Helpful Score: 6
I have skipped almost the first 1/4 of this book because I am finding it so hard to read. The way this book is written, my imagination can't even seem to put any emotion into the parts the characters "speak". They seem so emotionless. Almost like robots.
The first 1/3 of the book consists of the heroine telling her first husband how much she loves him...over and over and over and over again.
Phrases are repeated constantly...it's like she needed some filler.
When the characters are speaking to each other, face to face, they repeatedly say the other persons name. Example: "Oh, Charlie, you look wonderful." "You don't expect me to dance, do you, Ellen?" "No, Charlie, I know you don't like to." Who talks like that? You're looking at the person. Why do you need to say their name?
Needless to say, I do not like this book...and I haven't even finished it.
The first 1/3 of the book consists of the heroine telling her first husband how much she loves him...over and over and over and over again.
Phrases are repeated constantly...it's like she needed some filler.
When the characters are speaking to each other, face to face, they repeatedly say the other persons name. Example: "Oh, Charlie, you look wonderful." "You don't expect me to dance, do you, Ellen?" "No, Charlie, I know you don't like to." Who talks like that? You're looking at the person. Why do you need to say their name?
Needless to say, I do not like this book...and I haven't even finished it.
Helpful Score: 4
This is one of Mary Balogh's older books that was recently rereleased. I usually read her books with great enthusiasm, but I find this one wasn't as quick a read. Ellen and Dominic fall in love after Ellen's husband and Dominic's best friend, is killed at Waterloo. Although I liked the characters a great deal, it felt like the timing of the romance was off. It is hard to believe that they would get together when Ellen is so recently widowed, and Dominic can't even rise from his bed! Also, if you have read Balogh's book Slightly Tempted, you may feel as if you are reading some of the same material.
This is the second in the Web series, following the story of the Raine family.
This is the second in the Web series, following the story of the Raine family.
Helpful Score: 3
Ellen Simpson loves her much older husband, but he dies at Waterloo. Their longtime friend, Lord Eden, is seriously hurt at the same battle, but Ellen nurses him back to health, & they consumate their mutual attraction.
She is wracked with guilt & they try to stay away from each other when they return to England. But true love must run its course - eh? If you like this author, this is typical of her genre (It was a bit too lengthy and repetitive for me, though)
She is wracked with guilt & they try to stay away from each other when they return to England. But true love must run its course - eh? If you like this author, this is typical of her genre (It was a bit too lengthy and repetitive for me, though)
Helpful Score: 1
fun suspenseful very entertaining
Helpful Score: 1
very good book, made me have to read all of the WEB books.
I see many reviewers have disliked this book because it isn't as tightly written as more modern romances are. I say it's worth reading because at this longer length we get more of Balogh's idiosyncratic but polished writing style (she was an English teacher) and that's good for the brain :)
Readers should bear in mind that this is the second book in a trilogy, but unlike most modern trilogies, it doesn't exactly go forward in time; instead each book covers many of the same events but seen from different points of view. I like the trilogy and consider it a classic - but readers used to the bangbangbang fast cut get to the good parts style of writing in vogue now might well find it tedious.
Readers should bear in mind that this is the second book in a trilogy, but unlike most modern trilogies, it doesn't exactly go forward in time; instead each book covers many of the same events but seen from different points of view. I like the trilogy and consider it a classic - but readers used to the bangbangbang fast cut get to the good parts style of writing in vogue now might well find it tedious.
Enchanting young Ellem Simpson had been deeply in love with her older husband Charles. After his tragic death at Waterloo, she nurses Lord Dominic Eden, a friend, back to health and falls passionately in love with him. Is that because of irresistible passion or irresolute weakness?
From the back cover...
He'd served with her husband on the battlefield-and secretly desired her for years. Yet for Dominic, Lieutenant Lord Eden, Ellen Simpson has remained tantalizingly out of reach-until she is widowed by the war. Suddenly pursued by the dangerously handsome nobleman, Ellen is stunned by the depth of attraction he arouses in her. Soon their friendship flames into something deeper...and as scandal ignites, marriage seems the only solution. But Ellen has a secret-one she can share with no one-that prevents her from fully opening her heart to Dominic. Until he devises his own plan for the ultimate consummation of their passion-and the woman he is determined to possess at any cost...
He'd served with her husband on the battlefield-and secretly desired her for years. Yet for Dominic, Lieutenant Lord Eden, Ellen Simpson has remained tantalizingly out of reach-until she is widowed by the war. Suddenly pursued by the dangerously handsome nobleman, Ellen is stunned by the depth of attraction he arouses in her. Soon their friendship flames into something deeper...and as scandal ignites, marriage seems the only solution. But Ellen has a secret-one she can share with no one-that prevents her from fully opening her heart to Dominic. Until he devises his own plan for the ultimate consummation of their passion-and the woman he is determined to possess at any cost...
