This Heart of Mine

Rating:
Summary: You'll Like It
Review: Although isn't as great as "Skye O'Malley", it's still one of Bertrice's best! The apple (Velvet) hasn't fallen far from the tree (Skye) in this book, which is what makes it so good!

Rating:
Summary: I'm embaressed to say I read it!
Review: Do not read this book! That is the best piece of advice I can give you! I never never ever give a book a one star rating, but _This Heart of Mine_ deserves lower. Let me tell you, I love books, I adore them, but this one is an awful edition to the romance world. I usually read three books in one week no matter their length, but this book was so boring that even though it is only five hundred some pages, it took me two weeks to finish. This was my first book by Bertrice Small, and it will definitely be my last.

Velvet de Marisco is the beautiful, if spoiled, young daughter of Skye O'Malley. At age five she was engaged to Alex Gordon, Earl of BrocCairn, but she won't have to go through with the marriage if she doesn't want to. When Velvet is about thirteen, her parents leave to go on a voyage to India leaving her at home. When Velvet turns fifteen (her parents are still gone), Alex decides that this time is convininet for him to marry her. Velvet, fearing for her freedom, flees and becomes one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honor. This will keep her safe until her parents come back, or so she thinks.

Alex courts her as another man, and they fall "in love". They end up married, and stay that way happily for two and a half months. Then, Alex fights a duel for no reason, and word gets to Velvet that he was killed. In a fit of hysteria, she begs her brother to take her with him to India to try to find her parents. There she is kidnapped and taken to the leader of India, Akbar, as a present.

Meanwhile, Alex, who loves his wife sooooooooooooo much, takes a mistress. And, when Skye returns and finds this out, she tries to seperate them. But, Alex, who is sooo soo clever spots this and just takes his mistress back to Scotland with him to give her a child. All this time, Velvet is in India being courted by Akbar and she finds out what love truly is. Thinking she is a widow, she slowly becomes Akbar's lover. But, she is torn from him and taken back to the loving Alex. It goes downhill from there.

Ick! Yawn! I can't believe that I read this book. _This Heart of Mine_ was truly awful. I'm sorry, but it was. Velvet was a character I grew to care very little about. Since she usually always got her way, I didn't really care what happened to her as she was getting it. Alex was the un-hero of the century. He so loves his wife that he takes a mistress right away while he knows she is alive. But Velvet, thinking herself a widow, takes much longer to find love again. Alex was just anoying. He was so pig headed with Velvet that everything he did made a bigger mess of their relationship. He didn't even deserve the evil mistress he took. Dear Bertrice Small-- you need to learn how to write romance. The sex was too kinky and the characters were made of cardboard. There was no emotion behind the many declorations of love. When Velvet or Alex or Akbar said "I love you" I was still left in the cold. I would rather read a book where the hero is scared to say the words but has the feelings inside him then a book where the hero just tosses around the word love but has no feeling whatsoever. The only saving grace about this book was the historical detail. It is painfully obvious that Bertrice Small spent many hours doing some research, but I wanted to read a romance, not a textbook. I do realize that this is the third book in a saga, but I would not read the first one or any of them unless I was forced to. Maybe _Skye O'Malley_ was a better book, but I don't want to find out. Please, just skip this book.

Rating:
Summary: I'm embaressed to say I read it!
Review: Do not read this book! That is the best piece of advice I can give you! I never never ever give a book a one star rating, but _This Heart of Mine_ deserves lower. Let me tell you, I love books, I adore them, but this one is an awful edition to the romance world. I usually read three books in one week no matter their length, but this book was so boring that even though it is only five hundred some pages, it took me two weeks to finish. This was my first book by Bertrice Small, and it will definitely be my last.

Velvet de Marisco is the beautiful, if spoiled, young daughter of Skye O'Malley. At age five she was engaged to Alex Gordon, Earl of BrocCairn, but she won't have to go through with the marriage if she doesn't want to. When Velvet is about thirteen, her parents leave to go on a voyage to India leaving her at home. When Velvet turns fifteen (her parents are still gone), Alex decides that this time is convininet for him to marry her. Velvet, fearing for her freedom, flees and becomes one of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honor. This will keep her safe until her parents come back, or so she thinks.

Alex courts her as another man, and they fall "in love". They end up married, and stay that way happily for two and a half months. Then, Alex fights a duel for no reason, and word gets to Velvet that he was killed. In a fit of hysteria, she begs her brother to take her with him to India to try to find her parents. There she is kidnapped and taken to the leader of India, Akbar, as a present.

Meanwhile, Alex, who loves his wife sooooooooooooo much, takes a mistress. And, when Skye returns and finds this out, she tries to seperate them. But, Alex, who is sooo soo clever spots this and just takes his mistress back to Scotland with him to give her a child. All this time, Velvet is in India being courted by Akbar and she finds out what love truly is. Thinking she is a widow, she slowly becomes Akbar's lover. But, she is torn from him and taken back to the loving Alex. It goes downhill from there.

