Once and Always

Rating:
Summary: A Bit Disappointed
Review: I loved "Kingdom of Dreams" and "Whitney, My Love," so I dove into this book expecting great things, especially since it came so highly recommended by McNaught fans. I have to say, I was sorely disappointed. To be sure, the writing was good and it contained McNaught's flair for story telling. But the characters really let me down.

I found the hero, Jason Fielding, to be far too much of a jerk for me to ever understand why the heroine would love such a man. I understand he had a tortured past, and that did much to explain his general attitude. But throughout the story he was consistently cruel and indifferent - downright mean - to Victoria. I never saw him softening or doing anything that indicated he was anything more than a hardened, cynical alpha-male. It wasn't until the very end that he expressed any indication that he cared for her at all. Too, we were not afforded enough glimpses into his thought processes to believe he was falling in love with her. I never felt that he fought against a growing attraction - from what I saw through his actions and treatment of Victoria, he really didn't love her at all until the very end.

Too, I didn't like that Jason continued his relationship with his mistress after he'd met Victoria. Perhaps that would have helped me buy into the premise that he loved Victoria - if he would have lost all desire for other women.

And since I found Jason hard to like, much less love, I didn't much respect Victoria. She was a little too perfect - a little too understanding and accepting of his cruel treatment of her. Sure, he took her in and bought her clothes, but that didn't give him the right to treat her the way he did. Their wedding night was a true horror, and I had a hard time understanding how Victoria would ever get over her fears enough to sleep with him again. Since Jason never did much to earn her love, I found Victoria's feelings for him baffling.

Also, I am getting a bit tired of some of the repeated plot contrivances McNaught uses. The young ingenue who becomes the darling of the British ton. The endless misunderstandings that cause both the hero and heroine to act in loathsome ways towards each other. In this story, especially, I was annoyed by Jason's lack of understanding of Victoria's innocence and his willingness to believe she wasn't a virgin. And in the end, when Victoria learned of her cousin Charles' treachery, she instantly condemned Jason despite Charles telling her that Jason had no hand in it.

My final complaint was the ending. All of the sudden, after one tiny argument in the scheme of their relationship, Jason does a 180 degree turn and is confessing his love for her. He'd shown her no affection for the first 7/8ths of the book but suddenly became a doting husband. I felt like McNaught was nearing her word count and realized she was running out of pages and needed to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

I did like Jason's reaction when he believed Victoria to be dead - it was the only time in the story when I got a glimpse as to the depth of his feelings for her. And I did like that Victoria didn't require pages of convincing to believe that he had no hand in the misunderstanding with Andrew.

All in all, this one was not my favorite McNaught. I'll stick with "Kingdom of Dreams".

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This is a great romance novel that will warm your heart and make you believe in the power of love when you finish the book. Yes, it's corny, but Judith McNaught's books do that to you, especially this one. The love that Jason and Victoria share are realistic and the obstacles they overcome are also very realistic, which just strenghthens their bond. The process that they go through to solidify their love is described with such heartwrenching detail and complexity. In short, you end up believing in their love for each other, in their future. From the moment Jason and Victoria enter the pages of this book, in their separate worlds, they're such interesting individuals you immediately want to know more about them and can't wait for them to meet and clash their wills with each other (because it's obviously inevitable when you consider their different personalities) and eventually realize they're perfect for each other and fall in love.

Jason is a gorgeous hero, cold and hard on the outside but he's really hiding a warm human being on the inside because of his cruel upbringing. Victoria is also as perfect a heroine as I can conjure up myself, she's so strong and determined yet always managing to be sweet and tender. She, and only she, is capable of healing Jason. My favorite parts of the book would have to be that after they're married and he's cold to her because she is too naive to understand what he really wants (what all men want, really) and then, after she gets valuable advice, tries to 'seduce' him. JM always manages to make her scenes so funny and yet so poignant at the same time. Then, AfTERWARDS, when they are married in every sense of the word, Jason still doesn't accept Victoria fully and she tries to make him jealous and pay attention to her. I thought the ways that she tried to do so were soo cute and funny and smart, and the way Jason reacts just makes my heart wrench. They're just too perfect for each other!! I love it when Jason is trying so hard to be impassive and unemotional but his efforts all come to nothing as sweet natured Victoria always manages to bring his emotions to a boiling point and stirs up the cold world he's created for himself. When he's passionate, when he's tender, when he's jealous, when he's angry, all these emotions come out in their purest, truest form because of Victoria. The reasons they love each other, SHOULD love each other, become clear as the book unfolds...it's such a delightful read.

There are, of course, faults with all books, and in this one I can only find two small one. The first is the role that Uncle Charles play, I find that he's too weak a supporting character and hard to believe he would take it so complacently when Jason rides roughshod over him. The second is the way the novel ends. I WANT MORE!!! The way it ends is so abrupt and I don't fully understand Victoria's reactions, first when Andrew comes back and confronts her, and then after she finds out everyone thought she was dead. So many questions are not fully resolved. Is she still in love with Andrew? Does she regret marrying Jason? Is she still mad with Jason? The ending doesn't really spell all of that out, though of course you know she loves Jason wholedheartedly. But what happened to Andrew and how does Jason deal with this whole Andrew thing? I think we the readers should have more answers than the final scenes provides us.

