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bahogan92's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
webbsusa's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book more than I did. The first half or so was strong; there was one moment that brought me to tears, so the author can write with strong emotion. But around the halfway point, things started to fall apart. Plot threads were introduced and dropped. Characterization was inconsistent. I could definitely tell the author was trying to set up future books in the series, but there were just too many threads, too many hints that went nowhere.
hebberelle's review
2.0
Yet another novel that would have been half as long if the two characters had actually spoken to each other like real adults. The main 'hero' could not be more of a jerk if he tried, and yet nothing bad happens to him at all.
Also, the fear of storms and death of parents was a huge plot point in a similar novel by another author that war written years ago. I was truly rolling my eyes through this whole thing.
Also, the fear of storms and death of parents was a huge plot point in a similar novel by another author that war written years ago. I was truly rolling my eyes through this whole thing.
katyanaish's review
2.0
I don't know if I just wasn't in the mood for it, or what, but I just didn't connect with this at all. I found the hero and heroine to be ... well, annoying. I realize this may seem crazy to some HR fans, but I really do feel like there is a line for melodrama. And beyond it is just too much. This book was way way way across my line.
There was nothing overly dramatic in this book - the dramatic events were all at least a year old (), with the heroine's drama actually being like 15 years old. And their internal monologues were just so incredibly overdramatic. I felt like these are probably the two most emo people ever. They've both had good lives, with people who love them, and while shit has happened, they remain in good, rich lives surrounded by people who love them. They both needed to get sense slapped into them - the TSTL levels are insanely high in this book - and they also both clearly adored each other, despite being too stupid to see what was right in front of their faces.
I had a hard time sticking with it - I kept putting the book down after a chapter, which is incredibly unusual for me - and then finally just powered through it, despite constantly rolling my eyes so hard that I felt a migraine coming on.
So this gets a big meh from me. I don't think I can do this author - the prose of their internal monologue was so flowery it was literally triggering my gag reflex - so I probably won't try anything else in her library unless a friend who has read more from her tells me this was out of character for her.
There was nothing overly dramatic in this book - the dramatic events were all at least a year old (
Spoiler
and we find out that the core of that drama, the betrayal by the hero's best friend, was actually not a thing... which let me tell you, just underscores how over-the-top all the emo melodramatic crap was in this bookI had a hard time sticking with it - I kept putting the book down after a chapter, which is incredibly unusual for me - and then finally just powered through it, despite constantly rolling my eyes so hard that I felt a migraine coming on.
So this gets a big meh from me. I don't think I can do this author - the prose of their internal monologue was so flowery it was literally triggering my gag reflex - so I probably won't try anything else in her library unless a friend who has read more from her tells me this was out of character for her.
melfierro's review against another edition
4.0
I definitely think you need to read a good portion of this one before deciding whether you like it or not. Reading some of the reviews makes me think people didn't give it enough of a chance, and/or were trying to modernize the story. I don't know what was in Janna's mind when she wrote this, but I have to think it went something like this... "what if a heroine had not one, not two, not three, but four broken engagements in historical times... what would become of someone like that?"
It is, most definitely, on period for engagements. Poor Claire has had bad luck her whole life, and I would argue including her initial engagement to Alexander. After all, she had little choice and she doesn't know his true intention is to get back at her terrible ex-fiance.
This one makes you think about the fate of women in the 1800s. We like to pretend, through fiction, that they somehow found agency in their choices and ended up in love at some point. But reality was probably not as rosy for many of them. If women like Claire didn't have someone like Alexander come along who, after being an a**hat realizes that Claire is a human with feelings deserving of respect, kindness, and love, they were often consigned to loveless and often cruel marriages... or spinsterhood because something was deemed "wrong" with them.
Both the hero and heroine in this story grow and change and come into their own in this story.
It is, most definitely, on period for engagements. Poor Claire has had bad luck her whole life, and I would argue including her initial engagement to Alexander. After all, she had little choice and she doesn't know his true intention is to get back at her terrible ex-fiance.
This one makes you think about the fate of women in the 1800s. We like to pretend, through fiction, that they somehow found agency in their choices and ended up in love at some point. But reality was probably not as rosy for many of them. If women like Claire didn't have someone like Alexander come along who, after being an a**hat realizes that Claire is a human with feelings deserving of respect, kindness, and love, they were often consigned to loveless and often cruel marriages... or spinsterhood because something was deemed "wrong" with them.
Both the hero and heroine in this story grow and change and come into their own in this story.
amym84's review against another edition
4.0
Alexander Hallworth, the Marquess of Pembrooke, has little on his mind but having his revenge against a former friend who wronged Pembrooke's sister. He'll do anything to make sure that Lord Paul suffers for what he has done up to and including taking Lord Paul's fiancee as his wife. What Pembrooke isn't prepared for is how much he actually ends up caring for Lady Claire Cavensham. He knows that if she finds out the secrets of what he's done in the name of revenge he'll lose her, but telling her is easier said than done.
Lady Claire has suffered through society after having a number of cancelled weddings. Her "curse" has garnered her quite the reputation, and with the cancellation of her wedding to Lord Paul, Claire is ready for the renewed frenzy siting her curse as the culprit. When the Marquess of Pembrooke approaches her to marry in Lord Paul's stead, Claire can't readily refuse. The scandal another cancelled wedding would cause would be certain to keep Claire from ever having the family she so desperately desires. Plus, she's genuinely attracted to Pembrooke. Can he be the one to finally break the dreaded "curse"?
