Love's Charade

By Jane Feather

Book Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Jane Feather comes a thrilling romance of surprise and suspense, as one man discovers falling in love is the most dangerous thing he has ever done. . . When... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821779893
• ISBN13: 9780821779897
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Zebra Books
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.0" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Lots of love, not so much charade

One of the frequent problems with many romances that I've read is that the author has devotes a great deal of her creative energy in devising magnificent and fantastically complex heroes. In comparison, the young woman to be paired with this perfect specimen of tormented masculinity is usually bland and uninteresting. The author has already spent her creative juices. The interesting thing about Jane Feather's LOVE'S CHARADE is that we have the opposite problem.Danielle is a stunning creation. At 17, she's beautiful, educated, strong-willed, and a witness to horrors that have brought her maturity beyond her years. The traumas of her past leave her driven to provide succor to the gentry dispossessed by the French Revolution, efforts that she pursues with ingenuity and charisma. And on top of that, she is witty, and oh yes, as we mentioned before, stunningly beautiful. Given such a glowing heroine, the 34-year-old hero, despite being twice her age, and allegedly clever and well-connected, is bland in comparison. He is your basic British Earl/Duke/Whatever of near total economic success, with a secret passion for aiding the Crown and no real interest in marriage until he's found the perfect post-adolescent. Their age difference is more than countered by their comparative weight in personality.Balance! That's all I want! Just a little balanceThe plot is fairly pleasant, offering a slight twist on the usual Pimpernalia. It is a bit drawn out, with a couple of clearly unnecessary episodes, including the usual Jealous Misunderstanding, Resigned to Lonely Marriage, and Kidnapped By An Evil French Rapist bits. These only serve to pad the book. Maybe target audience readers feel like they need these steps and I am simply out of synch, but I'm sure that at least two of these three could have been eliminated.The basic problem with this book is that most of the suspense in a romance is in trying to figure out how the disparate hero and heroine will ultimately be bound together. Since that is resolved fairly early on, the rest of the novel is devoted to whether Danielle will get herself killed in her recklessness.Polished prose keeps things moving along, and Feather introduces a couple of interesting bits by tying the plot so closely to the French Revolution. The aristocracy that stayed in France was not all wiped out overnight, and those that escaped often found themselves in more dire circumstances than the urban impoverished that they fled. Feather offers another view of the Revolution, one that fills in some of the gaps left by Les Miserables and The Scarlet Pimpernel. For that, there is no reason to regret reading this book.

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!!!

This book was absolutely my favorite of Jane Feather's. It was so captivating and once I started it I felt torn every time I had to put it down. It is a nice length of 478 pages and by the end you feel as if you have shared so much with Danny and Justin. She holds her own and is a very strong heroine while she loves Justin with everything she has. He feels the same for her and it is just an all around amazing book that you will NEVER regret reading. The story never grows boring and when it is finished you feel sad that it is over. I highly recommend this book to any romance reader who likes to be transported into a whole new world....

A PERFECT NOVEL 2 CURL UP WITH WHEN IT'S RAINING............

First of all, I'm a die-hard Feather fan. This book really satisfies every criteria that I usually look 4 in a romance classic, fabulous title, small font & margin, and 478 pages ? Just can't ask 4 more ! oh did I mention Justin is my favorite hero name ? If U wanna read something that has adventures, actions, lots of love & lust, intelligent plot, marvelous setting, charming banter between the characters, cheeky heroine & mature hero, this is the ONE. I love the fact that Ms Feather always depicts the girl as the one who keeps her man on a merry chase from 1st to the last page. It makes U wish the story would never end. Huge gap in age doesn't matter much 2 me, as long as he's head over heels in love with the opposite sex & still keeps a straight head. Danny is stubborn & learns "love & obedience don't come hand in hand" in a hard way. She often gets herself in trouble because of her impulsiveness, then get a good verbal trashing from her husband, Justin, later on. Even when she has a baby, she still follows what her heart tells her to do, which drives Justin absolutely crazy wanting to tie her up & lock the door. Anyway, treat yourself to a fantastic, sparkling gem of a book & U won't regret it !

One Of Jane Feather's Best Books Ever

I adored this book! I read it for the first time two years ago and have since re-read it once every couple of months. The age difference between the characters is handled so well that I felt it enhanced the love story rather than detract from it. So many romance novels portray marriages with large age gaps as horrific ones in which wives suffered abuse, neglect, oppression or worse. It was refreshing to see a novel that positively portrayed what was an inescapable historical reality for the eighteenth century. Brava Ms. Feather! You have created a wonderfully spirited and independant heroine and given her a man mature enough to appreciate and understand her strenghth and drive instead bieng threatened to the point of unreasonable domination, as I believe a younger man of the period would have been. This is a thoughtful and deep novel with many levels. It is not a light read but a wonderfully touching one that reminds me, particularly after reading one of Ms.Feather's more current 'light' novels, why I love the author enough to buy her with no additional endorsment but the name Jane Feather on the cover.