But overall this book is one of the sweetest, most romantic and compelling novels I've ever read. It should deserve five stars just because one scene actually brought tears to my eyes, and that rarely happens when I read books, especially romance novels.


Rating:
Summary: Great read, but not the best from Ms. McNaught
Review: I thouroughly enjoyed this book from front to back, it took me from start to finish in one read. A natural page-turner.

This book is fast-paced, not lagging during scenarios or lacking in wit. The heroine, Victoria or Tory for short, is a rare delight to read about and it is very amusing to read her attempts to 'seduce' her husband, whilst being very innocent about the whole thing. This being because of years of witnessing her parents loveless, but happy marriage, she assumes that Jason will want to do the things that they had, such as play chess and read together. Her arguments with Jason are aplenty in this book, and range from being very hurtful, to simply teasing and humourous. A big plus to the story, it was very sweet and funny to read about. That said, the reformation of Jason was very moving.

The downside is, there isn't much focus on Jason himself. His past is extremely heart-wrenching, and it definately did soften my attitute towards him, not to mention that it did sadly justify his actions and words towards Victoria. The other thing that made me rate this book with a 4 star instead of 5, is that of the ending. Don't get me wrong, the ending is very touching and fitting as well, but it was too short compared to all the bumps in the road Victoria had to get over to get there.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a good romance with characters you actually feel for. It's a wonderful, easy-breezy read that you can't help but enjoy and delight in.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanting Tale
Review: "Loving someone who doesn't love you is hell! Don't let anyone every convince you that you can be happy with someone who doesn't love you. And don't ever love anyone more than you loves you." Her father's words haunted the thoughts of Victoria Seaton. When her loving parents die unexpectedly, leaving Victoria and her sister orphaned, she feels like she has no place in the world. The man she loves is in Europe and she has to go to England to stay with her long, lost realitives. When she arrives at Wakefield, the estate of her distant cousin Charles Fielding, she doesn't know how to feel. She's attracted to Jason Fielding, the bastard son of Charles, but she is determined to keep herself from loving him for she knows that no one can melt his icy heart...and she also believes that if she lets herself love him, she will be as miserable as her father was...little does she know dark secrets surround her, threatening her happiness...

This book was beautifully written with vivid realistic characters who easily steal your heart. The reason I rated this four stars is because I felt like there wasn't as much description about the way Jason was feeling. When I read a romance novel, I love to read each characters thoughts and emotions. Jason spent most of the book hiding behind a cynical icy mask. Perhaps the author did this to show how much Jason hid his emotions from the people around him. I also felt like the death of his son Jamie is almost completely ignored after it happens. (His son dies in the first few pages.)

The description of Jason's past is horrifying, but the reader has to remember that the reason why the Indians were referred to as "dirty" and "filthy" was because that was the way Europeans thought of them. I do not believe this description in any way reflects the views of Judith McNaught.

This book made my heart ache for both characters, which is a rare occurance for me. I was convinced they would never break down the barriers that lay between them. So much pain lies in both characters, making them believeable and endearing. This was my first McNaught and definitely not my last, I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: You may read this only Once, but you'll love it for Always..
Review: this book is simply wonderful. i liked that there is more emotion placed on BOTH characters. jason and tory are not perfect people, both have their own personal demons to battle especially upon becoming married to each other. but they are perfect for one another.

as is denoted by a McNaught novel, this story is laden with heart-wrenching scenes and unforgettable lines. we all know that in the end the couples always end up with one another in such romance books, but there's just something inexplicably unique in having characters (esp sexy, hunky, de-lish heroes) with flaws. jason is a very embittered and cynical man and having him commit a grievous sin against tory (which i also hated and is very controversial) just shows that not every romance tale is perfect.

i must admit that the ending was quite weak. it felt as if it was written in a hurry. but all-in-all, i really loved this story. hmmm...not as good as Until You, though...

Rating:
Summary: Not one of her best
Review: Wow! This book is not one of McNaught's best. I just don't believe that they are meant to be together. This book was really disappointing because my favorite book ever is Until You, which is also written by McNaught. If you haven't read Until You, please read that book.

Rating:
Summary: Good story for the most part - hard to ignore the prejudice
Review: I have enjoyed many of Ms. McNaught's books, and Once and Always was a good idea for a story. There were certainly scenes that were a pleasure to read and several likeable characters. However, I agree with the other reader who was offended by Ms. McNaught's clear prejudice. Several times, she calls Indians "filthy" and "dirty." One character tells a story of a time while he was in India, when he saw a missionary beating a boy-- he says that he normally would have nothing to do with the "fanatic Indians" and was going to walk away, but then he was shocked to see that it was a white boy being beaten and he had to rescue him. So if he saw an Indian boy being beaten, he would have done nothing? It's not just the character speaking--it reflects the author's thoughts as well. These statements are patently offensive and I was very disappointed in Ms. McNaught's obvious prejudice.

The overall story is nice and the heroine is as sweet and brave as all her heroines usually are, but if you read this, skip the pages with the blatant bigotry.