Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, Passionate and Absorbing - 4-1/2*, 3 Dec 2006
Fleet was not exactly the place one would go in search of a husband, but if one were as deep in debt, and desperate to boot, then it would beat Almack's. So it was that Princess Isabella Di Cassilis had come looking for the perfect man. In theory, finding a man already in prison for debt made him assuming his new wife's debts a moot point -- what would be the harm for him? Only one problem with this plan was the man known in the Fleet as John Ellis, her intended husband-to-be, was in reality Marcus Stockhaven, the Earl of Stockbridge, the man who had captured her heart, her innocence, and whom she'd jilted on the day of their wedding 12 years earlier. Her plans were to quickly annul the marriage once she received an expected inheritance, but much to her chagrin she is surprised when Marcus a very free and prosperous looking husband, shows up looking for his wife and a long awaited wedding night!
*** This was a very witty, yet poignant story that I relished for the many emotions the author elicited by the very deep characterizations she fashioned for the main characters. Yes, this plot has been done before but not with such a deft hand that could even make the reader have sympathy for the villain in the piece. The dialogs alone are worthy of remark as when a very proper gentleman asked Bella's sister Pen if she'd like to partner him in a `reel' her outrageously funny reply was "I only reel when I am drunk, ....", gives you some idea of the wit employed in this highly entertaining story.
Marcus and Bella were both passionately strong characters still harboring strong feelings for one another in spite of the passage of time. Marcus' thoughts of revenge were complicated for several reasons - Bella's jilting him being foremost in his mind but also for the fact that in marrying her cousin India, he felt guilty for never being able to love her the way she deserved. Isabella was still and always had been in love with Marcus but was terrified of letting herself love him again knowing he had every right to hate her -- that for him, it would be revenge and she wouldn't be able to bear to lose him again. All in all a powerful story, rich, witty and sensual - a divinely delicious treat.
Marilyn Rondeau, RIO - Reviewers International Organization
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7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Regency, 16 Jul 2006
Nicola Cornick has written a well balanced story of love, lust and romance. The hero and heroine are locked in an intent duel throughout most of the story, gripping the reader to the end
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What started off promising turned out tedious..., 26 April 2008
I really enjoyed the start of this novel - indeed, the beginning could not have been more absorbing. It was definitely an opening to a romantic novel with a difference, and got me 'hooked' straightaway! There was plenty of dialogue, and the scene-setting very enthralling indeed. However, this was to be short-lived, and after the first two or three very exciting chapters which were exceptionally well-written I thought, then turned out to be a bit of a drag... It did pick up again for a bit after rather a long lull, but when I got to the last 150 or so pages, I must confess to an astonishing lack of interest anymore - in either the characters or the plot...
What did not help, was that at about this stage, the word/name 'Salterton' was repeated constantly in almost every other sentence, to such an extent, I began to think this had become some form of 'brainwashing' exercise! It really was just too much, and I simply got sick of it... As a consequence, I'm afraid I did not finish this book, and so do not know how it all turned out in the end...
I also feel that the couple had 'made up' far too soon in the story to be credible - considering the opening scene, and their major differences, and one has to confess to it being somewhat tiresome to use the age-old plot once again of a 'love you/hate you' scenario...
Read it all before - and bored with it...
Despite a lovely and captivating cover - not to mention the exceptionally enthralling opening - very disappointing...
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by Nicola Cornick
by Nicola Cornick
by Nicola Cornick
by Nicola Cornick
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