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Nantucket Brides #1
True Love
Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Jude Deveraux, the bestselling author of unforgettable romance, returns with a breathtaking first book in a fantastic new series—the Nantucket Brides trilogy. Set on the magical Massachusetts island, True Love introduces characters from a new generation of Montgomery-Taggerts, the beloved family from Deveraux’s classic novels.
Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman’s relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix—fresh from a romantic breakup—but for reasons of her own Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding.
But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse.
Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair.
With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together.
Praise for True Love
“Jude Deveraux’s Nantucket Brides series will sweep you away. A beautiful island, a sexy man, and plenty of secrets—this is a wonderful writer at her best.”—Susan Mallery
“A new Jude Deveraux novel means a very late night turning the pages straight through to the delicious end.”—Susan Elizabeth Phillips
“True Love, with its star-crossed lovers and twisty plot, evokes everything that makes Nantucket so special—the history, the atmosphere, the secrets, and the magic.”—Susan Wiggs
“Destined to be an instant romance classic . . . [It] will haunt you long after you read it.”— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Deveraux is at her spellbinding romantic finest.”— Booklist
“A novel about star-crossed love, life, death and reincarnation . . . a romantic story of love so deep it survives centuries.”— Kirkus Reviews
From the Hardcover edition.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Jude Deveraux, the bestselling author of unforgettable romance, returns with a breathtaking first book in a fantastic new series—the Nantucket Brides trilogy. Set on the magical Massachusetts island, True Love introduces characters from a new generation of Montgomery-Taggerts, the beloved family from Deveraux’s classic novels.
Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman’s relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix—fresh from a romantic breakup—but for reasons of her own Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding.
But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse.
Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair.
With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together.
Praise for True Love
“Jude Deveraux’s Nantucket Brides series will sweep you away. A beautiful island, a sexy man, and plenty of secrets—this is a wonderful writer at her best.”—Susan Mallery
“A new Jude Deveraux novel means a very late night turning the pages straight through to the delicious end.”—Susan Elizabeth Phillips
“True Love, with its star-crossed lovers and twisty plot, evokes everything that makes Nantucket so special—the history, the atmosphere, the secrets, and the magic.”—Susan Wiggs
“Destined to be an instant romance classic . . . [It] will haunt you long after you read it.”— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Deveraux is at her spellbinding romantic finest.”— Booklist
“A novel about star-crossed love, life, death and reincarnation . . . a romantic story of love so deep it survives centuries.”— Kirkus Reviews
From the Hardcover edition.
15 pages, Audiobook
First published January 1, 2013
1494 people are currently reading
6481 people want to read
About the author
Jude Deveraux
202 books7,086 followersJude Gilliam was born September 20, 1947 in Fairdale, Kentucky. She has a large extended family and is the elder sister of four brothers. She attended Murray State University and received a degree in Art. In 1967, Jude married and took her husband's surname of White, but four years later they divorced. For years, she worked as 5th-grade teacher.
She began writing in 1976, and published her first book, The Enchanted Land (1977) under the name Jude Deveraux. Following the publication of her first novel, she resigned her teaching position. Now, she is the author of 31 New York Times bestsellers.
Jude won readers' hearts with the epic Velvet series, which revolves around the lives of the Montgomery family's irresistible men. Jude's early books are set largely in 15th- and 16th-century England; in them her fierce, impassioned protagonists find themselves in the midst of blood feuds and wars. Her heroines are equally scrappy -- medieval Scarlett O'Haras who often have a low regard for the men who eventually win them over. They're fighters, certainly, but they're also beauties who are preoccupied with survival and family preservation.
Jude has also stepped outside her milieu, with mixed results. Her James River trilogy (River Lady, Lost Lady, and Counterfeit Lady) is set mostly in post-Revolution America; the popular, softer-edged Twin of Fire/Twin of Ice moves to 19th-century Colorado and introduces another hunky-man clan, the Taggerts.
Deveraux manages to evoke a strong and convincing atmosphere for each of her books, but her dialogue and characters are as familiar as a modern-day soap opera's. "Historicals seem to be all I'm capable of," Jude once said in an interview, referring to a now out-of-print attempt at contemporary fiction, 1982's Casa Grande. "I don't want to write family sagas or occult books, and I have no intention of again trying to ruin the contemporary market." Still, Jude did later attempt modern-day romances, such as the lighthearted High Tide (her first murder caper), the contemporary female friendship story The Summerhouse, and the time-traveling Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, with 2002's The Mulberry Tree, Deveraux seems to be getting more comfortable setting stories in the present, which is a good thing, since the fans she won with her historical books are eager to follow her into the future.
Jude married Claude White, who she later divorced in 1993. Around the same time she met Mohammed Montassir with whom she had a son, Sam Alexander Montassir, in 1997. On Oct. 6th, 2005, Sam died at the age of eight in a motorcycle accident.
Jude has lived in several countries and all over the United States. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and has an additional home in the medieval city of Badolato, Italy.
She began writing in 1976, and published her first book, The Enchanted Land (1977) under the name Jude Deveraux. Following the publication of her first novel, she resigned her teaching position. Now, she is the author of 31 New York Times bestsellers.
Jude won readers' hearts with the epic Velvet series, which revolves around the lives of the Montgomery family's irresistible men. Jude's early books are set largely in 15th- and 16th-century England; in them her fierce, impassioned protagonists find themselves in the midst of blood feuds and wars. Her heroines are equally scrappy -- medieval Scarlett O'Haras who often have a low regard for the men who eventually win them over. They're fighters, certainly, but they're also beauties who are preoccupied with survival and family preservation.
Jude has also stepped outside her milieu, with mixed results. Her James River trilogy (River Lady, Lost Lady, and Counterfeit Lady) is set mostly in post-Revolution America; the popular, softer-edged Twin of Fire/Twin of Ice moves to 19th-century Colorado and introduces another hunky-man clan, the Taggerts.
Deveraux manages to evoke a strong and convincing atmosphere for each of her books, but her dialogue and characters are as familiar as a modern-day soap opera's. "Historicals seem to be all I'm capable of," Jude once said in an interview, referring to a now out-of-print attempt at contemporary fiction, 1982's Casa Grande. "I don't want to write family sagas or occult books, and I have no intention of again trying to ruin the contemporary market." Still, Jude did later attempt modern-day romances, such as the lighthearted High Tide (her first murder caper), the contemporary female friendship story The Summerhouse, and the time-traveling Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, with 2002's The Mulberry Tree, Deveraux seems to be getting more comfortable setting stories in the present, which is a good thing, since the fans she won with her historical books are eager to follow her into the future.
Jude married Claude White, who she later divorced in 1993. Around the same time she met Mohammed Montassir with whom she had a son, Sam Alexander Montassir, in 1997. On Oct. 6th, 2005, Sam died at the age of eight in a motorcycle accident.
Jude has lived in several countries and all over the United States. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and has an additional home in the medieval city of Badolato, Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 975 reviews
June 26, 2013
Sigh... I trudged through this one and finally finished but I can't say that I enjoyed the ride.
