Rating: 
Summary: venus
Review: All I can say is that the people who rated this book before me, must have limited reading experience. I ALWAYS finish a book, and I found myself angry that I had wasted my time. The editor must have really been riding her ass to put this drivel to print.
Rating: 
Summary: Nick and Polly-SPOILERS
Review: Favorite scene with Polly-
Sleeping with the enemy to get Nick out of prison.Favorite scene with Nick-
Discovering what Polly did to get him out of prison. Together-
Calling the enemy out. What did you like about Polly-
Her love for Nick. Putting him first. Risking all for him. What didn't you like about Polly-
She did what she wanted. She took risks that could have gotten her and Nick in trouble. She was very childish at times. What did you like about Nick-
His love for Polly. Would not allow Polly to put herself down. Put Polly first. What didn't you like about Nick-
Sometimes he let Polly get in the way of his work. His spying took backseat to Polly. That's not a bad thing, but the book was about spying, and it suddenly got lost in his relationship with Polly.
Rating: 
Summary: nice but not one of her best
Review: Feather uses an interesting time and setting for her book and while I've seen books that had more atmosphere this one does fairly well. She also includes a great deal of information (nicely presented) about the role and lives of actors and Restoration theater. It was not uncommon for high ranking men to marry female actors so the ending for Venus wasn't out of bounds. But I do wonder how many of these women continued in their professional careers after marriage (as Polly seems set to do).
Polly is also a mistress for most of the book (nice change) but started out as a 17 year old virgin (sort of hard to believe she had kept her maidenhead in her circumstances for that long a time). Feather balances this by an event I wasn't expecting towards the end of the book when no punches get pulled as
Buckingham takes his revenge.
I like Nick even as he cold bloodedly prepares Polly for her role in his plan. I get a sense of him as a man of his times who doesn't hesitate to put the little woman in her (lesser) place even though he loves her. He goes for the win in all battles of wit and precedence (though Polly does seem able to control
him fairly well) and their relationship is similar to the battles of the sexes in the plays in which Polly stars.
There are some nice secondary characters but I was a bit disappointed that Feather didn't use more of the great calamity of the year (the Great Plague of 1665). This book also featured Feather's low key sexual tension style but as I was expecting it, it didn't bother me as much.
Rating:
Summary: Was hoping for better
Review: I have been reading historical romance novels for about 20 years (I started early). This has got to be one of the most boring one that I have read. I could barely finish reading it, but I just kept hoping that it would either get better or just plain end. Polly was childish and whiny and Nick didn't have a backbone. (...) I am hoping that the next Jane Feather novel is better than this one. What happened to good romance novels, it seems that they are more about being political correct than probable.
Rating:
Summary: Was hoping for better
Review: I have been reading historical romance novels for about 20 years (I started early). This has got to be one of the most boring one that I have read. I could barely finish reading it, but I just kept hoping that it would either get better or just plain end. Polly was childish and whiny and Nick didn't have a backbone. (...) I am hoping that the next Jane Feather novel is better than this one. What happened to good romance novels, it seems that they are more about being political correct than probable.
Rating:
Summary: Same stuff, different day
Review: The author has a gift for interesting dialogs appropriate to the time period she is writing of,(despite the alltime most irritating word "mayhaps"in that genre). In this case the setting is in the 1600s in King Charles reign. The aristocrats are powerful and conniving with a mishmash conspiracy plot by Lord Buckingham to control the King and bolster his own ill defined power grab. He is the sleezy villian in the yarn. The Baron Kincaid is the flummoxed rescuer of another of Feather's trademark inane and very unsympathetic heroines. In this case the damsel in distress is Polly Wyat, a 17 year old of unremarkable birth who is currently serving in a sleezy pub at the mercy of her cruel and abusive uncle. She is a fleabitten, filthy bar maid in search of an escape from her strife filled life and looking for a protector to help her fulfill her dream of becoming a stage actor. There are so many loose ends in this book that despite a different and potentially interesting plot the end result is confusion. What happens to Lord Kincaid's career after his false imprisonment? What about his grand plans to overthrow Buckingham? What does he do with his new bride and his irascible sister Lady Margaret a puritan of preachy morality who bites the very hand that feeds her? In this story the hero is also dimwitted even though he is an experienced at the art and folly of politics. On many levels this story made no sense as it progressed and proved ultimately frustrating. But I think most of all, my objections to this book is that this is another one of the dimwit females that the author seems to have in every one of her books. This one is obnoxious in her posturing and cutesy mannerisms to the point of teeth grinding by this reader. If you like this sort of helpless female in embattled situations falling into the arms of a strong man with a big "sword" then this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Romantic...
Review: The handsome and dashing Lord Nicholas Kincaid meets "a vision of loveliness" in the form of a London tavern wrench - Polly Wyat. He is very taken with her until he realizes that her attentiveness toward him is simply her role in the tavern, which preys on its many victims through robberies, etc. Lord Nicholas soon realizes that Polly may be very useful in the king's court to him and his political allies as they seek to gain more information. "Venus" is very good in many ways, but unfortunately pretty trite in other ways. It is typical "Harlequin Romance" with a better style than most. I especially enjoyed the attention to detail that the author revealed in how much Polly Wyat appreciated the finer luxuries that she was unaccustomed to. If you like light romances that follow pretty typical story lines, I think that you will enjoy "Venus." I liked it and felt it was a cozy, romantic read.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Romantic...
Review: The handsome and dashing Lord Nicholas Kincaid meets "a vision of loveliness" in the form of a London tavern wrench - Polly Wyat. He is very taken with her until he realizes that her attentiveness toward him is simply her role in the tavern, which preys on its many victims through robberies, etc. Lord Nicholas soon realizes that Polly may be very useful in the king's court to him and his political allies as they seek to gain more information. "Venus" is very good in many ways, but unfortunately pretty trite in other ways. It is typical "Harlequin Romance" with a better style than most. I especially enjoyed the attention to detail that the author revealed in how much Polly Wyat appreciated the finer luxuries that she was unaccustomed to. If you like light romances that follow pretty typical story lines, I think that you will enjoy "Venus." I liked it and felt it was a cozy, romantic read.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: The research that must have gone into this book was tremendous, and for that, Ms Feather should be commended. From the blurb, the story had a lot of potential, but for me, it didn't live up to it. I got tired of Polly always backing down when she and Nicholas disagreed. The emotional connection between the two just didn't come across as convincing for me, and I don't feel like I got to know them very well to be able to empathize with them. I got to page 270, but I've had enough.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: The research that must have gone into this book was tremendous, and for that, Ms Feather should be commended. From the blurb, the story had a lot of potential, but for me, it didn't live up to it. I got tired of Polly always backing down when she and Nicholas disagreed. The emotional connection between the two just didn't come across as convincing for me, and I don't feel like I got to know them very well to be able to empathize with them. I got to page 270, but I've had enough.
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