The Wyndham Legacy

Rating:
Summary: Maddening start...Suspenseful and Amusing Ending
Review: Although I could empathized with the circumstances surrounding heroine (Duchess / Josephina) being emotionally withdrawn in the beginning, as a child, however as a woman her stoic - self taught freeing herself from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity - was maddening for the hero (Marcus). Although Marcus was full of resentment and exceedingly verbally abusive throughout most of the book, however, in the end he took as much as he gave once Duchess' character developed some backbone and became feisty. My goodness, that practical joke he played on the Duchess with his hypothetical mistress coming to visit with them had me laughing out loud - that is, once I finished reading the scene. At first I wanted to clobber him too, but afterwards when I found out the truth I could not stop laughing at the new, lively, spirited Duchess.

The sub characters, especially Aunt Wilhelmina, had me busting out the seams every time she open her mouth and covered up her supposed "Tourettes Syndrome" with shrewd rhyming responses. Duchess AND Marcus made a good tag team against her imaginary syndrome in the end.

Once Marcus came to accept his "doom" to be Earl of Chase through marriage to Duchess; his character developed into a very caring and considerate lover, generous friend and playful husband.

I felt the same as the sharp-witted maid, Miss Maggie, did...the villain deserved more of a slow, excruciatingly painful demise. In my opinion, he got off too easy.

If you're looking for an entertaining read, you've definitely found one in CC's Wyndham Legacy.


Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Catherine Coulter Ever
Review: Catherine Coulter is my favorite author and this is my favorite book of hers....Duchess and Marcus are hilarious and completely unforgetable.....

Rating:
Summary: Unromantic and dull
Review: Catherine Coulter is pretty much a hit or miss with me. I loved the other two stories in this series. The Valentine Legacy was a favorite of mine. This was such a horrible story, I had a hard time finishing.

The hero is the most horrible, petty, controlling, abusive ...I have read about in a long time. He spends almost the whole story saying the meanest things to the heroine. For example, he calls her a "stupid cow" when he is angry. Sorry, verbal and emotional abuse do not pass for romantic conflict with me.

The heroine takes this treatment in silence until the hero goes too far, and she explodes in violence. So romantic huh?

Rating:
Summary: A great read with a couple of flaws
Review: I agree with both the positive and negative commentary for this book. Overall though, I believe while it may not deserve 5 stars it doesn't deserve 1 or 2 stars only!
The beginning was a bit disturbing to me..Marcus the newest Earl of Chase was a complete idiot! He acted like a foolish child and deserved to be coshed! Duchess herself was a bit odd and I can see how some would see her as a complete weakling. While all that did bother me at first, I was happily disproven as the book continued and the characters grew. The only real problem I had was how close Marcus came to raping Duchess...but I suppose that would be for you the reader to decide.
I think it takes great talent for an author to round out her characters so very nicely. Marcus, you will discover is not such a bad bugger after all but is a bit immature for his age and has a quick temper. Duchess, well:) she finds her confidence and her own strength and I'm sure you will love her in the end.
The BEST part of this books are the characters! Mr. Badger, Mr. Spears, Miss Maggie are so very wonderful! You will enjoy their spirit and mischief even if you find you don't like Marcus and Duchess!
The romance is enticing.
The mystery is superb.
The characters even better.
If you can brave out the first more rougher part of this book you will definitly enjoy yourself!

