FOR ALL TIME by Jude Deveraux

Publisher:  Ballantine

Published:   July 1, 2014

ISBN:  978-0345541826
Genre:   Contemporary Romance

Format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Edelweiss – Above the Treeline

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

TWO-1/2 HEARTS

 

At the end of TRUE LOVE, book 1 of Jude Deveraux Nantucket Brides series, Alix Madsen had won the man of her dreams, Jared Montgomery.  As FOR ALL TIME opens it is time for their wedding and what an amazing event it is starting with the charming little chapel in the woods.  After the ceremony friends gather for dinner and dancing and Toby Wyndam, who has planned much of how the nuptials were celebrated catches Jared’s cousin’s eye. At first uncomfortable under Graydon’s unmoving stare and not at all happy with what she knows is a lie, Toby quickly finds that maybe all isn’t as it seems.  While Graydon pretends, for his own reasons, to be his younger, twin brother, Toby knows the difference. She can’t quite say why, but she can tell the two brothers apart.  Graydon is charmed and delighted until he realizes that there is no way the two can be together. 

Graydon is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place—he is not only a Lanconian prince, but he is also the heir to the throne and as such, his bride has already been chosen for him.  Still, he cannot help his quickly growing feelings for Toby, so much so that he manoeuvres a week in Nantucket but sending his twin, Rory, back to Lanconia in his stead.

As Toby and Graydon become closer and closer, the reality of their situation becomes more and more clear—Graydon will leave and marry another.  They cannot, will not, have a happily ever after.  Struggling with her growing feelings Toby finds herself having more and more dreams but these aren’t ordinary dreams.  They are dreams of another time and place.  Could that time and place be the answer to how Graydon and Toby can be together for all time?

I have been a Jude Deveraux fan since I first read THE BLACK LYON and more recently I’ve waited not too patiently for each of her Edilean books.  She has always been one of my most favourite story tellers, penning romances that had me closing my eyes and being carried away to another place and time.  Something happened with this Nantucket Brides series that has had me scratching my hear wondering where the author whose books I have read over and over again has gone. 

FOR ALL TIME started out pretty darn wonderful.  I could picture the chapel in the woods, Graydon, Toby and the other characters so clearly.  Graydon and Toby’s first encounter was really well done.  And while the twins changing places story line is one that has been done many times over, this one had some wonderful twists.  I could hardly put FOR ALL TIME down because I couldn’t wait to see how Ms. Deveraux was going to resolve their dilemma. 

And then the paranormal aspects of the story happened.  That is where she lost me and I began to wonder if perhaps there was a co-author who will soon be introduced or perhaps even a ghost writer who hadn’t read Ms. Devereaux’s earlier books because those segments were nothing like the author I love.  Those segments were choppy and hard to follow.  And then suddenly a new character is introduced and everyone just accepts her.  Not one person wonders where she suddenly comes from.  I went back and re-read sections trying to figure out what was that all about.  No answer was to be found but I kept reading.

Ultimately the story returned to the kind of romance Ms. Deveraux is known for. 

There were times when initially I thought “just get on with it.”  And then I sat back and took a breath and realized that it had been so long since I’ve read a sweet romance.  FOR ALL TIME is truly the kind of sweet romance that had me falling for the romance genre years ago and Ms. Deveraux’s story telling took me back to that time and how much I loved and still love watching wonderful characters fall in love.  And that’s one of the reasons why I love reading romance—watching the characters find each other and fall in love.  Not in lust, not into hurried sex, but falling in love.