I have to start off by saying that Jude Deveraux's A Knight in Shining Armor is one of my all-time favorite comfort reads (not to mention it has a great dentist scene- can we say bonus points!?). However, some of her other books are hit and miss with me. This book is definitely in the miss category.
My first issue is the pacing. This book dragggggggs. Clocking in at over 500 pages, it could have used an editor to trim it way down. The first 200 pages are repetitive and ultra boring. I think part of the reason I found the beginning so tedious is that I have zero interest in architecture and and there is a lot of shop talk in the first 10 chapters or so. I yawned right through those.
Another problem that I had, which I sometimes have with Ms. Deveraux's books, is that the plot was unnecessarily confusing. A ghost that only members of Kingsley family can see but the men pretend not to see to indulge the women (??)... Okay... But then add in a murder mystery with the Kingsley family and an outsider who can see the Kingsley ghost and is tasked with solving the mystery. Then add in some architecture mumbo jumbo, a best friend who needs wedding planning help, mommy and daddy issues, hidden journals... my head was just spinning. I wanted more focus. This book was overflowing with ideas and they didn't all work together.
And where was the chemistry between Alix and Jared? It felt very forced and unnatural. I wanted some heat and some sparks! I didn't get any sense of that from them. I think part of the reason why I wasn't feeling the romance is because the writing was so dated. I can't believe this book was just written. The author has Alix (who is supposed to be only 26!) saying things like "take my trousers off" and stuff that no modern 26 year old would say. It felt like it was written by an old lady (yup, I said it).
Finally, what was with all of the unnecessary secrets? There was no need to such drama. The lack of communication here was frustrating and downright irritating.
I think Jude should stick with writing historicals- I like those much better. Her modern stuff just rings false. I think I'm going to dig up my old copy of "A Knight in Shining Armor" to make myself feel better after reading this.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
I have to start off by saying that Jude Deveraux's A Knight in Shining Armor is one of my all-time favorite comfort reads (not to mention it has a great dentist scene- can we say bonus points!?). However, some of her other books are hit and miss with me. This book is definitely in the miss category.
My first issue is the pacing. This book dragggggggs. Clocking in at over 500 pages, it could have used an editor to trim it way down. The first 200 pages are repetitive and ultra boring. I think part of the reason I found the beginning so tedious is that I have zero interest in architecture and and there is a lot of shop talk in the first 10 chapters or so. I yawned right through those.
Another problem that I had, which I sometimes have with Ms. Deveraux's books, is that the plot was unnecessarily confusing. A ghost that only members of Kingsley family can see but the men pretend not to see to indulge the women (??)... Okay... But then add in a murder mystery with the Kingsley family and an outsider who can see the Kingsley ghost and is tasked with solving the mystery. Then add in some architecture mumbo jumbo, a best friend who needs wedding planning help, mommy and daddy issues, hidden journals... my head was just spinning. I wanted more focus. This book was overflowing with ideas and they didn't all work together.
And where was the chemistry between Alix and Jared? It felt very forced and unnatural. I wanted some heat and some sparks! I didn't get any sense of that from them. I think part of the reason why I wasn't feeling the romance is because the writing was so dated. I can't believe this book was just written. The author has Alix (who is supposed to be only 26!) saying things like "take my trousers off" and stuff that no modern 26 year old would say. It felt like it was written by an old lady (yup, I said it).
Finally, what was with all of the unnecessary secrets? There was no need to such drama. The lack of communication here was frustrating and downright irritating.
I think Jude should stick with writing historicals- I like those much better. Her modern stuff just rings false. I think I'm going to dig up my old copy of "A Knight in Shining Armor" to make myself feel better after reading this.
**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**
July 10, 2013
Jude Deveraux returns with a first book in a new series, The Nantucket Brides trilogy. I have been a huge fan of this author's historicals for many years. Following the saga of the Montgomery Family along with their Taggert cousins has given me many hours of pleasure. I couldn't resist a new generation and I'm happy I gave this one a try. I enjoyed the story, the characters, and even the ghost. The beautiful setting of Nantucket Island is like icing on the cake and with Deveraux's descriptive narrative it's as if you were there.
Alex Madsen and Jared Montgomery Kingsley are both likable characters and I enjoyed the slow build of their relationship. What I missed is the intensity of romantic feelings, the chemistry I've come to count on found in her historicals. Here, the love scenes all fade to black and while I found it to be an engaging read, I missed the deep, urgent romantic aspect I've come to expect from this author.
However, I still find Deveraux's writing very appealing. The story is woven around past events and a very handsome ghost is a major player in the plot. There's a mystery and I adored the islanders and their secondary stories. The visits with Jared's Montgomery/Taggert relatives is another added bonus.
I found this to be an engaging, pleasurable read. If you enjoy a well written, light romance with the focus on the town and the mystery, then you'll want to read this one.
***ARC courtesy of Random House Publishing via Netgally ***
Alex Madsen and Jared Montgomery Kingsley are both likable characters and I enjoyed the slow build of their relationship. What I missed is the intensity of romantic feelings, the chemistry I've come to count on found in her historicals. Here, the love scenes all fade to black and while I found it to be an engaging read, I missed the deep, urgent romantic aspect I've come to expect from this author.
However, I still find Deveraux's writing very appealing. The story is woven around past events and a very handsome ghost is a major player in the plot. There's a mystery and I adored the islanders and their secondary stories. The visits with Jared's Montgomery/Taggert relatives is another added bonus.
I found this to be an engaging, pleasurable read. If you enjoy a well written, light romance with the focus on the town and the mystery, then you'll want to read this one.
***ARC courtesy of Random House Publishing via Netgally ***
November 26, 2020
I have mixed feelings about this one. There were parts that were endearing, sections I felt like I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, and for me, it was a story I had never read before/a new premise. The touch of fantasy was always lurking, but it didn’t feel like fantasy.
Weighing in at over 650 pages, there were more parts of this book where I found myself bored and pushing myself to read one more page. Jude Deveraux is a skilled writer and it’s evident in this story. Not many people can keep my attention for these many pages and have me invested in the story.
I plan to read something else by her; I’ll look for something shorter..
Weighing in at over 650 pages, there were more parts of this book where I found myself bored and pushing myself to read one more page. Jude Deveraux is a skilled writer and it’s evident in this story. Not many people can keep my attention for these many pages and have me invested in the story.
I plan to read something else by her; I’ll look for something shorter..
July 16, 2014
1.5*
Not even good enough to be rated as "2* - OK"... Another new Jude D. disappointment! This woman was my "go to" author for years, that now I am absolutely shocked to what level she has stooped with this nonsense!!
Quick summary:
Alix's mother's friend, Addie, leaves it in her dying will that she wants Alix to live in Addie's Nantucket house for a year after Addie's death. After that the home goes back to the rightful heir - Jared (Montgomery or Kingsley or whatever!?). Jared is a super-famous, hot-shot architect and Alix, who is an architecture university graduate, is instantly star-struck! Romance between them develops, while Alix is trying to solve the mystery of the house's resident ghost (Jared's great great great great great grandfather), planning her best friend's wedding, and being ping-ponged between the lies of her two weird parents...
