Rating: 
Summary: This rich romantic saga took my breath away. . .
Review: ALMOST INNOCENT is a tale about love that survives and triumphs despite indescribable suffering and tragedy.
Lady Magdalen, our heroine, is oblivious to her pivotal role in the silent struggle between England and France. From the beginning, her life is marked with brutality, yet the determindeness of new life: she delivered by her father, a powerful English prince, from the body of his freshly poisoned French mistress, who lays dying in spasms on a cold stone floor while the baby Magladen fights her way into the world. Magdalen grows up for eleven years enclosed in a stronghold until her knight in shining armor, Guy de Gervais, takes her away to have her marry his nephew, Edmund de Bresse. Although Guy knew her only as a child before he left for the war in France, he is tormented by a fierce love and desire for her when he sees her again after so many years. He is tormented by the fact that he loves the woman married to his beloved nephew.
This story is an amazing saga. I was disappointed to read that some of the reviewers thought this book was boring. I think the sheer beauty of Jane Feather's work is in her words, the beautifully lilting and lyrical way she describes love, passion, and raw emotion. These particular characters were exceptionally well written as well. This is not a book to read if you want to skim just the superficial plot off of the deep inner meaning of the story. If you read carefully, you will be rewarded with being there to see little Magdalen grow up into a stunning beauty, and to see her affection for Guy de Gervais develop from a budding infatuation into an all consuming love. You will see how human beings suffer from the injustices of fate and the cruel coldness of politics. And you will see how in the end, through the tragedy and bloodshed, love conquers all.
Of course, every book has negative aspects, and I do not deny that there were some parts having to do with beatings and violence that disturbed me. Plus, some of the politics and historical implications between France and England might be hard to follow, but everything falls into place as the story moves along. But overall, the awesome love and the richness of the characters more than compensated for the book's sparse shortcomings.
Those of you who do not have patience for "wordiness" that deeply describes every facet of the characters and the essence of the story, this probably isn't the book for you. But other readers who are curious, please pick this novel up. Absorb Feather's unique language and you will live as these characters lived. . .and you will also be moved beyond words.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost Insufferable Heroine
Review: I could not recommend this book, the characters were just not ones that I could give a hoot about. Adulterous, selfish heroine; this book could've easily been half the size and virtually nothing crucial to the story would've been harmed--namely, because there wasn't much of a plot. Even when the big, spoiled baby heroine, Magdalen, finally beds her man-- it's such a let down! I kept waiting for Magdalen to get her richly deserved comeuppance, but I waited in vain. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: ineresting
Review: I couldn't put this book down. I had to know what would happen next. I liked how she showed you the charater from childhood to adulthood. This was my first Jane Feather novel but later I read the Diamond Slipper and the story line was almost the same. Girl falls in love with proxy husband, but ends up married to a horrible man, who ends up dying in the end, leaving them together. Then I read the back cover of Bold Destiny and it also sounds like it has the same story line. Of course they all have their differences but it's basically the same. But this book was the first that I read and I liked it. It was one of the few books I've read that the female goes down on the male.
Rating:
Summary: Not Innocent Enough
Review: I first fell in love with Jane Feather's work with WIDOW'S KISS and went on to read some previous works. I picked up this one and was intrigued by the story line. After reading some of these reviews, I still thought I'd give it a try for myself. I love historicals, especially medievals and am very familiar with that part of history. Knowing that in those days girls were betrothed as young as 8 or 9 years old, her young age didn't bother me. It was the adultery I couldn't get my mind around. Let's be real. In those days, if it were known, she'd have been hanged or tortured to death. Eloquent prose is one thing, having a "heroine" commit the unpardonable is another.
Rating:
Summary: Pass on this!
