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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Is it still fanfic when it's the original author writing it? Because this was pretty much fanfic of the Heaven Sent gang, and I actually love the idea of an author reusing their own characters in different, unique ways. Who knows the characters better than the original creator, after all?
I thought this world was fun, but, for me, I did think it suffered a bit, being set in a historical world, rather than the modern rock setting of the original series. Johnnie in this world was much more restrained, and I preferred him as he was, out and loud and wild.
That's not to say that this was in any way bad, I'm just a sucker for rocker stories, and don't always love the historical M/M.
One thing that I did particularly like in this world, though, is that gay relationships, while maybe not the norm, isn't a hated, criminal act, and it seems that pretty much everyone, at least in Johnnie's small world, has dalliances with the same sex. It's more like an alternate universe, not merely historical, an AU where the king and queen have a third partner, publicly, and that makes it ok for the rest of the nobility, at least, to also have other lovers, even same sex lovers. It doesn't seem to be as ok in Tyler's working class world, but I loved that no one had to worry about prison, or someone seeing them in the street and hurling abuse at them.
All in all, an interesting take on these characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the author does the rest of the gang, especially Hell and Brent, as I loved that little, lavender haired keyboardist!
I thought this world was fun, but, for me, I did think it suffered a bit, being set in a historical world, rather than the modern rock setting of the original series. Johnnie in this world was much more restrained, and I preferred him as he was, out and loud and wild.
That's not to say that this was in any way bad, I'm just a sucker for rocker stories, and don't always love the historical M/M.
One thing that I did particularly like in this world, though, is that gay relationships, while maybe not the norm, isn't a hated, criminal act, and it seems that pretty much everyone, at least in Johnnie's small world, has dalliances with the same sex. It's more like an alternate universe, not merely historical, an AU where the king and queen have a third partner, publicly, and that makes it ok for the rest of the nobility, at least, to also have other lovers, even same sex lovers. It doesn't seem to be as ok in Tyler's working class world, but I loved that no one had to worry about prison, or someone seeing them in the street and hurling abuse at them.
All in all, an interesting take on these characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the author does the rest of the gang, especially Hell and Brent, as I loved that little, lavender haired keyboardist!
This was weird.
Why on earth would someone try to promote this rubbish as historical when it’s just plain fantasy without any substantial paranormal indications?
Yes, I do understand that the author wrote a disclaimer that it wasn’t accurate and that she deliberately made all the historical “mistakes”. Still it didn’t qualify as a historical in my mind. It was too mixed up.
It simply was a fantasy story. Unfortunately a badly written one at that.
Every conflict was sort of thrown in as an afterthought. “Hey, this isn’t angsty enough, let’s throw in a bigot former employer.... Or a potential fiancé... or an asshole uncle... Or an loose mouthed lord....” And then not properly address all those issues, just sort of let everything dissolve into nothing.
I also think the overly flowery descriptions got tedious as well the made up names of months, days, places etc. (just something else that plants this in the fantasy section rather than historical)
I guess I’m in minority here so I guess this just wasn’t for me.
Why on earth would someone try to promote this rubbish as historical when it’s just plain fantasy without any substantial paranormal indications?
Yes, I do understand that the author wrote a disclaimer that it wasn’t accurate and that she deliberately made all the historical “mistakes”. Still it didn’t qualify as a historical in my mind. It was too mixed up.
It simply was a fantasy story. Unfortunately a badly written one at that.
Every conflict was sort of thrown in as an afterthought. “Hey, this isn’t angsty enough, let’s throw in a bigot former employer.... Or a potential fiancé... or an asshole uncle... Or an loose mouthed lord....” And then not properly address all those issues, just sort of let everything dissolve into nothing.
I also think the overly flowery descriptions got tedious as well the made up names of months, days, places etc. (just something else that plants this in the fantasy section rather than historical)
I guess I’m in minority here so I guess this just wasn’t for me.
4.5 Stars ~ Tyler has had a rough year. His father has passed away, and his sister’s husband has also died while she was pregnant. He could not provide for her and she had no support in the capital, Doncaster, so they return to their family in Rose County. Because his jerk of a boss at the hotel where he has worked refused to give him a reference—because he’s a petty, mean little man who doesn’t care a lick for Tyler or his family’s circumstances—Tyler has been turned away from the local hotels back home. His last hope is to gain employment at Rose Hall, the home of the local aristocracy.
Mr. Faith, the butler of the household, knew Tyler’s father, and suspecting that his former boss had not taken kindly to Tyler’s resignation, decided to give him a chance as a footman in the household. Tyler is thrilled to have gainful employment, and he’s excited to learn his new job. The lord and his siblings are nothing like he expected, and he’s quite nervous at first, but he’s quite happy with his duties and his accommodations.
Lord Rose, Johnnie, is quite surprised when he sees Tyler. More like stunned, really. But Mr. Faith and Johnnie’s siblings, twins Reese and Brent, and sister Gretchen, are none too surprised by Johnnie’s reaction. It seems that perhaps Johnnie has a “type.” Tyler is completely oblivious to Johnnie’s infatuation. Unbelievably, he truly has no idea about his own physical attributes. Having been married quite young and then lost his wife years earlier, he has concentrated on his work and managed to avoid any complications during his hotel days.
Johnnie, for his part, is determined to have Tyler. Mr. Faith is determined to make sure that Tyler is not damaged by Johnnie’s desires. Poor Tyler has zero clue what is going on, but Johnnie makes it his life’s mission to get Tyler into his life and his bed. He offers Tyler the job of Valet, and of course, Tyler is flattered. This assures Johnnie that Tyler will be near him and will give him the advantage of familiarity so that he can woo Tyler.
