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willbefunorelse's review against another edition
4.0
If you like stories about love and people finding themselves and also Africa, you would probably really like this book.
For the full review - including an acknowledgement that I do, in fact, experience emotions sometimes - follow the link to That's What She Read.
For the full review - including an acknowledgement that I do, in fact, experience emotions sometimes - follow the link to That's What She Read.
amym84's review against another edition
4.0
Wild child Delilah Drummond has been the subject of one too many controversies over the years. After the death of her current husband, her family bands together to force her to go to Africa to her stepfather's estate to wait until the scandal dies down. She takes her cousin Dora with her and when they arrive they find the house in shambles. Delilah isn't really sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't fixing up a house and doctoring the native tribes in the area. And it definitely wasn't meeting Ryder White a local guide.
I've read most of the Julia Grey series and I like it a lot. When I heard that she was writing this standalone book, I was skeptical. I needn't have worried. The book doesn't take long to get into, and I found myself not wanting it to end. The imagery Deanna Raybourn conjures up of Africa in the 20's was absolutely beautiful. Really made me wish I could have experienced something like this.
Delilah for all her faults, is a good character. I like seeing her on the edge of giviing up and slowly coming back from that edge. Gaining new perspective and life. Thought of as a wild child, Delilah hid herself behind all the wild partying and men because of past hurts. In Africa she discovers you have to put it away. Acknowledge it and put it away because if you lose focus in the wild you can die.
Ryder, too, was a good counterpart to Delilah. Both wounded and neither wanting to open the door of permanence. Somehow, they just fit together.
The main character, however, is Africa, as I said before I can't even tell you how well I thought Deanna Raybourn described the land and animals and natives.
I hope that maybe Raybourn will revisit these characters again, maybe in a short story or ebook. I would love to hear what they've been up to.
I've read most of the Julia Grey series and I like it a lot. When I heard that she was writing this standalone book, I was skeptical. I needn't have worried. The book doesn't take long to get into, and I found myself not wanting it to end. The imagery Deanna Raybourn conjures up of Africa in the 20's was absolutely beautiful. Really made me wish I could have experienced something like this.
Delilah for all her faults, is a good character. I like seeing her on the edge of giviing up and slowly coming back from that edge. Gaining new perspective and life. Thought of as a wild child, Delilah hid herself behind all the wild partying and men because of past hurts. In Africa she discovers you have to put it away. Acknowledge it and put it away because if you lose focus in the wild you can die.
Ryder, too, was a good counterpart to Delilah. Both wounded and neither wanting to open the door of permanence. Somehow, they just fit together.
The main character, however, is Africa, as I said before I can't even tell you how well I thought Deanna Raybourn described the land and animals and natives.
I hope that maybe Raybourn will revisit these characters again, maybe in a short story or ebook. I would love to hear what they've been up to.
soniapage's review against another edition
2.0
The writing is fresh, smart, and funny (three stars) but the overly-explicit and sometimes violent sex scenes (including that of the lions) detracts from the book (one star). Didn't realize that was what passes for romance these days. I liked the Lady Julia series and was surprised that the author writes this type of stuff. I love reading about Africa but the whole thing seemed so familiar, probably because I've read accounts of this Nairobi crowd in the books by Karen Blixen and Elspeth Huxley. It sounded like this would be a good series but the main character, Delilah, is not very likeable. I quickly became bored with her self-destructive behavior and her poor-relation treatment of her cousin, Dora. I did like her friendship with Gideon and Moses, but the cat-and-mouse romance between her and Ryder was predictable.
Favorite character - the monkey!
Favorite character - the monkey!
jwoodsum's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful setting in 1920s Kenya - main character is a flapper with a bad reputation. She is sent to Africa to avoid the scandals she has created through England and France. Great characterization.
mamap's review against another edition
4.0
PG-13 with some "smut." I liked that the character wasn't always completely lovable, but you learn to care for her as she learns to care for those around her. A classic tale that is NOT clean.
onespaceymother's review against another edition
3.0
This was a beautifully written book packed full of great one liners and quotable moments. The characters are fun but all are a bit one note or exaggerated to fill a specific stereotype. The key relationship in the story seems entirely built on lust and then suddenly becomes a deep emotional bond, which felt a bit rushed, and near the end I wasn't convinced he really would've taken risks like that for her. Fun read regardless!
heidenkind's review against another edition
In tone and the ballsiness of the main character, this book reminded me of something by Barbara Michaels. Which is a really good thing! But about 20% through I started to wonder if this novel had a plot, and I'm still wondering. Also, even though that pirate guy is marginally interesting on his own in an obviously-modeled-after-Michael-Douglas-in-Romancing-the-Stone sort of way, I didn't feel like there was any chemistry between him and the main character.
