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The Montegu Family #2
Once Upon a Dream
Lucy Kincaid endures a life of loneliness and drudgery in her stepmother's house on Ireland's windswept coast. All she has to sustain her are her dreams, until the day the golden stranger appears on a cliff-- a stranger who gazes at her with love in his eyes and poetry on his lips. Lucy's heart is lost-- until she realizes that he is the a despised Englishman, the man whose family stole her birthright.
Once upon a passion
Raphael Montagu, eight Duke of Southwell, searches futility for the mysterious Irish beauty he'd loved at first sight, certain that only she can heal his wounded heart. But when fate finally returns her to him at a London ball, she denies ever having seen him before. And when he claims her with a kiss and a vow of eternal love, she vanishes once again, leaving him with no clue as to her identity. His only hope is to travel back to Ireland to uncover the mystery that drove her from his side-- and finally claim her for his own. . .
Once upon a passion
Raphael Montagu, eight Duke of Southwell, searches futility for the mysterious Irish beauty he'd loved at first sight, certain that only she can heal his wounded heart. But when fate finally returns her to him at a London ball, she denies ever having seen him before. And when he claims her with a kiss and a vow of eternal love, she vanishes once again, leaving him with no clue as to her identity. His only hope is to travel back to Ireland to uncover the mystery that drove her from his side-- and finally claim her for his own. . .
413 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 10, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 15, 2014
"Ballycastle County Mayo, Ireland April 1821
The guy: Raphael David Charles Montagu, the eighth Duke of Southwell, unmarried and still hasn't found the right woman. He's just inherited lands in Ireland that belonged to his wastrel cousin (who had milked the estate for all it was worth). While he's working on putting things back in order, he spies a young lass on a bluff quoting poetry (Byron I think it was), and he's instantly smitten, only she disappears off the cliff (he thinks she jumped off, but there's some secret path or something). Still, he searches for weeks until he's forced to give up hope of finding anything about her...
The girl: Lucy Kingston, her parents dead (her father was suspected of treason or something), she's been in the *cough* care *cough* of her nasty stepmother and younger step sisters, who treat her like an unpaid servant. She cooks, she cleans fireplaces - she's just like Cinderella just waiting for her handsome prince to come along and take her away from it all.
How to rate this one? Despite being on the fluffy side, I absolutely loved this spin on the Cinderella fairytale. Wicked stepmother and dumpy step-sisters - check. Fairy godmother - check. Handsome prince - check. Getting dressed up and going to the ball - check.
"Lucy watched them go, knowing that the next time she saw them, it would be in a brightly lit ballroom, and she’d be wearing a crown of roses and pearls on her head and white satin slippers on her feet."
"A large carriage waited only a few yards away, a liveried coachman sitting on its box, his hands loosely holding the reins of four perfectly matched white horses. Two footmen dressed in blue and gold stood at attention behind."
It was all so much fun, plus I was laughing my arse off at the two step-sisters and their world salad that only they understood proposition instead of propose. And then, right about the time Kingsley should have wrapped it up with a picture perfect HEA, she goes on and on and on and on and dragged it on even more with this silliness of Lucy's attitude against the English and . Lots of no-no yes-yes. To make it even worst, the mindset and language used started to feel like I was in the 20C and not the 19C. Stuff like thank you very much. Bah. Small note on the Kindle edition, which I purchased so's I could sneak a few chapters into my break period (had to put this down right when it was time to head to the ball - I couldn't stand eight hours not knowing). For the most part the formatting from the old edition seemed pretty clean, but I did notice more than a few run-on words (semiruin [semi-ruin], a piece offish [of fish]), dropped periods and other oddities here and there. Not too terribly distracting and wouldn't have bothered me if I'd picked it up as a freebie, but at $2.99 I expect better. 40% of the first part was read on the old MMPB, the latter portion of the book via Kindle PC app and/or Kindle Fire.,
Final rating, four stars for the first half, two stars for the second half, rounded to three stars. I would recommend stopping around 60% when you get what should have been the HEA and walk away.
The guy: Raphael David Charles Montagu, the eighth Duke of Southwell, unmarried and still hasn't found the right woman. He's just inherited lands in Ireland that belonged to his wastrel cousin (who had milked the estate for all it was worth). While he's working on putting things back in order, he spies a young lass on a bluff quoting poetry (Byron I think it was), and he's instantly smitten, only she disappears off the cliff (he thinks she jumped off, but there's some secret path or something). Still, he searches for weeks until he's forced to give up hope of finding anything about her...
