Rating: 
Summary: Thank you, Lisa Manuel
Review: I had stoped reading Historical Romance and then I found Mostly Married by Lisa Manuel. Mostly Married engages the way I remmembered a good Romance novel should. I can best compare her poignant writing to that of Judith McNaught.
Iam really looking forward to her next novel! Highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Lisa Manuel
Review: I had stoped reading Historical Romance and then I found Mostly Married by Lisa Manuel. Mostly Married engages the way I remmembered a good Romance novel should. I can best compare her poignant writing to that of Judith McNaught.
Iam really looking forward to her next novel! Highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Intrigue, humor and a great love story
Review: I read many Regency-set romances, but this debut novel is one of the best. It's a new twist on an amnesia theme with a delightful heroine who is clever, warm-hearted and determined to prove her love to the man who washed up on her shoreline in Scotland and became her husband for one glorious year. Charity's discreet insinuation into English society after she follows Luke to his ancestral home is expertly handled by an author who obviously has done her research. And a pair of wonderful Westies add a fun backdrop to a plot that involves intrigue and a satisfying mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Intrigue, humor and a great love story
Review: I read many Regency-set romances, but this debut novel is one of the best. It's a new twist on an amnesia theme with a delightful heroine who is clever, warm-hearted and determined to prove her love to the man who washed up on her shoreline in Scotland and became her husband for one glorious year. Charity's discreet insinuation into English society after she follows Luke to his ancestral home is expertly handled by an author who obviously has done her research. And a pair of wonderful Westies add a fun backdrop to a plot that involves intrigue and a satisfying mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Intrigue, humor and a great love story
Review: I'm thrilled to have discovered this new writer and I hope to see more from her in the future. I read many Regency-set romances, but this is one of the best. It's a new twist on an amnesia theme with a delightful heroine who is clever, warm-hearted and determined to prove her love to the man who washed up on her shoreline in Scotland and became her husband for one glorious year. Charity's discreet insinuation into English society after she follows Luke to his ancestral home is expertly handled by an author who obviously has done her research. And a pair of wonderful Westies add a fun backdrop to a plot that involves intrigue and a satisfying mystery.
Rating: 
Summary: A lovely debut
Review: Just as the hero of Lisa Manuel's debut novel, MOSTLY MARRIED, could be viewed as being "of two minds" (his amnesiac state and his real self), I felt that I, too, was "of two minds" regarding this book! Like the hero, my two minds did indeed meet, and I came away with a more than favorable impression. As to my first mind, I can honestly say Ms. Manuel has a truly lyrical writing voice. Her descriptive words and phrases are quite lovely, her pacing smooth, her style flowing. If dialogue can sparkle, Ms. Manuel's did. The story's flashbacks, woven into this fast paced tale, were neatly done. In fact, I could find no fault at all with the author's writing skills. Every writing mechanism employed in MOSTLY MARRIED bespoke a polish I found amazing for a never-before-published author. While Ms. Manuel writes beautifully, my second mind felt that her storyline and character's actions were often not believable. In the opening pages of this story, the hero awakens after a night of carousing and a nasty bump on the head to find he has " come to himself " after more than a year of amnesia. He's in bed with a woman he doesn't know but discovers quickly she's a Scottish farmer's daughter he married a year before. He is, in his other life, an English duke. He remembers everything about his former life, including the fiancee he left behind, but not why he came to be found half drowned on the remote Scottish coast. (There is a cleverly done