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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Historical romance is a genre that I always return to when time and sometimes grueling travel schedule doesn't give time for any reading. So even thou the number of books in my TBR list is piling up, I will be reading more in this genre until a more convenient time schedule can be worked out and hence Highland Velvet
Jude Deveraux's books are almost always entertaining and this definitely helped me in my reading slump. Highland Velvet is the story of Stephen Montgomery and Bronwyn MacArran who are forced into marriage by the King. Both characters have their faults but it was Bronwyn who got on my nerves. She's the chief of her clan but whole thru the book she shows her lack of maturity and comes across as childish. The efforts taken by Stephen to understand the ways of the Scots and become one of them is endearing. The struggles and fights between Stephen and Bronwyn and the slow progress from absolute hatred to everlasting love was conveyed beautifully. Even then, the book kind of felt incomplete as even after the final chapter I kept thinking that there was hardly anything in the book at all.
Jude Deveraux's books are almost always entertaining and this definitely helped me in my reading slump. Highland Velvet is the story of Stephen Montgomery and Bronwyn MacArran who are forced into marriage by the King. Both characters have their faults but it was Bronwyn who got on my nerves. She's the chief of her clan but whole thru the book she shows her lack of maturity and comes across as childish. The efforts taken by Stephen to understand the ways of the Scots and become one of them is endearing. The struggles and fights between Stephen and Bronwyn and the slow progress from absolute hatred to everlasting love was conveyed beautifully. Even then, the book kind of felt incomplete as even after the final chapter I kept thinking that there was hardly anything in the book at all.
I remember reading this years ago and am currently re-reading. I love Ms. Deveraux's writing and the strong female characters.
Jude Deveraux is an author I first read many years ago and while some of her books definitely do not age well I do think the Velvet Montgomery Annuals Quadrilogy books do continue to be basically enjoyable to read. I have always enjoyed the interactions her characters have had and the places she sets the story. The plot can be a bit thin but overall I think it's a good beach read.
slow-paced
Forced into marriage to the English nobleman Stephen Montgomery, Scotswoman Brenna MacArran, the leader of her clan, vows to make his life miserable.
While Deveraux's heroes in the Velvet Series had their bad moments, particularly Gavin, and to a lesser extent Miles and Raine, in "Highland Velvet" Stephen Montgomery was the stuff girlish dreams are made of.
Stephen was kind and loving to his sister-in-law, Judith, always taking her side whenever Gavin preferred his evil mistress. He stayed by her bedside during her painful miscarriage and supported her throughout.
When Stephen saw Bronwyn for the first time, he fell instantly in love with her. He worked his butt off to get the approval of the men in Bronwyn's clan and had to fight that creepy Roger Chatworth for her hand in marriage, even though they were already betrothed. Heck, he even changed his last name so that her MacArran family name wouldn't die out. And he was no wussy male, but a deadly soldier willing to work hard and rethink his value system when faced with contradictions.
If anything, Bronwyn was the “bad” one: she stabbed him on their wedding night; she was the one who betrayed Stephen again and again. He deserved a much better heroine.
After over twenty plus years, Stephen Montgomery remains one of my most beloved heroes in romance. He was a real nice guy, the kind of man any woman would be happy to have in real life. I wonder why the terms nice guy and beta male get conflated so often. A man can still be an “alpha,” a leader to his people, but that doesn’t mean he has to be an over-bearing, woman-hating douchebag.
Bronwyn was awful, but her woe-is-me attitude wasn’t enough to overshadow Stephen who was such a great character that he made this book. Another plus were the the wicked antics of Roger Chatworth and the doomed love story of his brother Brian with the Montgomery’s sole sister.
I really loved this one.
5 stars
While Deveraux's heroes in the Velvet Series had their bad moments, particularly Gavin, and to a lesser extent Miles and Raine, in "Highland Velvet" Stephen Montgomery was the stuff girlish dreams are made of.
Stephen was kind and loving to his sister-in-law, Judith, always taking her side whenever Gavin preferred his evil mistress. He stayed by her bedside during her painful miscarriage and supported her throughout.
When Stephen saw Bronwyn for the first time, he fell instantly in love with her. He worked his butt off to get the approval of the men in Bronwyn's clan and had to fight that creepy Roger Chatworth for her hand in marriage, even though they were already betrothed. Heck, he even changed his last name so that her MacArran family name wouldn't die out. And he was no wussy male, but a deadly soldier willing to work hard and rethink his value system when faced with contradictions.
If anything, Bronwyn was the “bad” one: she stabbed him on their wedding night; she was the one who betrayed Stephen again and again. He deserved a much better heroine.
After over twenty plus years, Stephen Montgomery remains one of my most beloved heroes in romance. He was a real nice guy, the kind of man any woman would be happy to have in real life. I wonder why the terms nice guy and beta male get conflated so often. A man can still be an “alpha,” a leader to his people, but that doesn’t mean he has to be an over-bearing, woman-hating douchebag.
Bronwyn was awful, but her woe-is-me attitude wasn’t enough to overshadow Stephen who was such a great character that he made this book. Another plus were the the wicked antics of Roger Chatworth and the doomed love story of his brother Brian with the Montgomery’s sole sister.