Review: I had lots of problems with this book: a theme of adultery was the main one. Some of my other hang-ups in this purported romance has a femme fatale lead female character (I refuse to call such an arrogant, disagreeable, and selfish character a "heroine") whose presence only men seem to more than tolerate and the women of her social circle view as a threat (Ms. Feather, don't men write that way about us enough?), violence between the love interests, and historical irregularities between the mores of the era and the VERY serious implications of violating marital vows, both criminal and religious. Even if she starts off badly, I thought a romance novel was supposed to have a heroine with some admirable and redeeming qualities, otherwise, who cares? The development of Magdalen, the lead female character, got worse with every page. When I find that I am rolling my eyes, shaking my head, and muttering, 'Oh brother!' every time the central female character has interaction or dialogue in a novel, that is not a positive thing. I resented, too, the author's reason's for Magdalen's unpopularity amongst her female peers (aside from the fact that she's rather dishy to their menfolk) are that she possesses an "inability to engage in gossip," and "there was a straightness to her, an honesty," OUCH! One reviewer noted that Magdalen's husband, Edmund, was a far worse player than she was and deserved to be cheated on, and indeed, he was a worse type; but I don't see how one character's roll in the smut OKs the loss of integrity in another character that the reader is supposed to sympathize with? That big scarlet "A" seemed to degrade everyone involved. To anyone who has a nodding acquaintance of Western European history, the plot is easy enough to follow, Ms Feather has kept the plot twists of court intrigue to a very manageable minimum. Her writing, as ever, is clear and descriptive. It is not as one reviewer (with rave reviews for this book) says, that its "wordiness" and the political and historical content "might be hard to follow;" Oh, brother!
Rating:
Summary: An Okay read
Review: I have read many of Jane Feather's books in the past and for the most part I have really enjoyed them. I just didn't connect to the characters in this book very strongly. I found Magdalen's thinking to be very selfish at times. I think it is bcuase Ms. feather made her husband to be a likeable character. I felt really bad for him and I didn't really like the the way allt he problems were worked out. It seemed that the book way building up steam slowly and then just ended. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.
Rating:
Summary: Much more than the average romance book
Review: I have read the other customers'reviews and I have to say I disagree. This book is way above the average historical romance book. The plot is clever and has many folds, the historical setting is accurate, it's well written. The story is interesting and the fate of the heroin is touching. The characters' behaviour was in accordance of what we know (or think we know!) of the medieval times... Actually it is much more than a romance. It is definitly not boring (unless what you're looking for in a book is endless descriptions of passionate encounters between the hero and heroïn with few scenes in between) It's well done and it definitly shows that Jane Feather could and should venture out of the confining romance genre. I'd add that even the book cover, sober for once, show that this is not our usual "fast-read" book ("read them and throw them").
Rating:
Summary: Not for me....
Review: I have read three Jane Feather novels (the Bride trilogy) and enjoyed them immensely. However, this novel was not what I thought it would be. From the very beginning, I didn't buy into the love story between Magdalen and Guy. When they started having an affair, (she was still married, but her husband was asssumed dead), I was fairly disgusted by the whole thing and I quickly lost interest in the whole book. Of course, this is just my opinion...but I was very disappointed. I liked the character of Guy, but I think he could have been utilized in a better way with a different type of heroine.
Rating:
Summary: More a history lesson than a romance
Review: I have recently discovered Jane Feather and I like her. This book though is more for the History Student and Literature kind of person. I myself am just a simple housewife and mom and if I have to search the dictionary more than three times to know what the author is saying or learn to speak french than I have lost all interest. I just want a simple historical romance with perhaps a little history to set the scene but too much of anything is no good. I don't speak french and I didn't study old english so it was quite unenjoyable to read this book. Also, it was nice and very well done of Jane Feather to be so accurate to the times but if the buyer of the book doesn't understand it what good is her accuracy?
Rating:
Summary: Worst lead female character EVER.
Review: I picked up this book since summary at the back piqued my curiosity, plus the fact that I love historical romances. But do yourself a favour and DO NOT purchase this book.
Firstly, the "heroine" was no heroine at all. She had NO appealing qualities at all. Her motto throughout the whole story was 'as long as he loves me everything else is fine'. She did not give a thought about any one else except herself and Guy de Gervais. Stubborn to the point of stupidity and too passionate about the wrong kind of things.
True, Edmund had some issues here and there, i.e. visiting prostitues whilst he was married and raping a woman during the war. But he DID love Magdalen, he just couldn't find a way to make her happy because she had rejected him before giving him a chance to even try and because of her infactuation, not love (yes, it's like that in the book) with Guy.
The adultery didn't bother me overmuch, but it was her attitude and selfish ways that grated on my nerves every page I turned.
No romance here, just lust and infactuation. The author doesn't spend too much time on nuturing or making the love grow between them and then strengthening it- it just is because a headstong girl of 11 years believes it is so, and the cause for that is because he made a small excuse for her to save her from getting into trouble with her aunt; "Magdalen fell in love with the Lord de Gervais at that moment". Utterly shallow, and unbelievable too.
A good storyline with horrible characters made the book a total mess. Not worth reading even.
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