Undone

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Author Does It Again!
Review: In Virginia Henley's much awaited new release, UNDONE, we meet two lovely sisters, Elizabeth and Maria. Both sisters are equally lovely but their mother Bridget favors Maria, the oldest, and sets her very ambitious sights on her. Since they are poor and Bridge comes from a theatrical background at first she trains both daughters to be actresses. As their prospects change, Bridget realizes she can set her sites higher and decides to enter society and present her daughters. To do this her husband must borrow huge sums of money, sell their family home, and present an air of wealth.

Elizabeth, who had met John Campbell quite by chance before moving to London, meets him again in society. They are drawn to each other and there is a very passionate connection between these two characters. Elizabeth, constantly overseen by her very dominate and controlling mother, finds herself maneuvered from party to party, and giving up lovely dresses to Maria, her sister, in her mother's effort to marry her off. Elizabeth, whose natural and genuine appeal shines through, befriends Charlie a very wealthy heiress and her beau Will, a friend of John's. As they plan many secret "couple rendezvous" events John and Elizabeth become closer. Meanwhile, Bridget continues to plan her daughters' future and as John leaves for Scotland and official business plans for Elizabeth to marry the very wealthy Duke of Hamilton. Realizing that John will never marry her, and the prospects of her family lie in her hands...she marries the Duke.

This story is lovely. Virginia Henley has reigned in her fiery pen to tantalize us with a subtler sensual tale than her previous works. Still filled with the steamy scenes we all expect from Ms. Henley, this story is presented to us at a slower pace, allowing us to get to know and care about the characters. Elizabeth's delightful innocence and growth into a strong woman who knows what she wants is an empowering tale for anyone to read who knows the progression from girl to womanhood well - and the trials and tribulations that shape a persons character.

UNDONE is not be missed!

Tara Green

Rating:
Summary: Playing with the readers mind....
Review: Let me start with the good before I go to the bad...
This book is a lusty novel full of romance (how cliche!)... The two main characters are helplessly in love and are tragically kept apart by a sequence of events. Sounds like the perfect novel, no?
Well, I don't know about you, but passion doesn't hold a novel together. This is not the book to curl up and read if you want a light happy reading. Expect to be brought to the brink of tears over and over again.
I personally read this and felt as if the author was playing with my emotions a tad to much. The drama was becoming well insufferable. There came a point that I honestly was ready to put the book down and not pick it up again. Now don't get me wrong, drama can be a good thing, and the use of pathos (the techinque of playing with the readers emotions) can create a very very good book, but only if it is done subtly. By the end of this book I was honestly happy I had finished it, almost like someone would feel after they weathered a hurricane.
If you like the tragic romance, this book is for you, but if you are like me, and read romances to get that warm glowy feeling after you finish, I don't suggest it. It is, in all aspects, a matter of taste...

Rating:
Summary: Oh, Yuk
Review: My God, where are these authors going. This is porn. I would have actually loved this book. Beth, what a story it could have been. Historical and all. I just couldn't get past the non-romance, non-feeling, do depth of relationship, yuk, that is love? Are these new "romance" historical/regencey, etc. written for women? No way, not for me. I think there were pages and pages I skipped through of pure porn. Just took away from the story, terribly. Just such a shame. Where is the touch, the look, the word's, the tenderness, all that would make a women feel? So sad. If you're into the porn genre, then this book is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Fictionalized True Story
Review: Setting - Great Britain 1751 ---- Virginia Henley has taken a piece of history about a common, lowborn but beautiful young woman, done her research, and given her readers this romantic and fictionalized remarkable story of her life. The young woman, Elizabeth Gunning (1733-1790), and her older sister Maria, whose beginnings from an impoverished family rose to impressive heights through the ambitious and clever manipulations of their mother. With nothing but their incredible good looks these two sisters, manipulated by their ambitious mother, posed as minor nobility where they were soon courted by the cream of the Georgian nobility. Elizabeth, became a Duchess, not once but twice and her story is told in Henley's most impressive and sensual style.

The story is told from Elizabeth's meager beginnings in Ireland, where she first met the handsome John Campbell, heir to the Duke of Argyll and her story is fictionalized and chronicled thru to her first marriage to Campbell's enemy the Duke of Hamilton. The author will depict Campbell's love for Elizabeth as all consuming, yet, he alone knowing the truth of her origins, couldn't see his way clear to offer her marriage due to the difference in their status. When the Duke of Hamilton heard of Campbell's regard for the glorious Elizabeth, he thought to kill two birds with one stone by tweaking his archenemies nose and gaining for himself a 'trophy wife' and duchess!