I really loved this one.
5 stars
Overall, I liked this one better than the first book: [b:The Velvet Promise|251966|The Velvet Promise|Jude Deveraux|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349064785s/251966.jpg|2419583]. There were times, particularly in the 1st half of the book where I would have liked to have slapped Bronwyn. She was just so immature. She was 'almost twenty' when the book began, but I think this is one of those cases where the author should have made her younger. I'll have to admit to finding it a bit squicky when you have an older hero and someone younger than the modern 'age of consent' in a historical, even though I know it was common practice for women to be wed much younger than that. 18 is considered an adult here in the U.S. and 17-18 tends to be the youngest most HR authors will go. In this case, she should have gone for the 17. It would have made Bronwyn's impulsiveness and know-all attitude more palatable. I didn't tag her as TSTL, even though she did do some things that qualified her for the position. I felt it wasn't fair, because there were areas where she was very capable and intelligent. She just needed to grow up. I also sympathized with the situation she was put in and how difficult it must have been to have all that responsibility and be forced to wed an Englishman when she had every reason to hate/mistrust the English. She does grow up quite a bit over the course of the story though - thank heavens.
Stephen was a very loveable hero and a great guy. At first he was arrogant and stubborn about his English ways, but he also grew and changed over the course of the novel. It was refreshing to see a H take on a new way of life for once. Usually, it's the h who has to do that. But, Stephen also had his stupid moments too. Like the prank he played on his childhood "friend" that got so out of hand. And his jealousy certainly made him act like an ass at times. However, I was glad for the whole prank mess, because it made Stephen seem less perfect and Bronwyn less of a shrew. In other words, neither of them were perfect.
I also liked the emphasis on how little the older Montgomery brothers actually knew/understood about women and the problems that caused. It made sense. Historically speaking, I'm sure men of their station rarely had the friendship type of relationships that help us to understand one another. They were raised doing manly things and women were either subordinates who were there to serve or protected ladies who were kept at a distance from them and only seen formally. Of course they are all expert lovers nonetheless. That I don't buy, but am willing to let that go in the name of romance :)
The villain, Roger Chatworth, was sort of interesting and I'm curious to see how his story will play out in the next 2 novels. He had some redeeming characteristics alongside being a raging SOB. It made him more believable. Very few people are totally good or totally evil. However his actions in the end were horrible. Major spoiler:He got blind drunk and raped Mary Montgomery who he was holding captive along with Bronwyn just to piss off the Montgomerys. She, being practically a nun, and internalizing all the shame (as was appropriate to the time) threw herself out of a window to her death. That was a very tough part to get through. I'm afraid at this point, Roger is going to follow the path of continuing to blame the Montgomerys for all his problems rather than look in a mirror. I don't see him having the courage to truly face what he's done.
Stephen was a very loveable hero and a great guy. At first he was arrogant and stubborn about his English ways, but he also grew and changed over the course of the novel. It was refreshing to see a H take on a new way of life for once. Usually, it's the h who has to do that. But, Stephen also had his stupid moments too. Like the prank he played on his childhood "friend" that got so out of hand. And his jealousy certainly made him act like an ass at times. However, I was glad for the whole prank mess, because it made Stephen seem less perfect and Bronwyn less of a shrew. In other words, neither of them were perfect.
I also liked the emphasis on how little the older Montgomery brothers actually knew/understood about women and the problems that caused. It made sense. Historically speaking, I'm sure men of their station rarely had the friendship type of relationships that help us to understand one another. They were raised doing manly things and women were either subordinates who were there to serve or protected ladies who were kept at a distance from them and only seen formally. Of course they are all expert lovers nonetheless. That I don't buy, but am willing to let that go in the name of romance :)
The villain, Roger Chatworth, was sort of interesting and I'm curious to see how his story will play out in the next 2 novels. He had some redeeming characteristics alongside being a raging SOB. It made him more believable. Very few people are totally good or totally evil. However his actions in the end were horrible. Major spoiler:
Jude Deveraux is an author I first read many years ago and while some of her books definitely do not age well I do think the Velvet Montgomery Annuals Quadrilogy books do continue to be basically enjoyable to read. I have always enjoyed the interactions her characters have had and the places she sets the story. The plot can be a bit thin but overall I think it's a good beach read.
At this point, this book is practically an artifact, a near perfect representation of what was conventional in romance at the time.
This was the book I've liked best of the Montgomery/Taggerts so far, mostly because the hero and heroine weren't so formal and medievally stuffy.
So far every M/T book has featured the following things - marital rape, kidnapping, and out and out sexual assault by a sadistic man. Suffice it to say, this is not a book to read thinking it's ahead of it's publication time.
This was the book I've liked best of the Montgomery/Taggerts so far, mostly because the hero and heroine weren't so formal and medievally stuffy.
So far every M/T book has featured the following things - marital rape, kidnapping, and out and out sexual assault by a sadistic man. Suffice it to say, this is not a book to read thinking it's ahead of it's publication time.