The girl: Lucy Kingston, her parents dead (her father was suspected of treason or something), she's been in the *cough* care *cough* of her nasty stepmother and younger step sisters, who treat her like an unpaid servant. She cooks, she cleans fireplaces - she's just like Cinderella just waiting for her handsome prince to come along and take her away from it all.
How to rate this one? Despite being on the fluffy side, I absolutely loved this spin on the Cinderella fairytale. Wicked stepmother and dumpy step-sisters - check. Fairy godmother - check. Handsome prince - check. Getting dressed up and going to the ball - check.
"Lucy watched them go, knowing that the next time she saw them, it would be in a brightly lit ballroom, and she’d be wearing a crown of roses and pearls on her head and white satin slippers on her feet."
"A large carriage waited only a few yards away, a liveried coachman sitting on its box, his hands loosely holding the reins of four perfectly matched white horses. Two footmen dressed in blue and gold stood at attention behind."
It was all so much fun, plus I was laughing my arse off at the two step-sisters and their world salad that only they understood proposition instead of propose. And then, right about the time Kingsley should have wrapped it up with a picture perfect HEA, she goes on and on and on and on and dragged it on even more with this silliness of Lucy's attitude against the English and . Lots of no-no yes-yes. To make it even worst, the mindset and language used started to feel like I was in the 20C and not the 19C. Stuff like thank you very much. Bah. Small note on the Kindle edition, which I purchased so's I could sneak a few chapters into my break period (had to put this down right when it was time to head to the ball - I couldn't stand eight hours not knowing). For the most part the formatting from the old edition seemed pretty clean, but I did notice more than a few run-on words (semiruin [semi-ruin], a piece offish [of fish]), dropped periods and other oddities here and there. Not too terribly distracting and wouldn't have bothered me if I'd picked it up as a freebie, but at $2.99 I expect better. 40% of the first part was read on the old MMPB, the latter portion of the book via Kindle PC app and/or Kindle Fire.,
Final rating, four stars for the first half, two stars for the second half, rounded to three stars. I would recommend stopping around 60% when you get what should have been the HEA and walk away.
March 15, 2015
I read this book months ago but only just realized I hadn't rated or reviewed it, so here goes. I gave it 3 stars because I remember I really enjoyed the first part of this book, with its whole Cinderella story going on. My problem was with the second half of the story. (Spoiler alert) Half way through he comes and rescues ber and declares his undying love for her... and after everything he's gone through for her she rejects him and somehow she ends up accepting a job as his housekeeper... what's the deal with that? It completely ruined the first part for me.
The whole book just felt like it should've been two separate stories instead of one.
The whole book just felt like it should've been two separate stories instead of one.
July 30, 2018
Okay I am a little upset because I really wanted to like this book. The story itself hit all the buttons I love. I loved the first two hundred pages of the book. It is amazing but within the first two hundred pages Cinderella has already left the ball and her prince has almost reached her. I just felt by page 250 I was swimming and uphill battle. It took way to long to end. This book would have been four or five stars if she had cut about fifty or so pages from the book. I still plan to read Hugo’s book and hopefully I will like it a bit more.
July 13, 2021
The first half is based on the Cinderella story and might have worked better if it hadn't stuck so close to that story line. The second half is better and more believable. I felt the author had to twist and torture the first half to fit the Cinderella story, and I could have done without that. The second half is what happens after the Cinderella story ends if Cinderella refuses to marry the prince. I love to see injustice "fixed" so I enjoyed the second half a lot. Side note: My edition has lots of dropped prepositions and some incorrect use of prepositions, so it could have used a good proof-reading before printing.
March 10, 2017
Read it with my book buddy Lexi in our pursuit of finding books to save on our shelves... unfortunately this book failed me tremendously....Actually to be fair not the book but the heroine.... I have enough of soooo headstrong heroine during my short time since I started reading HR.... that I feel so drain already..... She's describe as logical but nope I don't see much logic on her reasoning instead I see prejudice and foolishness... She would rather choose to go to hell to lay with him for once than to marry him and lay with him on bed endlessly as many as she wants.... And everything he say she always seem ready to take offense .. why? Because He's an Englishman! And how many times has he asked her to marry him and reuse because he's an Englishman and doesn't deserve her as a wife! And oh she questions he's belief on religion, politics and all because well guess what HE'S AN ENGLISHMAN! All about him seems not good enough because he's an Englishman and I am tired of her undying hatred and illogicality...