Basically not a lot going on to keep my interest in this one. Not that there weren't things happening, it's just that all the things seemed pointless. This book needed a MacGuffin or something.
Basically not a lot going on to keep my interest in this one. Not that there weren't things happening, it's just that all the things seemed pointless. This book needed a MacGuffin or something.
lisawreading's review against another edition
4.0
A Spear of Summer Grass opens in Paris, 1923, with a young woman in a great deal of trouble. Delilah Drummond thrives on scandal. The quintessential flapper, she’s the life of the party, basking in male attention, always the center of the action, never known to turn down a drink, a cigarette, or a lover. But when the latest uproar refuses to die down and Delilah’s escapades threaten to embarrass not just her hard-partying mother but her moneybags grandfather, drastic action is needed, and Delilah is packed off to her stepfather’s Kenyan estate to cool her heels and wait for the media vultures to move on to the new scandal du jour.
Delilah is not one to go quietly — anywhere — and as she settles into life in Africa, she makes waves among the colonial government officials as well as among the upper class white settlers in her social mix. Yet at the same time, Delilah is charmed by the wildness and danger of her African surroundings and throws herself into the responsibilities of being mistress of an estate, treating the Kikuyu and Masai tribespeople with friendship and dignity.
Not that Delilah has abandoned her wild ways. She attracts the eyes of every adult male in the vicinity, and proceeds to wrap each and every one around her little finger, keeping them as objects of flirtation and sometimes more, but never letting anyone close enough to actually touch her heart. Only one man, enigmatic hunter Ryder White, seems immune to her wiles, and it’s this man who both captivates Delilah and is perhaps an equal for her strong-willed nature.
Delilah and Ryder have a bit of a Scarlett and Rhett vibe going for them. She’s used to being the belle of the ball, accustomed to having every man fall all over her to please and pamper her, hoping for just a bit of her attention and favor. Ryder is somewhat of a scoundrel; he’s respectable enough, but he goes his own way, society’s opinion be damned. They attract, repel, and frustrate each other. The physical attraction is certainly strong, and Ryder is perhaps the one man who can hold his own against Delilah. The outcome of the will-they, won’t-they dynamic is never really in question — it’s clear that these two are made for one another — but the getting there is tumultuous, to say the least.
There’s a lot to really like about A Spear of Summer Grass. The African landscapes and wildlife are described in lush detail. You can practically hear the wind through the savannah and smell the wildness in the air. It’s easy to see how the various characters, often against their will, get caught up in their lives in Kenya and can’t pull themselves away. I enjoyed Delilah’s transformation from spoiled party princess to something more, a woman of character. Delilah’s past is hinted at from the start, but over the course of the book we come to understand the suffering she endured as a result of world war, the losses that caused her to wall off her heart from any hint of vulnerability, and the slow evolution she undergoes as she starts, finally, to live and feel once again.
Ryder is, of course, a typical manly man with a heart of gold, quick to punish wrongdoers but dedicated to protecting the weak, whether people or animals, and righting wrongs wherever he sees them. Of course, he’s incredibly handsome in a rugged, Indiana Jones-ish way, and that doesn’t hurt in the least.
The author does a skillful job of portraying the flavor of expatriate life in colonial Kenya, showcasing the decadent lifestyle of the rich, white settlers, their loose morality, and their unwise indifference to the non-white majority of the country. The scandals, gossip, drinking, and sexual looseness all work perfectly to create a sense of a society adrift and out of touch with the world around them. Visually, there are some remarkable small moments, such as Delilah’s fine silks and delicate shoes falling victim to the blood and dust of Africa — details that convey deliciously the feeling of life lived on the edge of the wild.
