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A review by bookcrushers
The Velvet Promise by Jude Deveraux
4.0
********** 4 Stars **********
First, a little background: I read this book back in high school and loved it to fervent death. It was my first experience with a proper romance (other than Harlequin Presents) and I fell in love with this epic tale involving knights and ladies and all sorts of sprawling medieval goodness. I was in heaven. Jude Deveraux became my hero and I declared romance my favourite genre. I pulled out pencil and paper and began to write my very first novel (which sucked of course) and declared I wanted to be a romance author just like Jude when I grew up.
Fast forward to present day, many years later. My girl Feifei and I are hanging on GR talking about A Knight In Shining Armor by this same author, and we realize we'd love to BR the Velvet saga. Will it live up to the love we both professed for it?
And the verdict is:
Yes.... and no. LOL. I Know Feifei nearly hated it this time around and I totally get why. I didn't hate it as much but this wasn't the perfect read I remembered from back then. Gavin, who I used to declare as my favourite out of the four Montgomery brothers, stood out stark and clear this time around for being a total scumbag douchecanoe. What clearly impressed my young 15 year old, 90's self, today felt annoying and horrifying at the very least. This dude, for all his sexy, hot, knight self never truly redeemed himself after the despicable way he treated Judith, the heroine. Enter Ye ol' Gavin Montgomery rant fest ahead, come all ye! (tagged with Spoiler tags for the Super Spoilery Spoils within):
But let's just stop there, because it's hard not to slag off Gavin without giving away the whole damn story. The point is, I doubt there will be many readers who will consider this hero swoon worthy and will not end up wanting to cut up his nuts, fry them in butter and serve them to him on a platter.
Don't get me wrong, this book is still good as far as well written, well paced epic historical medieval romances go. If you like high drama and a flair of soap opera with your romances, this will be a hit. Gavin may be hard to take, but Judith Revedoune, the heroine is mostly a delight to read about (if a bit Mary Sue-ish by the end). Truth is I couldn't put this down and the premise itself intrigued the hell out of me. The ending though, left much to be desired. Seriously, too much drama for it to end in the literary equivalent of a deflating balloon.
The other Montgomery brothers are delicious and I cannot wait to read their story.
Thank you, Feifei!! xoxoxo... unearthing and rereading these classic romances is fun as hell. On to Stephen! *crosses fingers*
Buddy Read 23/06/14 with the awesome Lady Vigilante (Feifei). Can't wait!!
First, a little background: I read this book back in high school and loved it to fervent death. It was my first experience with a proper romance (other than Harlequin Presents) and I fell in love with this epic tale involving knights and ladies and all sorts of sprawling medieval goodness. I was in heaven. Jude Deveraux became my hero and I declared romance my favourite genre. I pulled out pencil and paper and began to write my very first novel (which sucked of course) and declared I wanted to be a romance author just like Jude when I grew up.
Fast forward to present day, many years later. My girl Feifei and I are hanging on GR talking about A Knight In Shining Armor by this same author, and we realize we'd love to BR the Velvet saga. Will it live up to the love we both professed for it?
And the verdict is:
Yes.... and no. LOL. I Know Feifei nearly hated it this time around and I totally get why. I didn't hate it as much but this wasn't the perfect read I remembered from back then. Gavin, who I used to declare as my favourite out of the four Montgomery brothers, stood out stark and clear this time around for being a total scumbag douchecanoe. What clearly impressed my young 15 year old, 90's self, today felt annoying and horrifying at the very least. This dude, for all his sexy, hot, knight self never truly redeemed himself after the despicable way he treated Judith, the heroine. Enter Ye ol' Gavin Montgomery rant fest ahead, come all ye! (tagged with Spoiler tags for the Super Spoilery Spoils within):
Spoiler
He beats her and rapes her during her wedding night, he constantly utters sexist slurs at her, acting like an oaf and a bully asshat, he constantly defends his beautiful, innocent ex-mistress Alice, who he never really saw for the awful bitch she was until the very end, even after she tricked Judith into catching her in bed with his too-drunk ass and causing her to nearly break her neck by falling down some stairs and losing her baby. Did he cut her a new one? You'd think he would right? After all, what that bitch did was heinous and murderous, but no, it took the idiot a while to realize the extent of her evil, and even then... let her go easy, thus precipitating a final bit of drama where she kidnapped and nearly disfigured Judith. To all that I say:But let's just stop there, because it's hard not to slag off Gavin without giving away the whole damn story. The point is, I doubt there will be many readers who will consider this hero swoon worthy and will not end up wanting to cut up his nuts, fry them in butter and serve them to him on a platter.
Don't get me wrong, this book is still good as far as well written, well paced epic historical medieval romances go. If you like high drama and a flair of soap opera with your romances, this will be a hit. Gavin may be hard to take, but Judith Revedoune, the heroine is mostly a delight to read about (if a bit Mary Sue-ish by the end). Truth is I couldn't put this down and the premise itself intrigued the hell out of me. The ending though, left much to be desired. Seriously, too much drama for it to end in the literary equivalent of a deflating balloon.
The other Montgomery brothers are delicious and I cannot wait to read their story.
Thank you, Feifei!! xoxoxo... unearthing and rereading these classic romances is fun as hell. On to Stephen! *crosses fingers*
Buddy Read 23/06/14 with the awesome Lady Vigilante (Feifei). Can't wait!!