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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
********** 4 Stars **********
First, a little background: I read this book back in high school and loved it to fervent death. It was my first experience with a proper romance (other than Harlequin Presents) and I fell in love with this epic tale involving knights and ladies and all sorts of sprawling medieval goodness. I was in heaven. Jude Deveraux became my hero and I declared romance my favourite genre. I pulled out pencil and paper and began to write my very first novel (which sucked of course) and declared I wanted to be a romance author just like Jude when I grew up.
Fast forward to present day, many years later. My girl Feifei and I are hanging on GR talking about A Knight In Shining Armor by this same author, and we realize we'd love to BR the Velvet saga. Will it live up to the love we both professed for it?
And the verdict is:
Yes.... and no. LOL. I Know Feifei nearly hated it this time around and I totally get why. I didn't hate it as much but this wasn't the perfect read I remembered from back then. Gavin, who I used to declare as my favourite out of the four Montgomery brothers, stood out stark and clear this time around for being a total scumbag douchecanoe. What clearly impressed my young 15 year old, 90's self, today felt annoying and horrifying at the very least. This dude, for all his sexy, hot, knight self never truly redeemed himself after the despicable way he treated Judith, the heroine. Enter Ye ol' Gavin Montgomery rant fest ahead, come all ye! (tagged with Spoiler tags for the Super Spoilery Spoils within):
But let's just stop there, because it's hard not to slag off Gavin without giving away the whole damn story. The point is, I doubt there will be many readers who will consider this hero swoon worthy and will not end up wanting to cut up his nuts, fry them in butter and serve them to him on a platter.
Don't get me wrong, this book is still good as far as well written, well paced epic historical medieval romances go. If you like high drama and a flair of soap opera with your romances, this will be a hit. Gavin may be hard to take, but Judith Revedoune, the heroine is mostly a delight to read about (if a bit Mary Sue-ish by the end). Truth is I couldn't put this down and the premise itself intrigued the hell out of me. The ending though, left much to be desired. Seriously, too much drama for it to end in the literary equivalent of a deflating balloon.
The other Montgomery brothers are delicious and I cannot wait to read their story.
Thank you, Feifei!! xoxoxo... unearthing and rereading these classic romances is fun as hell. On to Stephen! *crosses fingers*
Buddy Read 23/06/14 with the awesome Lady Vigilante (Feifei). Can't wait!!
First, a little background: I read this book back in high school and loved it to fervent death. It was my first experience with a proper romance (other than Harlequin Presents) and I fell in love with this epic tale involving knights and ladies and all sorts of sprawling medieval goodness. I was in heaven. Jude Deveraux became my hero and I declared romance my favourite genre. I pulled out pencil and paper and began to write my very first novel (which sucked of course) and declared I wanted to be a romance author just like Jude when I grew up.
Fast forward to present day, many years later. My girl Feifei and I are hanging on GR talking about A Knight In Shining Armor by this same author, and we realize we'd love to BR the Velvet saga. Will it live up to the love we both professed for it?
And the verdict is:
Yes.... and no. LOL. I Know Feifei nearly hated it this time around and I totally get why. I didn't hate it as much but this wasn't the perfect read I remembered from back then. Gavin, who I used to declare as my favourite out of the four Montgomery brothers, stood out stark and clear this time around for being a total scumbag douchecanoe. What clearly impressed my young 15 year old, 90's self, today felt annoying and horrifying at the very least. This dude, for all his sexy, hot, knight self never truly redeemed himself after the despicable way he treated Judith, the heroine. Enter Ye ol' Gavin Montgomery rant fest ahead, come all ye! (tagged with Spoiler tags for the Super Spoilery Spoils within):
Spoiler
He beats her and rapes her during her wedding night, he constantly utters sexist slurs at her, acting like an oaf and a bully asshat, he constantly defends his beautiful, innocent ex-mistress Alice, who he never really saw for the awful bitch she was until the very end, even after she tricked Judith into catching her in bed with his too-drunk ass and causing her to nearly break her neck by falling down some stairs and losing her baby. Did he cut her a new one? You'd think he would right? After all, what that bitch did was heinous and murderous, but no, it took the idiot a while to realize the extent of her evil, and even then... let her go easy, thus precipitating a final bit of drama where she kidnapped and nearly disfigured Judith. To all that I say:But let's just stop there, because it's hard not to slag off Gavin without giving away the whole damn story. The point is, I doubt there will be many readers who will consider this hero swoon worthy and will not end up wanting to cut up his nuts, fry them in butter and serve them to him on a platter.