Of course, you know that all will not go smoothly. There are social obligations to be met, obnoxious former bosses to deal with, conniving heiresses to avoid, and a family member’s objections to overcome. Luckily, Johnnie and Tyler have a lot of good friends and family in their corner to help smooth the way when things look bleak. Johnnie does his best to convince Tyler that what is between them is real, but Tyler isn’t all that sure. When advice and support come from unexpected sources, Tyler begins to realize that maybe he has something to offer after all.
*sigh* Oh, how I loved this story. I’m not a fan of regency-ish type stories—I know, how terrible of me!—but this is sort of an alternate reality/historical/steampunk world that Jet Mykles has built, and I adored it!
OMG! This is almost as bad as being the last one to read Crossing Borders! How have I not have read Jet Mykles Heaven Sent series when I’m such a fan of her writing, not to mention those beautiful P.L. Nunn covers?!?!?! The first book of hers I read was Just for You, and the second I finished, I flipped right back to the beginning and reread it. I think that was the first time I’d ever done that. This is an alternate story of the Heaven Sent characters, and I am crying for the next book already! In the meantime, I really need to get it in gear and read the Heaven Sent series.
Mr. Faith, the butler of the household, knew Tyler’s father, and suspecting that his former boss had not taken kindly to Tyler’s resignation, decided to give him a chance as a footman in the household. Tyler is thrilled to have gainful employment, and he’s excited to learn his new job. The lord and his siblings are nothing like he expected, and he’s quite nervous at first, but he’s quite happy with his duties and his accommodations.
Lord Rose, Johnnie, is quite surprised when he sees Tyler. More like stunned, really. But Mr. Faith and Johnnie’s siblings, twins Reese and Brent, and sister Gretchen, are none too surprised by Johnnie’s reaction. It seems that perhaps Johnnie has a “type.” Tyler is completely oblivious to Johnnie’s infatuation. Unbelievably, he truly has no idea about his own physical attributes. Having been married quite young and then lost his wife years earlier, he has concentrated on his work and managed to avoid any complications during his hotel days.
Johnnie, for his part, is determined to have Tyler. Mr. Faith is determined to make sure that Tyler is not damaged by Johnnie’s desires. Poor Tyler has zero clue what is going on, but Johnnie makes it his life’s mission to get Tyler into his life and his bed. He offers Tyler the job of Valet, and of course, Tyler is flattered. This assures Johnnie that Tyler will be near him and will give him the advantage of familiarity so that he can woo Tyler.
Of course, you know that all will not go smoothly. There are social obligations to be met, obnoxious former bosses to deal with, conniving heiresses to avoid, and a family member’s objections to overcome. Luckily, Johnnie and Tyler have a lot of good friends and family in their corner to help smooth the way when things look bleak. Johnnie does his best to convince Tyler that what is between them is real, but Tyler isn’t all that sure. When advice and support come from unexpected sources, Tyler begins to realize that maybe he has something to offer after all.
*sigh* Oh, how I loved this story. I’m not a fan of regency-ish type stories—I know, how terrible of me!—but this is sort of an alternate reality/historical/steampunk world that Jet Mykles has built, and I adored it!
OMG! This is almost as bad as being the last one to read Crossing Borders! How have I not have read Jet Mykles Heaven Sent series when I’m such a fan of her writing, not to mention those beautiful P.L. Nunn covers?!?!?! The first book of hers I read was Just for You, and the second I finished, I flipped right back to the beginning and reread it. I think that was the first time I’d ever done that. This is an alternate story of the Heaven Sent characters, and I am crying for the next book already! In the meantime, I really need to get it in gear and read the Heaven Sent series.
DNF
I really liked the original Heaven Sent series, and so I was a little wary about this reimagining. I'd read, on the author's website months ago, that she'd be setting this in what I thought would be Recency England.
What it actually is is a strange cobbled together fantasy romance. I get why writing the setting this way might be preferable, seeing as how sexual relationships between men were illegal then, but I wish Valet was set during the true historic times. It would have been interesting to see how the characters achieved their happily ever after within the confines of history.
I didn't like the strange respellings of days and months; I don't think they were needed and honestly, they pulled me out of the flow of reading at times.
Really though, what caused me to stop reading, was that I couldn't recognize the characters that I'd fallen in love with in Heaven. Where are they? Buried under tons of purple prose, which, to be fair, is in the original series a bit too but I guess I minded it less then.
This book was really, REALLY boring. And I even skimmed bits. I gave up at 70%.
Oh well, I'll give the original novels a reread (and would still recommend them) if I want to revisit the characters. I can't say that I'm not disappointed though.
I really liked the original Heaven Sent series, and so I was a little wary about this reimagining. I'd read, on the author's website months ago, that she'd be setting this in what I thought would be Recency England.
What it actually is is a strange cobbled together fantasy romance. I get why writing the setting this way might be preferable, seeing as how sexual relationships between men were illegal then, but I wish Valet was set during the true historic times. It would have been interesting to see how the characters achieved their happily ever after within the confines of history.
I didn't like the strange respellings of days and months; I don't think they were needed and honestly, they pulled me out of the flow of reading at times.
Really though, what caused me to stop reading, was that I couldn't recognize the characters that I'd fallen in love with in Heaven. Where are they? Buried under tons of purple prose, which, to be fair, is in the original series a bit too but I guess I minded it less then.
This book was really, REALLY boring. And I even skimmed bits. I gave up at 70%.
Oh well, I'll give the original novels a reread (and would still recommend them) if I want to revisit the characters. I can't say that I'm not disappointed though.
Found a very saccharine novel through another place. In short it's a em-ex-em novel. Very saccarije like those necco sugar circles.
Good for a lightheart read with dollops of conflict. Off to read something heavier. Like The Ugly Barnacle.
Good for a lightheart read with dollops of conflict. Off to read something heavier. Like The Ugly Barnacle.