The Barkin Emeralds (Signet Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: She's great
Review: I hadn't loved the last Butler -- usually she's in my top ten writers of all time. But this one was as good as I'd come to expect. What a writer! Dang, I'm jealous.

Even when she writes about characters we think we've met before the dark brooding mysterious man, a dashing robber and the bright, poor-but-determined miss she adds such a dimension to the characters that they're brand new.

The island is a vivid setting too -- almost a character in its own right. And as always, the secondary characters are great without pushing the main characters off stage. The secondary romance was sort of underdone in that it didn't seem like there was enough to keep the feud alive but they were convincing enough I didn't care.

Rating:
Summary: not your average regency
Review: Nancy Butler's latest book "The Barkin Emeralds" is far above average.

Maggie Bonner's life has too little happiness and her future looks bleak. It appears that things can only get worse when she is robbed of the emerald necklace she is returning (on behalf of her employer) to Lord Barkin. But then...
she ends up cast on the shore of the island of St. Columba and her life begins to change in a wonderful way.

Gulliver MacGuigan, the man who stole the necklace and for a good reason, is the best kind of hero. He feels responsible for the people of this island and works hard (dirty, back-breaking labor) to help them. He's stubborn, she's determined and together they are strong.

The interaction of these two people is sometimes witty, sometimes touching, often passionate. And believable!

I enjoy a regency romance where the heroine isn't a society deb and the hero isn't an aloof millionaire. This isn't London. It's real hardworking people who are worried about how to make a living when their familiar way of life is being threatened.
Gulliver's cousin Dorcas, Guy, Og MacNeill and a few others are great secondary characters. Their stories add wonderfully to this book.

Nancy Butler has a way of writing that makes the characters and their romance seem real. No silly, unbelievable plot twists or out-of-nowhere surprises. Just genuine feeling and emotion. I think she's an author in the same class as Mary Balogh and Carla Kelly. This is an enjoyable, romantic story!

Rating:
Summary: Roaring adventure romance
Review: Nancy Butler's latest is a Regency, but in strict fact does not truly belong to a that genre in its usual definition. There is nary a drawing room or high perch phaeton in sight and the nearest society miss is definitely a long way off stage in the far background of this rollicking high adventure.
Maggie Bonner is companion to Alice Fescue, a young lady recently betrothed to Lord Barkin. While travelling to join him on his distant Hebridean Island estate, the lady decamps and it is left to Maggie to return the betrothal gift of the valuable Barkin Emeralds to the earl. Then everything is turned on its head, first she is robbed of the emeralds by a seeming pirate and then she is kidnapped to the island of St. Columba.
Gulliver McGuigan is no pirate, but a desperate man trying to grab the attention of Barkin to help save the island and its people from an ever more quickening slide into poverty.
Naturally there is plenty of spark between the spirited pair, as Maggie angrily tries to convince him she is not Barkin's betrothed. Of course attraction soon spices up the mix of fast-paced action. Maggie and Gulliver are a realistic pair and it is a pleasure to follow their interaction.
This is a very enjoyable and eminently readable tale. The romance is not too much pushed to the edges by the action and blend in well. Maybe the romance simply springs into being too quickly considering the few days involved, without any development, but that's a quibble regarding realism and not writing.
Secondary characters, Gulliver's cousin Dorcas and Lord Barkin, are also well realized, if not given much page space.
Great stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: No one has ever been as unlucky as Maggie Bonner. On her way to return her mistress's engagement present, she is robbed, drugged, marooned, kidnapped, and maroooned again. Imagine her humilation when the robber and kidnapper turn out to be the very same man.

That man is Gulliver MacGuigan, a man who is more than he seems. He robbed the Barkin Emeralds from Maggie, and he kidnaps her because he mistakes her for someone else. He thinks she is Alice Fescue, the fiance of his rival. And he is determined to think she is Miss Fescue, even as he finds himself growing fascinated with her.

Maggie herself warms up to Gulliver. He becomes less of a kidnapper and more of a protector.

"The Barkin Emeralds" was an interesting book, but it fell into a lot of typical "romance novel" traps. Can you really admire a man who robs you, kidnaps you, and forces kisses on you? At times, Gulliver was a bit overbearing and thick-headed. I would be scared out of my wits. And how could Gulliver, in retrospect, love a girl who slices his arm? I just don't buy it. Not only that, the characters were somewhat archetypal--Maggie being the spirited lady's companion, Gulliver being the brusque sailor-stud. The book has its high points, but it falls short where it could have succeeded.

It's alright. I might even go so far as to say its good, but it's never great. I've read better books by Nancy Butler, the more recent ones being "Discarded Duke" and "Prospero's Daughter." If you want something different from a ballroom Regency, and you like kidnapped heroines... you might enjoy this one. Probably more than I did.