AUTHOR CONNIE MASON ON 48 HOURS, 1995

I learned on Connie's website that she was featured in a short segment on the news program 48 Hours in 1995. The episode's called Isn't It Romantic? and her segement's called Foreign Affair. See it below.

A COUNTERFEIT BETROTHAL by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet 6/1992
REISSUE: Dell, 4/2013
GENRE: Historical Romance
MY GRADE: F

SYNOPSIS: Lady Sophia Bryant had no intention of ever marrying. However, her own parents had been estranged for some fourteen years, and her one desire was to bring them together again in love. Surely, if she were to announce her betrothal—even a false one—they would be forced to see each other at last.

Lord Francis Sutton was perfect for such deceit. Devilishly handsome and a notorious rake, he was always agreeable to games of passion, especially those in which he had nothing to fear and nothing to lose. The trap was set...if only Lady Sophia could keep her foolish heart from falling prey to her brilliant snares...

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: This was awful. Sophia is an 18-year-old who comes up with an ignorant plan to get her parents back together. She goes through with very expensive wedding  preparations for herself and 21-year-old Francis, inconveniencing many guests who have to travel to her parents estate for the wedding, all unknowing the wedding is to be called off last minute. She claims she never even thought about all that. That just shows how self-centered she is. We know nothing of her life before the story begins. Francis goes along with her plan, revealing at the end that he does in fact want to marry her and has from the start. They've been friends most, if not all, of their lives yet we're to believe that out of nowhere he wants to marry her? I never got the impression that they were close friends or were in each other's lives that much.

Sophia's mother, Olivia, is 36. She and Sophia's father, 40-year-old Marcus, have lead separate lives for the past 14 years, since he cheated on her with a prostitute while drunk. They're both alright characters. What really brings them back together is a damn baby. She doesn't tell him she's pregnant until two weeks before she gives birth and has the gall to get angry at him for not being around. That scene was stupid because Olivia's behavior and dialogue was very out of character for her. 

I didn't like the dueling plotlines at all but Sophia's parents story was much more interesting than her own. The author told us probably five times how old Olivia was and Francis kept making jokes about Sophia needing to go to Bedlam, the insane asylum, and it got old fast. Luckily for me this novel was only 260 pages.

THE PIRATE AND THE PAGAN by Virginia Henley

PUBLISHER: Dell, 11/1990
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England and the sea, 1660s
BODICE RIPPER? Yes

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Wild as a pagan goddess, Lady Summer galloped her stallion along the Cornish coast. She had dabbled in the smuggler's game to save her family estate, but a wealthy marriage would better serve her purpose now. Lord Ruark Helford seemed the answer to her reckless prayers. But as his hot, hungry kisses drew her toward deception and irresistible acts of love, she had to hesitate. Would this arrogant, handsome lord be her ticket to heaven--or hell?

MY THOUGHTS: I really liked this. Summer's a hazel-eyed 17-year-old spitfire. She has a brother, Spencer, who's three years younger. They're dirt poor and are about to lose their home. They smuggle to stay alive and she's a highwayman sometimes. They've only got one relative, aunt Lil, their father's sister. I wish she had played a larger roll. She's not a bad character at all but I could see her doing bad deeds. 

Ruark's age isn't given. He's a pirate so I'm assuming he's much older than she. She needs his money to save their home, Roseland, and they marry too fast without his knowledge of why she's truly marrying him. He smacks her on three different occasions (chapter 21, 33, 39) and rapes her once. Despite that, I like him. He has a younger brother, Rory, and there's a love triangle between all of them. That, I like and it added depth to the plot. There's a major twist involving that that I didn't like at all.

The only negatives are that the story was too long and there were too many explicit sex scenes.

WHISPER TO ME OF LOVE by Shirlee Busbee

PUBLISHER: Avon, 4/1991
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1815

STEPBACK: link
MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: She was a raven-haired waif from the streets of London-- a wild innocent to be rescued... and tamed. A spirited beauty, she would captivate Royce Manchester's jaded heart-- while resisting the smoldering desire she felt for her virile protector.

In Royce's glittering world of money and privilege, young Morgana discovered the shocking secret of her true identity-- entangling the wealthy American planter in a deadly skein of aristocratic family intrigue. But grave peril would only feed the flames of a love that knew no bounds... and a glorious rapture that would not be denied.

MY THOUGHTS: I couldn't gauge the timespan on this but it felt very short, maybe a couple months and takes place in England. Like a lot of historical romances, this had a mystery running throughout that I thoroughly enjoyed. Shirlee created a few evil villains that were introduced in the prologue so that hooked me from the start.

Morgana is 19 and goes by the name 'Pip.' She had black curly hair and gray eyes. She's dirt-poor and lives with her two older brothers, Jacko and Ben. She dresses like a boy and is a pickpocket like her brothers. It's what they do to get by in life. She stands up to Royce and I really like her. 

Royce is a 33-year-old American. He's 6'3" with tawny hair and topaz eyes. He first meets Morgana when she attempts to steal from him. She ends up staying at his house when he learns she's female and what her living situation is like. They don't get along and bicker, which I like. Some of Royce's terms of endearment for her are, greedy little strumpet, scheming baggage, delectable little slut, conniving little slut, conniving little bitch, wretched grasping little hussy, grasping little harlot. Of course she's none of those things. We weren't really given any background on him, which was disappointing.

A servant helps Royce uncover the mystery of Morgana's parentage, which she doesn't even know isn't what is seems. This part of the plot involves three villains, two of which are working together, and I like all three. The mystery is essentially what keeps the story moving. I never guessed who the "one-eyed man" was and don't see how anyone could have.

Dominic Slade, from the previous book in this series, Midnight Masquerade, is in this one briefly, along with his wife Melissa. I haven't read it so I don't know if Royce is in it but I assume he is. Melissa is the sister of Royce's twenty-year-old cousin Zachary, who's in this book but he doesn't serve much purpose.

LORD CAREW'S BRIDE by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet, 6/1995

REISSUED: Bantam, 2/2010

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England

MY GRADE: A

SYNOPSIS: Jennifer's cousin Samantha Newman is smarting after she too is toyed with by Lord Kersey. In the midst of her heartbreak, she seeks solace from her new friend, the disabled gardener Hartley Wade. If only she knew that Hartley is secretly Lord Carew, and that he hides more than extraordinary wealth: a passionate secret held deep in his heart that only her love can reveal.

MY THOUGHTS: This was very enjoyable right from the start. Hero and heroine meet just eight pages into the story, and it's less than 300 pages. The story takes place six years after Dark Angel, where we first met eighteen-year-old Samantha. She's twenty-four now and less than a year away from inheriting a fortune from her late parents. 

Samantha had her heart broke in the previous novel and that's turned her against falling in love and getting married. She meets Hartley by chance and they become fast friends. She's not attracted to him in a romantic way but he falls in love with her right away.  

