Obsession

Rating:
Summary: UGH! One of the most trying romance novels I've read!
Review: As an avid reader of romance novels -- and a usual fan of Sutcliffe's -- I was surprised to find myself disgusted with this book! This had to be one of the most formulaic and TRYING novels I have had the displeasure to open in ages. So much so, that it prompted me to write my very first online review. Skip this book - the characters are impossible to care for, the plot unending in its twists and turns to keep the hero and heroine apart. It wasn't pleasure reading or escape at all - it felt like torture. I had to force myself to finish it.

There are so few authors who manage to infuse this genre with depth, integrity, passion, intelligent characters, wit -- and most of all a decent plot -- it's a disappointment when one of your "tried and true" authors surprises with something like this. Try instead for McNaught's newest, anyting by Linda Howard, Tell Me No Lies by Elizabeth Lowell (a classic) or recent Robards. For romance readers with a brian, they won't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Something different.
Review: I didn't think a sequel to Devotion was really necessary, since I appreciated Sutcliffe's ending, but from what I understand, she got a lot of negative feedback about the book. Because the story didn't end with the hero and heroine in a clinch, readers weren't really sure if they were going to live happily ever after. So Sutcliffe wrote Obsession, another novel that, to my satisfaction, is different. It's written mainly from the hero's perspective and shows a very different side of the Trey Hawthorne readers knew in Devotion. He takes the chance to nurse Maria back to health, as she nursed him. It's a beautiful story, refreshing for its originality.

Rating:
Summary: I was Obsessed with this story
Review: I haven't read a story by Katherine Sutcliffe and been disappointed and this is no exception. I did not read the prequels (Miracle and Devotion) before reading this and I have to say that it didn't matter. I was able to gleen enough of their previous story in this one and didn't feel lost at all. It was compelling and riveting. I found the characters to be very well written and the love in which Trey felt for Maria (and yes, his brother)was poignant. What they went through was nothing short of tragic and what he did to get Maria back and bring her back to normalcy was incredibly heroic. I even felt sorry at times for Edwina (I wouldn't mind reading her story in the future).

I love a good romance with a touch of tragedy thrown in as long as there's a happy ending. In a way I'm glad I didn't read Devotion first because I have a feeling I wouldn't have been as satisfied. With Obsession I know there's a happy ending. I didn't care that there were no sex scenes.

I was riveted from cover to cover and Trey and Maria will stay with me for a long time to come. That's the mark of an excellent story and a superb story teller.

Rating:
Summary: Sad and soul stirring; Devotion turns to Obsession
Review: I read and critiqued the prequel to this novel Devotion without realizing Trey's story continued in Obsession. Trey, the Duke of Salterdon, was going to throw his duty to family away by wedding a poor vicar's daughter, Maria. She had saved him from madness and now she ran from him, later marrying another (or so he thought). Trey found out the truth moments before his own marriage. Maria was alive, imprisoned in Menson, a mental asylum.

And she was, by the time he reached her these six years later, mad. You can imagine the brutality and horror of an asylum for the criminally insane in the 1800s. Trey's grandmother, the dowager duchess, and ruthless, was responsible for Maria's placement in the asylum. Trey sets out to save Maria. He still loved her. Maria lives in a dark cocoon comforted only by the voice of her long dead brother and as she begins to enter the light again, remembers feelings of betrayal by Trey. She too has been misled and told lies and only remembers that her beautiful baby, Sarah, had been wrenched from her arms after giving birth to her in the asylum.

The story focuses on Trey's struggle to regain pride and fortune, with the undercurrent of mystery surrounding his own birth and that of his missing child Sarah. From Devotion, we meet again with Trey's twin brother Clayton and his wife Miracle. There is the added element of tension with Lady Edwina, Trey's fiancé, literally left at the altar. Will Maria ever be whole again? The ending to this novel, unlike the prequel, is very standard and appealing. I enjoyed it very much. I did not find the descriptions of Maria's stay in the asylum as oppressive as it could have been. The elements of mysticism (ghosts & miracles) are all right. The tale is uniquely told in first person. Different, wonderful reading.

A must if you have read Clayton's story (Miracle) and Trey & Maria's first story (Devotion). As other reviewers note, this book lacks the sensual appeal other novels have, but I didn't miss it in the storyline. Katherine Sutcliffe has not disappointed me yet.