Thoughts
- Too many ideas that just didn't work well together - in fact they made the book needlessly confusing at times!! Ghost of Caleb, Valentina's mystery, secret journals, why does Alix see the ghost when only men in the family can see him (and she is neither)?!, wedding planning, mother (i.e. manipulative cougar), father (i.e. issues), wedding fiasco, snobby Nantucketers, random Taggert/Montgomery cousins, soooo much architecture talk, needless lies...
- Annoying right off the bat - the 2 friends (Alix and Isabel) break into Jared's house and literally DROOL over his "architectural tools" - these girls are apparently brilliant architects themselves, yet are behaving like 13 year-olds and BREAKING into a "famous" architect's home?!?! Made zero sense... Plus Jared is constantly described as a "famous person/STAR" - seen on the red carpet and in tabloids with all these models, etc... What kind of an architect reaches that kind of fame?!?! Never heard of one in real life...
- Main character says stupid things like "Two people, deeply in love, deciding to wait for years to get married. That would never happen in the modern times!" > Ummm ok?! Because in the modern times people don't date for years and years and YEARS before taking the plunge?! The whole idea of "dating before marriage" (as well as engagements that last for years!) stems from the late 20th century, but what do i know...
- What's the big deal about this BIG SECRET ?! Both her parents seemed to be secretly spending time in Nantucket and no one told her... Well that just seems stupid - but not the "ultimate betrayal" the book is making it out to be! Also, I don't see how the lies were justified?! How/why was Alix better off not knowing about Nantucket and people in/on it? Apparently her mother says "She saw little Alix crushing on that boy (Jared) and knew that if they grew up together Alix would focus on him and never follow her own dreams..." > ALIX WAS FOUR YEARS OLD!!! Is everyone crazy?!
- Alix has heard all about the ghost, she has talked to him, he has dropped pictures and made other signs for her - she believes in ghosts... So why is she super shocked and upset that Caleb is the ghost?! She's known about the ghost all along, so who did she think Caleb could be when he appeared for her?!?! Wasn't it obvious from the old portrait and from all the stories that it was him?!?!
- Alix's mother is suchhhh a conniving b*tch! Wow! And Alix is just a pushover who allows her mother to manipulate her.... She fought with her boyfriend for NO REASON just because her mother filled her head with crap! And all of this, in the end, turned out to be the mother's manipulative plan to get Alix and Jared closer together! Ughhh!!
- Alix planning Izzy's wedding made no sense to begin with. But then with Alix's mother taking everything over - it made even less sense!!! Why were there random people being invited to this wedding?! "My mother is inviting most of the islanders and Jilly is inviting some of her cousins from Warbrook..." ??? WHAT??? Whoever the wedding was meant for (Izzy or Alix) why were random people invited to it?!
- So after having to lie to her mother all her life because she was being a total 'mother-zilla' and hide her boyfriends and other everyday things from her, as well as the most recent fact that she is getting married, Alix says "I do have a great mother, don't I" ?????? Ummm... NO YOU DON'T!
- They needed a groomsman, so they had a random woman call up her RANDOM cousin?! The groom didn't have a FRIEND he could call?!?! What is WRONG with these people?!?! And the last minute wedding switch?! Why would Alix and Jared want something like this?! This farce, full of strangers (Izzy's guests and other random stuffy Nantucketers that Alix doesn't even know!), a wedding that wasn't even meant for her!?! Why would Alix agree to this?! Just to help her friend (who seemed a bit crazy to me!) elope?! Whatever!!!
- What was with the twins in the end? Was that the Mike Taggert (from "Sweet Liar")? If so - this guy is already married, what's he doing switching up with his twin, Kane (who I believe was also paired up in "Matchmakers")?!?! This seemed like a potential set-up for Toby, but I don't get it - I thought both these guys were taken...
- Valentina's mystery was completely anti-climactic! As was the silly story about her hidden journal! It all really amounted to nothing!! Not to mention the extreme ridiculousness of all of them being a reincarnation of someone from the past (and always ending up with the same "true love")!
March 16, 2013
Blurb
Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman’s relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix—fresh from a romantic breakup—but for reasons of her own Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding.
But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse.
Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair.
With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together.
My Review
It's been so long since I've read a new Jude Deveraux book that I was really excited to dive into this one. Sadly, it was a tad bit disappointing. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either. In fact it wasn't until 60% of the book that I finally appreciated the story until the rug suddenly got pulled under me.
Let's start with the things that worked for me...
Alix - She's the quintessential Deveraux heroine down to her red-gold hair, green eyes and engaging personality.
Jared Montgomery Kingsley - Jared reminded me of Mike Taggert, whom I loved, from Sweet Liar.
Caleb "the ghost" - Oh, he's a character all right.
Ken Masden - loved his character. Loved his relationship with Alix and Jared.
Nantucket - Deveraux painted a vivid picture of Nantucket. It feels like you were right there with these characters. The eccentricities of its people and the psyche of the whole town (Nantucket is a country of its own, totally separate from America), makes for a very satisfying read.
The Taggerts and the Montgomerys - Now if you're a fan of Deveraux, like me, you'll know these families and you also love them. It's great to see Kane and Cale, Mike and Sam, all the Taggert cousins, Chandler, Colorado mentioned, albeit in passing, in this story. Brings back great memories.
Now onto what didn't work for me...
The Story - Ugh! I felt like there's so much promise to this story and I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for that oomph, but sadly, it didn't happen. Alix was supposed to solve the mystery of the missing Valentina. This was the mystery element to the book, not to mention the fact that the house Alix was staying in is being "haunted" by a ghost, that ghost being Valentina's lover and Jared's seventh greats grandfather.
I was excited about that. Deveraux have incorporated ghosts in her stories before and I worked then but unfortunately, it didn't work here. The ending to the mystery of Valentina was anti-climactic to say the least. I won't spoil you anymore, only to say that, it was a disappointment.
Victoria - I hated her. I think she's selfish and her character adds nothing to the story. I don't care if she was supposed to be Valentina from her past life, this woman killed the book for me the moment she appeared and found out who she supposed to be. Suddenly, it was all about her and the story deteriorated from there.
The whole mystery thing - I didn't get it. It was supposed to be a mystery but apparently, Caleb already knew what happened to Valentina, so it wasn't really a mystery at all. Maybe I didn't get the whole point -- which I thought was finding out what happened to Valentina. Maybe the whole point was that Caleb and Valentina can be together again? This is where the story jumped the shark for me. It tried to be everything at once -- romantic, mysterious, not to mention the whole reincarnation business, the ghosts, the distant cousins -- it was all too much. I felt that the original intent of the story wasn't executed very well.
*ARC provided by NetGalley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2013
Right a few confessions, I am the least romantic guy around, when I last tried to be romantic I was 18 years old and it backfired on me! Not bothered since. My other example in life, my father, the only time he bought my mother flowers was at her funeral. Then she always stated that after 42 years of marriage, if he turned up with flowers she would suspect he had done something he wanted to own up to. So yeah I could do with all the help and tips I can get.