If you are a Deveraux fan you’ll enjoy FOR ALL TIME.  While not among her best, it is about a forever romance and has some fun elements.  If you are new to her writing, it is a good sample of what falling in love with all the romance that makes you sigh, to it. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

TRUE LOVE by Jude Deveraux

Publisher: Ballantine
Date published:
July 9, 2013 ISBN: 978-0345541796
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Paranormal
Book format: Hardback
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com (3 hearts)





With architecture school behind her, Alix Madsen has the chance of a lifetime when her mother’s longtime friend, Adelaide (Addy) Kingsley, wills her home to Alix for a year. During that time Alix plans to complete her portfolio and prepare to look for the perfect job as an architect. Accompanying her to Nantucket is her friend Izzy. In addition to pulling her portfolio together Alix is to is the main of honor and has taken on the planning of Izzy’s wedding. When the two women arrive on Nantucket a bit earlier than planned they spot their long time architectural hero, Jared Montgomery.

Tall, good looking and so not into adoring students Jared planned to hie himself off Nantucket and be back in New York before the two students arrived. His plan goes awry, however, when they arrive early. But still, he manages to take off for a few days on his boat. On Nantucket no one locks up their home and Alix and Izzy, not ones to miss an opportunity, they wander into his home and check things out. There Alix sees the essence of what’s makes Jared the best of all architects. And it gives Alix an idea of just how she can gain employment with her idol.

But there are other forces at work in Nantucket. Forces that go beyond the secrets, plots and plans of Alexi’s mother Victoria and father Ken. Forces with more power than the Montgomery cousins who populate the town.

Jared’s grandfather seven times back, Caleb has looked out for his family since his death some two hundred years before. When Jared and Alix meet, not for the first time, but again, as adults, there is a spark between them they cannot ignore. Bit by bit Alix remembers a visit to Nantucket when she was four and a fourteen year old Jared gave her his Legos to build her own little houses.

But Alix’s memories are so much more than that long ago visit. How can she remember a favorite tea pot or where a special dish is hidden? What draws her to places on the island like she has lived her life there? Are the forces at play and parents plans to keep the two apart, or will they lead to their one true love?

There are myriad layers to Jude Deveraux’s TRUE LOVE that a simple synopsis cannot cover. It is one of those books that has, for the most part, something for everyone. If you are looking for romance there are several in process and potentially evolving. There are elements of historical romance with a love that transcends time as well as the contemporary romances. There are paranormal elements that reminded me in parts of one of my all-time favorite movies, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Not that it was a retelling of Mrs. Muir’s great love story—just portions that reminded me of what a great tale that is. The searching, the longing, the love that will never die make for such good stories.

There are sections that deal with architecture and construction that can be enjoyed by men and wonderful family dynamics that are definitely cross-generational. While merging these elements could be confusing, in Ms. Deveraux TRUE LOVE, they come together in a very nice package.

The writing does have some issues which is why this book is a 3 heart rather than a 4 or a 5. There were times when I wished I could suggest to Ms. Deveraux to re-read her own Knight in Shining Armor and Remembrance to see why so many of her long-time fans fell in love with her books. The early books were such wonderful, magical stories and the past few, especially the Moonlight books something is missing.

Or rather, there is almost too much. At times I had the sense that perhaps she has so many more stories to tell and for some reason doesn't think she will have the chance to tell them so they are being lumped into one story. The Moonlight series books featured the main couple and in the last third of each another couple was introduced and there was a seeming rush to the altar. The same thing happened in TRUE LOVE. Some of the side romances, like Lexie and Toby’s were well done and I can see their stories coming to life in future books. Izzy’s, while her wedding was part of the story, seemed contrived at times. At the risk of a spoiler, why two trips out of town when one at the end would have been much more dramatic. There were a couple of times I wondered where the editor was—particularly when Wes asks Alix out in front of Jared and then 50 or so pages later Jared is surprised to hear Alix is going out with Wes. A few other times a subject was told one way and then in another chapter it went the other way.

