Rating: 
Summary: engaging, fast read
Review: I loved KISSING THE COUNTESS, which reads faster than some of King's previous novels. The plot is strong and straightforward, without a lot of unnecessary complications, and the characters are dynamic, real, and engaging. Catriona, the Highland minister's daughter who is dedicating her life to the welfare of her beloved Highlands, and Evan, the Highland-born, Lowland-raised earl who is not sure what he should do with his inherited property, quickly endeared themselves to me. The author includes some very interesting detail about an unusual subject, mountain climbing in Victorian times. You can feel the cold winds on your face, you can feel the effort it takes to climb a true Highland mountain, and you feel the reward of the beauty and grandeur when the top is reached. Very exciting and unusual in a romance. The characters, as always in a King novel, seemed very real to me, with very real emotions and reactions. Take any King hero or heroine, and you will find a friend you wish you had for yourself. These people are hard to leave at the end of the story, and I find myself thinking about them long afterward. For me, that is the hallmark of a good romance.
Susan King is one of the best. WHile I prefer her medievals, that may just be me, I have very much enjoyed her Victorian series too, and I eagerly look forward to anything she writes.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Susan King
Review: I truly enjoyed this book-it was standard Susan King material. You felt as if you were on that mountain top and you felt the cold right along with them. The scenery and the history behind the story and the mountain climbing was a special addition to her tales as her research always is. The hero/heroine had a beautiful relationship that you yearned for throughout the story. I still feel that Taming the Heiress was the best of the trilogy, but this comes a close second.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Susan King
Review: I truly enjoyed this book-it was standard Susan King material. You felt as if you were on that mountain top and you felt the cold right along with them. The scenery and the history behind the story and the mountain climbing was a special addition to her tales as her research always is. The hero/heroine had a beautiful relationship that you yearned for throughout the story. I still feel that Taming the Heiress was the best of the trilogy, but this comes a close second.
Rating:
Summary: engaging historical romance
Review: In 1859, Evan Mackenzie arrives at his Scottish earldom without any fanfare. He loves the area, but has not been back in a decade since his mom walked out on his father. Now inheriting the Kildonan keep, he hopes to retract some of the practices that hurt the estates, but first he must pay off debts accrued by his father. He plans to use his engineering salary to do so.While climbing down a mountainside a storm hits. Evan falls and passerby Catriona MacConn saves his life. However, her father finds them in a compromised position though nothing happened and they were just trying to stay warm during the freezing night. He offers to marry her, but she is wary especially when she learns he is the new earl. After she becomes his countess, they become better acquainted, and fall in love. However, she has a secret quest and he struggles with guilt from a tragic bridge disaster that he worked on so their marriage remains on shaky ground and could implode at any moment KISSING THE COUNTESS is an engaging historical romance starring two charming lead protagonists who on the surface seem wrong for each other, but deep inside make a perfect match. The story line engages the audience from the moment Catriona drags Evan to a flimsy shelter. The lead couple is a delight and her brother is a solid support player, but her henpecked father and her henpecking aunt are a bit irritating with their holier than thou pronouncements. Still Susan King shows why she is highly regarded by sub-genre fans with this strong tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: engaging historical romance
Review: In 1859, Evan Mackenzie arrives at his Scottish earldom without any fanfare. He loves the area, but has not been back in a decade since his mom walked out on his father. Now inheriting the Kildonan keep, he hopes to retract some of the practices that hurt the estates, but first he must pay off debts accrued by his father. He plans to use his engineering salary to do so. While climbing down a mountainside a storm hits. Evan falls and passerby Catriona MacConn saves his life. However, her father finds them in a compromised position though nothing happened and they were just trying to stay warm during the freezing night. He offers to marry her, but she is wary especially when she learns he is the new earl. After she becomes his countess, they become better acquainted, and fall in love. However, she has a secret quest and he struggles with guilt from a tragic bridge disaster that he worked on so their marriage remains on shaky ground and could implode at any moment KISSING THE COUNTESS is an engaging historical romance starring two charming lead protagonists who on the surface seem wrong for each other, but deep inside make a perfect match. The story line engages the audience from the moment Catriona drags Evan to a flimsy shelter. The lead couple is a delight and her brother is a solid support player, but her henpecked father and her henpecking aunt are a bit irritating with their holier than thou pronouncements. Still Susan King shows why she is highly regarded by sub-genre fans with this strong tale. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Delightful from beginning to end!