April 1, 2016
One of Raphael's--the hero's--thoughts sums up the book perfectly well:
She didn't have an iota of common sense in her head, never mind any regard for his feelings.
It's true. She is one of the most prejudiced book characters I've ever read. She tells Raphael, repeatedly, that she will never marry him because he's British. Yes, she loves him, blah blah blah, but he's an evil Brit! He professes his love to her multiple times only to be hit with the "nope, you're British" retort every time.
I pretty much hated her.
Lucy wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill her friends too. Why couldn't they see that he wasn't one of them, that he was the enemy?
BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT PREJUDICED IDIOTS LIKE YOU ARE, LUCY.
I like Raphael a lot. I just question his intelligence for loving such a mindless tart. However, his brother, Hugo, was by far my favorite character, so I'll definitely have to read his book.
She didn't have an iota of common sense in her head, never mind any regard for his feelings.
It's true. She is one of the most prejudiced book characters I've ever read. She tells Raphael, repeatedly, that she will never marry him because he's British. Yes, she loves him, blah blah blah, but he's an evil Brit! He professes his love to her multiple times only to be hit with the "nope, you're British" retort every time.
I pretty much hated her.
Lucy wanted to kill him. She wanted to kill her friends too. Why couldn't they see that he wasn't one of them, that he was the enemy?
BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT PREJUDICED IDIOTS LIKE YOU ARE, LUCY.
I like Raphael a lot. I just question his intelligence for loving such a mindless tart. However, his brother, Hugo, was by far my favorite character, so I'll definitely have to read his book.
July 15, 2020
I loved "No Greater Love" so I had high expectations. This Cinderella story was frustrating. It took 139pgs before she goes to the ball. That's a lot of pgs enduring the evil stepmother and dumb stepsisters. Then the rest of the book the h was trying to convince the hr to marry him. First, to selfless then to selfish. Yes I understand some of her reasons but enough was enough.
The writing was great and the story got more enjoyable. It was just too long and too frustrating.
The writing was great and the story got more enjoyable. It was just too long and too frustrating.
June 13, 2021
Good retelling of the Cinderella fairy story, retold in the Regency period.
Wondered why the novel contained so many pages?
Reading half way thru the story, the story telling was "too wordy." Its my opinion the story might have been cut down in words, reduce unnecessary extra descriptions, too much information, & I might have kept this novel to re-read.
Wondered why the novel contained so many pages?
Reading half way thru the story, the story telling was "too wordy." Its my opinion the story might have been cut down in words, reduce unnecessary extra descriptions, too much information, & I might have kept this novel to re-read.
August 2, 2025
I enjoyed that the story continued after he found her. Most books would have superficially ended at that time, but the plot afterwards was good.
August 6, 2014
An absolutely heart-rending Cinderella tale with well-rounded characters and great writing that pulls the reader in and doesn't let go even after they finish reading it...
The story revolves around Lucy who is made to toil for her step-mother and step-sisters. But unlike Cinderella, there is a very solid reason why she puts up with the abuse from her step-family. The Duke is a wonderful Prince Charming who goes all out to win our Cinderella.
I also loved the side characters (the duke's mother and rascal brother). This is one of the very very few Cinderella tales that I really liked. Looking forward to reading other books from this author.
The story revolves around Lucy who is made to toil for her step-mother and step-sisters. But unlike Cinderella, there is a very solid reason why she puts up with the abuse from her step-family. The Duke is a wonderful Prince Charming who goes all out to win our Cinderella.
I also loved the side characters (the duke's mother and rascal brother). This is one of the very very few Cinderella tales that I really liked. Looking forward to reading other books from this author.
April 17, 2011
Its another version of the Cinderella story.....but i liked the earlier version better....:)
Read
September 1, 2013Wind Book 2
January 10, 2016
This is one of my 3 favorite romance novels.
did-not-finish
August 1, 2017DNF. If the main conflict keeping the characters apart is, "I can't love you because you're an Englishman!!!" I'm done.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews