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blodeuedd's review
3.0
This is not some fluffy romance book, but then I knew it would not be. No, it's between historical fiction and romance. It brings more drama and doubt.
Adelaide, oh poor Addy. Her mother has her firmly in her grasp. Sure she is married to a sweet and kind man, and yes she is happy and loves him. But her mother keeps her down, tells her not to be passionate and just makes life dull and miserable. She used to be passionate, but that brought tragedy and a broken heart. And now her former lover comes back into her life.
Tristan was such a nice guy, I mean he was really really really nice, and on top of that he had a mother in law who told him his wife needed rest all the time. He kept up with her cos he loved Addy. Oh yes I loved Tristan.
We then have a book with a heroine that wants to spread her wings but is held back, by a mother and by a husband who loves her (but listens to her mother). A husband who adores his wife and would love for her to show more passion but is afraid to hurt her. And then of course a meddling mother in law, who is not kind.
Doubts, life and the will to truly live or not.
Adelaide, oh poor Addy. Her mother has her firmly in her grasp. Sure she is married to a sweet and kind man, and yes she is happy and loves him. But her mother keeps her down, tells her not to be passionate and just makes life dull and miserable. She used to be passionate, but that brought tragedy and a broken heart. And now her former lover comes back into her life.
Tristan was such a nice guy, I mean he was really really really nice, and on top of that he had a mother in law who told him his wife needed rest all the time. He kept up with her cos he loved Addy. Oh yes I loved Tristan.
We then have a book with a heroine that wants to spread her wings but is held back, by a mother and by a husband who loves her (but listens to her mother). A husband who adores his wife and would love for her to show more passion but is afraid to hurt her. And then of course a meddling mother in law, who is not kind.
Doubts, life and the will to truly live or not.
jamsreadsbooks's review
4.0
✮ Read this review and more like it on The Last Page ✮
Adelaide is a young wife with a past full of scandal who has come to love a husband she was pushed into marrying to save her reputation. While at first she doesn’t care for Tristan, after getting to know the good person and even better husband that he is she falls in love with him. After years of living with guilt over the lies she’s forced to live with and the unsteady beginnings of her marriage, Adelaide’s quiet life is upset when the love of her past reappears. Instead of the expected rekindling of a lost love due to circumstance, the story took an unexpected turn, with Adelaide wanting nothing but to put the past behind her. The Maid of Milan is a story of regret and finding new love in unexpected places.
What I liked was how realistically love is portrayed. There are so many love stories where characters fall in love upon meeting with a fiery passion and continue to forge the relationship despite any of the difficulties that stand in their way. This is the kind of love I think everyone envisions, even though in reality the fire often burns out and couples end up struggling with each other’s imperfections. Adelaide and Tristan’s love for each other was born out of quiet patience and tenderness, getting to know the other person over time as passion grew between them. For Adelaide, true love started off as a compromise but became so much more. As her love grew, so did her guilt over both the past and for not sharing the same admiration at the start of the marriage. She holds her husband in the highest regard and worries about tarnishing his opinion of her.
Real love is complex. Very often, a working relationship requires compromise and learning to love, to respect, and to grow together. Sometimes in relationships you have to put aside your pride in order to make things work, sometimes you have to forgive no matter how much it hurts, and often times you just have to be brave and honest with yourself and your partner. This is the truth of love and marriage.I appreciated how the story attempted to illustrate the difference between two very different kinds of love, and how the slow and difficult kind can still last and become passionate.
What I did find a little hard to believe at times were the timelines and just how convenient certain things were. I noted early on how the first wives of both Tristan and James conveniently died around the same time, and that the timing of James’ freedom from Hortense just happened to be within hours of Adelaide’s marriage. All of these little coincidences of course make every character innocent to circumstances that are out of their control at least in some way. It also seems that everyone has some dirty little secret. Everyone cheats, had cheated, or had a child out of wedlock but it’s okay because everything is justified and it’s not really cheating. That made me roll my eyes just a little.
Adelaide is an intriguing heroine, though at times I did not like how unstable her emotions were, with her thoughts often swinging wildly. Despite how intelligent, beautiful and loyal she is, she was still foolish for most of the book, trying fruitlessly to take control of her life and often just making things worse. For the most part I could sympathize with her and still did in the end, though there was one point where I just got downright mad. She had the opportunity to face her past and reveal the things that she needed to, but instead decided to cower when faced with a way out. Instead she let another person yet again take charge of everything and happily swept troubling matters under the rug. While I get that this is part of the point of her character, that for much of her life she has never been in control and has thus succumbed to a form of learned helplessness, this still bothered me. I suppose though that maybe it’s because this kind of characterization hits close to home. Despite my annoyance with her, Adelaide is a well developed character who, although deeply flawed, has some good points as well.
Many of the antagonists in the story truly are despicable, particularly Mrs. Henley, Adelaide’s mother who is easy to hate. Funny enough though, she is absolutely right in some regards as to the ugly personalities of some of the side characters. One in particular I am still pretty darn mad at for damning so many characters due to their selfishness, even with all of the coincidences and honest feelings on their side as if they are a victim themselves. This character also served as a true lesson as to how blind love can destroy everything, even the person you care about the most despite all the best of intentions.
Overall The Maid of Milan was a pleasurable read. There is a whole lot of drama to keep the story moving fast and tension high as the story progressed. I felt apprehension while reading most of the book and even though I was expecting the eventual climax, the story still managed quite a few surprises. It stands out from other historical romance novels for it’s unique cast of characters whose flaws make them pretty believable.
Disclaimer: Received a copy for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Adelaide is a young wife with a past full of scandal who has come to love a husband she was pushed into marrying to save her reputation. While at first she doesn’t care for Tristan, after getting to know the good person and even better husband that he is she falls in love with him. After years of living with guilt over the lies she’s forced to live with and the unsteady beginnings of her marriage, Adelaide’s quiet life is upset when the love of her past reappears. Instead of the expected rekindling of a lost love due to circumstance, the story took an unexpected turn, with Adelaide wanting nothing but to put the past behind her. The Maid of Milan is a story of regret and finding new love in unexpected places.
What I liked was how realistically love is portrayed. There are so many love stories where characters fall in love upon meeting with a fiery passion and continue to forge the relationship despite any of the difficulties that stand in their way. This is the kind of love I think everyone envisions, even though in reality the fire often burns out and couples end up struggling with each other’s imperfections. Adelaide and Tristan’s love for each other was born out of quiet patience and tenderness, getting to know the other person over time as passion grew between them. For Adelaide, true love started off as a compromise but became so much more. As her love grew, so did her guilt over both the past and for not sharing the same admiration at the start of the marriage. She holds her husband in the highest regard and worries about tarnishing his opinion of her.
Real love is complex. Very often, a working relationship requires compromise and learning to love, to respect, and to grow together. Sometimes in relationships you have to put aside your pride in order to make things work, sometimes you have to forgive no matter how much it hurts, and often times you just have to be brave and honest with yourself and your partner. This is the truth of love and marriage.I appreciated how the story attempted to illustrate the difference between two very different kinds of love, and how the slow and difficult kind can still last and become passionate.
What I did find a little hard to believe at times were the timelines and just how convenient certain things were. I noted early on how the first wives of both Tristan and James conveniently died around the same time, and that the timing of James’ freedom from Hortense just happened to be within hours of Adelaide’s marriage. All of these little coincidences of course make every character innocent to circumstances that are out of their control at least in some way. It also seems that everyone has some dirty little secret. Everyone cheats, had cheated, or had a child out of wedlock but it’s okay because everything is justified and it’s not really cheating. That made me roll my eyes just a little.
Adelaide is an intriguing heroine, though at times I did not like how unstable her emotions were, with her thoughts often swinging wildly. Despite how intelligent, beautiful and loyal she is, she was still foolish for most of the book, trying fruitlessly to take control of her life and often just making things worse. For the most part I could sympathize with her and still did in the end, though there was one point where I just got downright mad. She had the opportunity to face her past and reveal the things that she needed to, but instead decided to cower when faced with a way out. Instead she let another person yet again take charge of everything and happily swept troubling matters under the rug. While I get that this is part of the point of her character, that for much of her life she has never been in control and has thus succumbed to a form of learned helplessness, this still bothered me. I suppose though that maybe it’s because this kind of characterization hits close to home. Despite my annoyance with her, Adelaide is a well developed character who, although deeply flawed, has some good points as well.
Many of the antagonists in the story truly are despicable, particularly Mrs. Henley, Adelaide’s mother who is easy to hate. Funny enough though, she is absolutely right in some regards as to the ugly personalities of some of the side characters. One in particular I am still pretty darn mad at for damning so many characters due to their selfishness, even with all of the coincidences and honest feelings on their side as if they are a victim themselves. This character also served as a true lesson as to how blind love can destroy everything, even the person you care about the most despite all the best of intentions.
Overall The Maid of Milan was a pleasurable read. There is a whole lot of drama to keep the story moving fast and tension high as the story progressed. I felt apprehension while reading most of the book and even though I was expecting the eventual climax, the story still managed quite a few surprises. It stands out from other historical romance novels for it’s unique cast of characters whose flaws make them pretty believable.
Disclaimer: Received a copy for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
emmalg's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is the second Eikli book I have read, her writing and the editing surpasses that of many authors of period romance.
The plot of this story is original, though a few twists are quite predictable, but I'm sorry to say I didn't like it much. It felt too slow, with too much repetition to make it a pleasurable read. There is no humour, and worst of all for me, there were so many hateful characters that I couldn't find what I look for in a period romance. It built up a state of unpleasant unease and dislike in me, I was constantly on edge whilst reading it.
If you like the more serious romances you might enjoy this, but it is definitely not for me, I prefer something a bit more lighthearted.
The plot of this story is original, though a few twists are quite predictable, but I'm sorry to say I didn't like it much. It felt too slow, with too much repetition to make it a pleasurable read. There is no humour, and worst of all for me, there were so many hateful characters that I couldn't find what I look for in a period romance. It built up a state of unpleasant unease and dislike in me, I was constantly on edge whilst reading it.
If you like the more serious romances you might enjoy this, but it is definitely not for me, I prefer something a bit more lighthearted.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Minor: Rape
There is a scene of not entirely consensual sex
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