Review: Typical Barbara Cartland
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 1, 2012
I used to read a lot of Barbara Cartland's romances. You always knew there would be obstacles, but everything would end happily, because the books are fairy tales where the heroine meets her Prince Charming. The hero might have been a rake in the past, but he has intregity and is honorable now. None of her books have explicit sex scenes or much profanity. However, no matter how strong and courageous the heroine is, she becomes her husband's compliant puppet in the end. I became tired of the sameness of the stories, and I haven't read a Cartland novel in years. So, when this collection of four books were offered for free, I decided to read them for old time's sake. I must say, I did enjoy them again, although I wouldn't want to go back to reading them all the time. Yet, I do know exactly what I'll be getting.ELIZABETHAN LOVER - 4 starsRodney Hawkhurst gets Sir Harry Gillingham to contibute the last money he needs to outfit a ship to prey on the Spanish treasure ships. Just before he sails he receives word he must also take Gillingham's disobedient son. After they're underway he realizes, instead, he has the daughter dressed as her brother.This was my least favorite of the four novels. Although I love the time period, there were several holes in the plot. Rodney was the only member of the crew who ever knew Lizabeth was female. Can you imagine the problem this would have caused. I'm sure the sailors would have been crude, urinated off the deck, etc. Lizabeth used liquor to clean the wounds of the injured, but this would not have been known in 1588. Rodney bribed remote natives with money, but I doubt if the Indians would have been impressed with currency. At one point, the crew was warned to be silent, so the enemy wouldn't hear, yet the blacksmiths and carpenters hammered to repair the ship. When they returned to England, Lizabeth told her family her brother had accompanied her, but he died fighting the enemy. If this had happened, her reputation would have been ruined, since she would have had no chaperone on a ship filled with men. Regardless of these weak areas, however, the book was interesting.THE LITTLE PRETENDER - 4.5 starsIn 1750 Scotland, just four years after Bonnie Prince Charlie's Rising of the Clans, it's hard to know who's loyal to the English and who is faithful to the Stuarts. It becomes beautiful seventeen-year-old Iona's perilous mission to decide who the Duke of Arkrae, head of Scotland's most powerful clan, supports. The plan is for Iona to gain the trust of the Duke and his clan by claiming to be the sister he thought to have died as a child.All four of these books have scanning problems, but this one is the worst. Using context clues, however, it isn't hard to figure out what the words should be. I thought the story would have been stronger without Iona running away from the duke toward the end, but it is still an interesting novel of an intriguing time in Scottish history.A GHOST OF MONTE CARLO - 5 starsEighteen-year-old Mistral grew up in a convent but follows her domineering aunt to Monte Carlo, where princes and millionaires mingle and socialize. On her aunt's bewildering but strict instructions, she must not talk with any man but the Russian Prince Nikolai. By accident, she meets Sir Robert Stanford, and something about Mistral touches Sir Robert's heart. Yet, he soon learns that her aunt has been an infamous brothel madame, so what does that make Mistral?I found this book to have more comlicated or deeper character development than some of Cartland's books. I really liked the plot and how all the pieces came together. The most unbelievable part to me was that, at first, Robert thought he was in love with his mistress, but later on he thought he had never been serious about her.A DUEL OF HEARTS - 5 starsJust seventeen, spirited Lady Caroline Faye is already the toast of the Season, so when notorious cad Sir Montagu Reversby offers for her to drive his phaeton in a race from London to Sevenoaks, she innocently accepts - little knowing that he is planning to fake a broken axle so that she will be forced to spend the night alone with him at a remote country inn. Escaping him, she discovers a murder and helps keep the innocent Lord Brecon from being framed. When she later learns more of the sinster plot against him, she hopes to help him by going to his estate to be a companion to his mother. Some dark secrets reside in the old castle, however, and they are driving even Lord Brecon to dispair.I loved Caroline, because she was such a bright, quick-witted, charming character. This book had some comparisons to JANE EYRE, one of my favorite classics, and I especially enjoyed it.