Hartley seems slightly depressed. He's your typical nice guy without a bad bone in his body. He even cries a few times. He isn't happy about being single and is very sad when Samantha has to go back to London just a few days after meeting her, so he follows her there in hopes of catching a few glimpses of her without her knowing about it. She's genuinely happy to see him again and agrees to marry him though she's not in love with him. That part was a little too sudden to suit me. At this point she still doesn't know who he really is. She's actually horrified to know he's in love with her. She thinks that the relationship can only go downhill from there if you start out being in love with your spouse. 

Lionel, from Dark Angel, is back from abroad and he's here to stir up drama. A sad secret is revealed about him being involved with Hartley's childhood injury that caused him to become crippled. 

Sir Albert Boyle and Rosalie from Dark Angel are in here. They've been married for six years and have three children.

Jennifer and Gabriel from Dark Angel are in here and have three children.

There's nothing I disliked about this story. I like that Hartley has emotions and though I do prefer alpha males in fiction, I did enjoy reading about the opposite. He's very mild-mannered but we do see him get angry/jealous when he finds out about Samantha's past love interest. 

DARK ANGEL by Mary Balogh

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION: Signet, 8/1994 

REISSUE: Bantam, 2/2010 

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England

MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Jennifer Winwood has been engaged for five years to a man she hardly knows but believes to be honorable and good: Lord Lionel Kersey. Suddenly, she becomes the quarry of London's most notorious womanizer, Gabriel Fisher, the Earl of Thornhill. Jennifer has no idea that she is just a pawn in the long-simmering feud between these two headstrong, irresistible men—or that she will become a prize more valuable than revenge.

MY THOUGHTS: This was better than anticipated but still lacking in the believable love department. Jennifer is your typical easygoing person who's just anxious to get married and start a new life. She's days away from marrying Lionel, whom she barely knows yet is "so very, very dearly" in love with. He's twenty-five and she's twenty. He's got some secrets that get revealed to her at the very end. He was forced by his father into doing the right thing so he makes some confessions. 

Gabriel is twenty-six, and "very dark and very tall." He's become an outcast since everyone in town thinks he's guilty of something that he's really innocent of. He also knows of Lionel's secrets and wants revenge against him so Jennifer is used as a pawn in his game. It backfires. Two people who aren't in love with each other are forced to marry and of course they fall in love with one another in the course of a few days. The span of the story is just a couple weeks. The novel is shorter in length, 300 pages, but there wasn't really a need to condense the timeline within the story. I don't know why Jennifer and Gabriel couldn't have known each other for a few months, at least. So I wasn't happy with that. Another thing that bothered me is that the majority of the story takes place at a couple different parties. 

Jennifer's eighteen-year-old cousin Samantha is in this story almost as much as Jennifer is and I don't like that. Samantha's the star of her own novel, Lord Carew's Bride, so some of her should have been saved for that book. I do like that she's fallen in love with someone she shouldn't have.

I don't understand the title of Dark Angel. I assume it's referring to Jennifer but she's not dark in personality or coloring. The year this takes place wasn't given either, so it's somewhere during the Regency period of 1811-1820.

There's an update on Gabriel and Jennifer in the sequel of sorts, Lord Carew's Bride.

 

DREAMING OF YOU by Lisa Kleypas

PUBLISHER: Avon, 1994

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England

MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: In the shelter of her country cottage, Sara Fielding puts pen to paper to create dreams. But curiosity has enticed the prim, well-bred gentlewoman out of her safe haven—and into Derek Craven's dangerous world. 

A handsome, tough and tenacious Cockney, he rose from, poverty to become lord of London's most exclusive gambling house—a struggle that has left Derek Craven fabulously wealthy, but hardened and suspicious. And now duty demands he allow Sara Fielding into his world—with her impeccable manners and her infuriating innocence. But here, in a perilous shadow-realm of ever-shifting fortunes, even a proper "mouse" can be transformed into a breathtaking enchantress—and a world-weary gambler can be shaken to his cynical core by the power of passion... and the promise of love.

MY THOUGHTS: I don't have much to say about Sara. She's not your typical heroine because she's cavorting behind her boyfriend's back with Derek. She's a twenty-five-year-old author who writes under a pseudonym yet a little boy in her neighborhood asks her how her next book is coming along. Not sure how he knows who she is since the book uses a pen name.

I like Derek even though he has no scruples to speak of. He's around thirty but doesn't know his exact age, which is ridiculous. He was raised by prostitutes and they certainly would have know when or around the year he was born. He's written just like a character from the time this book was published, 1994, or one published earlier, and I do like that a lot. He's gruff. I like learning about his tough background and knowing about all the horrible things he had to do as a child to make money. I want to say I'm glad he got rich and did something with his life but some of the things he did to get said money makes me cringe. 

His ex-mistress Joyce is a villain. I liked her terrible actions but not how she went about them. If you're going to harm someone or try to get revenge like she did quite a few times, including setting someone up to get raped, aren't you going to try hard to keep people from finding out you're behind it? Most would but not her. There's a scene (chapter 8) where Derek does something to her that's quite disturbing. I don't like at all how she was dealt with at the end after a major incident.

There's one ridiculous thing that runs throughout the entire story. Somehow everyone at Craven's just happens to have read a book of Sara's or had it read to them, and they think the fictional character Mathilda is real despite being told by Sara that she's fake. Many people claim to have seen her around town. It was funny the first time someone said it, the poor thing didn't understand what fiction meant, apparently, but the repeated spotting of Mathilda went on for far too long. One other thing that bothers me is that right at the beginning, Sara shoots and kills someone in defense of someone else, and it's basically swept under the rug. In real life the shooter would have to deal with it emotionally but Sara didn't deal with it at all.

I don't know what year this takes place nor the timespan but it seems like maybe a couple months, then the epilogue is around close to a year later. The story was just alright with almost all of it taking place at Derek's establishment, a brothel and gaming house called Craven's. It should have ended right after Derek and Sara got married since it dragged a lot after that. Too much talk of domestic things and clothes. I cannot put my finger on why I feel this way but I just don't think Derek and Sara make a good match.

This is my sixth Kleypas book and the fifth to get no higher than a C-grade. I had to abandon reading Midnight Angel in 2019 at around page 125 because it was so boring. The only one I've liked is Where Passion Leads.

LORD DEVERILL'S HEIR and THE HEIR by Catherine Coulter

PUBLISHER: Topaz, 10/1996

ORIGINAL PUB: 1980

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England, 1810

STEPBACK: link

RAPE? Yes

MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Justin Deverill is a military man strong, shrewd, stubborn, and very handsome who has just become the Earl of Strafford. He must wed his cousin Arabella, though, to reap the full legacy of his title. But faced with an order from her father s will to marry Justin, Arabella rebels. Since her father is dead, the only available target is Justin himself. Arabella has finally met her match and the pair sets off fireworks both in their anger and their passion.

The Heir is a reworked and expanded edition of the author's 1980 Signet Regency Romance novel Lord Deverill's Heir. The Heir is 156 pages longer than the original. The Signet Regency Romance series ran from 1979-2006. The novels are shorter in length, under 300 pages. 

