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jillmlong's review
1.0
This book has a lot of problems. First off why did the author make Guy 24 and Petra 14 when they first met? This is a major problem that cannot be overlooked. A 24 year old man should not be interested in a 14 year old girl. Also did they or didn't they? She said she was a virgin when they had sex as adults but his dialogue in the book suggests that they did it 10 years prior when she was just 14. "She'd interested him ten years ago, as a girl on the cusp of of womanhood, with an eagerness to experience whatever came her way. He remembered how she responded to his careful lovemaking, with an openness and enthusiasm he found quite delightful." This book left me very unhappy.
romancejunkie1025's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Not my fav series but a good happy ending for the series overall
scoutmomskf's review
4.0
Good book. When Petra meets Guy Granville again, she remembers how he broke her fourteen-year-old heart and decides to give him a taste of his own medicine. She's ten years older now and confident that she can resist his well-known charm. The grown-up Petra intrigues Guy, and he quickly forgets his usual love them and leave them attitude.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Petra and Guy. They met when she was fourteen, and he was twenty-four and spent a great deal of time together. (Okay, yes, the age difference at that point is perhaps a little questionable.) Even then, Petra was different from other girls, and Guy enjoyed her company. Petra's schoolgirl heart fell hard for him, and she was devastated when he left without a word. Their first meeting ten years later was a bit awkward. Petra was quite cool to him, while Guy was thoroughly entranced. Petra comes up with a plan to get even by drawing him in and then dumping him the way he did to her. She didn't count on her old feelings coming back even stronger.
The sparks between Guy and Petra were intense, and not just the sparks of attraction. Both of them are strong-willed and clash frequently. Guy tends to be high-handed, taking control of situations without considering other's feelings. Petra, who is protective of her friends and family, has no trouble calling him out when he does so. She also has to work hard to keep him from running over her wishes when they are together. This sets up some interesting confrontations. It isn't long before Petra gives up her plans for revenge and enjoys the time she spends with him. Guy also finds himself more entranced by her than he expected. With the time they spend together, the attraction between them soon burns out of control. I loved Guy's "aha" moment when he realized that he wants it all with Petra and impulsively proposes.
However, neither Petra nor Guy quite realizes what marriage will require from them. Clashes begin immediately over wedding plans. Both Petra and Guy had good reasons for their wishes, and it took some effort for them to find a compromise. Fortunately, they do, and the wedding and honeymoon proceed on schedule and with rave reviews from both of them. But Petra and Guy stand on opposite sides of one significant issue - women's suffrage. Guy had no idea how deeply involved in the movement Petra is at first, and it comes as quite a shock when he finds out. I ached for Petra as she realized that, unlike her friends Diana and Fenella's husbands, hers does not support her views and work. I wanted to shake Guy over his attitude toward her thoughts. This sets up a devastating confrontation when her involvement in a suffrage event clashes with his position in the House of Lords. While I empathized somewhat with Guy, he could have handled things much better. Petra, too, was not entirely blameless. I liked the ending, as Guy discovered he could change given the right motivation, and Petra also learned the art of compromise.
I liked seeing Diana and Fenella from the first two books and getting a glimpse of their happy marriages. I love the close friendship between the three women and how they support each other. I think the story would have benefitted from an epilogue, maybe a few years on, to see how all three couples have turned out.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Petra and Guy. They met when she was fourteen, and he was twenty-four and spent a great deal of time together. (Okay, yes, the age difference at that point is perhaps a little questionable.) Even then, Petra was different from other girls, and Guy enjoyed her company. Petra's schoolgirl heart fell hard for him, and she was devastated when he left without a word. Their first meeting ten years later was a bit awkward. Petra was quite cool to him, while Guy was thoroughly entranced. Petra comes up with a plan to get even by drawing him in and then dumping him the way he did to her. She didn't count on her old feelings coming back even stronger.