Rating:
Summary: Hero & Heroine Do Not Even Kiss Once
Review: I think many of us who read DEVOTION picked up this novel so that we could find some closure to the abrupt way that the love story between Trey and Maria ended (or didn't end). Boy, what a disappointment this was. First of all, it wasn't really a romance novel. As another reviewer noted, the hero and heroine do not even have a conversation until the end of the novel. They do not kiss or have any other sexual contact throughout the entire novel--yes, you read it correctly: not even ONE kiss.

I feel that Sutcliffe wrote this novel to make a quick buck and that she really ripped off her readers. She could have ended Trey & Maria's story sufficiently in DEVOTION, but she chose not to and decided to make a few extra dollars by dragging out their story in OBSESSION. The novel was filled with excessive tragedy and self pity (on the part of the hero). Also, the Dowager Duchess turned out to be a real disappointment. In the previous novels (MIRACLE & DEVOTION) she was portrayed as a tough old bird, but she did seem to have a little bit of heart. In this novel, she is portrayed as downright evil. I wish Sutcliffe had been a little more consistent.

In short, save your money. I wish I had.

Rating:
Summary: who wants a book with a weak, pathetic hero?
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. The hero (who is a Duke) is morally and physically weak. Usually an author gives her characters some positive characteristics to balance out the non positive characteristics... You know if the Duke is morally bankrupt at least he's rich or charming. This Duke's totally pathetic. Yuk. His only "obsession" is his love for Maria who has been incarcerated in an asylum for the last few years thanks his grandmother the Dowager Duchess. He's so whimpy that he even abandon's his search for his missing child so that Dowager Duchess won't reveal that he is a bastard. None of the characters in this book are likeable, the main characters are so caught up in their personal angst that there's hardly any interaction that's positive and zero romance. Despite our hero's eleventh hour epithany, the book is a loser. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Great book inspite of bad reviews by others:
Review: Okay...the other reviewers stated Sutcliffe had no real sex...But you know what? You don't need a lot of sex to write a great book...Just some shining characters that have that something that sparks the readers interest and a tale that inspires you...Obviously Ms. Sutcliffe did that or you wouldn't have purchased the book. Neither here nor there because IMO (In My Opinion) I thought this story was fantastic...
The angst, the drama and best of all the characters and an unbelievable plot that was so dramatic it stunned me. But that is what I like. I want to be surprised and shocked, I want something that is going to make me sit up and take notice. And I was all that through-out this story.
You got it there isn't a lot of sex, but my goodness the love and horrific tale told is just as incredible and enthralling, at least for me it was. I enjoyed reading the characters growing, learning and, in some, becoming better than they were. Each discovered depths they didn't even know they could reach, high and low. This in my mind made this story that much more powerful to read.
Thank you Ms. Sutcliffe I enjoyed this story.

Rating:
Summary: I got my money back!
Review: Thank goodness the store where I bought this book had a money-back guarantee if you didn't enjoy it, because I HATED this one! I would give it zero stars if I could. Does KS really think she can pass these off as the same two people from "Devotion"? Because I don't recognize either one of them now. The two strong people who fought for what they wanted (each other) in the previous novel are nowhere to be found here. Trey is the worst - where is his spirit and backbone? And he and Maria don't get so much as a tender kiss in the whole novel. I gave "Devotion" 3 stars because it ended so abruptly, but looking back I wish KS had left us hanging forever with that one. This wrap-up is a disaster and I will try to forget I ever read it. If you liked "Devotion" at all please don't ruin your memory of it with this garbage.

Rating:
Summary: Was this supposed to be a romance novel?
Review: The back cover of this book in no way let the reader know what she was in for. Had I known the heroine had been in an insane asylum for 3 years, I would not have touched the book. I have never cared for stories told in the "first person," so that was initially a strike against this book for me also. While I have always admired the beauty of Katherine Sutcliffe's writing, this book was indeed a struggle to get through--the main male/female characters never even had a conversation until nearly 200 pages into the book much less had a chance to have any kind of progress toward a love story. Save your sheckels!

Rating:
Summary: Very Different...Yet enthralling
Review: The book starts with the hero speaking in first person, may be annoying to some...then again is not criteria enough to slander this book. It is not a book written with romantic babble, yet it is very deep, very emotional, and bittersweet. You will not find sexy scenes, however, the story does not needed for it is a dark yet, beautiful book...It is just different from all its counterparts in this genre, that's all. If you are looking for something different, then this book is for you. However, it is not a keeper.