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Title: Notorious (Signet Historical Romance)
ISBN: 0451221052
Author:
Virginia Henley
Publicate Date: 2007-05-01
Publish: 2007-05-01
List Price: $7.99
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.25
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $7.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Disappointing
Although I enjoy a good history lesson in historicals, there was simply too much history here, leaving the romance between Brianna and Wolf in the dust. And ack! the history part was as dry as if copied from a textbook.
All was tell, rather than show. We are repeatedly told how Brianna feels instead of experiencing it in a vivid manner. The characters left me cold, I skimmed most of the history as it was presented in a boring manner, and then just quit without finishing.
I doubt I'll read another Henley romance.
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2: I just wasn't that into it....
So, let me say first of course that I am a fan of Ms. Henley's; hopelessly devoted to every single book. I started reading her about 13 years ago as a high school senior and have continued on to now. But lately....her books....just....havent had the same....punch. This book which was a spin off of Infamous I believe, and the main character just isnt as interesting or entertaining as her mother Jory. I just..didnt cae about what happened to her, at all....seriously. The same of true of the sequel to "A woman of passion". In that book ( a woman of passion), VH totally stepped away from the formulaic boy meets girl story and gives her heroine 2 previous husbands before she marries the love of her life. I tend to stay away from books that see the heroine passed from man to man like a beer bottle at a super bowl party. (See Beatrice Smalls) It was a risk, but the character, Elisabeth Hardwick-Cavendish...was so incredible that the book became a delight to read. Her grandaughters story was just....blah!. just like in this book, she didnt have the fire nor the passion that her mother had. Although a fantastic author, she hasnt quite mastered the "genelogical genre" that authors like Johanna Lindsey with her Mallory series, Jude Devereax with her Montgomerys or even Julia Quinn with her Brigertons has. Each character in the family had their own life, and spark, so that you wanted to read about their exploits and adventures. None of Virginia Henleys characters decendents capture the vivacity and vibrance of their forebearors. Does this mean I wont buy her next book....of course not. I LOVE HER. and....who you love...you forgive for thier indiscretions. This book, for me was a major indiscretion.
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3: Bad costume historical romance.
Whoever wrote the back blurb for this novel should have written the book because they sucker me into reading this book. This was my first novel by this author and I can't foresee my buying any further works by Ms. Henley. The writing reminds me of the old 80s style of telling instead of showing. It also reads like a costume historical where the language and thoughts sound like modern American women. The author also seemed to forget exactly whose story this is supposed to be about. (Brianna-not Queen Isabelle) Then again, that may be easy to do since Brianna and Wolf were about as interesting as watching grass grow. What's romantic about a peeping Tom hero-who manipulates his way into a woman's dream as a way too woo her? Again, it reminds me of the historicals from the 80s when rape was an accepted criminal activity to win a woman's heart. True there is a lot of history incorporated in the book, but it reads like a high schooler writing an essay. Recommend you skip this one.
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4: Pretty good book
This was a pretty good book and it was enjoyable to read, but as another reader mentioned, the ideas and personalities of the characters were highly inaccurate for the time that it is supposed to be set it. One of the inaccuracies that I found particularly ridiculous was a part in the book where the son of an earl or lord or something (I read the book a while ago so I don't quite remember) got a maid pregnant, and his parents persuade him to "take responsibility for the poor girl" (not an actual quote but close). I didn't think of this as an accurate idea at all for medieval Europe. This book might have been better set in Victorian England, and the ideas are even a little to modern for that time, but it might have been a bit more believable.
As I said though, this book was an enjoyable read as long as you can try to ignore the more ridiculous parts of it.
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5: Unpleasant
Notorious, the sequel to Infamous, is set in the 1320s and purports to be the romance of Brianna de Beauchamp [ludicrous modern name, there] and Wolf Mortimer. Many of the characters in Notorious were real people in fourteenth-century England.
I say 'purports' because Brianna and Wolf disappear from the narrative at regular intervals, while Henley focuses on the story of Edward II and his wife Isabella, and their lovers. Here, Notorious becomes deeply unpleasant, and readers of a sensitive disposition may become deeply dismayed, as I did, at the endless references to Edward II as 'unnatural' and 'perverted' because he loves men. He's also portrayed as highly feminised and weak, a horrible and offensive stereotype of a gay man. Queen Isabella's adultery with Mortimer is acceptable, however, because her lover Mortimer is so ultra-manly. And heterosexual.
The characters are not medieval English people, as they're said to be, but modern Americans, who think, act and talk American. Brianna has freedoms that no medieval noblewoman could ever have dreamed of. The overall impression is one of modern American characters dashing round England and Scotland in fancy dress.
In Notorious, any resemblance to real fourteenth-century England and real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. I laughed out loud at the presence of the earl of Warwick in 1327, when historically he died in 1315. Notorious is not even an interesting romance, as the 'hero' Wolf is a creep who uses his gift of second sight to spy on Brianna while she's undressing, and Brianna herself is whiny and spoilt. Her catchphrase "I shoudn't - but I shall!" gets even more irritating than her mother Jory de Warenne's "I've quite made up my mind!" in Infamous.
Anyone looking for a well-written, sexy romance with accurate historical detail will be wasting their time.
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