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Summary: A real treat to end your year of romantic reading
Review: An editor loves all her books, but I think Judith Ivory's THE PROPSITION is truly special. In addition to being a great twist of the Pygmalion myth, I defy anyone to read the pencil scene without blushing.
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Summary: One of the best romances of the year.
Review: Judith Ivory's THE PROPOSITION is a fabulous book: bawdy, tender, funny, and completely marvelous. The hero is incredibly sexy and sweet, the heroine is a delight. Probably the best romance of 1999.
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Summary: Fine reviews of THE PROPOSITION coming in--woo wooo!
Review: THE PROPOSITION has received a STARRED review in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. All About Romance has rated it an "A" Desert Island Keeper. The Romance Reader has given it 5 Hearts! Under the Covers has give it TWO Very Highly Recommended reviews. And Romantic Times has chose it as a Top Pick and given it an "excellent," 4&1/2 Stars. Hurray! I'm one dancing author!Tapping my toes out of here, Judith Ivory
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Summary: A True Fairy Tale
Review: Lady Edwina Bollash knows a real challenge when she sees one. This challenge is in the form of taking an outspoken, unpolished, but oh so handsome ratcatcher with a unique Cornish Cockney accent, and transforming him into a smooth-talking gentleman. Edwina is a renowned linguist, and she finds Mick Tremore's way of speaking simply fascinating. Actually, she finds all of him simply fascinating. Brought up in wealth, but having most everything taken away from her by her cruel cousin once her father died, Edwina is prim, proper, and generally regarded as a plain spinster. However, one wouldn't think she was plain by the way Mick regards her, and his thoughts of her are none too proper either. Mick happens to know first hand that Edwina is the proud owner of a first class pair of legs, and he's been obsessed with them since gazing on them without her knowledge. Edwina has six weeks to transform Mick into a proper gentleman, and pass him off at a London ball as a Viscount. But Mick may not be the only one transformed by their time together. And what will happen if he attends the ball and life-altering secrets are revealed? And will Mick and Edwina, who obviously come from different worlds, be able to find enough common ground to remain together after the six weeks are finished? I've been continuing to broaden my reading horizons by trying the work of authors new to me. Unfortunately, I'm finding that out of every three to four untried authors, odds are I'll only find one whose work is superior. Judith Ivory's work here is most assuredly in that superior category. Even though I recognize the premise of "My Fair Lady" with a role reversal, this story is fresh, funny, and endearingly romantic. These beautifully flawed characters showed an emotional depth, and it was a real pleasure to watch them grow and change together while falling in love. Ms. Ivory is obviously a masterful storyteller who penned a flowing, seamless story filled with romance, wrought with sexual tension, and an ending worthy of a true fairy tale. This has to be one of the best books I've read to date, and I will now be in search of her backlist titles.
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Summary: A Yearning For the Mud...
Review: It started with a mouse and a great pair of legs - Thats all it took to change rat-catcher Mick Tremores life as he knew it.
Standing in the middle of a ravaged tea room, covered in soot, buttonless, and draped in little more than a tablecloth, Mick is offered the chance of a lifetime....A proposition - Pass as an English Gentleman at an exclusive ball that is scheduled to take place just six weeks in the future. If he succeeds, he will be awarded with 100 pounds for his trouble.
But for Mick, its really no trouble at all. Not when he gets a good look at the woman who has been challenged to transform him...Lady Edwina Bollash of the long legs and magnificent bum.
Edwinda takes one look at Mick and knows that he is trouble, but she just cant resist...she accepts the challenge.
"The Proposition" was unbelievably good. I swear I smiled the whole way through. The story was so much fun, the writing was gorgeous(Pure Ivory)The pacing -everything- was more than Id hoped for, but the main charm of this book was all about Mick. Oh how I wish he were real! He had such a twinkle to him...he was just sooo much FUN.
I cant say this book was wholly without flaws. The books "twist" was a little hard to believe. But really, who cares when the story and its characters were so endearing?? Any small flaws didnt bother me one whit.
All I can really say is....."I loved this book, la la ..."
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Summary: Good book.
Review: I thought this book was good. It was funny and warm and I felt attached to the characters. It was a fairy tale, but a good one. Mick was not all that bad, I really liked him actually. He was a really good guy. Winnie was a great character too. The story is like some fairy tales, but it has its own elements that make it different. He's a good guy trying to make his way, and she is fighting herself for what she feels deep inside. And it was her idea to show her legs, if he shaved his mustache. I thought the scene was cute. And Mick does not talk like that through out the whole book. The way he speaks changes in the book, kinda the point of him being with Winnie. It was my first book by this author, and I like it.
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Summary: Not as funny as it thinks it is
Review: After a really fun and promising start, I found this novel, "The Proposition" quickly degraded into endless silly dialogue and flat plotlines which went nowhere. The hero "Mick" started of quite amusing, but I quickly grew bored with the way the author chose to portray his speech patterns (yes I know this was a major plot point, but I still found it grating). The Cornish-Cockney "Ye'll be excusing me duck" and "Idden me choice to stand `ere with me shirt done up..." soon had me roll my eyes in frustration. Plus the first few chapters are filled with almost incomprehensible paragraphs of unattrributed dialogue wherein a mob of characters voice their opinions for pages which grew annoying. Eh. Further, the proposition's attempts at humor fell flat for me. I found nothing `charming' or `cute' about Mick bargaining with the heroine to look at or touch her legs in exchange for him shaving his mustache. I dunno...It just struck me as silly and vaguely perverted. I still like class in my heroes even if they are supposed to be poor and uneducated. I won't even go there about the amazingly trite ending. This light-hearted novel just fell flat for me. I prefer my historicals more realistic and with tighter more succinct dialogue.
