Customer Reviews

You Belong to My Heart (Harper Monogram)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this book a few years back. It's filled with steamy sex, but it also has a sweetness about it. The setting takes place years before, and during the Civil War. The story unfolds with 2 star crossed lovers. He's a poor, hardworking, loyal young man and she's a beautiful rich, unspoiled girl. They develop a beautiful friendship, and later a loving and ongoing clandestine relationship. By the time their relationship is discovered, they are both young adults. With the pretense of being accepting and supportive, her deceptive father, successfully, destroys their relationship. He almost destroys his daughter in the process. It is years later, before they discover her father's subterfuge.

Life does go on, unhappily, for both. But, it does go on. Eventually, the Civil War breaks out. They meet again ten years later, when the North invades the steamy South. She's a southern woman and he's a Union officer. The come together with all the love and desperation they once shared, but now it's overshadowed by rage and bitter anger. It was interesting, cruel even, to watch them work through the bitterness and find the underlying true love they still share. You see them progress from children, to young trusting adults, to cynical pain filled adults, and finally; regaining love and peace. It's their story. The title is so accurate for this book. I really enjoyed this story. I lost the book or let someone read it and never got it back. I may buy it again and reread it. Now that I have a break, it's nice to read something other than an anatomy or pathology books.

And this is will be my last Nan Ryan book. I am so sick of how she writes her stories. The love scenes are incredibly steamy. But she writes them at the absolute worst times! I would have given this no stars if possible, but I gave it one simply for the love scenes.

Here is what Ryan does: She writes two great characters, they fall in love, they make love, something happens to make them believe their beloved is actually bad, yet somehow the hero continues to sleep with her, and yet somehow the heroine continues to let him touch her. Not so hot anymore. They both hate each other. Lovemaking isn't lovemaking anymore, now it's sex. Hateful sex.

Romance factor? Down, down, down, way below zero.

Also, their coming together in this book was really rushed.

What I look for in a book is three stars for plot, 1 star for sex and 1 star for the Charisma of the couples relationship. This book got the 1 star for sex, and it was hot, steamy and plentiful, especially in the second half of the book... too plentiful for me, really. It barely got the 1 star Charisma for their relationship (but I liked the painful young love in the beginning of the book), and it missed totally my three stars for plot, it didn't have one... only wronged lovers coming back together. It sure wasn't a 5 star quality book for me. If you are into lots of steamy sex, this will be a great book for you but if you like more of a 'meaty' plot with a little less 'meaty' sex, give this book a pass or get it at your library.

I read this book in an evening and could not put it down. The characters are delightful and well discribed. A true romance with wonderful descriptions of heartfelt passion. Nan Ryan is the queen of the Romance novel! 9 Girlfriends read this book after me and all had the same reaction.

The book was well written. Nan Ryan is a great author. The book as I siad though is not for the faint of heart. The story makes u want to drop everything and read it. I recommend this book to all who like historical romances. Great book u gotta read it.

31yo divorcee encounters her 1st love 12 yrs after he left her, exceedingly heartbroken when her father told her that Hero only used her for her parents' connections to get him a position in the Naval Academy. Hero is now a Union Captain of soldiers invading their TN town & her family estate. Although she is still very angry with him (& he with her b/c he thought she betrayed him by marrying another man), they both give in to their powerful sexual attraction. Both try to keep their affair sexual & avoid talking about their past but their intimacy stir up their strong emotions for each other.

I don't know if this is Ryan's writing style since it's my 1st book of hers but she has a unique voice. This book is written according to various characters point-of-views & the sex scenes described are not limited to the hero & heroine. Ryan does well in portraying the characters' emotions, making it an emotionally-involving & even angtsy read. It also serves to help us understand & empathize with the characters, including the villains. This is another unique aspect of Ryan's writing: the "villains" redeemed themselves by regretting &/or coming clean with the bad that they did to hero & heroine. Sexual tension & love scenes were passionate.

I have 2 issues with this book. First, I didn't care to read about hero & heroine having sex with other people or heroine's parents having sex with each other or heroine's ex-husband having sex with another woman. It didn't add to the story or emotional emotional content of the book. It was TMI. Second, I was disappointed that hero & heroine didn't discuss with each other how the lies & deceit of her parents & ex-husband impacted their lives. They just rushed to their I-love-yous & marriage plans.

Recommended.

