This waste of Amazonian forest was not only awful, nonsensical and so bad it remained forever bad, but also exhaustingly, thunderously boring. One could not even seek refuge in the blessings of trashy imagery; evil females stripping the heroine bare to have her creamy flesh flayed, ancient Counts with BDSM chambers (this sadly is only alluded to, we never get an invite to said Count's vices), or amuse oneself with the ridiculous modes of address, the dialogues, the rudimentary character sketches that never make it to the level of rudimentary character sketches, and the swift transportation of the heroine from one place to an other (not bad for a girl who is, we are told, a prisoner who cannot escape -she constantly does, btw) by some spectacular plot salti mortali assurdi (so much so, you'd think there are pages missing in between chapters). Given all the above, it'll be pointless to dwell on whether any of the demands of semblance are met, or try to assess the writer's ability to convey a 10th c. world (French, Norman or otherwise) feeling. The book never reaches the level where the need to address the requirement that a world be built, a world in which to place the romance, ever arises. I also fear my ears are badly damaged by the constant bickering, the trivial patter, the whining idiocy of the exhausting, zero-dimensional MCs. There was a point, rather early on in the book, where I wanted some knave to run them through with his sword (this happens to the hero twice, but like Lazarus he keeps coming back). As for plot twists, what can one say other than they were obviously made up as the constipated writing chugged along the path it failed to map. In a terrible mess such as this the only saving grace would have been an interesting, or even remotely engaging, romance. Well, you won't find it in here, and there are no purple prose sex scenes to reward the effort of reading this book to the end either. I must say that I am shocked at the high ratings this book enjoys (and coming from good, astute and worthy reviewers of HRs too). I can only say that I found it truly awful and I'm glad it is over and binned for good. Now, I can only hope that it'll also be swiftly forgotten and won't leave some lingering sulfurous smell behind.
This novel started out a little rough for me because I was a taken aback by Rowland's inital treatment of Bridgette. But considering the horrible childhood Rowland had, it was a wonder he didn't behave even worse than he did. Really, it was a wonder he didn't just leave Bridgette to be stoned to death by her aunt at the beginning. Bridgette challenged Rowland from the start and tried several times to escape, but he wss never as brutal with her as I expected him to be in these instances. Rowland, who never before thought he'd desire marriage or having just one woman, becomes so attached to Bridgette that he can't imagine letting her go. This blinds him to the fact that she is actually a lady as she claims - instead of a servant. In fact, it takes a whole army to show up as his fief to believe she's the lady she's been claiming to be all along. Bridgette is able to forgive him for the pain he's caused her, over and over again. She is troubled by the truth of his childhood and aches for the little boy who knew no love. She even cares enough to help him discover his true identity and force him to face it down. When they are separated for months right before the conclusion, it seems that too much time has passed for Bridgette to forgive Rowland's absence. But Rowland risks imprisionment by Bridgette's brother to finally come after her a second time. Her anger towards him is so strong, she lies and says she feels nothing for him - but with the help of her brother she realizes she still loves him. The end of this novel is actually very beautiful.
What do You think about So Speaks The Heart (2004)?
Brigitte de Louroux, putri dari seorang baron dengan wajah cantik bermata biru dan berambut pirang. Setelah berita tentang kematian kakak tirinya, Quintin, bibi tiri Brigitte langsung berubah dan ingin menguasai Louroux. Druoda menyiksa Brigitte seperti pelayan, berniat menjodohkannya dengan Lord tua dan gemuk yang menginginkan seorang anak laki-laki, kemudian menyingkirkan Brigitte yang merupakan pewaris Luoroux dan menjadi penguasa Luoroux itu sendiri. Namun kedatangan Rowland of Montville ke
—Melisa
I just read this but I don't quite remember the story anymore. Hmmmnnn, its JL so its a good book. However, I think this book wasn't quite so exciting. Hence, quite forgettable. I rate this as 3.5 stars = slightly above average. From what I remember, its a story of mistaken identity, Rowland thought Bridgette was a slave given to him by Bridgette's evil step-aunt. Eventually they fell in love, the usual cliche. I just wish that Luthor, Rowland's "father", hadn't died. The antagonists' deaths were disappointing. More interaction with Rowland's real family should have made it quite interesting.
—Katherine ang
3.633 Nottttttttt-Enoughhhhhhhh-Babe! Stars*no idiots were killed during the writing of this review*well...well... since my reviewing skill is so low that it drops off the scale altogether, am gonna make this review pretty not short just to add another stuff to my worst-review-ever resume, so just bear with me (and my luggage of nonsense)..The heroine, Miss Bri-something was stupid.The hero, Sir Rowland was just as stupid.Her step Aunt, D-something was stupid too.His father, Luthor was almost just as stupid.Her brother, Sir Quantin was twice as stupid.Woff, the dog was kinda stupid too but he was a dog, so he's forgiven.My UnLogic Reasons:The heroine could have fought back when she was being mistreated by her aunt but instead of doing that she went all tstl and cried herself to sleep and worked herself to death. (and simply drowned herself in her own stupidity.)The hero insisted on believing a stranger's words which he had known for like five minutes instead of trusting the girl he had spent nights with! It would be kinda believable if nobody tries to explain it to him, but thats not fucking the case!!The D-something bitch was kinda stupid for lying, torturing people, acting haughty, poisoning and doing other bad things without getting caught when she has got like millions of people (who hate her guts) witnessing her stupid deeds. Seriously hun? At least fucking do them in secret! I bet if I decided to pour some poison into her drink IN FRONT OF HER and DENY ever doing it, she would drink it right away thanks to her stupid way of thinking : Lie, Deny, Pretend = People will just believe.The stupid Quantin trusted that bitch over his millions loyal servants. Enough. Said.Luthor the poor guy couldn't have a son. So he stole someone's son, from a town or sth over. Seriously? Just fucking do a fucking adoption will you?!!!!!Woff was stupid because......he got infected by others' stupidity! Stupidity is in the air peeps!
—Miss Fifi