Many people tend to look down on romance writers as if it is not literary proficient to be mentioned or be seen with. Come on when was the last time you saw a romance novel reviewed in a newspaper?? Let’s be honest they must be doing something right these romance writers, they shift plenty of copies and look at what it did for Barbara Cartland it kept her in pink taffeta. You see plenty of romance novels being sold at railway stations and airports usually in the hands of a lady, and never in the hands of a hairy arsed short fat bald headed bloke like me!
Crime, yeah I read it, fantasy yeah that too, history, sports books even the Bible but romance no not me! Its girls stuff all mushy rubbish girl sees boy, falls in love they marry and live happily ever after. But when you break down crime it is someone gets murdered, a defective detective finds out whom the villain is and arrests them.
So Headline Eternal sent me True Love by Jude Deveraux and a few others to get my teeth in to. So what can I say about my first experience of romantic writing and reading, I loved it. Yeah this hairy arsed bloke actually enjoyed the book.
True Love is well written great story great characters a ghost or two and great setting. Yeah there is the mixture of reincarnation on a number of levels whether it is people or buildings, but it is enjoyable.
Alix our heroine has been left in a will a year’s stay in Kingsley House in Nantucket, not your standard island, an historic island off the coast of north east USA where there is a mixture of old and new money and beautiful people. The person who will eventually inherit the house, Jared Montgomery Kingsley is not impressed at all.
Alix has just graduated and putting her architectural portfolio together and has just finished with her boyfriend when she arrives on the ferry at Nantucket. She falls in love with the place and the house that she is to live in for the next year. She finds out that the house she is living in is the home of her architectural hero, Jared Montgomery or Kingsley as he is known on Nantucket. She is inspired and builds a model chapel and many drawings. Both Jared and Alix eventually get their act together (so no spoilers here read it yourself) and fall in love and work together.
Captain Caleb our family friendly ghost is cajoling the pair together in planning a wedding for Alix’s best friend Izzy and they build the chapel that Alix has designed for the wedding. Which in turn leads to the discovery of a long lost journal to help with the family history and the search for Caleb’s lost love Valentina.
It is Alix’s mother who eventually pushes Jared towards marrying Alix, who will be married in the chapel she designed build by her father and husband to be. At the wedding there are a large number of reincarnated members of the Kingsley family and we eventually find out the story of Caleb and Valentina.
It would be so easy to so easy to mention the plot of the story but I think that would destroy the enjoyment of reading True Love and you do find that the final sentence of the book sums up the novel “You will wait for True Love forever”.
Would I recommend the book yes I would, it is a true unisex book, it is not just for women. So if you are in a book shop or can log on buy it today!
Many people tend to look down on romance writers as if it is not literary proficient to be mentioned or be seen with. Come on when was the last time you saw a romance novel reviewed in a newspaper?? Let’s be honest they must be doing something right these romance writers, they shift plenty of copies and look at what it did for Barbara Cartland it kept her in pink taffeta. You see plenty of romance novels being sold at railway stations and airports usually in the hands of a lady, and never in the hands of a hairy arsed short fat bald headed bloke like me!
Crime, yeah I read it, fantasy yeah that too, history, sports books even the Bible but romance no not me! Its girls stuff all mushy rubbish girl sees boy, falls in love they marry and live happily ever after. But when you break down crime it is someone gets murdered, a defective detective finds out whom the villain is and arrests them.
So Headline Eternal sent me True Love by Jude Deveraux and a few others to get my teeth in to. So what can I say about my first experience of romantic writing and reading, I loved it. Yeah this hairy arsed bloke actually enjoyed the book.
True Love is well written great story great characters a ghost or two and great setting. Yeah there is the mixture of reincarnation on a number of levels whether it is people or buildings, but it is enjoyable.
Alix our heroine has been left in a will a year’s stay in Kingsley House in Nantucket, not your standard island, an historic island off the coast of north east USA where there is a mixture of old and new money and beautiful people. The person who will eventually inherit the house, Jared Montgomery Kingsley is not impressed at all.
Alix has just graduated and putting her architectural portfolio together and has just finished with her boyfriend when she arrives on the ferry at Nantucket. She falls in love with the place and the house that she is to live in for the next year. She finds out that the house she is living in is the home of her architectural hero, Jared Montgomery or Kingsley as he is known on Nantucket. She is inspired and builds a model chapel and many drawings. Both Jared and Alix eventually get their act together (so no spoilers here read it yourself) and fall in love and work together.
Captain Caleb our family friendly ghost is cajoling the pair together in planning a wedding for Alix’s best friend Izzy and they build the chapel that Alix has designed for the wedding. Which in turn leads to the discovery of a long lost journal to help with the family history and the search for Caleb’s lost love Valentina.
It is Alix’s mother who eventually pushes Jared towards marrying Alix, who will be married in the chapel she designed build by her father and husband to be. At the wedding there are a large number of reincarnated members of the Kingsley family and we eventually find out the story of Caleb and Valentina.
It would be so easy to so easy to mention the plot of the story but I think that would destroy the enjoyment of reading True Love and you do find that the final sentence of the book sums up the novel “You will wait for True Love forever”.
Would I recommend the book yes I would, it is a true unisex book, it is not just for women. So if you are in a book shop or can log on buy it today!
March 20, 2013
True Love… Man, this is going to be hard.
It’s been years since I read a JD novel, and after finally finishing TL, I can sort of recall why I stopped reading them. Is it another case of ‘If you’ve read one of hers, you’ve read them all’ situations? I don’t know if I can recall that far back to her other books that clearly to make a fair comparison. But that’s the problem isn’t it? That they’re forgettable. OK I’m starting to sound mean because maybe there were one or two moments in this that were OK.. but… but I’m struggling to name something truly good about this.
I sort of liked the mother in this one, that one misunderstood character… or more apt the one who makes herself purposely misunderstood so that she’s inevitably always the source of drama? I didn’t “love” the two leads though. Her hero worship and his guy reminiscing over decades over to when they were both kids? I found them and their romance strangely… boring. Then when it wasn’t supposed to be boring, well I founded it convoluted… ghostly presences, notwithstanding.
So who will like this? JD fans, of course. As well as the for sure die hard fans of the Montgomery’s (and the Taggert’s, too) because, if I recall things correctly, JD had a series of books on those two families (unless I’m confusing her with some other romance author from my past.)
2/5
Thank you Net Galley
It’s been years since I read a JD novel, and after finally finishing TL, I can sort of recall why I stopped reading them. Is it another case of ‘If you’ve read one of hers, you’ve read them all’ situations? I don’t know if I can recall that far back to her other books that clearly to make a fair comparison. But that’s the problem isn’t it? That they’re forgettable. OK I’m starting to sound mean because maybe there were one or two moments in this that were OK.. but… but I’m struggling to name something truly good about this.
I sort of liked the mother in this one, that one misunderstood character… or more apt the one who makes herself purposely misunderstood so that she’s inevitably always the source of drama? I didn’t “love” the two leads though. Her hero worship and his guy reminiscing over decades over to when they were both kids? I found them and their romance strangely… boring. Then when it wasn’t supposed to be boring, well I founded it convoluted… ghostly presences, notwithstanding.
