Rating: 
Summary: Eeeeewwwww!
Review: I kept wondering for a while where this story was gonna go.
It had the makings of greatness. But I guess the author wanted to keep predictability to a minimum---I assumed it would be something of a ROMANCE! Hello!? I read ahead when I got tired of messing around with the stable boy or whatever----I am sorry, but I am not interested in a book on INCEST. That is disgusting.
I just don't want to do that. Especially as engrossing an aspect as sleeping with your brother for 600 pages. Yuck.
The beginning bones of the story were good. The rest of the tragedy was great. But incest I just can't take. Another person, have at it. For the most part, it was well written in a Scarlett-O'Hara-ish way. That part was good. Can't tell ya anything else.
Oh, and if you're interests incline towards Historical British families and incest, read "Angels and Insects." Just as yucky.
Rating: 
Summary: Evil, despicable heroine. Great book!
Review: Philippa Gregory takes the concept of the antiheroine and runs with it. The main character, Beatrice Lacey, is one of the most wicked, psychopathic, fascinating characters I've had the chance to "meet" - and her story is set in a very interesting milleu - 18th century English gentry. One of those novels when you alternatively find yourself sympathizing with the main character and then reminding yourself that she is really horrible and that you should despise her. The other players aren't cardboard either - watch, in particular, the evolution of Celia, who could easily have been written as a simpering nobody. ......
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, a thoroughly unlikable heroine
Review: I gave this book four stars mostly because Gregory's language is so wonderful. I would have given it five stars, but I just could not find anything to like about Beatrice Lacey. I suppose going into why I didn't like her would require major spoilers, so readers beware. Beatrice is often compared with Scarlett O'Hara--well, I tell you, Scarlett was a far better person. She did not sleep with her brother (all right, she didn't have one,but I doubt she would have, regardless); she did not kill her own mother; she did not try to drive her husband to alcoholism; she did not deny her child milk when there was no other to be had. All she did was steal a coulpe beaus from her sisters--phew! That's nothing, compare to the way Beatrice behaves throughout the book, justifying her absolutely immoral and injurious (and often criminal) behavior by a whiny "But I want my land!" To be honest, the fact that she could not inherit Wideacre just does not seem like such a hardship--she was not fighting for her survival; merely for her possession. Throughout the book, I just felt like slapping her around and telling her to please deal! There was nothing about her that was likable, warm, kind--there is a word to describe her precisely, but I doubt that Amazon will publish my review if I use it. :) Whoever said that she was a strong and interesting character--no, she was one-sided, evil, predictable, and, by the end of the book, about as exciting as an evil stepmother(it was like, uuuuuf, what else is she going to do?). That said, it was an entertaining book--there were other characters there except Beatrice, much better written. And they WERE remarkably similar to characters in GWTW--particularly Celia, who was Melanie Wilkes' twin sister. John was a bit like Rhett, and Harry, Beatrice's brother, was not a little like Ashley. So would I recommend it? Yes, for the language, but I, for one, was sick of Beatrice Lacey by the end of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: You must be joking!
Review: This is possibly the worst book I have ever attempted to read. I say 'attempted' because I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Instead I skipped to the last page, just to confirm that the end was exactly as I expected it to be, and saved myself reading the rest of this drivel. I picked up Wideacre because I had read some later stuff of Gregory's and really enjoyed it. She has certainly come a long way as a writer, because this is woeful. Wideacre is bizzarely implausable and yet completely predictable. It's hard to fathom how Gregory expects us to swallow so many improbabilities in 600-odd pages and not place the book in the fantasy category. Apparently it all happens again with a sequel, but I won't be reading it. If you enjoy historical fiction read The Other Boleyn Girl. Read The Wise Woman. Read Earthly Joys. They are all great. Do not read Wideacre - it will only make you laugh (and it's not a comedy).
Rating:
Summary: What a woman!
Review: She makes Scarlett (Gone with the Wind), Amber (Forever Amber) and Diana (Through a Glass Darkly) look like docile wallflowers! I was thrilled to find out when I finished the book (which didn't take long, as I could not put it down) that it was part of a trilogy .... here it is one day later and I am halfway through "Favored Child"
Rating:
Summary: Totally Engrossing and Enjoyable
Review: This book kept my interest from first page to last page. The
research and detail that went into it is amazing. I immediately
began the second, The Favored Child, and I will definitely read
the third book in the trilogy, Meridon.
Rating:
Summary: Amazon Should Get This Back In Stock NOW!
Review: This book is about a horrible woman. She's so horrible . . . she makes Joan Collins of Dynasty look like a saint. The man she falls in love with and of course uses is not your run of the mill weakling - nor is he a Fabio rip off. I just couldn't put this book down and read all the sequels which were good but couldn't come close to this. Amazing story is all I can say.
Rating:
Summary: "Alas, a woman like no other"
Review: This book is about a woman, no, not a woman; a Vixen who was ruthless and passionate. Meeting Ms. Beatrice Lacey will either make you cringe or adore her. I certainly do not agree with the things she did, but as she quoted "I know no half-measures", She was truly magnificent, even on her way to hell.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Books I've Ever Read
Review: Wideacre truly is one of the best books i've ever in my life read. It tells the story of Beatrice Lacey, a girl born in the latter part of the eighteenth century to landed gentry. From the moment she is born she is comepletely in tune with the land her family owns and is able to make the day to day decisions that someone of her finatial status would have to make, were that person male. But Beatrice is not male and there in lies her downfall, because her foolish brother, who does not understand the land as she does, will inherit, simply because he is male. Wideacre tells the story of Beatrice's many struggels to secure the land for herself and later for her children. Beatrice is not a noble character, but even through all of her evil deeds the reader still retains empathy for her character. Truly a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Despicable heroine.
Review: I've never"met"a more despicable heroine than Beatrice Lacey. It wasn't a page turner for me - it was a stomach turner. I only finished reading it to find out if she got her "comeuppance".
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