Rating: 
Summary: Forbidden Magic - Truly Magical
Review: I don't know what the other reviewers were reading because I found this book delightful and quite, to the point, magical! I found Sax to be absolutely delightful, sexy, fun, and needy. I found Meg to be charming and also needy. They each saved one another. The entire household was a blast, including and especially the pets! The dialog just so spicy, sensual and fun! I'm wondering if these other people read the same book as I did!Granted, I am a big FAN of Jo Beverley, but I truly enjoyed this Regency romp and was sorry to see it end! Maybe the sister Laura's story could come next? Definitely a keeper!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I give this book one star only because of the following few good points: (1) Sax is extremely handsome and falls head over heals for "plain" Meg; (2) Sax has a soft heart and loves his pet who has a deformed mouth and employs servants who have physical or other problems. I can think of nothing more that is positive about this story. When the characters finally have sex (I can't construe it as making love), it is accompanied by ridiculously inane conversation. With about 40 pages to go, I cared so little for the characters that I put the book down, will never finish it, and have not the slightest curiosity regarding its ending. For beautiful stories with well-developed plots and characters, read the author's _The Shattered Rose_, _Dark Champion_, and _Lord of Midnight_.
Rating: 
Summary: My first true regency historical will be here soon!
Review: I have three RITA awards for regency romance, and am in the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame for regency. I've even been given the Romantic Times Award for Regency Historical. Despite this, I consider this my first real regency historical romance. The Earl of Saxonhurst is a handsome charmer with a dark secret and a need for a bride. Tomorrow. Meg Gillingham is a no-nonsense woman at her wit's end. If she doesn't do something, she and her four younger siblings will be out in the winter streets. Against her will, she uses an ancient, lewd, family treasure to ask for help. It comes in the form of an overwhelming stranger, an earl no less, offering everything she wants if she'll only marry him tomorrow. Magic had provided a miracle, but magic always comes at a price.
Rating:
Summary: Magical, spellbinding, and absolutely fabulous!
Review: I love romance, but most of the novels out now a days are trashy and are all about copulation. Forbidden Magic was well done, and actually had a story. It was a woderful mix of magic, love and passion. Meg is a charming character full of life and spunk from her naughty undergarments to her shy demur way. I found Sax to be a marvlous character, with his temper and his love for stray unwanted animals. He is quite eccentric and just what I would want in a husband. Mrs. Beverly did a fabulous job on this story and I throughly recomend it. This was the first book I've read writen by Mrs. Beverly and you can be sure that it will not be the last!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, what a hero!
Review: I love Sax. Sax, if you ever drop by my place, come have a chocolate chip ice cream on me! Having said that, I want to ask Sax what on earth he sees in that heroine. This woman seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown all the time. She's always worrying, panicking, and always keeping every problems she face to herself, because she fears Sax will be harmed by the villian. Gee. This is the second Beverley I've read (the other "My Lady Notorious") which has heroines who recklessly keep dangerous secrets to herself because she doesn't want to hurt the ones she love, et cetera, and in doing so, makes everything worse and more tortured reading on my part. If this is the trend of this author's heroines, I'll pass. Never can stand them martyr-type people.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing - not what I'd expect from Beverley
Review: I really did not like this book at all, and had great difficulty finishing it. Unlike other Beverley books - the Malloren series, and the first two Company of Rogues books - the characters did not capture my imagination, and I ended the book not really caring about what happened to any of them. Meg, in many respects, seemed a sensible woman at first, but by the time she ran to Saxonhurst's grandmother, from whom she knew very well he was estranged and didn't want anything to do with, I wondered what had got into her. She knew exactly how Saxonhurst (I did not like the nickname 'Sax') felt about the Dowager, and it made no sense whatsoever that she would ask the woman for help. Unlike some other reviewers, I never grew to like Saxonhurst, which made it difficult to enjoy the book. I found his habit of smashing things irritating rather than amusing. Not being a great fan of the supernatural, I found the 'sheelagh-ma-gig' element of the plot a complete turn-off. Beverley could easily have written this book without resorting to the device of a 'magic stone'. I know I would have enjoyed the book far more without it. However, equally I was not convinced by the Dowager; such an irredeemably evil person seems simply too one-dimensional to be true. I found that part of the book where we learn the full extent of the Dowager's actions to be beyond credulity. Ms Beverley, you're allowed one aberration; now can we have more Company of Rogues books, and more heroes like Bey Malloren, please?