The sparks between Guy and Petra were intense, and not just the sparks of attraction. Both of them are strong-willed and clash frequently. Guy tends to be high-handed, taking control of situations without considering other's feelings. Petra, who is protective of her friends and family, has no trouble calling him out when he does so. She also has to work hard to keep him from running over her wishes when they are together. This sets up some interesting confrontations. It isn't long before Petra gives up her plans for revenge and enjoys the time she spends with him. Guy also finds himself more entranced by her than he expected. With the time they spend together, the attraction between them soon burns out of control. I loved Guy's "aha" moment when he realized that he wants it all with Petra and impulsively proposes.
However, neither Petra nor Guy quite realizes what marriage will require from them. Clashes begin immediately over wedding plans. Both Petra and Guy had good reasons for their wishes, and it took some effort for them to find a compromise. Fortunately, they do, and the wedding and honeymoon proceed on schedule and with rave reviews from both of them. But Petra and Guy stand on opposite sides of one significant issue - women's suffrage. Guy had no idea how deeply involved in the movement Petra is at first, and it comes as quite a shock when he finds out. I ached for Petra as she realized that, unlike her friends Diana and Fenella's husbands, hers does not support her views and work. I wanted to shake Guy over his attitude toward her thoughts. This sets up a devastating confrontation when her involvement in a suffrage event clashes with his position in the House of Lords. While I empathized somewhat with Guy, he could have handled things much better. Petra, too, was not entirely blameless. I liked the ending, as Guy discovered he could change given the right motivation, and Petra also learned the art of compromise.
I liked seeing Diana and Fenella from the first two books and getting a glimpse of their happy marriages. I love the close friendship between the three women and how they support each other. I think the story would have benefitted from an epilogue, maybe a few years on, to see how all three couples have turned out.
heyhaley17's review
1.0
Two stars for a book I didn't finish? Well, that just represents my very confusing feelings for the book before making that decision-- and my feeling that the rest of the book, had I finished would've been fine. I just can't get over the little things that annoy me-- mainly the pacing and the misleading summary.
I picked up this book expecting the past relationship/meeting of these two to be a much bigger deal that in was. I know I didn't read the whole thing, but it was painfully obvious that the past was no longer going to play a larger role beyond the 'hey, me met before...once'. Which leads me to something I both found confusing, but oddly enjoyable (initially), and that is Petra's interpretation of that past meeting in her youth. Being young she greatly misjudged Guy's attention on her believing it to be love until he unceremoniously disappears from the country party without a word to her. When she mentions this pretty early on to Guy upon meeting him again because she's angry, he is shocked and adamantly tells her he never led her on, he just enjoyed her company and was certainly not obligated to tell her about a planed trip. I agree, he was totally within his rights and she was in the wrong for thinking otherwise-- she even admits it-- but still wanted revenge...ummm...ok? I just didn't get that, but I did kind of like how self righteous Petra was about it and thought it would be fine, but as early as she comes up with the plan to get him and drop him as revenge it is practically never mentioned again-- unless he friends ask, which she never responds. I just think the past bits needed to be played up WAY more WAY early on in the relationship if this aspect of the storyline was going to make sense-- in fact the past needed to be a part of the story as we are told it is.
I enjoyed the characters. I found them simple but seemingly complex (again, perhaps more so had I read more that 140 pages). The first time they sleep together is so highly...unromantic and lacking any intimacies and yet she suddenly loves him...when did that happen?
Yet, I still liked the characters, at least Guy, I found him a bit mysterious and interesting. But Petra's character began to lose a little luster.
What it came down to...pacing...I liked the writing, the plot ideas and what I got to were overall fun, and the characters were good. I'll read another Jane Feather, but this one-- I was promised a past trop and did not receive. I will be skimming the rest.
I picked up this book expecting the past relationship/meeting of these two to be a much bigger deal that in was. I know I didn't read the whole thing, but it was painfully obvious that the past was no longer going to play a larger role beyond the 'hey, me met before...once'. Which leads me to something I both found confusing, but oddly enjoyable (initially), and that is Petra's interpretation of that past meeting in her youth. Being young she greatly misjudged Guy's attention on her believing it to be love until he unceremoniously disappears from the country party without a word to her. When she mentions this pretty early on to Guy upon meeting him again because she's angry, he is shocked and adamantly tells her he never led her on, he just enjoyed her company and was certainly not obligated to tell her about a planed trip. I agree, he was totally within his rights and she was in the wrong for thinking otherwise-- she even admits it-- but still wanted revenge...ummm...ok? I just didn't get that, but I did kind of like how self righteous Petra was about it and thought it would be fine, but as early as she comes up with the plan to get him and drop him as revenge it is practically never mentioned again-- unless he friends ask, which she never responds. I just think the past bits needed to be played up WAY more WAY early on in the relationship if this aspect of the storyline was going to make sense-- in fact the past needed to be a part of the story as we are told it is.