What worked less well for me was the inevitability of the romance between Delilah and Ryder. The battle of wills notwithstanding, it’s obvious from the start that Delilah and Ryder are going to end up together, and there was nothing about their developing relationship that didn’t feel like something I’ve seen before. In fact — although this might be contrary to how these things usually go in popular fiction — I think A Spear of Summer Grass might have been a stronger story without the romantic subplot. In and of herself, Delilah is an interesting, strong-willed, trouble-making heroine, and I would have been perfectly content reading a novel that focused on her personal journey without the complication of her lovers and admirers.
That said, I did absolutely enjoy reading A Spear of Summer Grass, so much so that I stayed up past midnight to finish it and had dreams full of safaris and African skies. After finishing this book, I discovered that the author has also published a prequel, Far in the Wilds, as an ebook, and yes, of course I’m going to read it!
Review copy courtesy of Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley.
Delilah is not one to go quietly — anywhere — and as she settles into life in Africa, she makes waves among the colonial government officials as well as among the upper class white settlers in her social mix. Yet at the same time, Delilah is charmed by the wildness and danger of her African surroundings and throws herself into the responsibilities of being mistress of an estate, treating the Kikuyu and Masai tribespeople with friendship and dignity.
Not that Delilah has abandoned her wild ways. She attracts the eyes of every adult male in the vicinity, and proceeds to wrap each and every one around her little finger, keeping them as objects of flirtation and sometimes more, but never letting anyone close enough to actually touch her heart. Only one man, enigmatic hunter Ryder White, seems immune to her wiles, and it’s this man who both captivates Delilah and is perhaps an equal for her strong-willed nature.
Delilah and Ryder have a bit of a Scarlett and Rhett vibe going for them. She’s used to being the belle of the ball, accustomed to having every man fall all over her to please and pamper her, hoping for just a bit of her attention and favor. Ryder is somewhat of a scoundrel; he’s respectable enough, but he goes his own way, society’s opinion be damned. They attract, repel, and frustrate each other. The physical attraction is certainly strong, and Ryder is perhaps the one man who can hold his own against Delilah. The outcome of the will-they, won’t-they dynamic is never really in question — it’s clear that these two are made for one another — but the getting there is tumultuous, to say the least.
There’s a lot to really like about A Spear of Summer Grass. The African landscapes and wildlife are described in lush detail. You can practically hear the wind through the savannah and smell the wildness in the air. It’s easy to see how the various characters, often against their will, get caught up in their lives in Kenya and can’t pull themselves away. I enjoyed Delilah’s transformation from spoiled party princess to something more, a woman of character. Delilah’s past is hinted at from the start, but over the course of the book we come to understand the suffering she endured as a result of world war, the losses that caused her to wall off her heart from any hint of vulnerability, and the slow evolution she undergoes as she starts, finally, to live and feel once again.
Ryder is, of course, a typical manly man with a heart of gold, quick to punish wrongdoers but dedicated to protecting the weak, whether people or animals, and righting wrongs wherever he sees them. Of course, he’s incredibly handsome in a rugged, Indiana Jones-ish way, and that doesn’t hurt in the least.
The author does a skillful job of portraying the flavor of expatriate life in colonial Kenya, showcasing the decadent lifestyle of the rich, white settlers, their loose morality, and their unwise indifference to the non-white majority of the country. The scandals, gossip, drinking, and sexual looseness all work perfectly to create a sense of a society adrift and out of touch with the world around them. Visually, there are some remarkable small moments, such as Delilah’s fine silks and delicate shoes falling victim to the blood and dust of Africa — details that convey deliciously the feeling of life lived on the edge of the wild.
What worked less well for me was the inevitability of the romance between Delilah and Ryder. The battle of wills notwithstanding, it’s obvious from the start that Delilah and Ryder are going to end up together, and there was nothing about their developing relationship that didn’t feel like something I’ve seen before. In fact — although this might be contrary to how these things usually go in popular fiction — I think A Spear of Summer Grass might have been a stronger story without the romantic subplot. In and of herself, Delilah is an interesting, strong-willed, trouble-making heroine, and I would have been perfectly content reading a novel that focused on her personal journey without the complication of her lovers and admirers.
That said, I did absolutely enjoy reading A Spear of Summer Grass, so much so that I stayed up past midnight to finish it and had dreams full of safaris and African skies. After finishing this book, I discovered that the author has also published a prequel, Far in the Wilds, as an ebook, and yes, of course I’m going to read it!
Review copy courtesy of Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley.