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Rating: 
Summary: Is this the work of a child?
Review: Am in a agreement with the 1-star reviewers, but noticed they did not comment on inconsistencies that drove me crazy in the book. It seemed as if Ms. Harris wrote this book in spurts with long periods of time in between each spurt and she did not re-read her previous writings to make sure she had her facts straight. How old was Rose Sinclair? In the beginning of the book, while Devon is ruminating on Rose it is mentioned that she is almost 30 and we are led to believe that Sir Steven is around 30, maybe a couple of years older. Then when Sir Steven and Rose kiss for the first time (and that whole episode was on the unbelievable side), she comments to herself how in 20 years of marriage Winston Sinclair never kissed her like that. So what, was she 9 when she married? At another time, age comes up between Sir Steven and Rose and he makes the comment that she is close to his age. Later when we finally get to read Mary's diary entry (which was really an autobiography rather than a diary) about Rose, we get some dates. Mary and Rose met in 1853 on summer holiday and Mary was 18. While Rose's age was not mentioned, it was clear from the writing that she was within a year or 2, if not, Mary's age. Since the story takes place in December 1870, it is 17 ½ years since the summer Rose and Mary met and their friendship lasts for almost a year, during which time, Rose did not marry. So, Rose is between 33 and 35 years old and could not possibly have been married for 20 years. Mary ends her writing about Rose (and remember this in 1865, 11 years after she and Rose split) by commenting that Rose might even have grandchildren by this time. Give me a break! Time frames are not kept consistent. The first time Rose and Sir Steven get in the sack together it is mid-afternoon, and the governess has the children out somewhere. But, every time the event is referred to later in the book it took place at night, in the wee hours of the morning. And so on. This is the first book of the Dublin Dreams series that I read. I am not going to go back and read the other two. The reference to Dolly masquerading as a boy and trying to learn boxing nixed that idea. But, I will probably go to the library (so I do not waste my hard earned money again) and skim through the book that tells how things end up for Devon. I believe that the problems I found in this book reflect badly on the publishers and display very poor quality control by Zebra and their editors. Aren't problems like these supposed to be picked up by editors? Are books not proof read before they go to print? I, too, will think twice about purchasing a Zebra book, and it will have to be by an author with which I am familiar and whose writing I have enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Is this the work of a child?
Review: Am in a agreement with the 1-star reviewers, but noticed they did not comment on inconsistencies that drove me crazy in the book. It seemed as if Ms. Harris wrote this book in spurts with long periods of time in between each spurt and she did not re-read her previous writings to make sure she had her facts straight. How old was Rose Sinclair? In the beginning of the book, while Devon is ruminating on Rose it is mentioned that she is almost 30 and we are led to believe that Sir Steven is around 30, maybe a couple of years older. Then when Sir Steven and Rose kiss for the first time (and that whole episode was on the unbelievable side), she comments to herself how in 20 years of marriage Winston Sinclair never kissed her like that. So what, was she 9 when she married? At another time, age comes up between Sir Steven and Rose and he makes the comment that she is close to his age. Later when we finally get to read Mary's diary entry (which was really an autobiography rather than a diary) about Rose, we get some dates. Mary and Rose met in 1853 on summer holiday and Mary was 18. While Rose's age was not mentioned, it was clear from the writing that she was within a year or 2, if not, Mary's age. Since the story takes place in December 1870, it is 17 ½ years since the summer Rose and Mary met and their friendship lasts for almost a year, during which time, Rose did not marry. So, Rose is between 33 and 35 years old and could not possibly have been married for 20 years. Mary ends her writing about Rose (and remember this in 1865, 11 years after she and Rose split) by commenting that Rose might even have grandchildren by this time. Give me a break! Time frames are not kept consistent. The first time Rose and Sir Steven get in the sack together it is mid-afternoon, and the governess has the children out somewhere. But, every time the event is referred to later in the book it took place at night, in the wee hours of the morning. And so on. This is the first book of the Dublin Dreams series that I read. I am not going to go back and read the other two. The reference to Dolly masquerading as a boy and trying to learn boxing nixed that idea. But, I will probably go to the library (so I do not waste my hard earned money again) and skim through the book that tells how things end up for Devon. I believe that the problems I found in this book reflect badly on the publishers and display very poor quality control by Zebra and their editors. Aren't problems like these supposed to be picked up by editors? Are books not proof read before they go to print? I, too, will think twice about purchasing a Zebra book, and it will have to be by an author with which I am familiar and whose writing I have enjoyed.
