The Game

Rating:
Summary: Reader from Chicago
Review: "Tempted" by Virgina Henley has been my all time favorite until now. Ms. Joyce writes about true passionate love between a man and women. Being a medevil fanatic, the backdrop was perfect. Katherine, a strong minded person(even though she was couped up in a convent for 6 long years!) fought for what she dreamed of and valued most. Liam or "The Master of the Sea" is by far a "Heart Stopper." (Even the queen of England lusts after Liam O'Neill). But Liam plays a dangerous game in which could cost him his head. His love and determination for Katherine is what pushes him to the limit and ultimaltely claiming his prize! Both heros have their own inner demons which heightens the tension and makes the book sizzle.

Rating:
Summary: seductive and captivating
Review: A must for historical romance readers. By far, the best I have read so far by Brenda Joyce. Looking forward to reading more of her novels.

Rating:
Summary: avoid this book !!!!!!!!!
Review: After reading "The Conqueror" (ten stars!!!), I was really looking forward to reading other books from Ms.Joyce, so I've made the TERRIBLE mistake to buy this one. The "hero" is only in lust with the poor girl, and nothing more. I don't like to be told that characters are falling in love, I want to be able to see it happening. I don't enjoy reading a so called romance novel in which the two main characters have no respect for one another, or where one of the character's is humiliating and degrading the other. If you want to read a good one, AVOID THIS ONE !!!!

Rating:
Summary: Not Worth Buying
Review: After reading 'The Fires of Paradise' and 'The conqueror', I found this book not up to par. There is a lack of sexual tension and there is no chemistry between the hero and heroine. I should have heeded the warning of some of your readers and thus avoiding the disappointment. However, I will continue to read Ms Joyce books to find other keepers.

Rating:
Summary: Climatic
Review: I have read many of Brenda Joyce's novels, but "The Game" was the absolute best book I have ever read. From the stage to the use of the words to the effects of the romance, I was total engrossed with the story. The main characters Liam and Katherine were alive, filled with energy , hope, fear, excitement, more passion than I ever felt. I literally was endulged in the book until the last sentence. If you have never read Brenda Joyce, than you are missing the greatest romance /adventure stories which allow you live and breath the characters. This story was so good that I read the book in 2 days and ran out to the bookstore the same day and purchased Violet Fire.

Rating:
Summary: Climatic
Review: I have read many of Brenda Joyce's novels, but "The Game" was the absolute best book I have ever read. From the stage to the use of the words to the effects of the romance, I was total engrossed with the story. The main characters Liam and Katherine were alive, filled with energy , hope, fear, excitement, more passion than I ever felt. I literally was endulged in the book until the last sentence. If you have never read Brenda Joyce, than you are missing the greatest romance /adventure stories which allow you live and breath the characters. This story was so good that I read the book in 2 days and ran out to the bookstore the same day and purchased Violet Fire.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: I heard about Brenda Joyce for years, but "The Game" was the first novel of hers I read. Unlike most romance novelists, Ms. Joyce actually knows how to put a sentence together, which makes this tired old storyline work. Katherine was kind of sappy, but other than that the book wasn't bad.

Rating:
Summary: I wish there was a 10 star rating available for this book
Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK. The only thing that bothers me about it is that,I DON'T HAVE A LIAM O'NEIL. I would KILL for a LIAM. Katherine, once a noblewoman, now reduced to either a life as a spinster after her father forgets her in the nunnery she is sent to after he rebels once too many times against Elizabeth Tudor. She is there seen by Liam who is immediately smitten and determined to have Katherine, come what may. Liam, the son of the miserable Shane O'Neill. He is only Shane's son because Shane raped Liam's English Noblewoman mother, Mary Stanley after capturing her at sea. Shane is Irish as is Katherine, but being the sadist he is, he literally tears Liam from his mother's arms at the age of 7 to raise him to be a man like him. Fortunately, Liam is his mother's son. He is compassionate, sensitive, and one of the MOST SEDUCTIVE characters I have ever read. Even the Queen covets him and she is older than his mother. Liam is THE MASTER OF THE SEAS, unmatched by anyone. His physical description takes your breath away. His manner does too. There is one line in the start of the book where he purposesly captures the ship Katherine is intending to return to Ireland on with her young friend. Katherine has no idea why her father has sent her no funds on which to live, or any replies to her pleas to be wed. Her father, the former Earl of Desmond, a powerful Irish Lord, plots against Elizabeth Tudor once too often. Katherine is the image of her mother, Joan. Joan was a beautiful widowed countess 20 years Gerald's (Katherine's father)senior, yet she falls in love with Gerald when he was only 16. Taking up with him, she is torn between her son, the Earl of Ormond, Black Tom Butler and Gerald. The feud between them goes far back before Joan's love for Gerald. Black Tom is Elizabeth's "Black Husband" and favorite. Gerald was stripped of everything he had partly because of the Queen's affection (?love) for him, and partly because he is a fanatic. In exile in England, Katherine only sees him after successfully warding off Liam's serious seductions. I KNOW I could not ever fight that character. Not long at least. Liam takes Katherine to her father, who crushes her hopes of a noble marriage and children by offering her to Liam as his wife. Liam didn't want a wife, he wanted a mistress at first,but then Katherine captivates him with her strength, stubborness, fiery passionate nature and breathtaking beauty. He refuses Gerald's offer, but begins to consider winning Katherine after all by helping restore Gerald to his title and defeating the Queen's worst enemy and Papist fanatic cousin of Gerald's, Fiztmaurice. Thus the game begins. To me, Katherine is cruel & completely insensitive to Liam's painful link to his father. Taunted by the English as a child, then beaten to the point of not caring by his father, he hides his pain behind a mask of arrogance and daring, that Katherine is oblivious to until she finally carries his child and realizes what he had gone thru and what her child would too. But the Queen intercedes using that child to secure Liam's help in taking down Fitzmaurice. Katherine is intelligent, but it takes her a long time to see that Elizabeth hates her for her beauty, youth and ability to drawn men like flies. Like Elizabeth wanted to. Black Tom begins to warm to Katherine, then Dudley, Elizabeth's personal property (to her mind) pursues Kate with determined persistance and of course there is the obvious lust of Liam's to possess Kate. Liam and Kate's desire for each other is unequalled in raw sensuality and the pages nearly burn with their encounters. Liam is hurt once again by Kate, but she does repent and he proves that he is the master of the game as well. Most Definitely a book to buy. Unless you prefer blander fare. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT IS WORTH IT, TRUST ME.

Rating:
Summary: If I could give this book ten stars, I would!
Review: I loved this book. Everything about it. I generally like the alpha male and head strong girl but sometimes the plot is so used it gets to be boring. But there was nothing boring about these two. (WEW!) I think I actually fell in love with Liam. He was the heart of this book. He never took no for an answer but he never hurt Katherine. GREAT BOOK!!

Rating:
Summary: Liam O'Neil will steal your heart
Review: I never wanted the book to end. I just absolutely fell in love with Liam O'Neil and I wished that I could have been Katherine. Brenda Joyce does a superior job of weaving together the actual historical events of the time, as well as her fictional characters. Her ability to describe events as they are happening is just unbelievable, and she makes everything seem so real in your mind. If you are a romantic person, even just the slightest bit, you will absolutely love this book.