The Velvet Promise

Rating:
Summary: Awesome beginning to the Montgomery saga
Review: This book starts out with a scene that bothered me quite a bit... but then I think that is what the author intended... it certainly drew me in and drove me to read more... very strong beginning to the story of Judith and Gavin. I love it when a book begins so wonderfully and intensely.

Gavin.... well he was handsome and his personality was very realistic for the period of time the book was written in. He was frustrated with Judith but still willing to listen to her thoughts. This made him even better in my eyes. However, I didn't like his reaction to her knowledge of he and Alice in the garden on their wedding day. I felt Judith had every right to be angry and he was angrier than she was because she had supposedly eavesdropped. He seemed kind of simple when it came to women and their feelings... but towards the end of the book... he redeemed himself in my eyes.

Judith was one of my favourite heroines. She was not raised as other girls had been and she had seen much pain and violence in her short life. These experiences made her so strong and unwilling to back down from any man. She was beautiful, but didn't seem to know it and that made her so endearing.

I really enjoyed watching these two fall in love, though they both frustrated me beyong belief at times. I despised Alice and found myself looking forward to the day when she would "get hers".

All in all... its a great book that brings out every possible emotion you could imagine... Can't wait to read the next in the series... Highland Velvet... It's about Stephan, the next brother who is just as hotheaded, yet endearing as his older brother. Should be a good read.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read; A Terrific Heroine; & A Very Flawed Hero & Plot
Review: As my review title suggests, I did enjoy reading Jude Deveraux's "The Velvet Promise," primarily because I admire and appreciate her heroine Judith Revedoune Montgomery's character. Judith's qualities of intelligence, ingenuity, courage, inner strength, her loving, kind heart and unselfish nature make her truly admirable. Judith, however, is far from perfect. She has her flaws, as all people do. And these flaws, along with her many excellent traits, form a very believable young woman. I wish I could say that Ms. Deveraux is consistent in her character development, but she is not. The characters of her hero, Gavin Montgomery, and his lover, Alice Valence, are so flat they are almost caricatures. I found that these distorted, comic-book-like figures, intruded and impeded my enjoyment of the novel.

Wealthy heiress, Judith Revedoune, is forced by her brutal and abusive father to agree to marry Gavin Montgomery. Judith was raised to enter a convent and become a prioress; ruling lands, estates, villages, and knights. Her two elder brothers have recently died, and now she is the only heir. Her father desperately wants grandsons and the continuation of his bloodline. The Montgomery family is an old and noble one, dating back to the Norman conquest. The Montgomery brothers, led by Gavin, also offer protection from the Scots for the Revedoune borderlands.

Gavin Montgomery, at first glance, would seem all that a maid could ask for in a mate. Yes, he is a handsome hunk - aren't they all? He is intelligent, in the I.Q., "left side of the brain" sense of the word, knightly, of noble birth, bearing, and sensibilities, and has assumed responsibility for his entire family since his parents' deaths when he was sixteen years old. He is also wildly infatuated with the obviously sociopathic Alice Valence, and has been her lover, and blind to her fatal faults, for two years when the story begins. He believes that Alice was a virgin when they were first "together." Meanwhile, she had been sleeping around since her early teens. (Sorry for the cattiness - I got carried away by our hero's stupidity!). Anyway, Gavin is truly, madly, deeply, etc. He has proposed marriage many, many times and Alice has always put him off with excuses - which he always accepted. She desires social position and wealth, which Gavin does not have, but she also wants Gavin's undying and exclusive devotion. She finally tells him that her father has insisted she marry a wealthy earl, and persuades him not to go to her father and pay a handsome bride price for his own suite. No one, except a green boy would believe this nonsense, without the slightest suspicion. What we have here is a naive hero, with tunnel vision, who is a poor judge of character, and stubborn to the extreme.

Alice is a woman so obviously evil, and demented, that even though the Montgomery brothers warn Gavin about her, he remains oblivious. Alice is another cardboard character, whose flatness really unbalances the entire novel. The author has portrayed her without any redeeming characteristics whatsoever. There is no real background material to explain why she has developed into such a despicable wretch.

Our hero and heroine meet on their wedding day. Gavin is surprised by Judith's unusual beauty, and dignified manner. She is taken by Gavin's gallant behavior, and thinks there may be hope for her marriage. Then she witnesses Gavin kissing Alice, and declaring his undying love for her, in the garden during the wedding feast. Judith has a bit of a declaration of her own. She vows to Gavin that she will never give herself to him freely. Thus, with this auspicious event, we have the main storyline - which gets tiresome, in spite of a few interesting subplots that Ms. Deveraux has devised. She does attempt to redeem Gavin at the book's conclusion, but by this time, he has become such a cartoon figure that it is difficult to blame or forgive him.

I am also disappointed with Jude Deveraux's portrayal of historic figures and lack of adherence to historical detail. She shallowly depicts England's King Henry VII and his Queen Elizabeth as a loving, happy couple, which history disputes. They chat and gossip together like old chums, a veritable "Harry" & "Liz." Their anachronistic behavior was extremely distracting for me. There is little detail of court intrigues and politics, so very prevalent at this time - and at all times. After reading this novel, one is left with the idea that the English court had little to do except gossip about love affairs, and petty, personal intrigues.