So who will like this? JD fans, of course. As well as the for sure die hard fans of the Montgomery’s (and the Taggert’s, too) because, if I recall things correctly, JD had a series of books on those two families (unless I’m confusing her with some other romance author from my past.)
2/5
Thank you Net Galley
August 7, 2013
What’s in name?
Apparently nothing! For those who have read Jude Deveraux’s books from the beginning, “Montgomery” has been reduced to nothing but a last name.
After her last three books, all set in the psycho town of Edilean, a place full of lying, conniving, busybodies, I was excited to hear Ms. Deveraux was revisiting the Montgomery clan. I’m always up for a story involving the Montgomery/Taggert families. But the Edilean freaks have moved to Nantucket and call themselves Kingsley/Montgomery now.
I hate stories where the whole premise is based on lies. Where everyone is lying to the main character and when the truth comes out she just acquiesces and it’s all good. First of all the lies being kept from the insipid Alix are ridiculous and make no sense. This brilliant, amazing “student of architecture” (this descriptor for Alix is repeated over and over) is going to fall apart when she finds out about these lightweight lies that will apparently rock her world (which they never really do). Cliché Romance Writing 101 here.
Let’s throw in her awful, self-centered, manipulative mother, who the brain-dead Alix knows is self-centered and manipulative so she has always kept her mother in the dark about the boys she has dated…but when mom shows up, Alix lets herself be completely manipulated, treated like crap, talked down to, and then says don’t I have the best mother ever?! What the what?!
The hero of this awful story is Jared Montgomery Kingsley, the most brilliant architect since Wright apparently. He walks on water…but that is all just a pedestal that the starry eyed public has thrust him upon, he really just wants to be his regular down-to-earth self and hangout on Nantucket with all of his friends/family…who look down on anyone not from Nantucket. If you are reader of Deveraux books, you know Montgomery men…Jared is NOT one! Not even close.
Oh and if it wasn’t awful enough already, let’s throw in a ghost whose been hanging around for 200 years that a select few people can talk to/see and a whole lot of past life spirits inhabiting these characters, that makes the story so convoluted Shirley McClain would have a hard time wading through who goes where. Then make the, interesting as a bowl of noodles, Alix, plan her neurotic, completely absent through the story, best friend’s wedding…and add an appearance by Kane and Mike Taggert, the now older, hot twins of previous stories…for no other reason than to set up for one the next two planned stories in this series. Could there be more going on in this book with absolutely nothing really interesting ever happening?!
On top of all this, Ms. Deveraux does nothing for Nantucket tourism. Apparently everyone on Nantucket hates “off-islanders”, resents the tourist season and thinks of themselves as their own sovereign island…not part of America, because they are better than everyone else.
I have been a loyal fan for 33 years…now I’m just disappointed and done. Want to read this author at her story telling best…try Holly, High Tide, An Angel for Emily…oh so many great titles come to mind…this is NOT one of them!
Apparently nothing! For those who have read Jude Deveraux’s books from the beginning, “Montgomery” has been reduced to nothing but a last name.
After her last three books, all set in the psycho town of Edilean, a place full of lying, conniving, busybodies, I was excited to hear Ms. Deveraux was revisiting the Montgomery clan. I’m always up for a story involving the Montgomery/Taggert families. But the Edilean freaks have moved to Nantucket and call themselves Kingsley/Montgomery now.
I hate stories where the whole premise is based on lies. Where everyone is lying to the main character and when the truth comes out she just acquiesces and it’s all good. First of all the lies being kept from the insipid Alix are ridiculous and make no sense. This brilliant, amazing “student of architecture” (this descriptor for Alix is repeated over and over) is going to fall apart when she finds out about these lightweight lies that will apparently rock her world (which they never really do). Cliché Romance Writing 101 here.
Let’s throw in her awful, self-centered, manipulative mother, who the brain-dead Alix knows is self-centered and manipulative so she has always kept her mother in the dark about the boys she has dated…but when mom shows up, Alix lets herself be completely manipulated, treated like crap, talked down to, and then says don’t I have the best mother ever?! What the what?!
The hero of this awful story is Jared Montgomery Kingsley, the most brilliant architect since Wright apparently. He walks on water…but that is all just a pedestal that the starry eyed public has thrust him upon, he really just wants to be his regular down-to-earth self and hangout on Nantucket with all of his friends/family…who look down on anyone not from Nantucket. If you are reader of Deveraux books, you know Montgomery men…Jared is NOT one! Not even close.
Oh and if it wasn’t awful enough already, let’s throw in a ghost whose been hanging around for 200 years that a select few people can talk to/see and a whole lot of past life spirits inhabiting these characters, that makes the story so convoluted Shirley McClain would have a hard time wading through who goes where. Then make the, interesting as a bowl of noodles, Alix, plan her neurotic, completely absent through the story, best friend’s wedding…and add an appearance by Kane and Mike Taggert, the now older, hot twins of previous stories…for no other reason than to set up for one the next two planned stories in this series. Could there be more going on in this book with absolutely nothing really interesting ever happening?!
On top of all this, Ms. Deveraux does nothing for Nantucket tourism. Apparently everyone on Nantucket hates “off-islanders”, resents the tourist season and thinks of themselves as their own sovereign island…not part of America, because they are better than everyone else.
I have been a loyal fan for 33 years…now I’m just disappointed and done. Want to read this author at her story telling best…try Holly, High Tide, An Angel for Emily…oh so many great titles come to mind…this is NOT one of them!
February 13, 2016
True Love by Jude Deveraux is a 2013 Ballantine Books publication.
Jude Deveraux is an author I have always wanted to follow more closely, but I never seem to get around to reading her books. So, sticking to my personal 2016 New Year resolution to remedy these situations, I decided to start off with a more recent series/trilogy by this author.
The Nantucket Brides series sounded intriguing because it has a paranormal element to it and I love the setting.
Alix Madsen has the wonderful opportunity of living in Nantucket for a year, in a house she once spent time in as a child. This chance comes to her in the form of a codicil in the will of Adelaide Kingsley. This year off will allow Alix to work on her portfolio and resume in order to apply to the prestigious architectural firm run by her hero, Jared Montgomery.
The catch? Jared Montgomery is actually Jared Kingsley and it’s his home the will has booted him out of, at least for a year. Not only that, Jared is arrogant to the extreme, and hates architectural ‘groupies’ following him around like he’s some kind of God, pestering him with questions and generally bowing down at his feet, and that’s exactly what Alix had in mind, until she meets the man face to face.
So, why was this codicil added to will? Well, it’s complicated, but one reason is that Alix, should she choose to accept this mission, is to discover what happened to Jared’s grandfather’s former lover, who disappeared many years ago. Not only that, Jared’s grandfather happens to be a ghost, and is ‘helping’ Alix every opportunity he gets.
I’m not sure this was the best book to pull out of the hat in way of an introduction to an author I’ve heard so much about over the years. I’m sure, that while this book was an okay read, it’s not the best representation of this author’s work.