Don't get me wrong, this book is still good as far as well written, well paced epic historical medieval romances go. If you like high drama and a flair of soap opera with your romances, this will be a hit. Gavin may be hard to take, but Judith Revedoune, the heroine is mostly a delight to read about (if a bit Mary Sue-ish by the end). Truth is I couldn't put this down and the premise itself intrigued the hell out of me. The ending though, left much to be desired. Seriously, too much drama for it to end in the literary equivalent of a deflating balloon.
The other Montgomery brothers are delicious and I cannot wait to read their story.
Thank you, Feifei!! xoxoxo... unearthing and rereading these classic romances is fun as hell. On to Stephen! *crosses fingers*
Buddy Read 23/06/14 with the awesome Lady Vigilante (Feifei). Can't wait!!
So I three years ago my husband and I I bought a ginormous house. Tons of space. This was an upgrade from our previous relatively tiny house. While we were living in that tiny house with no space, we had no place to store our books. We have about 40 of those big plastic storage bins stuffed full of books stored in his parent's barn.
So we've been slowly returning our books back and shelving them lovingly in the a random unused first floor bedroom we are now grandly calling The Reading Room.
So this past week we migrated a few more of the bins and lo and behold it was chick full of 80s bodice rippers. Of which this was one.
I promptly decided to read it because while I am sure that I loved it (I had after all saved it for over 20 years) the back blurb did not ring any bells for me.
I am sure that my then younger self probably loved this book. My now older self is reading this incredibly impatient by what an utter ass-clown the hero is. The heroine kinda rocked, though.
So we've been slowly returning our books back and shelving them lovingly in the a random unused first floor bedroom we are now grandly calling The Reading Room.
So this past week we migrated a few more of the bins and lo and behold it was chick full of 80s bodice rippers. Of which this was one.
I promptly decided to read it because while I am sure that I loved it (I had after all saved it for over 20 years) the back blurb did not ring any bells for me.
I am sure that my then younger self probably loved this book. My now older self is reading this incredibly impatient by what an utter ass-clown the hero is. The heroine kinda rocked, though.
The Velvet series was absolutely my most favorite set of books by Jude Deveraux. I have read them a dozen times, and loved them every time! Quite typical romance novels, but fun to read!
I cannot endorse a book that condones rape and abuse. There is no way in hell that a person would have that much “passion” and “lust” and eventually love for their rapist. Not unless there is brainwashing involved anyway. Completely ridiculous book. I finished the book because I was told to trust the process and the book is about a feminist who holds her own, and that the book is about the strength of a woman. Heck no. Nothing strong about falling in love with your rapist/abuser. I don’t care if this book is written about “a different time period”....no. Just no. The man is a complete douche bag.
Please...don't waste your time reading this book. I wasted a Hoopla rental on this, and 2:21 hours into an 11.37 hour book, I can't listen to another moment.!
In fact, what I have heard so far, makes me think that maybe the author might need counseling.....I mean truly.....what must be going through a female authors mind, to think that ANY woman would find any redeeming value in the "hero" as she has written him?
I read a LOT of historical of historical romance novels and for the most part love a good, rigid, masculine hero...who is tough as nails, but respectful to women....Ok.....so as written, we are suppose to believe this is an intelegent, worldly man, from a respected family....relatively intelegent....been with tons of women....BUT yet....he acts like a complete naive moron around an evil slutty bitch....who plays him like an innocent, naive, stupid chump!
1. Strike ONE for our "Hero"
Then he marries a beautiful, innocent woman in an arranged marriage.....and on their wedding day, the woman's father smacks her...and our "Knight and shining armor" jumps to her aid and pounds on the father......
So I am thinking...cool.....personality establish...he is a gentleman, and a champion. The couple spend a few hours laughing and getting to know each other......all is good...damsel in distress, honorable knight.....smooth read.
