A Gentleman's PromiseScandalous Series #1
Release Date: November 18, 2013
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Kindle Freebie
Rating: 3 Bookworms
Synopsis
Against her better judgement, Charlotte King bows to family duty and marries a man who is not as he seems. Now trapped in a marriage of the worst kind, her life is an endless cycle of pain and fear. That is until Lord Helsing shows her another way to live...
Lord Mason Helsing walked away from the one woman he'd always cared for, but upon returning to London, he finds Charlotte is in a loveless and cruel marriage. Should he throw away the principles by which he lives and follow a different path than he ought?
But divorce for Charlotte means ruination. And Mason is relied upon to marry well and continue his family. Can they overcome thr strictures of society and live the life they've always wanted? Or will they bow to pressure and do as society deems appropriate?
**I read A Gentleman's Promise as part of Lexxie @Unconventional Book Views' COYER 3 Historical Romances in 3 Weeks Mini-Challenge.**
A Gentleman's Promise was a pretty compelling read. I felt it was fairly realistic in it's portrayal of marriage in the 1800's - where a woman would be stuck in a marriage because her family couldn't withstand the scandal of divorce. But there were other parts I felt were unrealistic portrayals.
Charlotte seemed a typical young woman - bewitched by Lord Remmick's charm. Her heart did belong to someone else - but she though that was a dead-end. By the time she began having misgivings about the arrangement with Lord Remmick, it was too late.
Lord Remmick was a despicable man. The way he treated his wife, and women in general, was disgusting. There was nothing redeeming about him.
Lord Helsing was infatuated with Charlotte but didn't make his intentions known in time. He did offer a gentle warning about Lord Remmick, but was rebuffed. He left London, unable to deal with Charlotte's marriage mistake, but returns when he hears that she may be unhappily married.
As I said, this was a fairly compelling read. The reasons I'm not giving it a higher rating are thus:
- Some of the dialog didn't seem period to me - I don't believe a Regency-era woman would have said "sleep with me"..."lie with me" maybe, but...
- Transitions weren't smooth in places, and it affected the pacing.
- Events happened too quickly for me to really feel the connection between Charlotte and Lord Helsing
- The change in Charlotte wasn't explained so it was confusing (I'm being vague so as not to spoil things)
I think my issues were a result of this being a novella, and therefore too few pages. I would have enjoyed a longer length for the character development. I did like the story and description of London life though, so I will read Ms. Gill again.
It's too bad the story literally fell a little short for you, Brandee! I have the same trouble with novellas, as you know, often I'm just left feeling the story isn't completely finished, and would have enjoyed it more if there was just a little more.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the story still appealed to you though :) To feel completely immersed in the story and think it's realistic is a pretty good point in favor of A Gentleman's Promise, though :) Great review, my dear.
I hope you're going to have a peaceful and good weekend. AND, only 95 more days until RT ;)
*BIG HUGS*
I'm particular with dialogue in histrom too. That's part of the allure for me, they were so passive aggressive during that time that you have to pay close attention to what they're NOT saying to really get it. Plus I love to expand my vocabulary and they do have a better grasp of the language back then. LOL
ReplyDeleteoh dang it sounds like this book would have benefited from being a full novel.
ReplyDeleteI feel kind of intrigued by this! Maybe might check it out.
ReplyDeleteI like an occasional historical romance, and actually was intrigued with the synopsis-until I read you review. Thanks for the honest review, because I do notice wrong word usage, or even the use of modern names in historical books. I think I would be paying more attention to that then to the actual story.
ReplyDeleteNovellas can sometimes be too rushed and you are unable to get the full grasp of the characters, so I get your issues with this book. Nice review Brandee!
ReplyDeleteNaomi @ Nomi’s Paranormal Palace
It sounds good that the protrayal of marriage was realistic, although it's a bit sad other parts where a bit unrealistic. I haven't read a lot of historical romances yet, but that seems like one of the things that will be important for me. If you're going to write a historical novel, doing your research seems really important. I am happy to hear you still enjoyed it despite some of your issues with it :).
ReplyDeleteYeah, this was hit and miss for me. I think it suffered from my having recently read Donna Cummings. *ha*
ReplyDeleteI hope you're enjoying your weekend, Lexxie. It's snowing here. Yay! And we're down to 80 days til RT! Can you believe it? *BIG HUGS*
I'm glad I'm not the only one, Braine. And I like expanding my vocabularly too! ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it really would've, Lily.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy it if you do, Laura!
ReplyDeleteIt was still a good read, Lorna. There were just things about it that bothered me. It was ironic that Gill did a great job in certain respects to staying true to the period and then in others, not. But the story was good for the most part.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Naomi. It really was a compelling story - there were just a few things that detracted from it...and a longer length probably wouldn't have been a good thing.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was ironic really, Lola. I think I might check out the next in the series - if it has the same issues, I'll give up. But you never know...she may get it all right.
ReplyDelete