away from her father's control in the company of her aunt, Lady Saxby. Together they are going to grand ball at none other than Pembroke Palace, and Rebecca is determined to catch herself a husband, preferably Lord Hawthorne himself. Ever since she met him, she has dreamed of no one but him, filling her imagination with the contents of a diary that is well, rather racy.

Devon, Lord Hawthorne, is coping in his own way with guilt over a death, one that caused a huge rift with his brother Vincent. Vincent is filled with fury, and at times out and out hatred, but exactly why the reader doesn't discover til the end. To make matters worse, there's their father, the Duke, who is babbling on about floods destroying everything, and ordering that all four of his sons marry, and soon, or none of them will inherit a shilling from him.

Devon and Rebecca meet again, are smitten with one another, and flirt and kiss and fall into instant lust with one another. Rebecca, despite her virginal state, and isolated life with her father, is rather knowledgeable about sex, a talent that she shows to the noble, always-dutiful Devon, who once he deflowers her, decides to marry her on the spot. After all, he is a gentleman, and she's a member of his own class.

A possible disruption to all this bliss is the villain of the piece, Maximillian Rushton, who has some sort of hold over Lord Creighton, and considers Rebecca to be his, no matter what. Even if she decides to marry someone else...

Yawn. I have to admit that it took me close to three days to wade through this novel. Both of the leads are such drearily good people, without hardly any vices, that I was bored with them. Worst still, the villain, Rushton, is so transparent and one-dimensional, that I simply did not care as to why he was so intent on Rebecca.

And this is where the problem lays with the novel. Despite the lusty scenarios that the author dreamed up for her lovers, and the nice trick of having an old diary to mirror Rebeeca's current experiences, there's nothing in her to interest the reader. There's a plethora of characters, from a nasty rival for Devon's affections, the various ducal siblings, hints of mysterious scandal, and lots of scenery chewing for the hero, all of which slows down the plot, and makes the overall drive of the story slow the pace down to a crawl.

By the end, I didn't care. There was nothing to interest me, and I could care less as to what will happen in the next novel. While MacLean is very adept at recreating the Victorian world for her readers, this time she seems to have forgotten that what drives a story are the plot and the characters, and it's a real shame.

I can usually forgive an author's occasional slip in writing a bad novel. But this one is so painfully bad, and contrived, that I will probably refrain from automatically purchasing Julianne MacLean's works in the future. And that's really a shame, as she can come up with some truly lovely stories.

Two stars, and I really wish I could have given this one more, but given the lack of anything interesting, and two main characters that are very forgettable, I can't do it.

Not Recommended.

Saved by a charismatic stranger from her runaway coach, Rebecca
Newland has never forgotten her hero's invitation to visit his
family's estate. Four years later, engaged to detestable man, Rebecca
steals away from her father's house to take him up on his offer.

Tortured by his past, Devon Sinclair, future Duke of Pembroke, has no
desire to marry. When his father issues a dictate to wed or lose the
family fortune, Devon begins the hunt for a bride. Seeing the lovely
Rebecca again after rescuing her four years ago, Devon decides to
pursue her with all of his passion.

I adore tragic heroes. Mostly because when they realize they are not
only worthy of being loved, they are loved, they are fiercely
romantic. Although the quest for love takes Devon and Rebecca through
a rocky but passion-filled course, their love is that much sweeter.
In My Wildest Fantasies is a heartwarming blend of awakening, passion,
and romance.


Annmarie
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Lady Rebecca Newland was just seventeen when she first met Devon Sinclair as he came to her and her father's rescue. From that moment on she was irrevocably lost in love and during the next four years, tucked away with her reclusive father, Lord Devon became the lover of her most erotic fantasy dreams.

Having left under devastatingly bad circumstances, Devon knew at some point he must come home having spent the last three years in America. It was more than time that he returned to assume the responsibilities as the heir to a Dukedom. What he was not expecting to find was that his father `around the bend' and had changed his will, demanding that Devon and his three brothers be married by Christmas or the duke would leave their inheritances to the London Horticultural Society.

Luckily, Lady Rebecca had escaped the restrictive confines of her fathers home when he announced she would be married to his neighbor, Mr. Rushton, on her twenty-first birthday. With the help of her aunt, they attended the Pembroke Masquerade ball. Ancestral home of Devon, Rebecca is intent on Devon, once again, coming to her rescue. Little did Rebecca know that a marriage between them would be the answer to both their dilemmas.

*** I've been impressed with Ms. MacLean since I first read, TO MARRY A DUKE, the beginning of her Wilson Sister series some years back. From that experience I've been hooked and know I can always expect a well-written and well-researched that embraces the period and provides sumptuous and emotional love scenes as well as some unusual characters.

So one might ask themselves, how did Rebecca, this young genteel lady - who's lived with a reclusive father - know the ways of attracting such a man as Lord Hawthorne? Well, merely by having said genteel lady find a most shocking and explicitly detailed diary of two lusty lovers that left little to Rebecca's imagination and inspired her wicked fantasies of her hero, Devon Sinclair! This I thought was a wonderful inspiration and could relate implicitly, having once hidden away a well worn copy of Peyton Place that was passed along with my high school chums so very long ago! At the time Peyton Place was considered a rather racy novel though not as racy as some I later came to hide. Rebecca was real, with hopes and dreams of her hero saving her from the clutches of her mean and nasty neighbor. MacLean also did a wonderful job in showing how hurt and puzzled Rebecca was by her once loving father's insistence on a marriage to someone she abhorred, in which she expanded the plot point with intrigue, blackmail, and revenge that kept the novel moving.

