Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing and Confusing
Review: I am a HUGE Kathleen Woodiwiss fan and was eagerly awaiting the release of this book. Perhaps my expectations were simply too high, but I was not overly impressed with The Reluctant Suitor. I thought the romance between Colton and Adrianna lacked depth and seemed to come about too quickly. Also, in past books, Ms. Woodiwiss has had strong heroines, but I just did not see this in Adrianna-she was a likable heroine, I suppose, but she also seemed to be a bit shallow(maybe this isn't exactly the right word, but close enough). My feelings for Adrianna were not helped by the other characters constantly extolling her virtues- I think her virtues should be obvious, but constantly repeating them seems too forced. Beyond some character flaws, the story just seemed so confusing. I was able to follow it most of the time, but it seemed as if way too much was going on and this detracted from the central story of Adrianna and Colton. If you've never read Woodiwiss before, do NOT start with the Reluctant Suitor, but instead, read one of her classics like Shanna or Ashes in the Wind.
Rating: 
Summary: What the heck is this?
Review: I am 10 pages into the book. If this author isn't kidding, this is one of the worst books I have ever attempted to read! The prose is ludicrous, and if she mentions eyebrows one more time I'm going to scream. I am a fan of historical fiction, such as those written by Norah Lofts. This is just drivel......
Rating: 
Summary: The Reluctant Suitor, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Review: I just happened to intercept this book up as the Librarian was returning new books to their proper places. I knew nothing of Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, but the historical romance thing got to me and I figured, what the heck...I'll give it a whirl. This is not a cheap dime store paperback romance that you can pick up and read in 2 hours at the beach. What a rich and delicous treat. I would recommend it to any reader who's in it for the long haul. This is one book that I wished could just go on and on and on. I will return to library and read whatever else Ms. Woodiwiss has written. My review? Excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely Not Her Best!
Review: Ms. Woodiwiss, please re-read The Flame and The Flower so you can remember what truly entertaining writing is about. The last one-third of this book was quite entertaining as all the stories FINALLY entertwined, but the first two-thirds were dull and slow. Both the main characters seemed stupid, particularly Adriana, who was dull and spoiled, with little but her beauty to recommend her. Ms. Woodiwiss also seems to have a fascination with the word "orbs" as she must use it at least a hundred times in the book, to describe the characters' eyes and breasts. Not her worst, but absolutely not her best. That honor, in my opinion, still belongs to The Flame and The Flower.
Rating:
Summary: What a huge disappointment
Review: This is the first Kathleen Woodiwiss book I've read in about 20 years. I loved her earlier books so, I was looking forward to reading this one. What a huge disappointment. The main characters were very silly, the villian was every bad cliche ever written, the plot was all over the place... I kept reading it hoping it would get better. Don't waste your time or money - this is not the Kathleen Woodiwiss of earlier days.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time and money
Review: This was one of the worst books I have read in a long time. I kept thinking it had to get better, finally I gave up.
Rating:
Summary: With this one, I am giving up :-(
Review: Much like what has happened with Johanna Lindsay, alas. Very hard to believe that the same author who gave us the absolutely wonderful Flame and the Flower and The Wolf and the Dove is the same person who has written such unreadable books for the last decade or so. Even harder to think that this latest one is her hard cover debut. Get it from the library if you insist on still giving her work a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Boring and Confusing
Review: Actually I didn't want to read this book but I had to review it for a German publisher and I hated every minute I had to spend on "The Reluctant Suitor". It's such a confusing and badly written story. Don't get me wrong, I really loved Kathleen E. Woodiwiss earlier books but her downfall came with this two strange short stories and the book "A Season Beyond a Kiss". This new book is simply not worth the hardcover price and the effort you have to put in it for reading!
Rating:
Summary: Trite... Clicheed...
Review: This is the WORST Kathleen Woodiwiss novel yet! Hackneyed and full of cliches, it is a chore to read this book. I do not know why I keep going back to it! Perhaps because I so admire her earlier works, such as "Wolf and the Dove," and "Shanna." This book, however, is so mired in the superficial beauty of its characters that no attention is payed to any sense of plot or (God Forbid) believability. If I read one more line about deep gray orbs, I may give in to temptation and allow my puppy to use the book as a teething toy.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Atrocious!
Review: "He could only marvel at her willingness to offer her virginity upon the fleshly horn of passion so that they could complete their union, and yet, she had done just that in her sacrificial desire to be one with him." I am seriously considering the possibility that this book is really meant to be a spoof. At the very least it has to be a ghost-writer...no one who has written well in the past could produce such wretched prose accidentally. And the tediousness of it! The character's first meeting goes something like this: 1. He says something. 2. She reflects back on a similar thing he said as a child. 3. She remembers what how much she adored him as a child. 4. Some other suitor looks on angrily. 5. We learn what this other suitor was like at a child, what he's doing now, and what he ate for breakfast. 6. The dogs bristle at the other suitor's response, and we learn the life story, eating habits, favorite chew-toys, and position of every hair on the head of these dogs who on one page are 8 and 10 years old respectively and on the next page remember the man who has been away for 16 years. 7. He looks at her and muses about her slammin' body, in sentences containing twelve verbs, fifteen adjectives, and the word "orbs" used at least twice per page to describe both breasts and eyeballs, sometimes so interchangeably you don't know which is which. 8. She responds to his original comment with a warbling laugh or trilling rejoinder, while you've totally forgotten what he even said because it was twelve pages ago and you've been trying to decide whether you should laugh in derision or cry in despair or simply slap the author upside the head review-wise on Amazon. Guess which one I chose. :-)
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