Rating:
Summary: okay...
Review: I am not really a big romance reader, but a friend told me I had to try Catherine Coulter. Well...I can see how some love her books, and how she apparently is such a popular writer. The Wyndham Legacy seemed more well-written and dimensional than most historical romances I have read. However, some of the characters were inane (Trevor??? and Aunt Wilhelmina?!!) and the romance...well, it seemed more the beginning of a domestic abuse story. Personally, Marcus (the lead love interest) seemed to me a horrible, abusive man whose only assets were his good looks. Also, Catherine Coulter seems to have uncontrollable urges for repetition...did we really need to be told again and again how "still and lovely" Duchess was? On the whole, it was an okay read...I think some people will probably love it, and I see why, but it's just not for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: This book is more a tragedy than a romance
Review: I can't believe how wild, petty, and such a brood Marcus is. The new earl is such a child in character that I got bored after a hundred pages and threw the book away. This obviously was not thought out by the author. This is not a romance, but a calamity.
Boo! Boo! on the author. This is terrible writing. I do not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I cannot believe I actually finished this book! I struggled through it. Marcus, Earl of Chase, is demeaning in character. He is cruel and say the most hurtful things to someone who does not deserve to be hurt in such a manner. Duchess, an independent woman (and made to be believed an intelligent person)accepts this form of verbal abuse. She keeps the hurtful words within herself until she's fed up and resorts to physical violence. (Oh, that's rich for a romance novel). This story was so disappointing that the mystery of the "legacy" is lost within the plot. Three-quarters into the book is when the romance (if one could call it that) begins. But lets not forget a forced marriage, a marriage to a first cousin, a man who HATES his wife, and a man who hates that his wife is pregnant to his child. But the man does get his way when his wife miscarries. Nothing is mentioned in the book if she conceives again, but even if its mentioned in the other books, I don't think I'd really care. This book does not strike me as romantic...I believe it struck me more of a book of depression or hatred. Oh and to think I bought the complete trilogy. Dare I start on the next book?

Rating:
Summary: Totally awesome!
Review: I have just finished reading The Wyndham Legacy, and I absolutely loved it. It has the perfect balance of Romance and Mystery. I was also very happy that the fact that Dutchess and Marcus are first cousins wasn't made a big deal of. They were soulmates from the beginning, It just took them awhile to realize it. Too many people get so caught up in their prejudices! It is a breath of fresh air to see an open-minded author. Way to go, Catherine Coulter! I Can't wait to read the other books in the series, and others by this author as well.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this story ,its characters had so much personality
Review: I have read all three legacys and I loved the first one and the third one , the story of North and Caroline was not as exciting as Marcus and The Duchess. The butlers and maid were hysterical.But the Duchesses fiery temper along with Marcus's really spiced things up. In the second ,story it lacked excitement , But the Valentine legacy was also great as Wilhemina Wyndham appears again and was just too much with her little sayings to the Duchess.I loved that Marcus straightened her our for a bit, she was a great character.Jessie and James were also exciting characters.I loved the strong spirit and the strong wills of the women. Caroline was not all that exciting. I also loved the epilogue at the end . It actually made me cry and laugh . I would love to read a story about young Anthony Wyndham and Norths daughter.Any sequels of the children would be great!!! I love Catherine Coulter as a writer. She makes you feel that your are there with the characters. A big fan!!!! keep writing Catherine!!!I am now starting the bride trilogy and then the earth song trilogy and am looking foward to both !!! Catherine Coulter s novels are a delight!!!

Rating:
Summary: Silly, Mean and Rather Stupid
Review: I have read this book twice. The first time I thought it was ok but on the second reading, I wondered why my standards had slipped so on the first reading. Marcus is cruel and says studid things -- repeatedly. His dignity crashes completely under what could be considered a justifiably outrageous situation with the will. But the things he says are so very outrageous and mean spirited. He was not an admirable character. However, I did understand his frustration with the Duchess, whom I also came pretty much to dislike. If I read one more time about how still she became and then became even stiller, I think I would have screamed, actually, I did scream. What was there about her to fall in love with much less like unless it was the physical (which is what drew in Marcus). She never talked to Marcus, never shared a bloody thing with him about herself and this was supposed to make her a sympathetic character? We were supposed to feel for her because she "saved" him? Mostly I found them both to be idiotic.

My main conclusion was that this was a "thin" book that was transformed into a novel with the use of verbose (and completely out-of-character for the time) servants, redundant description (why say it once if you could say it twice) and inane analogies.

I could just hear Ms. Coulter's editor in the background "make it longer so we can charge more." "Filler, filler and more filler. This is going to be a hard back and it has to be a certain length!"

This is definely not a recommend. Read the modern books, they are far more believable.