I have to say Alix got on my nerves quite a bit, and Jared was just too full of himself. The wedding idea was sweet, but it there were too many threads working at once. The mystery Alix was supposed to solve didn’t get rolling until late in the story, and the paranormal aspects, suggesting reincarnation, was actually an interesting concept, but it was also a little confusing because new characters were popping in, and the whole thing just ended up being a big mess in the end.
I have mulled over this review for a few days now, and I think I will skip out on the other installments in the series and perhaps check out the older historical novels by this author instead. If anyone has a suggestion for me, I am certainly willing to give it try.
This one was okay, but was too busy, and I never warmed up to the characters. 3 stars
Jude Deveraux is an author I have always wanted to follow more closely, but I never seem to get around to reading her books. So, sticking to my personal 2016 New Year resolution to remedy these situations, I decided to start off with a more recent series/trilogy by this author.
The Nantucket Brides series sounded intriguing because it has a paranormal element to it and I love the setting.
Alix Madsen has the wonderful opportunity of living in Nantucket for a year, in a house she once spent time in as a child. This chance comes to her in the form of a codicil in the will of Adelaide Kingsley. This year off will allow Alix to work on her portfolio and resume in order to apply to the prestigious architectural firm run by her hero, Jared Montgomery.
The catch? Jared Montgomery is actually Jared Kingsley and it’s his home the will has booted him out of, at least for a year. Not only that, Jared is arrogant to the extreme, and hates architectural ‘groupies’ following him around like he’s some kind of God, pestering him with questions and generally bowing down at his feet, and that’s exactly what Alix had in mind, until she meets the man face to face.
So, why was this codicil added to will? Well, it’s complicated, but one reason is that Alix, should she choose to accept this mission, is to discover what happened to Jared’s grandfather’s former lover, who disappeared many years ago. Not only that, Jared’s grandfather happens to be a ghost, and is ‘helping’ Alix every opportunity he gets.
I’m not sure this was the best book to pull out of the hat in way of an introduction to an author I’ve heard so much about over the years. I’m sure, that while this book was an okay read, it’s not the best representation of this author’s work.
I have to say Alix got on my nerves quite a bit, and Jared was just too full of himself. The wedding idea was sweet, but it there were too many threads working at once. The mystery Alix was supposed to solve didn’t get rolling until late in the story, and the paranormal aspects, suggesting reincarnation, was actually an interesting concept, but it was also a little confusing because new characters were popping in, and the whole thing just ended up being a big mess in the end.
I have mulled over this review for a few days now, and I think I will skip out on the other installments in the series and perhaps check out the older historical novels by this author instead. If anyone has a suggestion for me, I am certainly willing to give it try.
This one was okay, but was too busy, and I never warmed up to the characters. 3 stars
September 2, 2018
Souhaitant alterner une lecture en espagnol très intéressante mais qui me demande plus de concentration, avec une lecture légère, j'ai laissé ma nostalgie diriger mon choix.
Jude Deveraux fait partie des "vieux de la vieille" de la collection Aventures et Passions publié chez J'ai Lu. Il y a 20 ans je dévorais avec délectation la saga des Montgomery et des Taggart, pour petit à petit les laisser de côté, trouvant une certaine tendance à se répéter et m'étant quand même un peu lassée. J'ai Lu avait d'ailleurs arrêté de la publier.
Quand les 2 1ers tomes de Mariage à Nantucket sont sorties, je me suis dit que ce serait sympa de la retrouver. Malheureusement malgré la longue pause, je n'ai pas retrouvé du plaisir à la lire. Ou alors c'est elle qui a vieillit ou c'est moi qui ai changé. Peut-être un peu des deux.
Concrètement et au delà de toutes considérations subjectives de ma part, c'est un peu chia**. je me suis ennuyée et sauté pas mal de passages. C'est un peu comme Lisa Kleypas avec sa série Friday Harbor. C'est bien quand on veut introduire des éléments fantastiques, mais encore faut-il savoir les maîtriser. Déjà la mise en place des personnages est complètement farfelue, je pense qu'elle voulait garder le mystère de l'intrigue, mais elle a seulement réussie à me perdre dans une narration assez brouillonne.
C'est une histoire de réincarnations multiples, d'âmes sœurs égarées, de fantômes... tout cela au milieu d'une petite île où tout le monde se connaît et se trouve apparenté par un moindre degrés.
Oncles, neveux, cousins, parents, grands-parents qui à un moment donné se retrouvent possédés par l'âme d'un de leur ancêtre qui se réincarne à chaque génération pour retrouver son âme sœur.
Et d'une se pose la question du libre arbitre, à chaque époque une âme est sacrifiée pour laisser son corps à une réincarnation. Ensuite une certaine notion également d'inceste, à force de tous se mélanger. Un imbroglio pas possible parce qu'ils s'appellent tous pareils, quelques soient les époques où ils atterrissent. D'ailleurs Jude Deveraux a la manie de toujours utiliser les mêmes prénoms dans ses livres. Quelque soient les sagas et les histoires. Encore une fois nous avons des Jared, des Alix des Caleb etc, etc
Et puis tout simplement un couple qui ne m'a pas intéressé. Comme je le sais ne m'intéressera pas celui du prochain tome, que je ne lirai pas. L'histoire des jumeaux identiques que seule la femme destinée réussit à les différencier, elle nous l'a déjà fait plusieurs fois. Du coup je passe mon tour.
Je vais me contenter d'être nostalgique et de garder mes vieilles collections, et tourner la page sur cet auteur.
Jude Deveraux fait partie des "vieux de la vieille" de la collection Aventures et Passions publié chez J'ai Lu. Il y a 20 ans je dévorais avec délectation la saga des Montgomery et des Taggart, pour petit à petit les laisser de côté, trouvant une certaine tendance à se répéter et m'étant quand même un peu lassée. J'ai Lu avait d'ailleurs arrêté de la publier.
Quand les 2 1ers tomes de Mariage à Nantucket sont sorties, je me suis dit que ce serait sympa de la retrouver. Malheureusement malgré la longue pause, je n'ai pas retrouvé du plaisir à la lire. Ou alors c'est elle qui a vieillit ou c'est moi qui ai changé. Peut-être un peu des deux.
Concrètement et au delà de toutes considérations subjectives de ma part, c'est un peu chia**. je me suis ennuyée et sauté pas mal de passages. C'est un peu comme Lisa Kleypas avec sa série Friday Harbor. C'est bien quand on veut introduire des éléments fantastiques, mais encore faut-il savoir les maîtriser. Déjà la mise en place des personnages est complètement farfelue, je pense qu'elle voulait garder le mystère de l'intrigue, mais elle a seulement réussie à me perdre dans une narration assez brouillonne.
C'est une histoire de réincarnations multiples, d'âmes sœurs égarées, de fantômes... tout cela au milieu d'une petite île où tout le monde se connaît et se trouve apparenté par un moindre degrés.
Oncles, neveux, cousins, parents, grands-parents qui à un moment donné se retrouvent possédés par l'âme d'un de leur ancêtre qui se réincarne à chaque génération pour retrouver son âme sœur.