Ick! Yawn! I can't believe that I read this book. _This Heart of Mine_ was truly awful. I'm sorry, but it was. Velvet was a character I grew to care very little about. Since she usually always got her way, I didn't really care what happened to her as she was getting it. Alex was the un-hero of the century. He so loves his wife that he takes a mistress right away while he knows she is alive. But Velvet, thinking herself a widow, takes much longer to find love again. Alex was just anoying. He was so pig headed with Velvet that everything he did made a bigger mess of their relationship. He didn't even deserve the evil mistress he took. Dear Bertrice Small-- you need to learn how to write romance. The sex was too kinky and the characters were made of cardboard. There was no emotion behind the many declorations of love. When Velvet or Alex or Akbar said "I love you" I was still left in the cold. I would rather read a book where the hero is scared to say the words but has the feelings inside him then a book where the hero just tosses around the word love but has no feeling whatsoever. The only saving grace about this book was the historical detail. It is painfully obvious that Bertrice Small spent many hours doing some research, but I wanted to read a romance, not a textbook. I do realize that this is the third book in a saga, but I would not read the first one or any of them unless I was forced to. Maybe _Skye O'Malley_ was a better book, but I don't want to find out. Please, just skip this book.

Rating:
Summary: A real wall banger!
Review: I am a long time Bertrice Small fan and found this offering boring, boring, boring! And aggrivating to boot!

Stupid plot. If you can call this thinly constructed series of 'adventures' a plot!

Characters I couldn't give a damn about!

The most frustrating, annoying, rediculous premise for a marriage and re-marriage--if you read the first third of the book you will know what a mean!

Sex that was considered shocking for its time but is now only 'so-so' by today's erotic romance novel standards...

I was so annoyed that I glossed over the love scenes after a while, was aggrivated by the heroine and altogether annoyed with her boorish (and boring) first husband...

Really don't like to read about the heroine sleeping with men other than the hero--and hate it even more when the hero has other partners other than the heroine...

All in all this book could have been much shorter, and much better. Can't believe it was published. Can't believe it was written by the same author of the Kadin.

All in all...a dud!

Rating:
Summary: PURE TRASH!!!!
Review: I do not even know where to begin, this junk is awful! How on earth anyone can find this stuff romantic!?! Velvet runs off when she thinks her husband has been killed, his still alive and even though he "loves" her he has an affair with someone else which produces a child. But when she finally returns he is angry with her for having found somebody else!!! Remember, she was the one who thought him dead!! This whole series is just a bunch of drivel connected by explicit sex scenes. I feel very unclean after reading this!

Rating:
Summary: Good,but a little slow for being Skye's daughter.
Review: I liked this book, but Velvet, while interesting, is not as exciting as her mother and daughter. Becomes interesting when she leaves England and becomes the Mughal's wife. Even more interesting when she is taken away from him. Of course, if you are a Skye O'Malley fan, your collection would not be complete without it.

Rating:
Summary: Good,but a little slow for being Skye's daughter.
Review: I liked this book, but Velvet, while interesting, is not as exciting as her mother and daughter. Becomes interesting when she leaves England and becomes the Mughal's wife. Even more interesting when she is taken away from him. Of course, if you are a Skye O'Malley fan, your collection would not be complete without it.

Rating:
Summary: LEAVE ALEX ALONE!
Review: I loved this book. The characters were interesting. Their flaws made them unique. Yes Velvet was spoiled but that was expected. I also dont understand why most readers were so appled that she was very intelligent, meaning she didnt use her head all the time. She was young and the baby of the family, of course she was impetious, it made her interesting and allowed plot twists.

I loved Alex, he possessivness of Velvet was something I found very sexy. I hated the fact that he took a mistress (Alanna) but Velvet (not using her head) had basically left him so naturally being the macho Scot he was of course he would take up with some other woman in one way or another. I like agressive men and Alex was just that.

The sex scenes were average for Small (which is still good just not her greatest).

Those O'Malley women...do they attract sexual slavery or what!

Rating:
Summary: Velvet sure isn't her mother. But she's got spunk too.
Review: I was kind of disappointed with the first part of the book, and like other readers, I really, REALLY disliked Alex a great deal. I felt absolutely no incentive to cheer him on to win Velvet back - if anything, staying with Akbar would have been the smart thing to do! What I cannot understand is Skye O'Malley, of all people, knows better than to take any bull from a man, so why would she let her daughter marry a bully? (To be fair, though, she did express hesitation - but still!) This is just the beginning of weak characterization on Small's part, and it just gets worse later into the series.

Rating:
Summary: Blah!!
Review: I was quite disappointed by this novel. Velvet has been completely spoiled by her doting parents! In an age where arranged marriages are the norm, we hear Velvet whining, "Why won't anyone consider MYYYYYYY feelings??" And I lost count of how many times I read "I'll not marry without love and without my parents here!!"

I liked Alex during his courtship of Velvet, in which he wins her "love" without her knowing who he really is. After that he went nuts, first kidnapping his betrothed wife and then taking Alanna for his mistress. What an a**!!

Like some other reviewers, I also thought Velvet should have stayed in India. Akbar taught her the meaning of true love (while introducing her to some very kinky sex!!)

I was amused by Small's description of the loss of Velvet's virginity, when Alex can't even last long enough to satisfy her!!! It seemed to be representative of most women's "first time"! Quite a change from the usual multi-orgasmic virgins we usually read about.

I also chuckled at the end when Skye finally got her revenge on Navarre...but overall, I thought this book was not up to Small's usual writing.