Give All to Love

Rating:
Summary: Dull, forgettable
Review: This Veryan contains another premise semi-familiar to any fan of Heyer. Gentleman rescues waif of indeterminate age and background and raises her as his ward; discovers that she's older than he thought she was; falls in love with her, but has too much of a sense of propriety to tell her of his feelings.

That's the main story here, but there's a lot more to it besides. This is the second Veryan I've read (so far I haven't really seen reason to find more), and I had not read the Sanguinet series referred to by the first reviewer here. Thus so many of the characters who will be familiar to readers of the series were not so to me, and their presence in the book seemed distracting and often confusing. Yet again, may I issue a plea to publishers to *tell* readers when a book is part of a series???

Apart from the characters from other books, I found Veryan's attempts at humour embarrassing. In particular, Josie's party was toe-curling, especially when King George IV arrived out of the blue. Puh-lease!

Other than that, the romance element was substantially missing here. We knew that Alain loved Josie, but only because his close friends accused him of wanting her for himself and he didn't deny it. We certainly didn't know how Josie felt! Although there were scenes written from Josie's POV, her feelings were never made clear in any sense. Sure, we could tell that she cared for Alain, but as a ward or a would-be lover? Who knows?

The best part of the book is the point where Alain goes to the surgeon (no further spoilers here); this is a very poignant part, and perhaps merits the book 2.5 stars. Other than that, I would call this a one-time, don't-much-care-how-it-ends read.

Rating:
Summary: Wraps Up All The Loose Ends
Review: Those readers familiar with Patricia Veryan's excellent, underrated Sanguinet series will probably have wondered what exactly happened to many of the characters after what appeared to be the finale, "Sanguinet's Crown." In this book, Veryan answers those questions. The story focuses mainly upon the relationship between Josie Storm and her guardian, Alain Devinish. When last we saw them in "Sanguinet's Crown," Josie was a little foundling whose age could have been anywhere between eight and twelve. This book occurs seven years later. Josie is a young lady now whose charming personality captivates almost everyone she meets. She wishes some of that charm would work on her guardian, but unfortunately he shows no sign of returning her very grown-up kind of love, instead treating her as a child. Is Dev still pining over his lost love, Yolande, who married his cousin? Will Josie be able to elude the determined pursuit of her many beaux? Will the youngest Sanguinet brother, Guy, ever be granted an entre into Polite Society?

This book is, as is the case with all Veryans, extremely well written with impeccable characterization. The story is engrossing but does not deal with as heavy subject matter as the previous books in the series. It's a great read, but I recommend reading the other books first to get the history behind the relationships; otherwise you'll be missing out on the full experience!

Rating:
Summary: Wraps Up All The Loose Ends
Review: Those readers familiar with Patricia Veryan's excellent, underrated Sanguinet series will probably have wondered what exactly happened to many of the characters after what appeared to be the finale, "Sanguinet's Crown." In this book, Veryan answers those questions. The story focuses mainly upon the relationship between Josie Storm and her guardian, Alain Devinish. When last we saw them in "Sanguinet's Crown," Josie was a little foundling whose age could have been anywhere between eight and twelve. This book occurs seven years later. Josie is a young lady now whose charming personality captivates almost everyone she meets. She wishes some of that charm would work on her guardian, but unfortunately he shows no sign of returning her very grown-up kind of love, instead treating her as a child. Is Dev still pining over his lost love, Yolande, who married his cousin? Will Josie be able to elude the determined pursuit of her many beaux? Will the youngest Sanguinet brother, Guy, ever be granted an entre into Polite Society?

This book is, as is the case with all Veryans, extremely well written with impeccable characterization. The story is engrossing but does not deal with as heavy subject matter as the previous books in the series. It's a great read, but I recommend reading the other books first to get the history behind the relationships; otherwise you'll be missing out on the full experience!