Et d'une se pose la question du libre arbitre, à chaque époque une âme est sacrifiée pour laisser son corps à une réincarnation. Ensuite une certaine notion également d'inceste, à force de tous se mélanger. Un imbroglio pas possible parce qu'ils s'appellent tous pareils, quelques soient les époques où ils atterrissent. D'ailleurs Jude Deveraux a la manie de toujours utiliser les mêmes prénoms dans ses livres. Quelque soient les sagas et les histoires. Encore une fois nous avons des Jared, des Alix des Caleb etc, etc
Et puis tout simplement un couple qui ne m'a pas intéressé. Comme je le sais ne m'intéressera pas celui du prochain tome, que je ne lirai pas. L'histoire des jumeaux identiques que seule la femme destinée réussit à les différencier, elle nous l'a déjà fait plusieurs fois. Du coup je passe mon tour.
Je vais me contenter d'être nostalgique et de garder mes vieilles collections, et tourner la page sur cet auteur.
April 6, 2015
I enjoyed going back into the Montgomery world- it’s been awhile since that’s happened… not awhile since I’ve read a JD Mongomery novel- I re-read her old stories quite often. No it’s been awhile since I’ve enjoyed one of her newer novels.
While this one dragged a bit in the middle- (you can’t say she doesn’t research her novels well, because we had quite a bit of architectural content)- it was fun seeing quirky characters again, like she used to write. Of course, this one being paranormal, there was also quite abit of ghost storying and reincarnation of true love going on- nothing new for JD either.
In this one we get the story of the Kingsleys, another large Maine family like the Montgomery’s from Warbrooke Main- instead the Kingsleys' inhabit Nantucket Island. The hero is a Montgomery, though- from a long ago female ancester...but that comes later...and a world famous architect.
Alixandra Madson has just graduated from school and is quite good at being an Architect too. She’s about to come into her hero’s world through a bizarre stipulation in the will of a lady she met as a four yr old- and had never seen after that.
Jared couldn’t believe the nonsense his great Aunt was putting him through with her ridiculous will. Not only must he put off moving into his inherited home for a year- but he must now somehow avoid the attentions of a starry eyed recently graduated Architectural student he met briefly as a child. He has no idea what all is behind the weird stipulation, but he suspects the long held family unsolved mystery over a long dead great, great, great, (etc) grandmother and the ghost of his great,great, great, (etc) grandfather still haunting the family home has much to do with it.
Things have been kept secret for too long concerning Alix and Nantucket- cause she is somehow part of the Kingsley mystery- but forces are converging to solve it and set a lost forever kinda love to right. If Alix can forgive those who’ve kept her in the dark for so long, she may just find her own forever love in the bargain.
Although not perfect, (Alix's mother was annoying and too much filler, imo), I found True Love to be pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I’m also looking forward to the next in this series because it involves a crown prince Taggart Twin from Lanconia- which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time with one of her novels! Yeah!
While this one dragged a bit in the middle- (you can’t say she doesn’t research her novels well, because we had quite a bit of architectural content)- it was fun seeing quirky characters again, like she used to write. Of course, this one being paranormal, there was also quite abit of ghost storying and reincarnation of true love going on- nothing new for JD either.
In this one we get the story of the Kingsleys, another large Maine family like the Montgomery’s from Warbrooke Main- instead the Kingsleys' inhabit Nantucket Island. The hero is a Montgomery, though- from a long ago female ancester...but that comes later...and a world famous architect.
Alixandra Madson has just graduated from school and is quite good at being an Architect too. She’s about to come into her hero’s world through a bizarre stipulation in the will of a lady she met as a four yr old- and had never seen after that.
Jared couldn’t believe the nonsense his great Aunt was putting him through with her ridiculous will. Not only must he put off moving into his inherited home for a year- but he must now somehow avoid the attentions of a starry eyed recently graduated Architectural student he met briefly as a child. He has no idea what all is behind the weird stipulation, but he suspects the long held family unsolved mystery over a long dead great, great, great, (etc) grandmother and the ghost of his great,great, great, (etc) grandfather still haunting the family home has much to do with it.
Things have been kept secret for too long concerning Alix and Nantucket- cause she is somehow part of the Kingsley mystery- but forces are converging to solve it and set a lost forever kinda love to right. If Alix can forgive those who’ve kept her in the dark for so long, she may just find her own forever love in the bargain.
Although not perfect, (Alix's mother was annoying and too much filler, imo), I found True Love to be pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I’m also looking forward to the next in this series because it involves a crown prince Taggart Twin from Lanconia- which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time with one of her novels! Yeah!
February 14, 2016
Prekrasno je krenula, i onda kolaps, :) jedva sam izdržala, previše nepovezanih likova, previše nevezanih stvari, opisi događaja se ponavljaju bez razloga...420 stranica je bilo previše za mene.
November 25, 2024
2.5 stars ✨
November 29, 2025
Adelaide Kingsley, the matriarch of a nineteenth-century home, has just passed away. Her family has always left the Kingsley Nantucket home to the oldest son, but Adelaide has given the home one year to Alix Madsen...someone who isn’t even family.
Alix Madsen doesn’t understand why the Kingsley’s have given her their home and why both her parents are pushing her to take a year in the beautiful old house. The truth is Alix has been kept in the dark most of her life about her and her parents lives on Nantucket Island.
Alix is an up and coming architech, right out of school and it just so happens that she dreams of working for Jared Kingsley...the same Jared that was suppose to inherit the Kingsley home she now has possession of.
There is also a matter of a quirky 5 times great grandfather ghost in residence at the Kingsley home, a ghost with his own agenda. Only the male family members have been able to see the Captain through out their lives but when Alix visited the Kingsley home at the age of 4 she developed a relationship with the Captain/ghost.
Alix and Jared discover that their lives have been connected for years. Passions ignite and life will never be the same on this cozy island off the USA eastern seaboard.
A quirky and fun romance with a paranormal twist, True Love is a brilliantly developed tale! Basked in the history of the beautiful ghost ridden island of Nantucket, you can’t help but fall in love with the island, characters and the story Jude Deveraux wove for us to enjoy. Drenched in family bonds, you have the feeling of homecoming as you turn the pages. Superb story of love, friends, happiness and home! Don’t miss your chance to take a trip to Nantucket, you’ll be glad you came!
This ARC copy of True Love was given to me by Random House - Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review. This book is set for publication on July 2, 2013.
Alix Madsen doesn’t understand why the Kingsley’s have given her their home and why both her parents are pushing her to take a year in the beautiful old house. The truth is Alix has been kept in the dark most of her life about her and her parents lives on Nantucket Island.
Alix is an up and coming architech, right out of school and it just so happens that she dreams of working for Jared Kingsley...the same Jared that was suppose to inherit the Kingsley home she now has possession of.
There is also a matter of a quirky 5 times great grandfather ghost in residence at the Kingsley home, a ghost with his own agenda. Only the male family members have been able to see the Captain through out their lives but when Alix visited the Kingsley home at the age of 4 she developed a relationship with the Captain/ghost.
Alix and Jared discover that their lives have been connected for years. Passions ignite and life will never be the same on this cozy island off the USA eastern seaboard.