mystery woven into this story as well). The hero, who considers himself an honorable man, is ready to return to his former life - without his wife. He has a fiancee, after all, and he's honor bound to return to her. So what about his wife? Hmmmm...For all his arrogance, he doesn't realize that as a peer of the realm the ton would no doubt accept his common Scottish wife? As for his fiancee, she is the daughter of a baronet, who has lost both his fortune and his mind. She, with no dowry, and her father have lived off the generosity of the duke's family for years. Hmmmm...This hero needed another bump on his head - this time with a baseball bat. The heroine's later deception was also unbelievable. Fiery, blunt- spoken and honest, the heroine's masquerade before his family seems out of character as is her sudden transformation from a Scottish farm girl into an English lady (with no Scottish accent). She, too, needed a knock with a baseball bat a time or two. Despite these unbelievable aspects of the story, I enjoyed it immensely...mostly because of Ms. Manuel's impressive writing talent. The smoothness of her delivery and the richness of her words far overshadowed any flaws the story and its characters may have had. MOSTLY MARRIEDis the first of a trilogy with MOSTLY MAYHEM and MOSTLY A LADY to follow. Debbie Jett, reviewer
romancereaderatheart.com
Rating:
Summary: A lovely debut
Review: Just as the hero of Lisa Manuel's debut novel, MOSTLY MARRIED, could be viewed as being "of two minds" (his amnesiac state and his real self), I felt that I, too, was "of two minds" regarding this book! Like the hero, my two minds did indeed meet, and I came away with a more than favorable impression. As to my first mind, I can honestly say Ms. Manuel has a truly lyrical writing voice. Her descriptive words and phrases are quite lovely, her pacing smooth, her style flowing. If dialogue can sparkle, Ms. Manuel's did. The story's flashbacks, woven into this fast paced tale, were neatly done. In fact, I could find no fault at all with the author's writing skills. Every writing mechanism employed in MOSTLY MARRIED bespoke a polish I found amazing for a never-before-published author. While Ms. Manuel writes beautifully, my second mind felt that her storyline and character's actions were often not believable. In the opening pages of this story, the hero awakens after a night of carousing and a nasty bump on the head to find he has " come to himself " after more than a year of amnesia. He's in bed with a woman he doesn't know but discovers quickly she's a Scottish farmer's daughter he married a year before. He is, in his other life, an English duke. He remembers everything about his former life, including the fiancee he left behind, but not why he came to be found half drowned on the remote Scottish coast. (There is a cleverly done mystery woven into this story as well). The hero, who considers himself an honorable man, is ready to return to his former life - without his wife. He has a fiancee, after all, and he's honor bound to return to her. So what about his wife? Hmmmm...For all his arrogance, he doesn't realize that as a peer of the realm the ton would no doubt accept his common Scottish wife? As for his fiancee, she is the daughter of a baronet, who has lost both his fortune and his mind. She, with no dowry, and her father have lived off the generosity of the duke's family for years. Hmmmm...This hero needed another bump on his head - this time with a baseball bat. The heroine's later deception was also unbelievable. Fiery, blunt- spoken and honest, the heroine's masquerade before his family seems out of character as is her sudden transformation from a Scottish farm girl into an English lady (with no Scottish accent). She, too, needed a knock with a baseball bat a time or two. Despite these unbelievable aspects of the story, I enjoyed it immensely...mostly because of Ms. Manuel's impressive writing talent. The smoothness of her delivery and the richness of her words far overshadowed any flaws the story and its characters may have had. MOSTLY MARRIEDis the first of a trilogy with MOSTLY MAYHEM and MOSTLY A LADY to follow. Debbie Jett, reviewer
romancereaderatheart.com
Rating:
Summary: Manuel's characters sparkle!
