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.
Rating: 
Summary: A winner!
Review: I will agree that Alex does make for a poor offering as the love to remember during all of the hard-times. However, I actually found myself with tears in my eyes from some of the touching scenes. The characters were convincing, whether in my loving or hating of them. This was the first book that I read in the O'Malley series. I quickly read the others. Mrs. Small has done an excellent job entwining history, romance, and endurance (in all aspects!).
Rating:
Summary: A winner!
Review: I will agree that Alex does make for a poor offering as the love to remember during all of the hard-times. However, I actually found myself with tears in my eyes from some of the touching scenes. The characters were convincing, whether in my loving or hating of them. This was the first book that I read in the O'Malley series. I quickly read the others. Mrs. Small has done an excellent job entwining history, romance, and endurance (in all aspects!).
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing More Or Less Than "Eh"
Review: Let's get some perspective. Velvet is a character that really grows and develops through the course of this lump of a novel. She begins as a whiny little girl only to come out a resourceful woman at the end. Honestly I haven't read many romance novels where a character's development has been so well done. That being said, the rest of the novel is a veritable travesty. Off the top, I cannot possibly believe that Adam de Marisco and Skye O'Malley would make an arranged marriage for their only "miracle" daughter in the first place. If I'm not mistaken, her parents' absence during important formative years of her life is what's responsible for Velvet's outraged attitude towards marriage and, well, life. It's good that there's an excuse, because otherwise it doesn't make much sense that an Elizabethan girl would raise such hell about a betrothal. As for the betrothed, Alex Gordon, whatever else you can say about him, he is a real character. Sure he's thoughtless and insensitive and every bit as involved in his own needs as Velvet is in hers. In later books he's said to have become Velvet's virtual love slave, however this book ends leaving me with a feeling of two strong individuals working on an equal relationship. At least Alex doesn't fizzle and mellow out by the end. The real fly in the ointment here would be Velvet's time in India and her sublime love with the emperor Akbar. Better to have left Alex for dead and developed a storyline about Velvet's love in the exotic wilds of India. That would have thrown some much needed spice into the O'Malley series. Above all, Velvet genuinely falls in love with Akbar--isn't that what romance is all about? Their daughter is like a natural sanction of their union. I think Small made a huge mistake in bringing Velvet back to England and to a situation that was tenuous at best. Nevermind enough name dropping that picking them all up would break your back. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Walter Ralegh, Bess Throckmorton...it goes on, but thanks Ms. Small for letting us know you can read an encyclopedia. Let's not forget Queen Elizabeth's actual speech delivered to her troops at Tilbury Plain. All this makes it feel less like a novel and more like an academic exercise. If you're hooked on the saga, you will of course have to read this. I'd advise anyone else to proceed with caution.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing More Or Less Than "Eh"
Review: Let's get some perspective. Velvet is a character that really grows and develops through the course of this lump of a novel. She begins as a whiny little girl only to come out a resourceful woman at the end. Honestly I haven't read many romance novels where a character's development has been so well done. That being said, the rest of the novel is a veritable travesty. Off the top, I cannot possibly believe that Adam de Marisco and Skye O'Malley would make an arranged marriage for their only "miracle" daughter in the first place. If I'm not mistaken, her parents' absence during important formative years of her life is what's responsible for Velvet's outraged attitude towards marriage and, well, life. It's good that there's an excuse, because otherwise it doesn't make much sense that an Elizabethan girl would raise such hell about a betrothal. As for the betrothed, Alex Gordon, whatever else you can say about him, he is a real character. Sure he's thoughtless and insensitive and every bit as involved in his own needs as Velvet is in hers. In later books he's said to have become Velvet's virtual love slave, however this book ends leaving me with a feeling of two strong individuals working on an equal relationship. At least Alex doesn't fizzle and mellow out by the end. The real fly in the ointment here would be Velvet's time in India and her sublime love with the emperor Akbar. Better to have left Alex for dead and developed a storyline about Velvet's love in the exotic wilds of India. That would have thrown some much needed spice into the O'Malley series. Above all, Velvet genuinely falls in love with Akbar--isn't that what romance is all about? Their daughter is like a natural sanction of their union. I think Small made a huge mistake in bringing Velvet back to England and to a situation that was tenuous at best. Nevermind enough name dropping that picking them all up would break your back. William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Walter Ralegh, Bess Throckmorton...it goes on, but thanks Ms. Small for letting us know you can read an encyclopedia. Let's not forget Queen Elizabeth's actual speech delivered to her troops at Tilbury Plain. All this makes it feel less like a novel and more like an academic exercise. If you're hooked on the saga, you will of course have to read this. I'd advise anyone else to proceed with caution.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't compare to The Kadin. But not totally bad.
Review: Personally I prefered The Grande Mughal to Velvet's final husband, Alex. This book wasn't terrible but it could have been better. I do have to admit I loved the characters. And I loved what Ms. Small did with them. When Akbar sent her home, it was heartbreaking. And the part about him aging so quiclkly once she left showed how much she'd influenced his life like nothing else could. After that things went down hill. Some of Velvet's behavior was just ridiculous and made me mad. The woman who'd won Akbar's heart disappeared and a child stood in her place.
Rating:
Summary: Should be called "This Heartache of Mine"
Review: Since I'm a diehard Bertrice Small fan, I love everything she writes, mostly because she's a fine and very descriptive writer. This holds true with THOM, but...what was Ms. Small thinking?!?! I've never read a Small novel so fraught with heartache. Why oh why was Velvet snatched away from Akbar, a man she loved who loved her in return and with whom she had a child, and returned to arrogant, boorish Alex Gordon, who had about as much finesse as a bull in a china shop. I don't get it! And it's an annoying characteristic of Ms. Small's novels to let all the misfortune fall on the good guys (such as Akbar and Rory Maguire of WILD JASMINE) and let the annoying "heroes" have the woman -- as is the case with this novel. As if being snatched away from Akbar wasn't disheartening enough, Velvet had to endure the presence of Alex's love child. More maddening yet, it was perfectly okay and expected of her to live with this brat while her own lawful child was lost to her. Is it me, or was there something wrong with the rationale and logic of this novel?
Rating: 
Summary: Adam and Skye's daughter is as wild as they are themselves..
Review: The adventures of Skye O'Malley's daughter was an interesting read. While I don't think Velvet is "exactly like her mother", the tale was interesting enough to stand alone and apart from Skye's adventures. The character of Alex was a bit heavy-handed for my taste and if I had been paired with a man like that, he wouldn't have lived long enough to BE married - but other than this, the book left a very "cool" impression on me. It's not bad. But it's not as good as Small's earlier reads.
Rating:
Summary: Adam and Skye's daughter is as wild as they are themselves..
Review: The adventures of Skye O'Malley's daughter was an interesting read. While I don't think Velvet is "exactly like her mother", the tale was interesting enough to stand alone and apart from Skye's adventures. The character of Alex was a bit heavy-handed for my taste and if I had been paired with a man like that, he wouldn't have lived long enough to BE married - but other than this, the book left a very "cool" impression on me. It's not bad. But it's not as good as Small's earlier reads.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: This book is horrible and biased. I found this to be an ignorant book written by an ignorant person.
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