The childhood sweethearts theme is one of my favorite and the Civil War setting is too. This book was wonderful from start to finish and I could not put it down! I finished it in 1 night! Highly emotional, very steamy, with wonderful characters, I quite simply loved this book. It is a new favorite. So glad I discovered this one. I recommend it to all!

I'm not generally a fan of Civil War-era romance novels, but somehow, YOU BELONG TO MY HEART got in under my radar, and now I have to eat some humble pie.

Still, it must be said that a large part of my liking for this story probably has to be the fact that a major chunk of the story doesn't even take place during the war. There's a prolonged flashback to the early childhood and teenage romance of the heroine and hero, Mary Ellen Preble and Clayton Knight. I like it when an early romance between protagonists is given equal time with the recurrent one. It just gives the characters and their motivations so much more depth. And I'm also a sucker for a Romeo and Juliet plotline, anytime.

Mary Ellen and Clay are separated by the machinations of her parents, with the cooperation of a suitor who would like to marry Mary Ellen but who knows he doesn't stand a chance unless Clay is taken out the picture. The parents rationalize their actions by thinking that surely, the feelings Mary Ellen has for Clay are nothing more than a teenage crush. And Clay, well, he's a nice boy, but he's just not their class, and surely he'll get over his "infatuation" too?

But her parents were so wrong. Mary Ellen and Clay both become emotionally frozen following their enforced breakup. I liked the way the author showed their equal failure to recover from their "infatuation" and their enforced separation, although they both go on with their lives. When the war brings Clay back to Memphis (his former home town) Mary Ellen believes she hates him; Clay believes he hates her, thanks to the old lies that broke them up, but luckily, there's an unusual plot twist which helps them both see they were victims of a well-meant plot.

My only real problems with the book are ones which annoy me in almost every Civil War-era romance I've read. The war is portrayed 'Civil War lite', and by this I mean, the war is basically nothing more than an inconvenience, depriving the ladies of coffee to drink with their chocolate cake (they still have chocolate cake??). It seems like Mary Ellen can just go on living her life in her plantation house, with enough money and food supplies, la-di-da-di-da, even though the Union forces have come to Memphis and she has no one, except one or two slaves, left to work the huge place. We're never told if the wallpaper is starting to peel or the food supply is getting short. And as for the remaining slaves on the Preble plantation -- well, the way they are portrayed here is probably one big reason why I tend to avoid the Civil War-era romance novel; I just don't like reading a book where enslaved people are portrayed as unquestioningly loyal, lightly buffoonish subcharacters. (Presumably, the hundred or so non-loyal ones ran away or were freed by the Union army, but we aren't told, even in passing.)

Another thing that I didn't like so much about this story was the fact that Mary Ellen's divorce from her husband is portrayed as nothing more than a tiny blip on her social radar, generally ignored by the Southern society she lives in. Huh? A divorce in the South of the late 1850's, not to mention everywhere else, was not only extremely difficult to get, I'm pretty sure it made the participant completely ostracized by polite society.

Still, despite these flaws, I liked that this story is strongly focused on the romantic past and the reunion of its main characters. Their romance is sensual and engaging enough for me to put aside my complaints and just go along with it, rooting for them to overcome their obstacles and get their happy ever after, at long last.

This was the most romantic book I've read (and I've read many). The sex was great in the book, yet not trashy (very romantic). I have recommended to many of my friends who have rushed out and bought it. And they ALL have agreed with my review. I'm a big joker, so when I came into work and was telling them about it, I said, "it's so good, it'll make you want to sleep with your husband!", and that got their attention. (I'm single). I enjoyed it very much and plan to read more of her books. It was GREAT!

I'm giving this five stars basically because the love scenes are so hot they deserve six or seven stars themselves, but I have a couple of nitpicks with the story overall. My biggest complaint is that the author spends too much time in the past. The details of why the couple broke up in their youth could have been told more succintly, and then Ryan could have spent more time showing them re-establish their emotional connection in the present. I wanted them to admit they were in love again and *then* find out about how they were set up. Having the bad guy confess while they were still agonizing over their feelings saved them from having to make any really tough decisions about forgiving one another for perceived betrayals. I guess it was a bit too tidy for me. Having said all of that, though, it is still one of the best books I have ever read and is on my keeper shelf next to Ryan's "Savage Heat" (another scorcher!)