I did enjoy the ghostly Caleb and the surprise element that is part of his story at the end. I have to admit I saw it coming but totally enjoyed it when it happened. I hope the paranormal elements that featured in TRUE LOVE are continued in the rest of the Nantucket Bride books. It was refreshing to read a ghost story with a deep and abiding romance that, as I said before, transcended time.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

SCARLET NIGHTS by Jude Deveraux

Publisher: Pocket Star
Date published: May 2011
ISBN: 978-1439107997
Women’s Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Obtained by Library


Mike Newland is and always has been, a man on a mission. From his difficult and often abusive childhood right on up through adulthood he’d been the one to rescue the damsel in distress. Be it his younger sister, Tess or a crime lord’s unsuspecting wife or the girl next door, Mike is there in a pinch. What Mike has never been is a man who stayed in one place or anyone’s life for very long. Oh he keeps in constant touch with Tess and is loyal to his police department. It’s the other people out there that he doesn’t get close to.

Sara Shaw is days away from her wedding to Greg Anders. To Sara, Greg is everything a woman should want in a man—handsome, successful, a total lady killer in terms of charm. What’s not to like? That’s something she wonders about everyone in her home town of Edilean, Virginia. Why can’t her family and friends see what a terrific guy he is?

A mother/son team of criminals have their sights set on Edilean and Sara is at the center of what they are after. The problem is, no one knows exactly what Sara has they want. To find out, Mike is sent by his department to Edilean, to find and protect Sara from what is sure to be murder. In an elaborate scheme to keep her safe while keeping the dangerousness of her situation from her Mike is on his way. What neither Mike nor Sara expect is their growing attraction for each other.

Where is Jude Deveraux and what have you done with her? Obviously SCARLET NIGHTS was a disappointment to me. The prose was nothing like the Jude Deveraux I have loved and read for almost as long as I’ve been reading romance. This is an entirely different voice; a flat voice. After LAVENDAR MORNING and DAYS OF GOLD, the first two books in her Edilean series I was so excited to see SCARLET NIGHTS. I was walking down an aisle at my local library, saw it and picked it up right away, asking my friend “how did I not know this book was out?”

I know Ms. Deveraux knows how to write a fabulous story. From THE DUCHESS to KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR to the first two books of this series she has penned mesmerizing and believable stories. So what happened? In SCARLET NIGHTS it is almost as if a beginner writer sat down with a list of the elements a romance is supposed to have and one by one ticked off those elements as she met them. If a character needs to go from point A to point C, they just bypass B with only a bit of narration about how they got there. The situations are implausible and despite a glowing thank you to the gentleman who helped with her research, the book does not seem well researched at all.

If you read the first two in this series you will want to take a look at SCARLET NIGHTS if only to catch up on well liked characters from the first two books as well as meet a few other, quite interesting new ones.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

DAYS OF GOLD by Jude Deveraux

Publisher: Atria Books
Date published: December 29, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4391-0794-2
Historical Romance
Hardcover
Obtained by: Publisher ARC
Reviewed by Gina


DAYS OF GOLD takes readers back to the start of the Harcourt family and how they came to live in Virginia.

At an age too young for the burden, Angus McTern becomes Laird of his clan. He is the McTern of McTern. Not only are the burdens of the clan laid at his doorstep, but he must navigate the muddy waters of their English landowner, Lawler, a drunkard who gambles away all he has. When Lawler’s niece, Edilean Talbot, arrives on McTern land the clan are all quickly besotted with her. That is all but Angus. He vows time and again he cares nothing for the spunky English lady brought into their midst.

Despite her best intentions Edilean finds herself at odds with Angus. With her own trials and tribulations she finds herself forced to turn to him for help. Angus swears he has no choice but to help Edilean and vows at each turn it will be the last thing he will do for her. Suddenly with a price on his head he finds himself on a ship, posing as Edilean’s husband, on his way to America. Once again he vows that as soon as they make land he will leave her behind. Yet there is something about Edilean that Angus cannot help but care for, indeed love. The question hangs, can he set aside his sense of duty and allow his heart to rule?

After reading Lavender Morning, the first in the Harcourt series, I was prepared to dig into either Sara or Tess’ story. I’m eager to see if in the present day they will get their man. What a delightful surprise to open the cover of DAYS OF GOLD to find one of my favorite reads, a historical romance. Knowing how things turned out for Edilean and Angus in no way diminished the suspenseful aspects of DAYS OF GOLD, and there is a flavor of suspense throughout the story. Jude Deveraux IS historical romance at its best.