MY THOUGHTS: Timespan is short, maybe a month. Rape, incest, a villain, oh my!

I really like Arabella. She's eighteen. She's a very strong character. She hates Justin with a passion, is very angry and hostile towards him thinking he's out to get her inheritance. When she realizes he's not, her attitude changes completely, which I didn't like. It's like a switch was flipped and she became someone else. It should have taken some time for the change to happen.

Justin is nine years older than Isabella. He's a very distant cousin and they look very similar. I dislike that. They have the same black hair and gray eyes though she doesn't have a cleft in her chin like he does. He looks like he could be her brother. He thinks she's done him wrong before they wed so he rapes her on their wedding night (p. 72 in original, p. 133 in rewrite) but doesn't see it as rape because he "used cream." It's clearly rape, which he realizes at the end of the story and all is forgiven. 

I'm happy to say there's a villain in this, twenty-four-year-old Gervaise de Trecassis, cousin to Arabella's half sister, Elsbeth, who's twenty. He's out to get a certain something that's revealed near the end. Also revealed is a family secret involving him, which devastates him.

There are a few typos in this and two of these three sentences don't make sense, from page 141, "Arabella rather hoped that he would rot, in addition to hell. He deserved to rot. He deserved every bad thing that could happen to him did happen."

Some things I didn't like, I just didn't see the need for Arabella's mother, Ann, to be so involved, and her doctor beau, Paul Braynon. There was also another pointless character, Suzanne Talgarth. A paternity secret was discovered near the end too and how they figured out what was going on with that isn't really believable, just based on what was written in a note.

I don't like the stepback for this either because Arabella looks at least ten years older than she is and the larger photo of them looks nothing like the smaller background image of them. Justin has a cleft in his chin but not in the photo.
 

About the 1996 rewritten version- Every chapter is longer and some dialogue has been reworded or expanded. The rape and incest is still in it, incest is p. 97 of original version, p. 178 in rewrite. One difference in the rape scene in the rewrite is that Justin uses lube ("cream".) In the original version the American author chose to use British spellings for certain words (color/colour, labor/labour, just two examples) but in the rewrite they're spelled the American way. In both versions Justin admits to raping Arabella (from original, page 208, "Yet, when I raped you, I felt loathing for myself.", from rewrite, page 358, "He saw Arabella on their wedding night, her face alight with anticipation until she had recognized his rage, until he had forced her, humiliated her."

 

IN YOUR ARMS by Rosemary Rogers

PUBLISHER: Avon, 12/1999

GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance

SETTING: England/USA, 1808-1814

MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: Orphaned by a tragic accident, sixteen-year-old Amalie Courtland set sail from America for a new life in England with her godmother. What she didn't expect to find was Lady Winford's handsome rogue of a grandson, Robert Holt Braxton, Earl of Deverell. Immediately smitten by Holt's careless good looks and smoldering blue eyes, Amalie's naive young heart fell in love. Little did she know Holt was trying to resist his own temptation --- by having his grandmother take Amalie away.

Years later, Holt is shocked by the change in the one-provincial Amalie. The tawny-skinned enchantress with raven hair and lustrous green eyes has become a cool, composed beauty. Soon Amalie is lost in the arms of this experienced rake as they succumb to the tempestuous passion of their hearts and bodies. Then, when Holt learns of her brother's plot to destroy his business holdings, he suspects Amalie has betrayed him and he vows revenge. But not even he can deny the all-consuming storm of desire that threatens to drown them both ...

MY THOUGHTS:  Amalie is pretty passive and I don't like that in a heroine. She is able to stand up to the hero, Robert, aka "Holt", (his middle name.) She's aged 17-23 in here, not sixteen at the beginning like the synopsis says. She has dark hair and green eyes and is tall. Her brother Christian, aka "Kit" is two years older. SPOILER>>>He disappears for most of the story then reappears in the last part, but you can see that coming. He's taken to a life of crime as a pirate.

Holt is eleven years older than Amalie. He has dark hair, blue eyes, and dark skin. He's cold and angry towards her for no reason. He cares nothing at all for her throughout the whole book. He wants revenge on her because he assumes she's involved in something bad against him when there was no reason to think that. She hadn't done anything to him, ever, that would make him think she's that kind of person. Their love for each other came out of nowhere at the very end of the story and we're supposed to believe it. I don't. We saw no signs that they were falling for each other. We're just told that they're in love. He's also verbally abusive towards her, calling her a bitch and slut.

As I always say, I love a villain and there was one in here by the name of Alex. We didn't get to see the bad side of him until the last 100 pages. He's after revenge on Holt.

This story was pretty uneventful after Amalie sailed from Virginia to England, which happened early on, about page 53. Even after 200 pages not much went on. We didn't get to see her life in England at all. She's there one minute and the next, it's 3.5 years later and Holt reappears. The story is divided into four parts and each part jumps ahead 1-3 years. The last 109 pages was basically a history lesson about war and I didn't appreciate so much of that being in a romance book. I had trouble following along and I didn't know how much of it was factual. It took place in Louisiana.

Two things that I did like was Amalie's godmother (grandmamma) Lady Winford and the banter between her and Holt. I also liked the old school feel of this novel.

 

THE DEVIL'S WEB by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet, 8/1990
REISSUED: 2008
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England, early 1800s
SERIES: Web, #3
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: The last time Madeline Raine had seen James Purnell, she had been but a chit of a girl, and at his mercy. Purnell had held her helpless in his arms, but protectively, above the abyss of her own dangerous hunger for him. He had left her then, not taking her innocence but taking her heart, as he vanished from England. Since then Madeline had reigned as society's most dazzling and heartless beauty, making all men pay for one man's rebuff of her.

Now James was back, more handsome and arrogant than ever. And Madeline steeled herself not to fall under his spell again. But she soon discovered that the melting power of passion ignited by love would not easily die...

MY THOUGHTS: After owning this book for twelve years I finally got around to reading it. The first half of this book was extremely boring. It involved so many characters, mostly relatives, parties, and conversations that had nothing to do with anything. That carried on throughout the book. It's truly at least 100 pages longer than it should have been and it was a real struggle to get though the first half. All the interesting things involving Madeline and James took place in the second half, so that made the story so much more tolerable.

James is thirty. He left England for Canada (where the author lives) four years previous. He works with fur traders. He sales home to England and brings along the daughter, Jean Cameron, of the man he works with. She ends up getting married to someone she meets there then disappears from the story. He's reacquainted with our heroine, twenty-five-year-old Madeline, which he met, to my understanding, in both previous book in this series. They have history together but we don't know about any of it.

James and his younger sister Alex grew up with very religious parents and weren't allowed to socialize much with other children. Alex is married to Madeline's twin brother, Dominic. Both of his parents are horrible and look down at James both for his career choice and for his past, which involved a girl they didn't approve of, Dora. That relationship has haunted him for ten years but he gets resolution after meeting up with her. Her brother, Carl Beasley, was a bad character who would have made one helluva villain.