Review: No wonder Lucas can't resist Charity! She's funny, feisty, smart and gorgeous. And what red-blooded woman wouldn't want a man like Lucas? Okay, so the plot's a little outrageous and some of the situations a bit unlikely...but I couldn't wait to see what the characters were going to do next and the outlandish premise just made it all more fun. Lisa's dialogue, both spoken and internal, sparkles. I fell in love with the people in this book and can't wait for the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Debut Novel
Review: Setting - St. Abbs, Scotland and Wakefeld, England 1823 --- As Lucas Holbrook, Duke of Wakefield emerged from unconsciousness, several things were not making sense - one of them being why he was smelling sea air in his home at landlocked Longfeld Park. The other thing was why the lovely green-eyed naked `goddess' sharing his bed was berating him for fighting and carousing the night before, and why on earth was she calling him Luke Martin instead of `your grace'. As Lucas became more and more confused, Charity, Luke Martin's wife, began experiencing her worst nightmare. There had always been the chance that the half-dead man her family had fished from the sea would regain memory of his past, but that he could forget her and the idyllic life they'd made, loving and working together in the past year, was horrifying especially now that she was certain that she was carrying his child! She had planned to tell him about the babe, but this just didn't seem to be the time - when he couldn't seem to remember who she was or what they had meant to one another. Charity realized that Luke, the man she'd loved and married, was much too honorable to ignore his former life and had to return to his family to let them all know he was alive and well, including his fiancé, Helena. Charity had no choice but to let him go back to his world but she couldn't give up completely her hope of seeing him remember the life they'd shared together - the past year of paradise and dreams. She concocted a plan to slip into his realm, emerging as his families' newest and dearest friend and neighbor, Miss Charity Williams. Lucas, would be torn between the two women, one he had loved so well like a sister, and one whose fragrance and body he was beginning to remember so well! Readers will be impressed and delighted with this outstanding debut novel of an author that I predict is a new star in the making. Her well-developed characters sprang to life in this novel as the author gives us two compassionate, loving and totally honorable protagonists that you simply have to love as they both try to determine the right and honorable path to take over their respective emotional turmoil. She liberally sprinkles in amusing and lovable and some villainous secondary characters, and keeps up the suspense of how and why this landlocked Duke ended up being fished out of the sea. The love story is a joy and you will be entertained and satisfied from beginning to end! I suggest that lovers of this historical romance genre put this author on their `watch' and `buy' lists! --- Submitted by Marilyn Rondeau, Official Reviewer for www.historicalromancewriters.com ---
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Debut Novel
Review: Setting - St. Abbs, Scotland and Wakefeld, England 1823 --- As Lucas Holbrook, Duke of Wakefield emerged from unconsciousness, several things were not making sense - one of them being why he was smelling sea air in his home at landlocked Longfeld Park. The other thing was why the lovely green-eyed naked 'goddess' sharing his bed was berating him for fighting and carousing the night before, and why on earth was she calling him Luke Martin instead of 'your grace'. As Lucas became more and more confused, Charity, Luke Martin's wife, began experiencing her worst nightmare. There had always been the chance that the half-dead man her family had fished from the sea would regain memory of his past, but that he could forget her and the idyllic life they'd made, loving and working together in the past year, was horrifying especially now that she was certain that she was carrying his child! She had planned to tell him about the babe, but this just didn't seem to be the time - when he couldn't seem to remember who she was or what they had meant to one another. Charity realized that Luke, the man she'd loved and married, was much too honorable to ignore his former life and had to return to his family to let them all know he was alive and well, including his fiancé, Helena. Charity had no choice but to let him go back to his world but she couldn't give up completely her hope of seeing him remember the life they'd shared together - the past year of paradise and dreams. She concocted a plan to slip into his realm, emerging as his families' newest and dearest friend and neighbor, Miss Charity Williams. Lucas, would be torn between the two women, one he had loved so well like a sister, and one whose fragrance and body he was beginning to remember so well! Readers will be impressed and delighted with this outstanding debut novel of an author that I predict is a new star in the making. Her well-developed characters sprang to life in this novel as the author gives us two compassionate, loving and totally honorable protagonists that you simply have to love as they both try to determine the right and honorable path to take over their respective emotional turmoil. She liberally sprinkles in amusing and lovable and some villainous secondary characters, and keeps up the suspense of how and why this landlocked Duke ended up being fished out of the sea. The love story is a joy and you will be entertained and satisfied from beginning to end! I suggest that lovers of this historical romance genre put this author on their 'watch' and 'buy' lists! --- Submitted by Marilyn Rondeau, Official Reviewer for www.historicalromancewriters.com ---
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