I enjoyed the characters. I found them simple but seemingly complex (again, perhaps more so had I read more that 140 pages). The first time they sleep together is so highly...unromantic and lacking any intimacies and yet she suddenly loves him...when did that happen?
Yet, I still liked the characters, at least Guy, I found him a bit mysterious and interesting. But Petra's character began to lose a little luster.
What it came down to...pacing...I liked the writing, the plot ideas and what I got to were overall fun, and the characters were good. I'll read another Jane Feather, but this one-- I was promised a past trop and did not receive. I will be skimming the rest.
juliaem's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. I think Petra is a great name for a heroine, but not much else (aside from her relationship with her two besties) was particularly compelling. There are some odd plot gaps (like Petra & her love interest have lived two blocks apart in London for years, but don't start regularly running into each other until doing so moves the plot forward), and what could have been a really interesting element to the book, which is that Petra is a suffragette and said love interest is initially "staunchly" opposed to women using their lady brains to vote, but they don't ever even have a real conversation about it!
(Spoiler alert)
Instead his mind is changed by his embittered French former mistress??? I don't get that choice. The sex scenes themselves are fine, I suppose, but because of plot-related issues, there's almost no erotic tension. I don't think I would avoid the other 2 in this series, exactly, but I wouldn't seek them out, either.
(Spoiler alert)
Instead his mind is changed by his embittered French former mistress??? I don't get that choice. The sex scenes themselves are fine, I suppose, but because of plot-related issues, there's almost no erotic tension. I don't think I would avoid the other 2 in this series, exactly, but I wouldn't seek them out, either.
ellaalves's review
2.0
I had a few issues with this book. For starters, when reading the synopsis, one of the main subjects of the book is not even hinted at anywhere. I would have liked to know that the suffrage movement would be address in this book before going in; it would encourage a lot more people to read than to simply believe this is one more cliche historical romance.
That being said, I was disappointed that everything happened so fast, and the main characters simply "forgot" everything about the other up until the middle of the book, only to remember they have different opinions to become the conflict when they knew they had a different view on something and choose to ignore and marry anyway, like the other's believes would just disappear because they are now husband and wife.
Another issue is that they meet when the heroine was 14 years old and the "hero" was 24 years old. They were together unchaperoned, kissed, and he leads her on. That is not the problem, but the age is. She was very young and it felt wrong. There was no need to include something that would not even matter for half of the book because the heroine just forgot she was angry at him for leading her on in the very begging. Also, the fact he likes to call her "girl" throughout the entire book like he wants her to be the girl he first met and not the woman she is. It is just creepy.
To speak of the suffrage since the description doesn't, it is very present in the book and it is probably what I like the most about the book. And the fact the heroine does not back down from it since the "hero" doesn't support her is what marked her for me because her making excuses for the guy was not.
That being said, I was disappointed that everything happened so fast, and the main characters simply "forgot" everything about the other up until the middle of the book, only to remember they have different opinions to become the conflict when they knew they had a different view on something and choose to ignore and marry anyway, like the other's believes would just disappear because they are now husband and wife.
Another issue is that they meet when the heroine was 14 years old and the "hero" was 24 years old. They were together unchaperoned, kissed, and he leads her on. That is not the problem, but the age is. She was very young and it felt wrong. There was no need to include something that would not even matter for half of the book because the heroine just forgot she was angry at him for leading her on in the very begging. Also, the fact he likes to call her "girl" throughout the entire book like he wants her to be the girl he first met and not the woman she is. It is just creepy.
To speak of the suffrage since the description doesn't, it is very present in the book and it is probably what I like the most about the book. And the fact the heroine does not back down from it since the "hero" doesn't support her is what marked her for me because her making excuses for the guy was not.
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