I thought that it was interesting how two people, who both start out not knowing one another that well and then genuinely grow to have affection for each other, could have so much muddled between them. How two people can, essentially, be headed to the same path yet go about getting their by very different means. Means which consist of secrets (whether well-intentioned or not) and misunderstandings.
So things between Alex and Claire are complicated to say the least and Alex mainly kept tangling himself further and further into his web of secrets and omissions. Not being able to tell Claire that he only wanted her, initially, in order to assuage his need for revenge, he digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself. But I liked watching him come to terms with his preconceived notions and assumptions and realize that maybe revenge is not the answer he was looking for after all.
Claire is not without her own secrets and those are ones she's held close to the chest since the death of her parents in a awful accident more than ten years ago. While her secrets may not be as detrimental to the relationship she hopes to have with Alex, there's still no place for them if she truly wants things to work out between herself and Alex. Also, keeping such things so close has prevented her from healing and moving forward.
I liked that both Claire and Alex had things to work through before they would be able to live happily ever after. It was this unique tangled mess that really made the book stand out for me. I think that this is a promising new series, and I can't wait to see who is featured next and what mess they'll find themselves in! I have a pretty good guess judging by the ending of this one.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lady Claire has suffered through society after having a number of cancelled weddings. Her "curse" has garnered her quite the reputation, and with the cancellation of her wedding to Lord Paul, Claire is ready for the renewed frenzy siting her curse as the culprit. When the Marquess of Pembrooke approaches her to marry in Lord Paul's stead, Claire can't readily refuse. The scandal another cancelled wedding would cause would be certain to keep Claire from ever having the family she so desperately desires. Plus, she's genuinely attracted to Pembrooke. Can he be the one to finally break the dreaded "curse"?
I thought that it was interesting how two people, who both start out not knowing one another that well and then genuinely grow to have affection for each other, could have so much muddled between them. How two people can, essentially, be headed to the same path yet go about getting their by very different means. Means which consist of secrets (whether well-intentioned or not) and misunderstandings.
So things between Alex and Claire are complicated to say the least and Alex mainly kept tangling himself further and further into his web of secrets and omissions. Not being able to tell Claire that he only wanted her, initially, in order to assuage his need for revenge, he digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself. But I liked watching him come to terms with his preconceived notions and assumptions and realize that maybe revenge is not the answer he was looking for after all.
Claire is not without her own secrets and those are ones she's held close to the chest since the death of her parents in a awful accident more than ten years ago. While her secrets may not be as detrimental to the relationship she hopes to have with Alex, there's still no place for them if she truly wants things to work out between herself and Alex. Also, keeping such things so close has prevented her from healing and moving forward.
I liked that both Claire and Alex had things to work through before they would be able to live happily ever after. It was this unique tangled mess that really made the book stand out for me. I think that this is a promising new series, and I can't wait to see who is featured next and what mess they'll find themselves in! I have a pretty good guess judging by the ending of this one.
*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
tessanne's review against another edition
1.0
Boring. Too much inexplicable angst and over the top, unnecessary drama. Blah. DNF at 65%.
bibliocat08's review against another edition
3.0
This book had potential but MacGregor's decision to make the characters completely suck at communication for no reason pretty much ruined it for me. I get that the lack of communication/unwillingness to open up was the foil in their relationship but the reasons the characters chose not to speak up when they were given plenty of opportunity just didn't wash and it wasn't very believable.
desiree_mcl's review against another edition
DNF @90 pgs.
I wasn't clicking with this. For the first 30-ish pages I was really liking this but there was something that wasn't working for me with Alex and Claire's interactions.
At this point I was already tired of all the curse talk. So I'm pretty sure if I continued I'd just be even more annoyed.
I will probably still skip ahead because I'm curious as to but other than that I don't think I'll read any more.
I wasn't clicking with this. For the first 30-ish pages I was really liking this but there was something that wasn't working for me with Alex and Claire's interactions.
At this point I was already tired of all the curse talk. So I'm pretty sure if I continued I'd just be even more annoyed.
I will probably still skip ahead because I'm curious as to
Spoiler
what really happened with Alice (Alex's sister) because I think Alex jumped to conclusions about what her suicide note meantjin662's review against another edition
2.0
I received a ARC of this book courtesy of Net Galley and am not being compensated for this opinion.
I wanted to like this book. The premise sets it up for being an excellent story, a woman with a "curse". A man with a plan. Sadly it was just lackluster for me. It seemed at times that the author was trying so hard to keep everything mysterious that she neglected to remember that this is a love story. That isn't to say that there was no love in the book, Alex and Claire eventually worked things out but there was so much mistrust, so many moments that just left me frustrated that I found myself walking away from the book more often than I was reading it.
I wanted to like this book. The premise sets it up for being an excellent story, a woman with a "curse". A man with a plan. Sadly it was just lackluster for me. It seemed at times that the author was trying so hard to keep everything mysterious that she neglected to remember that this is a love story. That isn't to say that there was no love in the book, Alex and Claire eventually worked things out but there was so much mistrust, so many moments that just left me frustrated that I found myself walking away from the book more often than I was reading it.