Likewise, I found Devon to be fashioned rather well, whereby the author revealed the scandalous reason for the break between his father and brother Vincent at just the right moment. Vincent's out and out hatred of Devon kept some very interesting scenario's running through my mind after the brothers discovered the possibility of disinheritance should they not all marry. The conflict between the Vincent and Devon was very well done and I look forward to see this develop in future books. Devon's pursuit of Rebecca was everything one expects to see in a romantic sensual conquest and this was done beautifully - somewhat explicitly - but in very good taste.

As the beginning of the Pembroke Palace series I can hardly wait to see Devon's brothers meet their slightly mad father's dictates. Speaking of which, I really wonder if the old duke is as mad as portrayed, or is he sly as a fox? Like me, I am sure Ms. MacLeans fans will also want to know the answer to this one! This is a highly recommended read.

Marilyn Rondeau, [...]

"Wed by Christmas or lose your inheritance to the London Horticultural Society." Devon Sinclair stared in shock at his father. While he madly and frantically told him about a family curse and how to end it. He and his 3 brothers had to get married and he must produce an heir. Three years ago Devon left his family after a scandal caused a irreparable rift between him and his brother Vincent. With tensions tight between the two brothers, Devon must set about procuring a bride starting at the costume ball and the introduction to Lady Letitia. A Duke's daughter and hopeful match striking one marriage off his fathers list. With this thought occupying his mind, his gaze his directed to the remarkable woman dressed as Helen of Troy. He feels he has met her before, recognizing a familiar spark of desire. The last time he felt this way was four years ago when one woman deemed him her hero...

That woman was Lady Rebecca Newland. Four years ago he saved her and her father from their runaway carriage seeing them safely home, he never saw her again. In those years she's had some very erotic fantasies about Devon while reading a scandalous and shocking diary she found of two lovers buried in her families' barn. When her father announces that she is going to marry their neighbour Mr. Rushton on her twenty-first birthday, she concocts a scheme with her aunt to see her married to someone else before that ever happens. Starting at the ball held at Pembroke Castle, the home of her hero. She is hoping that Devon will recognize her and once again become her hero and protector by landing him as her husband.

IN MY WILDEST FANTASIES is an exciting, evocative and a sensually absorbing read as Devon and Rebecca explore their feelings and sexual attraction to each other, something both were quite unprepared for. Devon is determined and set in his ways about not wanting any responsibility of another person. Marriage is simply a business, but when he finds out Rebecca had ulterior motives for marrying him, he is stunned for the very last thing he wanted is staring him the face, making him confront his scandalous past. Rebecca is more than angry at Devon for his cool cavalier attitude that it makes for some heated and electrifying moments between the two as she does the opposite of what he is expecting her to do. Julianne MacLean writes conflict well and resolves the conflict in a rational and mature manner between the characters that is refreshing and encouraging to the reader.

As the debut novel in the Pembroke Palace series, IN MY WILDEST FANTASIES introduces the readers to a family of characters, secrets, scandals and surprises setting up for future novels about the remaining brothers who have yet to get married. I thought their father was an adorable character, Julianne laid the foundation of the Pembroke Palace series making all the characters appealing and mysterious enough to want to read more about them. I look forward to reading Vincent's story and the trouble that is eluded too in this novel. IN MY WILDEST FANTASIES is a novel that any romance reader will devour and enjoy.

I LOVED this book! From the very 1st chapter, I was hooked and the story remained exciting until the very end. It's an adventurous sexy romp set in Victorian England. Devon is an aristocratic Lord who makes women swoon; Lovely blue-blood Rebecca has led a sheltered life with her father. Interspersed thru-out and an intriging part of this story is the explicit tale of another couple's love story many years before in an old diary Rebecca found. I highly recommend this book. I love Julianne's writing and didn't want to put it down.

Another perfect Maclean book. The heroine is so real and easy to like. I love Maclean's writing, where it's easy to picture what's going on and not so many details that the focus is soon lost. She includes deep emotion as well. I found myself almost crying myself with Rebecca when - well, I won't give that away. You'll have to read yourself ;)

I have just been introduced to Julianne MacLean's work recently. I have read most of her book and IMWF is the latest one.
The book is, in a nutshell, a pleasant read. Plot is simple: Boy met girl, boy rescued girl from runaway coach, girl fell in love with boy. There was a villian thrown to complicate matters but he did not do much damage.
A good way to pass time when you are on the beach or on vacation.
Now, I have to wait until July for Vincent's story.

In My Wildest Dreams was a delightful story full of sympathetic and interesting characters and sweet and unexpected surprises. For example Rebecca,the heroine, manages to be both curious innocent and sultry wanton at the same time thanks to an ingenious plot device I've never seen used before. Both she and the slightly flawed hero carry some emotional baggage and have to deal with somewhat dysfunctional families but Ms MacLean draws her characters with such skill and compassion that it's impossible not to care for and root for them. Though their appearances are brief, Devon's parents and his brother Vincent are vividly drawn characters, memorable for their strengths as well as their weakness, and each intriguing and mysterious in a way that tugged at my imagination. I'd really like to know more about these people. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and devoured it in one sitting. Without giving too much away, I'd have to say that there's a BIG surprise on the last page that left me eager for book two. There's just something about Vincent... Anyway...highly enjoyable...highly recommended...a five star read. Hope the wait's not too long to find out what happens next.

I have read 4 of Julianne's books and for me this was the best one so far. I won't go into a long drawn out review because others already have. I just wanted to get my two cents in. I enjoyed this book immensely and it is a keeper on my shelf to read over again sometime. No disappointment here. It was wonderful!