He and Madeline are in love with each other but they don't know it. In love but can't stand one another. We aren't told why that is so it's very confusing. He's possessive and jealous because he knows how flirtatious she is. She's got a very smart mouth and is very immature and slightly antagonistic, even when he's being nice and trying hard to get along. Her attitude is common for heroines written at that time (1990) and before. We didn't get any background information on her at all or any about their history with each other from four years before.

Now about the "rape." There's a sex scene that happens after she tells him that if they have sex it will be rape, since she can't stand him. I've read that scene five times and don't see rape in it even though the hero admits to himself that it was rape. The heroine even thinks it was rape. Here are the pages for you to read that scene for yourself. In the last chapter, James realizes it wasn't rape and later in said chapter asks Madeline about it and she agrees that it wasn't. So why did they both say it was rape if an actual rape didn't happen? How could they have seen it that way? More importantly, why did the author write it that way?

This could have been a really good story if not for most of the first half and the excessive amount of characters in here, and the two weddings of secondary characters. No story needs three weddings in it. I love reading about tragic couples, which this one was, and I did enjoy most the second half. I probably only liked a total of 1/3 of the story. It's a shame it was bogged down with so much unnecessary dialogue.

The heroine's name, Madeline Raine, sounds like the 1986 Bruce Hornsby single Mandoline Rain. I wonder if that's a coincidence.

THE SECRET PEARL by Mary Balogh

PUBLISHER: Signet, 9/1991
REISSUED: 12/2005
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1822
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: A+

SYNOPSIS: He first spies her in the shadows outside a London theatre, a ravishing creature forced to barter her body to survive.

To the woman known simply as Fleur, the well-dressed gentleman with the mesmerizing eyes is an unlikely savior. And when she takes the stranger to her bed, she never expects to see him again. But then Fleur accepts a position as governess to a young girl…and is stunned to discover that her midnight lover is a powerful nobleman. As two wary hearts ignite—and the threat of scandal hovers over them—one question remains: will she be mistress or wife?

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILERS: This is very dark, deep and well-written. A fiction novel has never made me cry, until this. The end of chapter 26, to be exact, a scene not involving hero or heroine. The story spans two years. Most of it takes place at Adam's estate.

Fleur Hamilton (Isabella Bradshaw) is on the run. She's twenty-three, with red hair and brown eyes. Her second cousin, Matthew Bradshaw, Lord Brocklehurst, is blackmailing her over something that has to do with why she's run away. He also wants to marry her but I don't think it's to get his hands on the money that she's due to inherit from her deceased parents.

The hero is Adam Kent, Duke of Ridgeway.  He's very likable but too beta. I'd have liked to have seen more passion from him. Instead he's pretty reserved. Adam is physically scarred on his face and body from fighting in the Battle of Waterloo and was even presumed dead at one point. He has dark hair and eyes and "hawkish" features. He's in his early thirties and has been married to twenty-six-year-old Sybil for six years. They have a daughter, five-year-old Pamela. He's fallen out of love with his wife, who hates his guts, and she's still in love with his younger half-brother, Thomas Kent, and has been since before they married. She's in bad health, is unfaithful, and is truly a miserable person and undeserving of a devoted husband and daughter, or a devoted anybody.

The romance between Isabella and Adam is a slow burn and I didn't feel much angst considering they couldn't be together for quite awhile. It took far too long for Isabella to even stop being scared of Adam. Her fear of him made no sense at all. There was a part near the end when Isabella received a letter from someone. I felt she should have sent a reply that expressed all she'd been feeling and how she feels about what was written in the letter, but she didn't and that bugs me.

I really like a bit of suspense in historical romance so I really enjoyed the subplot, if it can be called that, with Thomas/Sybil, and with Matthew/Isabella, though I wish more had been done with Matthew at the end. He deserved some sort of punishment. Though the book is long, 400 pages, I can't think of anything that should have been cut from it. The story never dragged and I never got bored.

The 2005 reissue is somehow longer in length from the 1991 original though no content has been changed.

LORD OF SCOUNDRELS by Loretta Chase

PUBLISHER: Avon, 1/1995
GENRE: Historical Romance
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Tough-minded Jessica Trent's sole intention is to free her nitwit brother from the destructive influence of Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain. She never expects to desire the arrogant, amoral cad. And when Dain's reciprocal passion places them in a scandalously compromising, and public, position, Jessica is left with no choice but to seek satisfaction...

 Damn the minx for tempting him, kissing him... and then forcing him to salvage her reputation! Lord Dain can't wait to put the infuriating bluestocking in her place—and in some amorous position. And if that means marriage, so be it!—though Sebastian is less than certain he can continue to remain aloof... and steel his heart to the sensuous, headstrong lady's considerable charms.

MY THOUGHTS (from 2010): I didn’t care for this one bit and couldn’t stand the heroine. The hero was ordinary and didn't stand out in any way. I found it unbelievable that she openly discussed sex with her grandmother like she did and told Dain she was a virgin out-of-the-blue. They weren’t even having an intimate discussion at all or anything. Also, she’s too mouthy and aggressive. The more I read, the less I like her. About the part where she got angry when Dain called his mother a ‘whore’, that she would defend a woman who ran off and left her very young son says something about her. I’m not even sure Jessica knew about that at the time she defended her though. She’s supposedly so intelligent yet we haven’t seen any evidence of it.

The book was alright up until Jessica shot Dain for really no reason. And it got more absurd when Dain married her. He didn’t seem to give a crap that she shot him. Totally unbelievable to me. Makes absolutely no sense at all why the author put that in the book in the first place. Jessica isn’t even that likable. I like Dain but he seems like all the other heroes we read about.

If I'm remembering right, in anticipation of liking this I sent my copy to the author to autograph sometime between May 2008 when I got it, used, and before reading it in early 2010. Since I really disliked the book, I got rid of it. If I'm remembering right, the author kept mentioning Dain's 'big' nose.

ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL by Cathy Maxwell

PUBLISHER: Harper, 4/1994
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1811
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Lady Julia Markham's mediterranean-blue eyes and daring spirit made her the toast of the season, until she attempted to elope with a man who then betrayed her. By the strict standards of London society, Julia was ruined.

Three years later, desperate and penniless, Julia agreed to marry Brader Wolf, a self-made merchant who was unwelcome in aristocratic drawing rooms. Yet Julia was determined to make her businesslike marriage bloom-and found herself inexplicably drawn to her magnetic and dangerous husband. Breathless passion awaited her with Brader, but Julia's heart could settle for nothing less than the love of a lifetime.

MY THOUGHTS: This was pretty dark in nature in several ways with a slight gothic feel. It spans not quite a year. This is the author's first novel, which came out in 1994, the year I began reading historical romance. I learned of this novel many years ago, probably on the defunct Amazon romance forum. Something in the heroine's past made me want to read this, so I finally did, as it's very atypical for a historical romance book character.