Rating:
Summary: Child's Play is childishly written
Review: Having never read anything by Cindy Harris, I energetically dove into the novel on the basis of the cover. I was disgusted by the lack of human experience displayed by the author in the first scene. A wife, struggling for breath from either asthma, congestive heart failure or more likely tuburculosis, encourages her husband to "make love to me like you used to" as she lay dying. Wow, now that is a sexy image. Anyone who has ever watched a loved one dying from a lung ailment knows that the last thing on their mind is sex. The remainder of the book plods along, having a few inspirations along the way and cute kids and their antics--but too few. I am struck by the lack of talent in some of these writers and I wonder how much nepotism is involved in their career. I'll be boycotting Zebra/Kensington for having the audacity to offer me such a thing for my hard-earned money.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't give it a negative 6!
Review: This 1850's Dublin story was ok until the historical inaccuracies starting piling up. The first was when a character was described as looking like "a lottery winner." Gosh did they have lotteries back then? Did they go to the corner convencience store and buy one of those little computer print-out tickets? The second boo-boo was alack of knowledge of the way things worked in medicine. Geesh. Harris had a surgeon refusing to allow a child's "mother" to stay with her in the hospital ward. Up until 1970, members of the family were encouraged to stay with their family cause it made things easier on us nurses. Also, the doctor says the kid can leave the hospital in "three days." Until HMO's (run by lawyers I might add) came along and started pressing the medical community to make more money, patients stayed the hospitals for weeks. And then there was the reference to a "public library." There were no public libraries! There were libraries were one could pay and fee and rent books. These are just a few mistakes. Harris has very little concept of historical research. It seems she discovered that the seats of carriages were called scwabs and used the reference about 16 times in the belief that that would fill her requirement for accuracy. Well, blah, on the whole series if you as a reader have any college education at all.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't give it a negative 6!
Review: This 1850's Dublin story was ok until the historical inaccuracies starting piling up. The first was when a character was described as looking like "a lottery winner." Gosh did they have lotteries back then? Did they go to the corner convencience store and buy one of those little computer print-out tickets? The second boo-boo was alack of knowledge of the way things worked in medicine. Geesh. Harris had a surgeon refusing to allow a child's "mother" to stay with her in the hospital ward. Up until 1970, members of the family were encouraged to stay with their family cause it made things easier on us nurses. Also, the doctor says the kid can leave the hospital in "three days." Until HMO's (run by lawyers I might add) came along and started pressing the medical community to make more money, patients stayed the hospitals for weeks. And then there was the reference to a "public library." There were no public libraries! There were libraries were one could pay and fee and rent books. These are just a few mistakes. Harris has very little concept of historical research. It seems she discovered that the seats of carriages were called scwabs and used the reference about 16 times in the belief that that would fill her requirement for accuracy. Well, blah, on the whole series if you as a reader have any college education at all.
Rating: 
Summary: A reader from Tennessee
Review: This book touched me. Perhaps the prior reviewer had not read the first two books in this series set in Ireland.
This series is about 4 women who are broght together by a mysterious benefactor named Devon Avondale. Avondale's first wife, who died of a lung ailment, left a diary, in which she chronicled her friendships with the four women in the series, none of whom Avondale knew before his wife's death. By means of an innovative plot, these characters are brought together.
The overiding theme in this series is the conflict that exists when a person must overcome his or her past and learn both to forgive and love again. Harris poignantly weaves her narrative around these issues that all of us have had to learn to understand. Her characters have depth and complexity. Whilst some readers may feel that Avondale's memories of his wife border on obsession, to many people who have lost their love in the bloom of their youth, this "obsession" makes Avondale more heroic in the romance novel sense of the word.
Having read the series, and other books by Harris, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a page-turning tear-jerker. Harris deals with serious issues, and some of her love scenes are graphic, which I find make the books all that more interesting and compelling. Not for the faint of heart.
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