Rating: 
Summary: Delightful Start To a New Trilogy
Review: In ONCE A DREAMER, the very fiery and no nonsense realist Eleanor Tennant is on a mission to discover the identity of the person writing the insufferable Busybody column in the Ladies Fashionable Cabinet. The columnist had written a reply to her niece Belinda's letter that would surely ruin her life. Devising an elaborate plan in tracking down the Busybody, Eleanor followed a packet from the publishing house to the home of Lady Westover, where she would finally beard the Busybody in her den, AND give her a piece of her mind for dishing out irresponsible advice to her silly impressionable niece. Imagine her shock upon finding that the Busybody was in actuality a man - Simon Westover.
Simon Westover, was a romantic, an idealist, and he loved women, falling in love numerous times and writing poetry (mostly bad) for whatever lady of the moment had captured his interest. Now, standing in front of him was one of the most beautiful women he'd encountered, and madder than a hornet! Unfortunately, her disdain at discovering that he was the Busybody was not conducive in allowing him into her good graces.
Threatening him with exposure, Eleanor forced Simon to accompany her to her home to `fess up' and personally retract his advice thereby setting her niece straight. However, upon arriving, they discovered that her impulsive niece had slipped out the night before leaving behind a note that she was `following her heart' - just like the Busybody advised! Furious, Eleanor then insisted that Simon accompany her to find the wayward girl before she was completely ruined. Several days of enforced companionship chasing the two lovers found Simon, the eternal optimist and pure romantic, and Eleanor, the stubborn realist, arguing one point after another.
Eleanor, saw Simon as a silly idealist for harboring romantic tenants that she, as a young woman, once believed in herself. Thinking him a fool she fought her developing feelings for Simon refusing to let them cloud her judgment and let down her defenses of ever allowing another man to break her heart. Simon was just as fervent in chipping away, a little at a time, those defenses and hoping to change her mind and allow him in.
*** This was a totally delightful read from an author whose talented pen quickly whisks the reader away to the regency period with charm, wit and subtle sensuality. While I enjoyed the story, understanding Eleanor's motivation for being so hard on Simon for his romantic notions, I would have liked to hit her for being so obtuse in not recognizing his pure and honorable heart. Simon, on the other hand, was downright adorable right down to his, uncontrollable blushes, his honorable generous nature, and his very `bad' poetry. Putting aside Eleanor's shabby treatment of Simon, the story is a very entertaining foundation for the beginning of the Ladies Fashionable Cabinet trilogy. --- [...]
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: Once a Dreamer is my idea of the perfect escapist novel. You're swept away into 19th century England, following the lives of the most interesting, romantic couple you could hope to meet. You'll be on the edge of your seat wondering how they'll ever get together. With romance, you know they will. Candice Hern combines the best of the regency period details with a sweeping love story. You'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: great period detail
Review: One of the things I like best about Candice Hern's writing is her unconventional characters. No [typical] alpha males and buxom brides here! Here we've got people who have secrets and passions that seem real even in today's universe, and how the characters hide and reveal these issues displays their personalities, flaws and all. I also very much enjoy the historical elements that the author includes in her books--not just that the hero wore buff breeches, but what characters might have been reading, or how they earned a living. The legal ramifications of the plot line were startling, showing how high the stakes could have been for what started out as a lark. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Encounter
Review: This could have been a much better novel if the author had not permitted the heroine to belittle the hero Simon at almost every turn. She constantly ridicules him for not being 'manly': only when he ends up in a fist fight to protect her virtue and almost kills himself trying to right their carriage in the mud does she start to treat him like a human being. Then when he becomes involved in a duel thanks to her, she berates him for being a fool and actually betrays him in a way which can not only result in a prison sentence for him, but his friends as well. Eleanor is a shrew, her ward Belinda hardly worth pursuing she is so spoiled. The novel is also very uneven, spilling over into slapstick if not downright farce. There is some sizzle in the one real love scene, but you have to plough through several hunded pages to get there. I feel sorry for Simon-he really must be the romantic idiot everyone thinks him to be to take someone like Eleanor. She redeems herself slightly in the end, but not enough to make up for the cruelty and her shocking lack of feeling for anyone other than herself. Not much of a romance, but he is a super hero. If you are looking for a fast and completely fluffy read, this is it. This is the second novel I have read by this author, along with The Bride Sale. Even though I like Regencies, this author is so dull she is not my cup of tea at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks substance and full of stereotypes
Review: This could have been a much better novel if the author had not permitted the heroine to belittle the hero Simon at almost every turn. She constantly ridicules him for not being 'manly': only when he ends up in a fist fight to protect her virtue and almost kills himself trying to right their carriage in the mud does she start to treat him like a human being. Then when he becomes involved in a duel thanks to her, she berates him for being a fool and actually betrays him in a way which can not only result in a prison sentence for him, but his friends as well. Eleanor is a shrew, her ward Belinda hardly worth pursuing she is so spoiled. The novel is also very uneven, spilling over into slapstick if not downright farce. There is some sizzle in the one real love scene, but you have to plough through several hunded pages to get there. I feel sorry for Simon-he really must be the romantic idiot everyone thinks him to be to take someone like Eleanor. She redeems herself slightly in the end, but not enough to make up for the cruelty and her shocking lack of feeling for anyone other than herself. Not much of a romance, but he is a super hero. If you are looking for a fast and completely fluffy read, this is it. This is the second novel I have read by this author, along with The Bride Sale. Even though I like Regencies, this author is so dull she is not my cup of tea at all.
Rating:
Summary: A fun, fast read!
Review: This is a terrific story with a fascinating, complicated heroine and a wonderful romantic hero. The "road trip" is deliciously fun as these two opposites wrestle with their attraction. I loved the background of the women's magazine and the hero's role there, which made him a really interesting character. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: A fun, fast read!
Review: This is a terrific story with a fascinating, complicated heroine and a wonderful romantic hero. The "road trip" is deliciously fun as these two opposites wrestle with their attraction. I loved the background of the women's magazine and the hero's role there, which made him a really interesting character. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit boring
Review: Took me weeks to get through this book, It is the kind you want to finish, but it lacked, what ever it takes, to get you going.
Simon was wonderful, but Eleanor was boring, and never changing. The ending was dreadful, I mean a romantic ending of course. But I wanted to tear out Eleanor's hair by the end of the book. I hated how she was such a blabbermouth. The one deep secret she had ..I don't think a soul in the book didn't know by the end. I would have tossed on her ear myself.... if I was Simon.
Candice Hern, is a very gifted writer..and I know somewhere among her books, (this was my second) I will find a keeper, just not the two I have read so far. They lack what makes me not put a book down, to eat... or sleep... or clean my house. If my house is dirty, it means I am reading a good book.
|