Review: KISSING THE COUNTESS has a very special corner of my heart taken. What solace for myself and my mom while we care for my very ill sister.
We both agree it was a favorite of Susan King's work (we're both big fans) with a hero to die for (and Catriona almost does by the end, bless her heart!). Mom cautions though, that it's NOT a book you can go to bed with saying, "one more chapter and I'll turn off the light and get to sleep!" Catronia was so interesting, both in her physical type and complexity. Her ties to her roots, the land, and her foregone concluded fate as a Plain Girl provided much inner conflict and much to love in her brave and generous nature. And I never thought Evan less strong for his own struggles with survivor's guilt and his own less-than-perfect family ties. Wow, did KISSING THE COUNTESS get me longing for the Highlands and mountain climbing, even without the quest for the book's fairy crystal. Supporting characters like the heroine's brother and Mother Flora lept off the page. Sexy and evocative use of dress and cultural mores! The English class system along with some casual racism made the story full of painless history as well as a beautiful romance between opposites. Thanks so much to Susan King for all the joy she brought to my mom and me at this very trying time for our family. This wonderful author is the fairy crystal to us.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful from beginning to end!
Review: KISSING THE COUNTESS has a very special corner of my heart taken. What solace for myself and my mom while we care for my very ill sister.
We both agree it was a favorite of Susan King's work (we're both big fans) with a hero to die for (and Catriona almost does by the end, bless her heart!). Mom cautions though, that it's NOT a book you can go to bed with saying, "one more chapter and I'll turn off the light and get to sleep!" Catronia was so interesting, both in her physical type and complexity. Her ties to her roots, the land, and her foregone concluded fate as a Plain Girl provided much inner conflict and much to love in her brave and generous nature. And I never thought Evan less strong for his own struggles with survivor's guilt and his own less-than-perfect family ties. Wow, did KISSING THE COUNTESS get me longing for the Highlands and mountain climbing, even without the quest for the book's fairy crystal. Supporting characters like the heroine's brother and Mother Flora lept off the page. Sexy and evocative use of dress and cultural mores! The English class system along with some casual racism made the story full of painless history as well as a beautiful romance between opposites. Thanks so much to Susan King for all the joy she brought to my mom and me at this very trying time for our family. This wonderful author is the fairy crystal to us.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable
Review: Like others in the series, this novel delves into details about the hero's life (in this case, his hobby of mountain climbing); that can sometimes cause the pace to drag a bit. The aunt & father were very nearly stereotypes, as was the hero's now-deceased father until the end. Appearances by lead characters from other books (friends of Evan's) do not make any kind of splash here--they just show up and have almost no personality (when they were very intriguing in their own books).
Otherwise, however, the book was a very good read with strong leading characters and a few interesting secondary ones, especicially Catriona's brother and some of the climbers. Mores and biases add to the historical detail, and both tension and emotion are usually kept at just the right level. It's a slow burgeoning of a relationship that starts off suddenly but takes time and understanding to grow into sometimes more than attraction...a situation that makes for a more realistic relationship.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not one of S.K's better books
Review: The story was fine, but it was too choppy and didn't go from one thought or subject to the next very smoothly. And like so many other S.K. novels, this one was almost more about learning how to mountain-climb than a love story. Also, the appearance of characters (the men) from other S.K. books have yet to stand out enough to make me want to rush out and buy that story. I find I do it because of who the author is. I will grab any S.K. book I see, even though I'm sometimes disappointed. In this particular case, Sir Aedan MacBride (Waking the Princess) was an outstanding character, but you'd never get that from his appearance in this book. I just happened to have read that one first.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not one of S.K's better books
Review: this book is the worst of the 3 in this trilogy. I felt nothing when i read it. i like to hike, but the details of rock climbing totally detracted from this story. i could hardly wait until i was done (i cant stand to start a book and not finish it. i keep thinking there has to be some redeeming value to it). her earlier books are so much better (the swan maiden, etc.). it always seems to happen with good authors. once they attain some popularity, their publishers decide it is time they write about a different venue, because the populace seems to be losing interest. once the author makes an effort to write in that dif. venue, they fail. their sparkle disappears.
|