Julia is twenty-four. Her parents and three brothers are garbage and heartless. All but one brother who's an alcoholic seems to be addicted to gambling. Her much older brother, Geoffrey, I think he's thirty-five, is truly a bad seed and villain. A few years prior something awful happened in Julia's life (after the attempted elopement) and her brother was involved. He helped Julia do something and it just makes no sense for him to be involved in that. He had nothing at all to gain by it other than to get pleasure from watching someone suffer.

Brader's in his early thirties, comes from nothing and has become wealthy. His parents weren't married to each other and his father died when he was a baby (I think). He marries Julia for her property, Kimberwood, because his mother and her first husband lived on it over thirty years ago and her first husband is buried there. He's a decent guy who treats Julia well...most of the time.

I'm not sure how I feel about Julia. I guess I don't really have an opinion of her. She's judgmental toward Brader since he's from a different 'class' than her. She literally doesn't know how babies are made, which is very annoying to read. She's got a strong personality yet she's easily led by her brother Geoffrey and we aren't made to understand why and it's frustrating. He's after money and wants her to do away with Brader.

As with many novels, a lot of action takes place right at the end and that's what happened here. It was no surprise it all involved Geoffrey and was violent. It was a little over the top but I liked it anyway.

The eight page epilogue took place twenty-five years later and consisted of nothing but them hanging out with most of their six living children.

THE ELUSIVE FLAME by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

PUBLISHER: Avon, 10/1998
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England & USA, 1825
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Cerynise Kendall has been left destitute and in dire need following the death of her doting patron and protectress. A brilliant young artist tossed from her home with only the clothes on her back, Cerynise must now turn to a childhood companion for assistance - the dashing sea captain Beauregard Birmingham and beg him to provide her with passage to the Carolinas. She seeks a new home and a new life across the waters, but all depends upon the kindness of a charming adventurer who was once the object of her youthful infatuation. Beneath Birmingham′s rugged exterior beats a heart as large and wild as the Atlantic, and Beau readily agrees to aid Cerynise - even offering her his name in marriage, albeit temporarily, to protect his long time friend from scandal. But perilous secrets, determined enemies and tempests of the sea and soul threaten their future and safe passage even as bonds of camaraderie are miraculously reforged as bonds of desire ... and affection becomes passion and love.

MY THOUGHTS: Most of this was just awful. I liked the beginning and the last 50 pages or so. And it was 100 pages too long. This takes place in 1825 and spans about fourteen months. Cerynise is almost eighteen years old. She's American but has been living in England since both parents died five years earlier. Her guardian, Lydia, died and her nephew, Alistair, kicked Cerynise out of the house. He's a terrible person who's out to get money that doesn't belong to him and will travel to the ends of the earth to get it. He's a true villain and I like him.

Cerynise finds her way to where ships are docked and Beau takes her in. He's twenty-six and has known her all her life. This is where the story gets extremely boring. They travel back to South Carolina on his ship, 'Audacious.' They marry to keep Alistair from being her guardian, since she's underage, and for no reason really they don't get along during most of the three month voyage home. Nothing at all goes on except her sketching the crew members since she's a great artist. There's a bit of chemistry between Beau and Cerynise at this point and it does intensify as the story progresses. 

Once they're home, they go their separate ways for a short time then come together when Beau learns about something important involving Cerynise that happened on the ship while he was delirious from a fever. There's a section of about thirty-one pages where she meets Beau's entire family- mom, dad, brother, sisters, ect. and it just dragged on and on. The author clearly wanted to include characters from the two previous books in this series and I didn't appreciate it. It was pure filler material. During this time and toward the end of the story, bad things start happening to Cerynise and they have to find who's doing it. That part was very interesting but got to be too much at the very end, with too much happening all at once. There's a character named Germaine Hollingsworth, a woman who went to school with Cerynise who wants to marry Beau, and she's not happy to learn he married while in England. I like her character.

One thing that bothered me is that this book is too similar to the first in its series, The Flame and the Flower. Both heroines are the same age, down on their luck, end up at a dock, travel to America via ship, and once they're in America, someone's out to get the heroine, but this story was much more boring that the previous one.

AFTER INNOCENCE by Brenda Joyce

PUBLISHER: Avon, 1994
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: New York/Paris, 1901
BODICE RIPPER? No
VIRGIN HEROINE? Yes
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
GRADE: A+++

SYNOPSIS: Estranged from society, wealthy and beautiful artist Sofie O'Neil finds solace in her private world. She longs just once to taste a forbidden love, to follow the dangerous diamond smuggler Edward Delanza to paradise. But Edward wants far more from the innocent young heiress than a brief and passing encounter. For he is determined to heal her and possess her now . . . and for all time.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE NOVEL OF ALL-TIME AND THIS IS MY SPOILER SUMMARY FOR IT.

Review first published 11/20/2011. Updated 4/30/2020.

Read multiple times between late 1994/early '95 and 1999, then read four more times since then.

HEROINE: Sofie O'Neil, 20, born May 1881. 'Tawny-golden' hair, amber eyes. Sofie is an only child.

HERO:  Edward Delanza, around 23, from California. Black hair, blue eyes, tan skin. Edward is the youngest of three sons. His middle brother is Slade and oldest brother is James.

PROLOGUE- New York City, 1890. Sofie is nine years old and her mother Suzanne is calling for her inside the house. She finds her and sees a drawing of Sofie's father laying at her feet. Suzanne picks it up and yells at Sofie to stop drawing pictures of her father, Jake. She tells Sofie that Jake isn't coming home, Sofie tells her he is, Suzanne says he isn't, Sofie is upset, runs and falls down the stairs, hurting her ankle. The housekeeper came over to her and Sofie lied and told her she was fine. Suzanne was watching from the top of the staircase and said, "If she is hurt, it is her own fault." She'll walk with a limp the rest of her life and be labeled a 'cripple' by everyone, including her own nasty, hateful, jealous mother.

PART 1- THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

Chapter one begins in Newport Beach, 1901 at a party Sofie's mother Suzanne Ralston is having. It's summer and Sofie has recently turned 20. Her mother Suzanne is 36. The guests are all staying at the Ralston's beach house. Suzanne convinced Sofie to come to the party. Sofie is out on the beach with her sketchbook to do a little sketching. She see's a handsome man walking along the beach with his shirt unbuttoned. She begins to sketch him and hears a woman's voice call out to him. It's her mothers widowed friend Hilary. She's talking to Edward about wanting to have sex with him but he doesn't want to do it in the sand when they could do it in a soft bed later. Hilary unbuttons her jacket revealing her bare breasts. Sofie is shocked. Edward thought he saw a flash of movement then spotted Sofie crouched down watching. The thought of being watched by her excited him, so he and Hilary had sex right there in the sand in broad daylight. Sofie fled, accidentally leaving her sketchbook behind. Edward was disgusted with himself for what he'd done. He never lets her know that he saw her. Sofie arrives back to the house. Hilary's cousin Henry Marten is asking Suzanne if he could be introduced to Sofie, whom he's just seen walking outside. Suzanne doesn't want Henry to be interested in Sofie so she tells him her daughter has a 'dreadful limp' and is a 'cripple' and has 'never had a suitor.' Sofie walks in and sees them. Suzanne knows that it's frowned upon for women to be artists and that people think Sofie is eccentric and reclusive. She doesn't want Henry to be interested in Sofie so she proudly tells him Sofie is an artist and studies art at the academy. She tells Sofie to tell them what she's drawn today and Sofie realizes she's left her sketchbook behind.