I will attempt to read book two in the series. I liked what I read of Stephen Montgomery, Gavin's brother and the main character in "Highland Velvet." This was my first Jude Deveraux novel, and I must say that "The Velvet Promise" was a disappointment for me, and certainly not up to what I expected from this well-known author.
JANA

Rating:
Summary: This is a good one.
Review: I liked this book and the characters, excluding Alice. Judith was smart, funny, and beautiful. Gavin did not deserve her though. I did not like his harsh ways of dealing with her. Everything she says to him, he takes it the wrong way and uses it against her. He even believes Walter's word over hers. I liked Stephan, Raine and Miles much better. They all liked her for who she was and not for what they wanted her to be. She would have been better off with one of them.

Rating:
Summary: Actually 4 and 1/2
Review: This was the first in the velvet series and set the setting for the rest. Though it was good, this was my least favorite brother. I hated the way he kept neglecting his own wife for a shrew like Alice. But, I love how strong Judith was. She could manage an entire household and keep her husband in check.

Rating:
Summary: A classic medival love story....
Review: Gavin Montgomery has finally gotten his family back on firm financial ground after eleven years of being the head of his family. When he hears that the woman he loves is betrothed to another, he is furious, and begs her to marry him instead. When she refuses, he accepts an offer of marriage from a neighboring earl, for it will bring him a large dowry and more land. He doesn't have much hope for his bride, and finds himself stunned when he lays eyes on her on their wedding day.

For her entire life, Judith was prepared to enter the church and make her vows before God. When her father informs her that she will marry Gavin Montgomery, she refuses. When her father threatened her mother, Judith knew that she had no choice. When he sees her husband on their wedding day, everything her mother told her about not trusting men flew right out of her head.

This is a typical medival romance, where the man first looks at the woman as property, then learns that she won't be treated like a thing that is owned. I felt so frustrated with Gavin's obession with Alice, but it truly would not be the same without the conflict Gavin was feeling. To the reader it is obvious how devious Alice is. It is obvious to everyone but Gavin, who hold her in a high regard to the end. I'm always bothered by a woman getting hit or raped in a book, but in the 1500's it wasn't the same as now. I'm not saying that it's any less wrong, but it showed what kind of character Judith had. She was a great heroine.

If you like medival romance, you will enjoy this first book of the Montgomery brothers.

Rating:
Summary: I Hated It!
Review: I heard some great things about Jude Deveraux, but I am not impressed by Velvet Promise.

Let me just paraphrase this story: the heroine, Judith, is forced to marry Gavin. On their wedding day, she spies him confessing love to another woman and saying Judith means nothing to him. When she calls him on it, he slaps her and then rapes her on their wedding night.

I realize this is a medeival romance, but there is absolutely nothing romantic about rape. Especially in the context the book put it in. The "hero" was angry at being caught and called on his actions by his new wife, and he rapes her in anger with the express purpose of hurting her and showing her that he can do anything he likes with her and she has no say in things. Simply put, it was a power play. No one deserves the title "hero" who will use his size to hurt someone smaller than him.

While Deveraux is a popular writer, she doesn't do anything for me and I don't think she holds a candle to writers like Mary Jo Putney, Lisa Kleypas, Lynn Kurland or Karyn Monk. It was all I could do to finish this one.

Rating:
Summary: Montgomery
Review: ..i like this book.In this serie, i've read " highland velvet" at first then velvet song and velvet angel and ended up with velvet promise.
Both characters are very strong and charming but throughout the story, i find out that i'm a bit annoyed of Gavin. How can he stand losing his child without doing any punishment to Alice?
and he is too blind to see that Alice is wicked.
oh and one thing,Gavin slaps Judith's face in their wedding day because Judith, his wife,says something bad about Alice,she has right to do that..it's cruel for her to see her husband swear his love to somebody else.
but anyway in the end Gavin loves Judith with all his heart..I've thought about it more positively that Gavin is too kind to punish Alice. I love Stephen and Bronwyn more

Rating:
Summary: this book started it all
Review: The Velvet Promise is the book that made me fall in love with the Montgomerys, therefore it will always have a "special" place in my heart. ;)

Judith and Gavin are great characters, both strong. Judith is probably my favorite female character that Deveraux's ever written about; she takes charge, says what she feels, and doesn't back down to Gavin when he's being pig-headed. The way Gavin feels about her as the story goes on is sweet. And Alice is just perfectly evil!

Rating:
Summary: Love the Montgomery family
Review: I first fell in love with Jude Deveraux when I read "A Knight in Shining Armor" and that's when my fascination with the Montgomery clan became an obsession. With each book it just gets better and better. This book was just an addition to my collection. When I read the book I could actually see in my mind the scenes and actions within the story. Could she get any better at writing for the Montgomery family?
I've read the whole Velvet collection and I wish that she'd write about the oldest children of Gavin and Judith; Bronwyn and Stephen; Alyx and Raine; and Miles and Elizabeth. I would defiantly buy the books!!

Rating:
Summary: A very good book for it's time
Review: I actually read this book after I read "Highland Velvet" and it was the start of my addiction to Historical Romances when I was a teenager LOL. At the time this book was written it was the "norm" for the Hero to be a brute to the Heroine. I fell in love with Judith she was smart, strong and beautiful. I didn't think Gavin deserved her at all but still I loved the way Jude brought this all together.

If readers can keep in mind the time that this book was written I think they will enjoy it for what it is. A classic Deveraux