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully eccentric characters
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! So many romance novels are formula-following treks down what has already been written. This book showed us something different. A little flash of ancient magic and one of the most bizarre casts of characters I have ever seen in a romance novel. From the maid, Susie, with an eye patch to the footman, Clarence, with his twisted foot - Saxonhurst likes to bring the neglected people of society into his world. And it doesn't stop at people. He also has a misogynistic parrot, Knox, and a cowardly but permanently snarling dog, Brak. Even the hero, Saxonhurst, has his foibles. Beyond his penchant for surrounding himself with the most unlikely group of people and animals, he is a generous, kind-hearted soul -- who has a need for smashing items in his bedchambers when the "rages" come upon him. And his staff search all of London for items for him to break...and even bet on which item is to be destroyed next. How can you not be interested in what this group of characters will fall into next? The characters that populate this book are wonderfully eccentric and bizarre. They serve to elevate the plot from somewhat expected to simply delightful - from beginning to end. I've not read anything else by this author, but this book completely captured me and made me care about all who populated Sax's world. I can't wait to see if more of her books have this degree of characterization.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Unusual, Sensual
Review: I'm intrigued by the vastly differing opinions reflected in the reviews for this book. I think it's because different people read romance for different reasons. Me, I read for light fun and amusement, having done enough hard thinking by the end of a day's work. This is not to say that I read mindlessly - I still demand that my books, even romances, be well-written (i.e. no cliches, no poor prose, no dialogue which goes "clunk" onto the floor, please), and have basic integrity (i.e. be historically accurate and have characters and stories which don't require me to suspend too much disbelief). This book satisfies these requirements. It has these and the basic ingredients of a good romance (adversity, rescue therefrom, romancing, and so forth). Best of all, it has the wit to make me smile - the dialogue sparkles, there are many clever turns of phrase, and a strong sense of fun. I also like the fact that the plot doesn't runs along bog-standard melodramatic lines, but has enough eccentricity (off-centredness) to hold my interest, and some nice period touches too. A happy bonus is that the characters are likeable and warm (though I agree the grandmother is a dull villainess, she is too minor a character for this to bother me), and most of all charming and witty. Sax wins me over by his not taking himself too seriously and his thoroughgoing niceness (which his aristocratic insouciance saves from preciousness) and Meg is an honest woman of wit, though (justifiably, I think) a tad insecure and confused. Their humour makes them irresistable to me. I'm not one for the tortured and heartless knight who is miraculously redeemed by the love of a good woman (Sax is patently a kind man so him taking to unassuming Meg doesn't seem incredible to me), nor for the Great Trial of Love (mercifully the inevitable lovers' misunderstandings weren't over-blown). I like my romance with a light touch. If I wanted tormented souls, I'd read Thomas Hardy. If I wanted to be swept off my feet, I'd turn to Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond. If I wanted absolute period authenticity and sharp social comment, I'd pick up a Jane Austen. If I wanted to improve my mind, or if I wanted an unpredictable plot, I wouldn't turn to a romance! When I just want to be amused and entertained, without having my intelligence insulted, this book works well for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Sparkling wit which works for me ...
Review: I'm intrigued by the vastly differing opinions reflected in the reviews for this book. I think it's because different people read romance for different reasons. Me, I read for light fun and amusement, having done enough hard thinking by the end of a day's work. This is not to say that I read mindlessly - I still demand that my books, even romances, be well-written (i.e. no cliches, no poor prose, no dialogue which goes "clunk" onto the floor, please), and have basic integrity (i.e. be historically accurate and have characters and stories which don't require me to suspend too much disbelief). This book satisfies these requirements. It has these and the basic ingredients of a good romance (adversity, rescue therefrom, romancing, and so forth). Best of all, it has the wit to make me smile - the dialogue sparkles, there are many clever turns of phrase, and a strong sense of fun. I also like the fact that the plot doesn't runs along bog-standard melodramatic lines, but has enough eccentricity (off-centredness) to hold my interest, and some nice period touches too. A happy bonus is that the characters are likeable and warm (though I agree the grandmother is a dull villainess, she is too minor a character for this to bother me), and most of all charming and witty. Sax wins me over by his not taking himself too seriously and his thoroughgoing niceness (which his aristocratic insouciance saves from preciousness) and Meg is an honest woman of wit, though (justifiably, I think) a tad insecure and confused. Their humour makes them irresistable to me. I'm not one for the tortured and heartless knight who is miraculously redeemed by the love of a good woman (Sax is patently a kind man so him taking to unassuming Meg doesn't seem incredible to me), nor for the Great Trial of Love (mercifully the inevitable lovers' misunderstandings weren't over-blown). I like my romance with a light touch. If I wanted tormented souls, I'd read Thomas Hardy. If I wanted to be swept off my feet, I'd turn to Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond. If I wanted absolute period authenticity and sharp social comment, I'd pick up a Jane Austen. If I wanted to improve my mind, or if I wanted an unpredictable plot, I wouldn't turn to a romance! When I just want to be amused and entertained, without having my intelligence insulted, this book works well for me.
Rating:
Summary: Great!Great!and Great
Review: It was a very well written Xmas story, sad and serious at times, funny at times, lots of suspense and love. Just the way every book should be! The animals were an added bonus. I had the chance to see the sheelag-ma-gig statue on the web site, before I read the story. Good book, and I knew I was in for a real treat when the book would become available. It would be nice to read another historical romance soon. Thanks Jo.
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