Review/Rant: Barely a Lady by Eileen Dreyer
(Drake's Rakes, 1) by Eileen DreyerHistorical Romance
Forever (July 1, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0446542081
432 pages
Review copy provided by the publisher
Synopsis from Amazon:
Olivia Grace has secrets that could destroy her. One of the greatest of these is the Earl of Gracechurch, who married and divorced her five years earlier. Abandoned and disgraced, Grace has survived those years at the edge of respectability. Then she stumbles over Jack on the battlefield of Waterloo, and he becomes an even more dangerous secret. For not only is he unconscious, he is clad in an enemy uniform.Warning: This review is not spoiler free.
But worse, when Jack finally wakes in Olivia's care, he can't remember how he came to be on a battlefield in Belgium. In fact, he can remember nothing of the last five years. He thinks he and Olivia are still blissfully together. To keep him from being hanged for a traitor, Olivia must pretend she and Jack are still married.
To unearth the real traitors, Olivia and Jack must unravel the truth hidden within his faulty memory. To save themselves and the friends who have given them sanctuary, they must stand against their enemies, even as they both keep their secrets.
In the end, can they risk everything to help Jack recover his lost memories, even though the truth may destroy them both?
I was initially so excited about this one. The author was new to me and I haven't read a historical romance in a while. I had no expectations, though, but to be entertained. Unfortunately, the feeling that I was left with wasn't that pleasant one obtained upon finishing a satisfying read. Instead, I'm pissed at the characters and, to some extent, the author for giving me such an infuriating story. I actually didn't make it to the end by straight-forward reading. After a while, I had to skim the darn thing in order to avoid permanently throwing it down and make it to its end. It all started with Mimi.
Who's Mimi, you say? Why, she's the mysterious woman that the hero, Jack, is enamored with throughout the majority of the novel, even while his feelings for Olivia (his ex-wife) are rekindled. You might not think this is such a big deal, but I had a difficult time choking down a romance where the most romantic feelings that the hero had were for someone other than heroine. In fact, so romantic were his feelings for Mimi that he was often repulsed by the heroine's nearness and/or touch. On top of this, he's constantly angry with Olivia and he has lingering feelings of doubt about her from their past. A past in which, as he learns slowly during his recovery from amnesia, includes him believing lies about her and subsequently throwing him out on her PREGNANT behind. Apparently they hadn't been married for long when this all happened. They were still in the honeymoon stage which, in my opinion, makes Jack even more loathsome. Overnight the love of your life goes from the sweetest girl in the world to a lying whore? And you take this for fact based all on one person's word? And you don't even have the balls to ask her about it? What a sorry excuse for a man.
Olivia's no better. Sure, she's wary of Jack and her love for him. She (rightfully) no longer trusts him. But as the story progresses she begins to make excuse after excuse for him, ultimately forgiving all of his heinous crimes against her and their (formerly unborn) child. Crimes that led her family to reject her and caused her to live life on the run away from her child while barely scraping by. She's not an unlikable woman altogether, but one can't even properly sympathize with her due to her silly acceptance of Jack.
I'm all for flawed characters - who wants a boringly perfect pair in a romance? But these people were utterly ridiculous. I have no problem with Dreyer's writing style, however, nor do I have anything against the secondary characters that will star in the next Drake's Rakes book. Just don't expect me to pick it up.
Grade: D
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1 Comments:
Jacqueline, I'm sorry I didn't comment sooner, but I've been thinking a lot about your review. Of course I'm sorry you didn't like BARELY. Evidently some of the things I wished to convey didn't come across to you, which, as the author is my fault. I can only answer that yes, Jack was an immature prick when he divorced Livvie. But if you haven't sinned, you can't earn forgiveness(we Catholics are all about guilt and redemption.) And the whole 5 years since his divorce has been his penance. But one point I did want to make, because as not only a romance author, but as a woman, I would never have supported the idea, was that he was still so in love with Mimi that she had all of his thoughts. The reason Jack couldn't bear to make love to Olivia, was laid out at the beginning of Chapter 12. At that point, Jack says that "he had no right to make love to Livvie. Not now. Not before he knew for certain what he had lost in the chasm of his memory." He knows Mimi is there somewhere, and that he remembers fond feeling for her. But he can't conceive of why. He is as appalled by the idea of having a mistress as we are. Until he knows the truth, he doesn't believe he deserves Livvie. And until the very end of the book, after he has served his penance, Livvie agrees.
I know that might not make any difference at all to you. But I did want to make my case. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my book. I certainly hope I do better next time.
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