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Liked It “This is the best Historical Romance I've read in quite a while. It has some very interesting characters in it and it's placed, at least initially, in India in 1853, which is the novel's most original feature. The worldbuilding is great, besides. |
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“http://books-forlife.blogspot.com/2009/03/duke-of-shadows-by-meredith-duran.html
Blodeuedd F wrote this review Friday, March 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Check it out”“This is the best Historical Romance I've read in quite a while. It has some very interesting characters in it and it's placed, at least initially, in India in 1853, which is the novel's most original feature. The worldbuilding is great, besides.
Selene wrote this review Saturday, February 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This novel is also darker than a lot of Romance (like some of Kinsale's novels--in fact, I would recommend it to her fans), which is an absolute plus for me.
The writing is head and shoulders above most Romance novels. The dialogue is wonderful.
I am tempted to give the novel five stars, but in the end I decided on four because even though the second half of the novel is wonderful and engaging, it follows in some tried and true footsteps. However, Duran manages to bring even these Romance cliches to life in a believable fashion. Four stars.”
“I loved the first part of this book with the adventure in India. I did feel it lacked the luster of the first part in the second part of the story. I did like it but it almost felt like to two different stories instead of one. Emma's attitude in the second part almost ruined that book for me. All in all and entertaining read though.”
Sarahann wrote this review Tuesday, January 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Cindy W's Buried Treasure
AAR Group Shelf wrote this review Tuesday, August 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I read this book because I wanted to get a PBS credit, and the wish list for it was dwindling. I bought the book from all they hype almost 6 months ago, the winner of an online contest got a book deal and I wanted to check it out. I’ve tried to start this book 3 times. Once I started reading the book, I was immediately transported to English influenced India. The description of India was impressive, the political struggle of this time, was one that I felt deep down, I knew what side I was on, but was torn as the h/h were. Though this book has a lot of war in it, I felt like I was reading this wonderful adventure about survival. First, from an awful betrothal, to a whirlwind love, to life, to dealing with demons of the past. While I feel that the hero does not act himself for a little while, it's not enough to bump the review to a 4. I can recommend this book highly! I emailed Ms. Duran and she has 2 books coming out next summer. You can bet, I will be there buying them.”
“I read this book because I wanted to get a PBS credit, and the wish list for it was dwindling. I bought the book from all they hype almost 6 months ago, the winner of an online contest got a book deal and I wanted to check it out. I’ve tried to start this book 3 times. Once I started reading the book, I was immediately transported to English influenced India. The description of India was impressive, the political struggle of this time, was one that I felt deep down, I knew what side I was on, but was torn as the h/h were. Though this book has a lot of war in it, I felt like I was reading this wonderful adventure about survival. First, from an awful betrothal, to a whirlwind love, to life, to dealing with demons of the past. While I feel that the hero does not act himself for a little while, it's not enough to bump the review to a 4. I can recommend this book highly! I emailed Ms. Duran and she has 2 books coming out next summer. You can bet, I will be there buying them.
Cindy ♥ W wrote this review Monday, August 25 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“I enjoyed this story a lot. It encompasses a Huge length of time, moves from India to England, with traumatic events in the middle. In fact, the heroine goes through a lot of traumatic events, most of which (but not all) take place off stage. In the opening, she's been rescued from a shipwreck by a Dutch merchantman, which has sullied her reputation. However, the fiance she was coming to India to meet is still willing to marry her. She's not so sure she wants to marry him any more, though. She doesn't like the way he's acting in India. She likes this other man, heir to a duchy despite being half Indian, better. He's much more interesting. Then the Sepoy Mutiny breaks out, and the villain fiance abandons the heroine, the hero rescues her, and they fall in love on the road. Before going back to check on his Indian relatives, he takes her to a place he thinks is safe--but it's not. The heroine has to flee before he can return, and bad things happen, messing them both up. He thinks she's dead. She knows he's not, but she blames him for not finding her. And she's purging her memories by painting them. This is an intense story that feels very compressed--as if so much of the story was left out--and yet, if it was all included, the book would be 1000 pages long, probably. It's not perfect, but it is darn good. I liked it a lot. ”
Gail Dayton wrote this review Friday, August 8 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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