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Summary: SLIP ME A MICKEY
Review: As I was reading, I suddenly realized I had been smiling for 226 pages. No kidding! In many ways, this may seem like a familiar Pygmalion story, but Mick's personality enlivens every page so much that you don't even care. The reader looks forward to reading Mick's thoughtful observations about social rules, life, and Winnie. He is so endearing that you want to reach in and give Winnie a little push in his direction ("Let yourself go, Winnie girl!"). Their chemistry tickles and sizzles. Once you get past chapters 1 and 2, you won't put it down, because you'll be smiling too!
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Summary: One of the best
Review: Sometimes there are really special stories...this is one. I almost tossed this book aside when into the first chapter I figured that this was going to be a take off of "Pygmalion" or "My Fair Lady" only with a male lead being the metamorphous, rather than the flower girl turned into a lady. I am so happy that I persevered and read on, as this story was so very special! The plot of course is the simple story of a bet made that within six weeks, a genteel woman, Lady Edwina Bollash, and a noted linguist, would take a cheeky, incorrigible, Cornish rat catcher, Mick Tremore cleaning up both his speech and himself, and pass him off as a Viscount at the Duke of Arles ball. What a simply divine story with so many light hearted and touching scenes. Lady Edwina - nicknamed Winnie by Mick, has never considered herself attractive or loveable. Her self esteem was basically non-existent in spite of the fact that she did believe herself to be accomplished as both a lady and of course successful in her profession as an instructor in elocution and deportment. What she did not do, was fool herself into believing that she was in any way pretty or attractive. Mick Tremore, outrageous, handsome, cheeky, personable and extremely down to earth - was an absolute delight and while he was initially the student - he also became an instructor as well. There are so many scenes in this story that are memorable - one episode in particular, that was absolutely hilarious - were the negotiations that took place between Edwina and Mick to shave his mustache off - priceless! And the dialog as this very earthy and honest man compliments her nose "Yes, it's a good-sized smeller, loov. If it weren't so pretty, I might have sympathy for you." - I will say, you have to love Mick - he may not have been born to royalty but in terms of humanness - he is a prince! When you think of the metamorphous angle of the story, I think the more important one was in the mind-set of Edwina who finally came to the conclusion that in the eyes of the man she came to love - she was beautiful! This story is simply outstanding with a surprise ending and you should definitely give it a read! I truly enjoyed this book!
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Summary: Great book! Must read!
Review: The Proposition is certainly a unique historical romance novel. Throughout the first three chapters we see a most unlikely hero. He is not a gentleman, he is not rich, he has ragged clothes, he can't speak proper English, and he is a rat catcher! But don't let those first chapters influence you - this hero already is or will be all you want him to be. Lady Edwina (Winnie) Bollash is a well-known linguist and is presented with the challenge to transform Mick Tremore into a gentleman in six weeks. She accepts the challenge and Mick comes to stay in her home for the six-week period of training. We soon discover that Nick is not weak, undisciplined, or without principals. He is a person that unconsciously demands respect and he has a very good self-image. Of course, he is impossibly handsome as well. Soon Winnie, a spinster and a very proper daughter of a Marquess, is finding her first impression of Mr. Tremore was dead wrong. She sees the magnificent man he is and he learns much more quickly than she thought possible because she finds he is incredibly intelligent. A mutual attraction and admiration develops between Winnie and Mick and it soon envelops them. The communication between the couple is straightforward and at times heart wrenching. Mick is honest and up front and attempts to open Winnie's eyes to her own beauty and overall attractiveness. It is refreshing to read a romance novel in which both the hero and heroine are imperfect individuals. Winnie is not portrayed as a beauty although Mick believes she is. It's good to see regular people (although Winnie is a daughter of a marquess - she has very little wealth) growing individually and together. The story is told without the drama of overused ridiculous misunderstandings or lies. Around the middle of the book, the story begins to drag (thus the 4 star rating) as Winnie talks to herself again and again about her feelings for Mick and the impossibility of a relationship between them. Although the book dragged during this period of Winnie's self examination, I do believe a woman of her upbringing would have needed a hefty amount of self-talk if she feared she was falling in love with a rat catcher. Even in the USA today, it would be quite a bridge to gap in six weeks. We become certain that Mick will find his way once this six week period is over and whatever he chooses to do with the rest of his life will be admired by others and done with a great deal of self confidence. The sensual scenes are few and don't come until late in the book. But when Judith Ivory does write these times of physical intimacy, it is a definite 4 out of 5 rating (see "more about me" for scale guidelines). While this is a story of Mick and Winnie, Mick is definitely the strongest part of the book. He stands out because he does not have a mean nature at all and he is no less a man for it. It is great to see such a mature and nicely rounded character - a man in a romance novel with so many good traits and with so few poor ones. He is completely male and yet is so kind and gentle. This is quite an accomplishment in today's romance novels.
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