The fictionalized story of the Gunning sisters rise to fame was, for me, a most enjoyable read. The historical details were numerous as one comes to expect in a novel from Henley, yet I was unaware of the existence of this person until I read the author's note at the end. Be that as it may, where it is fictionalized I found it to be deeply sensual with some very torrid love scenes. One can only imagine that for a woman in that early period of history to have won not one, but two Dukes of the realm in marriage, must have been a most remarkable woman. So, for those of you looking for a most enjoyable and entertaining look back into history - enjoy, and for those looking for a very sensual and steamy read - look no further! **** Marilyn, Official Reviewer for www.historicromancewriters.com

Rating:
Summary: Not bad - but not great either
Review: Supposedly Ms. Henley "researched" this book before she began writing - if that was the case, then I really think all the "research" she did was to verify some names and places and leave it at that.

I don't know, maybe I would have enjoyed it better if I hadn't done a little research of my own before I started reading it, but unfortunately I did. The book was ruined for me because I kept thinking how Beth had more than one child by James Hamilton, the dates were all wrong, and how the actual story of their wedding was a heck of a lot more romantic than the fictional account Ms. Henley gave.

The dialogue just wasn't up to par for her either, with the characters coming off just a little stilted. And since Ms. Henley was taking the literary license that she was, it would have been nice if perhaps she would have seen fit to give Beth a backbone, rather than just let her mother and Hamilton walk all over her the way they did. I would have also liked a little more story with Beth and her first husband. Supposedly she was scared of him, but I could never quite understand why?

As for the ending, well, that just seemed to be tacked on to the end to give a little drama to the book, but it didn't make any sense in the flow of the narrative. Beth had spent nearly the entire book in love with this man, so why bulk at marriage when he was proposing? Was the reader supposed to be surprised when Beth decided to marry him after all?

This could have been an outstanding book if she would have stuck to the facts a little more - that and perhaps tacked on 200 more pages and cut out some of the filler that was used. But as it was, the literary license she took just kept bothering me, therefore keeping me from enjoying this book as much as I could have.

I do understand that this was a fictional account of the romance between Elizabeth Gunning and John Campbell, but really, the truth appears to be a heck of a lot more romantic than what Ms. Henley came up with.

Rating:
Summary: Virgina Henley is Back!!!!
Review: The last few books that I've read by Ms. Henley just seemed lacking in either romance, interesting characters, or a combination there of. Her latest though has it all a great storyline, a heroine that you want to see have a happy ending, the tall dark and handsome hero, and of course the tragic set of circumstances that keep our young lovers apart.

This is really like a Cinderella story. Elizabeth and John enjoy a chance meeting by a stream in Ireland. Elizabeth enjoys their brief time together not realizing that John is heir to a Dukedom, and John is totally capitivated by Elizabeth's innocence and charm not realizing that the blonde beauty is will be his heart's desire instead of a passing fancy. Soon they must part but their lives will cross paths again and despite her wicked mother (mom's not the nicest women in the world) and her nasty sister Maria, Elizabeth manages to enter proper society and steals tender moments with John that she hopes will eventually lead to marriage. Problem is the entire Gunning family is lying about their heritage and background. Elizabeth is not comfortable with this but finds that she is unable to change her mothers mind on the course that she has set out for herself and that is to catch rich, titled husband for the "Beautiful Gunning Daughters."

Of course there are road block and situations that will keep John and Elizabeth from each other but since you like the characters you will be compelled to keep turning the pages. Ms. Henley really knows her history and so her story is very descriptive and vivid and really brings to life these people that truly lived at one time. If you love romance, sensual love scenes, and history in your historical romance you will find this to be a very entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: Virgina Henley is Back!!!!
Review: The last few books that I've read by Ms. Henley just seemed lacking in either romance, interesting characters, or a combination there of. Her latest though has it all a great storyline, a heroine that you want to see have a happy ending, the tall dark and handsome hero, and of course the tragic set of circumstances that keep our young lovers apart.

This is really like a Cinderella story. Elizabeth and John enjoy a chance meeting by a stream in Ireland. Elizabeth enjoys their brief time together not realizing that John is heir to a Dukedom, and John is totally capitivated by Elizabeth's innocence and charm not realizing that the blonde beauty is will be his heart's desire instead of a passing fancy. Soon they must part but their lives will cross paths again and despite her wicked mother (mom's not the nicest women in the world) and her nasty sister Maria, Elizabeth manages to enter proper society and steals tender moments with John that she hopes will eventually lead to marriage. Problem is the entire Gunning family is lying about their heritage and background. Elizabeth is not comfortable with this but finds that she is unable to change her mothers mind on the course that she has set out for herself and that is to catch rich, titled husband for the "Beautiful Gunning Daughters."

Of course there are road block and situations that will keep John and Elizabeth from each other but since you like the characters you will be compelled to keep turning the pages. Ms. Henley really knows her history and so her story is very descriptive and vivid and really brings to life these people that truly lived at one time. If you love romance, sensual love scenes, and history in your historical romance you will find this to be a very entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: Well-Written, but Too Sad
Review: Virginia Henley is a gifted writer. Her books stand out among the best. This book was also well-written. My problem with it was the very sad turn of events it takes. It was too much. Even though the ending made up for it, I was too wrung out.