Later that day, Sofie is telling her stepsister Lisa, 17, that she must have left her sketchbook at the beach and has Lisa go look for it. She told her that she sketched a man named Edward at the beach. Lisa said it must have been Edward Delanza and that he was a guest at their house. All the ladies at the house think Edward is attractive and dangerous because it's rumored that he smuggles diamonds and gems out of Africa. That isn't true. Sofie is scared to death that she'll see Edward at the house. She doesn't know that he saw her at the beach but doesn't want to have to face him after what she's seen. Later on, Edward is in his room. He looks over to an open sketchbook...Sofie's sketchbook, laying open on a chair. He doesn't know who Sofie is or what her name is but assumes she's a guest at Suzanne's.

He went downstairs and saw her right away standing alone. They made eye contact. Hilary and a friend came up to Edward and began talking. He asked them who the girl in the corner was and was told she was Sofie, daughter of their hostess Suzanne. He walked over to her and introduced himself then kissed her hand. He asked her if she was going to spend the rest of the summer there and she told him no, she had art classes to attend in the city and that she and her classmates are devoted to their art. He told her one day a handsome man would earn some of her devotion. She told him that she intended to earn a living by selling her art and that if she did wed, a husband probably wouldn't allow her to earn a living. He asked if she planned to marry one day and she said no. He asked her if she dressed the way she did, in ugly gray gowns with her hair pulled back, and hid her beauty was to turn away unwanted suitors. She said she had no beauty to hide.

Suzanne called everyone in to dinner. She'd been watching Sofie and Edward talk and didn't like it. Suzanne thinks Edward is just like Sofie's dead father and wants Edward far away from her. After dinner, nasty old Suzanne told Sofie to say away from Edward and insulted her by saying that she was 'neither rich nor beautiful' and she shouldn't 'encourage' him. Suzanne left Sofie sitting in a chair. Sofie's ankle hurt from doing so much walking that day so when she stood up, she gasped at the pain. People looked her way, then looked away in embarrassment. Edward rushed over to Sofie and asked if she was OK. He doesn't know that she walks with a limp yet and she's scared of him finding out. She told him she was a 'cripple' and hurt her ankle years before and it didn't heal right. He removed her special shoe and began massaging her ankle. Suzanne was horrified that he'd do that and went over to them. She told him she wanted to see him tomorrow morning. When he left, she yelled at Sofie, told her Edward was just like her 'goddamned, rotten father, that miserable Irish bastard" and that Edward would use her like she had been used. Sofie spent the rest of the night in her room drawing him.

While Suzanne was waiting for Edward the next morning, she was remembering when she'd met Jake. He died (no he didn't) eleven years ago. He'd left all of his money and assets to Sofie, one million dollars worth and not a penny to Suzanne. She'd met him in NYC in 1880 when she was 15. He's an Irish immigrant who came here after his mom and sister died in a fire set by British soldiers in Ireland. He was about 18 when he met Suzanne. One day in 1880, Suzanne rode her horse to where Jake was doing construction work. She'd seen him there several times before while out with her friends. She though he was attractive. So one day she went to see him. He saw her watching him and went up to her. He asked who she was and asked if she was going to meet him somewhere. She nodded yes. He gave her a key to his place and directions. She went inside and was disgusted at his place. It was run down and shabby. Suzanne came from wealth herself. Jake got there and took his clothes off and it went from there.

Back to the present, Edward went to see Suzanne. She asked him what his interest in Sofie was and told him he was trying to bed her. He said that wasn't true and Suzanne asked him to leave her home so he did. While Edward was waiting in the driveway for the carriage to take him away, he told himself he'd make a point of seeing Sofie again. When Sofie found out that Edward was gone, she was very sad and disappointed. She'd enjoyed him flirting with her.

When Sofie had been home for over a week Edward came to see her. Her parents and Lisa were still at the beach house. She asked him why he was there and he replied, "You need me Sofie. You need shaking up. Badly." Right before he kissed her he said, "I'm going to shake you up Sofie." He barely kissed her then pulled away and said, "Jesus!" He apologized then asked if they were still friends. She asked him to pose for a painting for her and he said yes, then left. As he was leaving the Ralston mansion, Sofie's father Jake was watching Edward. He'd stood outside the house all day hoping to see her.

When Edward was picking his mail up at the Savoy hotel where he was staying, a man, who was Jake, bumped into him on purpose, making him drop his mail. Edward thought the man looked 15 years older than himself. Jake is 38 so Edward is about 23 though his exact age is never given.

Jake is in his mansion. He now goes by the name Jake Ryan, not Jake O'Neil. Eleven years ago, he and his friend escaped prison and were in a shootout with police. The friend was shot and killed and the building burned down. Jake switched nametags with the friend, stealing his identity. The dead man's name tag said Jake O'Neil so everyone believed he was dead. Two weeks later, Suzanne married Benjamin Ralston who had a daughter named Lisa. Now Jake is a successful businessman who's made a fortune in construction.

Edward went to Sofie's to pick up the artwork she said she'd do for him. She wasn't at home but was outside in a bad part of town painting. He told her the painting she was working on was 'powerful' and to never tell him she is eccentric again because she's not; she's 'extraordinary.' He wanted to see more of her work so they went to her studio inside the Ralston mansion. He saw a portrait of a man and recognized him as the man who'd bumped into him in the hotel lobby. He asked Sofie who he was and she said it was her father Jake. Jake fled Ireland because he blew up a British army camp. Not long after that, he met and married Suzanne. When Sofie was six, Jake and Suzanne were at a party. A retired English military officer recognized Jake and he was put into prison in Great Britain less than a year later for his crime in Ireland. After being in prison for two years, that's when he and the other man escaped and Jake stole his identity.

They continued to look at her artwork. One painting of flowers, she said Suzanne had said they didn't resemble flowers and that a five year old could have painted it. He saw the painting she'd done for him; it was a portrait of himself. He told her he wasn't a 'goddamn hero.' He kissed her. She asked him what his intentions were. He said to be a friend, a good friend, one she wouldn't forget. Sofie and Edward ate at a restaurant and discussed the possibility of her selling her artwork. She asked him if he'd pose for her.