I will admit there is one segment when Angus goes to work for the British Army. I had a sense of needing to explain how certain things happened such as his land acquisition and to bring some of the clan to America and those scenes were dropped in. If I were merely reading the book for enjoyment I would have skipped the entire segment and moved on with the story. As a reviewer I read each word and waited patiently for that portion to end. When it did I was rewarded with the resumption of a love story only Ms. Deveraux can tell. There are moments of sitting and looking into space at nothing while you imagine the scene unfolding. With a word or a phrase she transports you to a distant time and place.

You do not need to read LAVENDER MORNING to thoroughly enjoy DAYS OF GOLD. In fact, when recommending the series I would definitely say to read DAYS OF GOLD first. It gives away nothing of Lavender Morning’s story, rather it adds to the fullness. The family relationships in Lavender Morning made much more sense after reading DAYS OF GOLD. Don’t wait to put DAYS OF GOLD at the top of your reading list.

THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THIS BOOK. THIS IS AN OBJECTIVE UNBIASED REVIEW.

LAVENDER MORNING by Jude Deveraux

ISBN: 978-0-74343720-2
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 2009
Women’s Fiction
Hardcover
Reviewed by Gina


Jocelyn (“Joce”) Minton’s life has held a series of twists and turns that continually brought her back to one special person, Edilean (“Edi”) Harcourt. The first few years of her life were stable and she was held firmly in the bosom of her mother and father. When her mother tragically dies, Joce is left adrift. Her father returns to his roots, remarries and quickly provides Joce with twin sisters who Joce aptly refers to as “the Steps.” Not all that different from Cinderella’s wicked step-sisters, Ashley and Bell thrive on making Joce’s life miserable. The one bright spot is their neighbor, Edi. At Edi’s house Joce has books, life lessons, and loving arms to hold and support her. When Edi dies, Joce is once again adrift in a world where she feels so alone. Shortly after the reading of Edi’s will, Joce’s world falls further apart because the woman she thought she knew held secrets that began in WWII and continue to this day.

Left with Edi’s house, and not the one in Boca Raton where they lived, but off in Edilean, Virginia, up the road from Williamsburg, Joce packs up her life and moves to the Harcourt family manor. Edi did not die without making further provisions for her treasured friend. In her last letter to Joce she tells her she has found the perfect man for her—Ramsey McDowell, an attorney in Edilean. What Joce finds are more secrets to unravel. But she finds so much more, not the least of which are good friends and the love of a lifetime.

Say the name Jude Deveraux to any reader, particularly a romance reader and you will get a smile coupled with the words, “I loved Knight In Shining Armor”, referring while not to her first, but definitely perhaps her most memorable. I am among those readers who read and re-read that wonderful story over and over. I believe it was the first time travel I read and definitely the one that hooked me on the genre. There is a flavor of that story, of the past blending with the present, in LAVENDER MORNING. One is not linked in any way to the other. It is only the essence of a long ago love finding its place in the present. It has been fascinating to follow Ms. Deveraux’ thirty-two year writing career and to be delighted with each new story.

I had some problems with LAVENDER MORNING, mainly in following who was related to who—not all that different from what Joce experiences when she first arrives in Edilean and begins to encounter the multitude of cousins. Those cousins and their close family ties provides some of the best humor in the story. The relationships are well done. However, after about ninety pages I created a score card/family tree for myself so I could keep track of Luke, Ramsey, Sara and the other families who come into Joce’s life.

I liked the characters, especially Sara and Tess. So different and each with their own story to tell. Tess has a secret, she’s up to something, the question is what? Sara is headed for heartbreak, or is she? Their stories will unfold in future tales which I look forward to.

LAVENDER MORNING is not a quick read. It is the kind of book you take on vacation or enjoy over a long, long weekend because there is so much depth to it. You become absorbed in the characters and the story they are telling you.