The Belvedere Tower

Rating:
Summary: Another good read
Review: Once again Hawksley has written a story that keeps the reader more than simply interested. The characters are sympathetic, but not portrayed as in any way approaching perfection. Both defects and virtues are presented in a natural, real way. They are more than mere cardboard figures manipulated by the author.
Both hero and heroine are strong characters, but although they of course they are obviously set to clash over the Belevedere Tower, they do not behave with pig-headed stupidity. As all too often does occur in historical romance fiction.
True, there is a strong element of melodrama with Cassandra's husband's violent return, but it was not foolishly far-fetched.
Daniel was particularly well rounded, for in the beginning he definitely had forfeited some reader sympathy by is treatment of his mistress. However, his very real growth as the book progressed showed this was not a permanent fault of character.