Then the author does a flip flop.....the hero leaves the wedding party and his bride who he was thoroughly enjoying...and championed.....to meet for a tryst, with the aforementioned sneaky slut.....and vows he will always love the slut....the bride, who came looking for her husband...overhears this....when she confronts him....HE SLAPS HER!...and says he OWNS HER.
2. STRIKE TWO
Ok....split personality disorder?.....what possessed the author to write this character this way...is he nice?...is he a jackass?...I have read books before where the hero was a jackass on the outside...but still had honor to the women in their lives....
Then it goes to their wedding night....the innocent bride says NO......and our hero..RAPES HER, like an animal!
3. STRIKE THREE
I hung in for a few more minutes, to see if maybe the bitch slut had slipped him some drug that made him into an asshole...nope......AND after he rapes her...the next morning...he wakes up...and THEN tenderly makes love to her.....and when he sees the blood on the sheets...our, worldly gentleman is to stupid to understand what that means...duh.....
And the heroine....one minute she is strong and is not going to take his shit...then the next minute, (after he slapped her...and later raped her...oh and met up with his slut)..... She forgives him, and likes hm again, because he made love to her the next morning....
The next day..she smiles at his brother and he yells at her, calls her a whore. He also repeatedly fantasizes about beating her, hitting her, etc.
That's when I gave up......I mean come on.....make up your mind Jude Deveraux.......what were you thinking?
A HERO can be many things...a rogue...a thief....a womanizer.....but their are lines in Romance novels that our hero can NOT cross and expect us to still think he is a decent guy...and not want to reach through the page and knock him side his head......
Were you stoned when you wrote this book?......or do you have a secret masochistic, S&M side?..wtf?
In fact, what I have heard so far, makes me think that maybe the author might need counseling.....I mean truly.....what must be going through a female authors mind, to think that ANY woman would find any redeeming value in the "hero" as she has written him?
I read a LOT of historical of historical romance novels and for the most part love a good, rigid, masculine hero...who is tough as nails, but respectful to women....Ok.....so as written, we are suppose to believe this is an intelegent, worldly man, from a respected family....relatively intelegent....been with tons of women....BUT yet....he acts like a complete naive moron around an evil slutty bitch....who plays him like an innocent, naive, stupid chump!
1. Strike ONE for our "Hero"
Then he marries a beautiful, innocent woman in an arranged marriage.....and on their wedding day, the woman's father smacks her...and our "Knight and shining armor" jumps to her aid and pounds on the father......
So I am thinking...cool.....personality establish...he is a gentleman, and a champion. The couple spend a few hours laughing and getting to know each other......all is good...damsel in distress, honorable knight.....smooth read.
Then the author does a flip flop.....the hero leaves the wedding party and his bride who he was thoroughly enjoying...and championed.....to meet for a tryst, with the aforementioned sneaky slut.....and vows he will always love the slut....the bride, who came looking for her husband...overhears this....when she confronts him....HE SLAPS HER!...and says he OWNS HER.
2. STRIKE TWO
Ok....split personality disorder?.....what possessed the author to write this character this way...is he nice?...is he a jackass?...I have read books before where the hero was a jackass on the outside...but still had honor to the women in their lives....
Then it goes to their wedding night....the innocent bride says NO......and our hero..RAPES HER, like an animal!
3. STRIKE THREE
I hung in for a few more minutes, to see if maybe the bitch slut had slipped him some drug that made him into an asshole...nope......AND after he rapes her...the next morning...he wakes up...and THEN tenderly makes love to her.....and when he sees the blood on the sheets...our, worldly gentleman is to stupid to understand what that means...duh.....
And the heroine....one minute she is strong and is not going to take his shit...then the next minute, (after he slapped her...and later raped her...oh and met up with his slut)..... She forgives him, and likes hm again, because he made love to her the next morning....
The next day..she smiles at his brother and he yells at her, calls her a whore. He also repeatedly fantasizes about beating her, hitting her, etc.
That's when I gave up......I mean come on.....make up your mind Jude Deveraux.......what were you thinking?
A HERO can be many things...a rogue...a thief....a womanizer.....but their are lines in Romance novels that our hero can NOT cross and expect us to still think he is a decent guy...and not want to reach through the page and knock him side his head......
Were you stoned when you wrote this book?......or do you have a secret masochistic, S&M side?..wtf?