Back at Newport Beach, Suzanne told Benjamin that she was going to have Sofie come back. The reason for that was she knew that he was back in NYC. Benjamin came to Suzanne's bed that night to have sex. As Suzanne often does, she pretends it's Jake with her, not her husband. When it was over and Benjamin was sleeping, Suzanne was crying, thinking about the last time she saw Jake. It was in prison in 1888.

She was escorted into his cell. Right away, he asked where Sofie was and asked why she didn't bring her when she knew she was supposed to. Suzanne began yelling at him saying, "What about me? What about me, you bastard? What about me?" She was remembering the first years of their marriage and all the affairs she'd had. They argued in his cell and he told her to leave and to bring Sofie to see him. He told her if she didn't bring her to see him today, he'd find a way to get back at her from prison. "Always Sofie! I do hate you Jake, I do!" She didn't bring Sofie to see him. And that night, she cheated on him again.

Back to the present again, she's still in bed next to a sleeping Benjamin. She thinking about how she spends some of Sofie's trust fund money on herself without Sofie's knowledge. She's embezzled a couple thousand dollars from Sofie too and has it in her own private bank account. Sofie is to receive quarterly installments of her money beginning on her 21st birthday with the last payment being given on her 25th birthday. If she marries before she's 25, she receives it all at once. Suzanne decides to check up on Sofie herself.

Without Sofie knowing it, Edward arranged for an art dealer to view her work. He drove his car to Sofie's to pose for her and give her the good news. While painting his portrait, things got a little heavy. Sofie ended up on his lap kissing him and he even touched her 'intimately.' The art dealer came over and bought some of the paintings, including the one of Edward titled 'A Gentleman At Newport Beach.' After the dealer left, Suzanne showed up while Edward as still there. She was furious and made him leave, since it was her home. She suspects that something is going on between them and asks her if she's still a virgin. Sofie tells her she's too old to be asked personal questions like that. Later Sofie is in her room talking with Lisa. Lisa asks her if she's in love with Edward and she says that she is.

Sofie was very upset from arguing with Suzanne and by Lisa telling her to say away from Edward so she went to the Savoy hotel to see Edward. She knocked on his door. He opened it and was shocked to see her there. He told her to wait there while he put a jacket on. They went for a drive in his car. They'd been driving for an hour and stopped at an inn to eat. A bad storm was coming. The inn owner came over to their table while they were eating to tell them that he'd just heard the storm was going to be terrible and that they should stay there. It'd be too dangerous to travel. They had separate rooms. Sofie, wearing just her nightgown, that the owners daughter loaned her, knocked on Edwards door. She was surprised he hadn't come to her door since she thought he was out to seduce her. They had sex three times that night. Edward asked her to marry him, since he felt very guilty. Sofie told him no, she couldn't marry without love. Edwards car was destroyed in the storm so they took a carriage home. Sofie went up to her room and Suzanne came in. Sofie asked Suzanne what she'd do if she was pregnant. Suzanne said she could go away to have it and give it up for adoption.

PART 2- LA BOHEME

Suzanne went to the opera by herself. She saw a man who looked like Jake. He saw her too and hurried out. She followed him outside and saw him talking with a young girl, his mistress Lou Anne. She could see that it was indeed Jake. She called his name when he was alone but he ignored her. She caught up to him. She told him everyone thought he was dead, that there was evidence of it. They argued and she realized she was now married to two men. He asked how Sofie was. He said he comes to town every few years to see her. Suzanne was jealous of that, that he'd come to catch a glimpse of Sofie but not let Suzanne know he was alive, and began hitting him and told him she hated him. 

November 1901, Sofie is in Paris with a chaperone because she is now three months pregnant. She's going there to not only have the baby so that no one who knows her will know about it and also to study art. The plan is for Sofie to get a new French chaperone so that the current one will return home to NYC without knowing she's pregnant. She gets settled in. Back in NY, it's now Christmas eve. Edward has no idea she's pregnant and hasn't seen her since the day he brought her home after the storm. He stops by to speak with her but is told by Suzanne that she's in Paris. While in France, Sofie has met up with her old art teacher and has made lots of friends.

It's now May 1902, Sofie has just turned 21. She writes Edward a letter telling him she's pregnant and the baby is due at the end of June. Edward is back in Africa digging for diamonds. He goes into his hotel room and finds the letter from Sofie there that she'd sent three months before. Two months later, in October, he's banging on her door in Paris. She's not home and her friend Georges, who is on his way to visit with Sofie, recognizes Edward from Sofie's paintings. He says Sofie may be at a saloon called Zut where they all hang out. He takes Edward there. Edward is as mad as hell and tells Sofie to take him to see their child. The baby's name is Edana, after Edward, and her middle name is Jacqueline, after her father Jake. They got to Sofie's shabby apartment and he asked her when she wanted to get married. She told him she wasn't getting married because of Edana. He said he'd be back to discuss it. Sofie told her nanny and companion Rachelle that they were going home to New York City that night....without telling Edward.

PART 3- A WOMAN OF PRINCIPAL

New York City, November, 1902. Sofie, Edana and Rachelle have arrived at her parents house. The servants let her in and she introduces them to her baby. She's in her old room nursing Edana when Suzanne bursts in. It's been over a year since she's seen her. She's yelling asking Sofie why she's there and saying 'how could you' show up here with a baby. She asked if she wanted to meet her grandchild and Suzanne yells "No!" Suzanne tells Sofie that she's picked out a couple who want to adopt the baby. Sofie yells "No!", tells her to "get out" and throws a candlestick at her mother, then yells again, "get out!" Sofie, the baby and Rachelle left to say at a hotel. They were almost out of money because Sofie didn't have time to get her money out of the bank before they left France. Sofie was scared Suzanne would try to withhold her trust money from her so she contacted Henry Marten and told him everything. He told Sofie that he wanted to marry her back when he'd met her at the party but Suzanne had discouraged it. He asked Sofie if she'd marry him and she said she'd think about it. Edward arrived back in NY and went to Sofie's house. Suzanne lied and told him Sofie was visiting relatives in Boston. He didn't believe her.

Sofie's stepsister Lisa was having an engagement party. Sofie went with Henry. Jake was there too. Suzanne told Jake that Sofie had a baby and that Edward was the father. Jake said he'd make him marry her. Sofie saw Jake but didn't know who he was. Edward was there. He found Sofie and made her take him to see Edana. When he saw the place they were staying in, he moved the three of them into his suite at the Savoy and got himself another room. The next morning, Edward let himself into the room and had Rachelle take Edana out so he could be alone with Sofie. She was angry that he'd let himself in. They argued then had sex. He was mad because he thought she wanted to marry Henry Marten, and not him. When Edward went back to his room, Jake attacked him from behind. Jake said he was Sofie's father and that he was going to marry her. Edward told him he did want to marry her but she wouldn't marry him.

Suzanne went to visit Jake at his mansion. She'd gone to see him before but was always told he wasn't at home. He let her in and she told him about falling out with Sofie, they argued and then had sex. That was the first time Suzanne had cheated on her husband Benjamin but she'd cheated on Jake a lot.

Edward went to see Sofie. He wanted to force her to marry him, so he told her he was going to let everyone know they had a child together. She said he didn't need to do that, that she would marry him. She went to tell Henry she couldn't marry him.

An exhibition was going to be held for Sofie in an art gallery. She had done a nude painting of Edward without his knowledge and it was being hung up. She wouldn't allow it to be shown so had them take it down. She told the dealer he could show it privately. He asked what the painting was called. She looked into Edwards blue eyes and said it was called After Innocence. Everyone arrived at the gallery. Suzanne saw Jake there. She told him she wanted him back. He told her no. She said, "I did it once-I'll do it again!" He asked what she was talking about. She told him that 15 years before when he'd been spotted at that party, then imprisoned, it was due to her. She alerted the authorities. For the first time in their dysfunctional marriage, Jake had cheated on Suzanne with a 'dance hall girl' and it made Suzanne, who'd cheated on him plenty, jealous.......so she got back at him and had him arrested for blowing up the army camp when he was a teenager in Ireland. She said to him, "You stupid fool! It was me! I turned you in then- and I'll turn you in again! I will! Take me back Jake!" He ran out the door.

The exhibition was a success but the nude of Edward didn't sell. That night in Sofie's hotel room, Edward told her he loved her, that he'd always loved her. The wedding will be in a month so that Edward's family in California will have time to arrive. Edward went to Jake's house and called him a coward for not letting Sofie know he's alive. As he was leaving, he told him the date, time and place of the wedding. Sofie went home and made up with her mother. Why, I don't know.

Wedding day, January 1, 1903. Edward see's Jake in the chruch and makes him go see Sofie before the wedding. They reunite and she asks Edward if they can postpone their honeymoon for a few weeks so she can visit with her father.

PART 4- AFTER INNOCENCE- EPILOGUE

New York City, present day, 1993. Sofie and Edward's granddaughter Mara Delanza is at an art auction where the elusive painting AFTER INNOCENCE, the nude painting of Edward, is going to be sold. She's hoping to see it. A blonde woman buys the portrait for 5 million dollars. When the auction is over, Mara chases after the woman, calling out to her. The lady stops, looks at her, then continues to walk away very fast. We never learn who the woman is. Sofie and Edward both died in 1972, six months apart, in their 90s.

THE END!

MY THOUGHTS: This book is perfection. I still have my original hardcover from Doubleday Book Club. The image of Sofie and Edward is printed on the back cover. I love both hero and heroine but wish Edward was a bit older; he's only 22-ish. It's a wonderful story about a somewhat emotionally abused heroine who has grown up with a cold mother and was made to feel like an outcast due to a bad ankle. This book has a great plot and subplot involving Sofie's mother and father, and a very minor subplot involving her teenage stepsister, Lisa. There's never a dull moment in this.

Suzanne- Sofie's mother, a semivillain who's out to sabotage her. She's controlling, only cares about herself and appearances, and is just awful and child-like in some ways. The revelation toward the end about her involvement with Jake's arrest fifteen years before was unexpected. She's an interesting character, to say the least. We get a lot of her backstory, starting when she met Jake, Sofie's father. I'd have liked to have gotten some backstory from before she met him. All we know is she comes from money.

Edward, who we first met the year before in the previous book called "Secrets", is a great young man, if not a little too possessive of Sofie. He's taken with Sofie from the start, mostly because he caught her watching him during a private moment with another woman. In Sofie's defense, she was there first. He realized how awful her mother is to her and decides to befriend her but things go too far. He wants to do what he feels is the right thing but Sofie doesn't agree with him.

Jake, Sofie's father, is very likable and his disgust for Suzanne is understandable and warranted.

Lisa, Sofie's stepsister, she's seventeen and very supportive of Sofie and her aspiring art career.

Benjamin, Sofie' stepfather. He's not too likable as he sides with Suzanne in everything. Sofie's stepsister Lisa has her own short story, which is in two anthologies, FIVE GOLDEN RINGS and A GIFT OF JOY. I didn't like her story because I don't like who she's marrying at all. We met Julian, the husband-to-be, in this book, After Innocence. It's a real shame they couldn't have gotten their own full novel. Edward's older brother Slade, who came to his wedding with his pregnant wife Regina Bragg Shelton Delanza and their son have their own book, SECRETS, which came before this one. In that one, you'll get to read about Edwards nasty mother.

This is the order of the Bragg series:

Innocent Fire- Story of Derek and Miranda Bragg.

Firestorm- The story of Storm Bragg. Her parents are in Innocent Fire.

Violet Fire- Story of Rathe Bragg, brother of Storm.

Dark Fires- Nicholas Bragg, brother of Rathe and Storm.

The Darkest Heart- The story of Shoz's (from The Fires of Paradise) parents.

The Fires of Paradise- Rathe's daughter Lucy's story.

Scandalous Love- Story of Nicole, daughter of Nicholas (Nick) Bragg.

Secrets- Nick's youngest daughter Regina's story. Her husband's name is Slade Delanza.

After Innocence- The story of Slade's youngest brother Edward and his wife Sofie.

THE RIVAL by Brenda Joyce

PUBLISHER: St. Martin's, 1998
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1746
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B-

SYNOPSIS: After Lionel De Vere's mysterious disappearance, Garrick De Vere becomes heir to an estate shrouded in scandal. Blackmailed by his powerful father into returning to England after a decade-long exile, Garrick finds himself forced into confronting the past and defending his innocence against those who wished to see him banished forever. Lady Olivia Grey and her daughter both possess the shattering "gift" of sight, and it is this vision which drives Olivia from a loveless marriage directly into the heart of a bitter rivalry between two brothers, placing both herself and her daughter in jeopardy-as lies, secrets and ancient passions threaten to destroy everyone involved. The were strangers and outcasts, thrown together by a past that would not die. Together they fought to expose a legacy of deceit and claim the love that defied their entire world.

MY THOUGHTS: Possible spoilers ahead- This takes place in 1746 and I couldn't get a feel for the timespan. Story was dragged out a little too long which made it a bit boring. Everything came to a head during the last few pages which made it seem like some last minute ideas were thrown together as a resolution. I wish it hasn't been so rushed.

I like Olivia. She's blonde and twenty-five or six and has been married to Arlen for nine years. He's abusive and can't stand her and won't acknowledge their blind daughter, Hannah. Most people outside of their servants don't even know she exists. He's also having an incestuous relationship with his younger sister, Elizabeth. I would have liked background information on both siblings but we didn't get any. Elizabeth is a true bitch and I like her. Aside from some abuse by Arlen towards Olivia, I don't dislike him.

Garrick is very likable. He's twenty-six with dark hair and skin. His father, Richard, doesn't seem to care much for him nor does Garrick care much for him. Garrick set his sights on rescuing an unhappy Olivia and they begin an affair but Arlen's not having it and sets out to punish her. There's a person who turns out to be someone other than who they claim to be. I wouldn't have guessed who they really were.