A quirky and fun romance with a paranormal twist, True Love is a brilliantly developed tale! Basked in the history of the beautiful ghost ridden island of Nantucket, you can’t help but fall in love with the island, characters and the story Jude Deveraux wove for us to enjoy. Drenched in family bonds, you have the feeling of homecoming as you turn the pages. Superb story of love, friends, happiness and home! Don’t miss your chance to take a trip to Nantucket, you’ll be glad you came!
This ARC copy of True Love was given to me by Random House - Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review. This book is set for publication on July 2, 2013.
August 8, 2016
4.5*
Fui apanhada completamente de surpresa com este livro. Quer dizer, já sabia que Jude Deveraux tem o dom da escrita e que cativa os seus leitores como poucos autores, mas não estava mesmo nada à espera que ela colocasse a quantidade de "fantasia" ou sobrenatural que ela colocou nesta história.
No início fiquei um pouco confusa, pois eram demasiados nomes e demasiados séculos entre cada uma das personagens, mas ao longo do livro fui sendo completamente conquistada tanto pela história terna e apaixonante de Jared e Alix, como também pela história familiar destes dois personagens. Enquanto que Alix e a sua família representam o presente, digamos assim, Jared e os seus familiares, principalmente o avô Caleb (o fantasma charmoso e envolvente com duzentos anos) representam o passado misterioso dos Kingsley Montgomery.
Opinião Completa
http://sinfoniadoslivros.blogspot.pt/...
Fui apanhada completamente de surpresa com este livro. Quer dizer, já sabia que Jude Deveraux tem o dom da escrita e que cativa os seus leitores como poucos autores, mas não estava mesmo nada à espera que ela colocasse a quantidade de "fantasia" ou sobrenatural que ela colocou nesta história.
No início fiquei um pouco confusa, pois eram demasiados nomes e demasiados séculos entre cada uma das personagens, mas ao longo do livro fui sendo completamente conquistada tanto pela história terna e apaixonante de Jared e Alix, como também pela história familiar destes dois personagens. Enquanto que Alix e a sua família representam o presente, digamos assim, Jared e os seus familiares, principalmente o avô Caleb (o fantasma charmoso e envolvente com duzentos anos) representam o passado misterioso dos Kingsley Montgomery.
Opinião Completa
http://sinfoniadoslivros.blogspot.pt/...
August 15, 2016
Mais exactamente 3,5⭐️
É nestas alturas k fico aborrecida por não se poder dar meias estrelas no Goodreads... P mim a classificação nem é 3⭐️, pq o livro é um bocadinho melhor, nem 4⭐️ pq axo k n chega bem a esse patamar.
É nestas alturas k fico aborrecida por não se poder dar meias estrelas no Goodreads... P mim a classificação nem é 3⭐️, pq o livro é um bocadinho melhor, nem 4⭐️ pq axo k n chega bem a esse patamar.
January 25, 2016
adorei!
July 10, 2017
Esta es una lectura de las que dudo si darle un dos, o tres estrellas. Aunque la historia no me ha enganchado podría decir que me ha gustado. Los personajes están bien. Lo que me ha sobrado son muchas descripciones, repeticiones de explicaciones con lo mismo, escenas, y la resolución de Valentina queda muy al fondo, algo que pensaba que iba a ser distinto. Aun así, sé que más adelante me gustaría seguir con el siguiente.
September 6, 2023
Simplesmente... romântico💞.
É uma linda história de amor, mistério, passada numa ilha maravilhosa 💞.
Faz-nos acreditar na reencarnação e que um AMOR VERDADEIRO perdura além da morte. Aconselho vivamente a quem adora um bom romance 💞!!
É uma linda história de amor, mistério, passada numa ilha maravilhosa 💞.
Faz-nos acreditar na reencarnação e que um AMOR VERDADEIRO perdura além da morte. Aconselho vivamente a quem adora um bom romance 💞!!
October 31, 2024
Way too long, predictable but not worth the wait, also sexist?? Not even a clever premise - I'm so sorry, I feel like my time was completely wasted! Hard pass
July 31, 2020
I always enjoy a good Jude Deveraux novel. This was Nantucket based and full of twists.
July 1, 2017
I love Jude's writing. It's very "light" and enjoyable.
This book was amazing, I could just chill out and read it, and imagine myself being in Nantucket and having Jared beside me. Throughout the book, only thing I could think about was how this has to become a movie. I mean, it's witty, fun, has a bit action a and it would be a great romantic comedy. I don't have much to say about this book, it was just a delight to read.
Would recommend to everyone 5/5 <3
This book was amazing, I could just chill out and read it, and imagine myself being in Nantucket and having Jared beside me. Throughout the book, only thing I could think about was how this has to become a movie. I mean, it's witty, fun, has a bit action a and it would be a great romantic comedy. I don't have much to say about this book, it was just a delight to read.
Would recommend to everyone 5/5 <3
April 27, 2015
(...)
Jude Deveraux tem um dom para a escrita. Todos sabem isso e a própria continua a demonstrá-lo com cada livro que escreve. Com um dom muito próprio, em que continua a juntar um pouco de sobrenatural a um livro cheio de romance e contratempos para as personagens principais, vi-me pressa na narrativa no momento em que comecei a ler esta nova história. As personagens são muito reais e as suas opções muito humanas. São estas as grandes características dos livros de Jude, como que o seu grande lingote de ouro, que funciona sempre!
E gostei imenso do fantasma desta histórias! Graças a esta personagem foi possível criar uma linha de história que remonta até dezenas de anos no passado, ligando todas as personagens umas às outras. Um início fantástico de mais uma saga da autora que desta vez quero acompanhar!
Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...
Jude Deveraux tem um dom para a escrita. Todos sabem isso e a própria continua a demonstrá-lo com cada livro que escreve. Com um dom muito próprio, em que continua a juntar um pouco de sobrenatural a um livro cheio de romance e contratempos para as personagens principais, vi-me pressa na narrativa no momento em que comecei a ler esta nova história. As personagens são muito reais e as suas opções muito humanas. São estas as grandes características dos livros de Jude, como que o seu grande lingote de ouro, que funciona sempre!
E gostei imenso do fantasma desta histórias! Graças a esta personagem foi possível criar uma linha de história que remonta até dezenas de anos no passado, ligando todas as personagens umas às outras. Um início fantástico de mais uma saga da autora que desta vez quero acompanhar!
Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...
May 24, 2020
An enchanting romance with likable characters, a ghost that has been around for over 200 years and a mystery from the past that needs to be resolved.
December 8, 2017
Setting: Nantucket – Kingsley House (attic for ghost, emerald bedroom (Victoria’s), master bedroom with Captain Caleb’s poster and secret passage door, and guest house; lots of restored houses; construction of chapel on site of Valentina’s house 200 years ago; ferry;
Theme: love – falling in love, holding a love for 200 years, soul mates, knowing one another deeply, complimenting one another, talent,
Characters:
Alix Madsen: 4 years old, mother took her to Nantucket… where she saw and played with Caleb, a 200 year old ghost, and built things… met 14 year old, angry Jared, who brought her his legos, and helped her build with them (why her mother would not bring her to Nantucket – knew that she would easily fall in love, and worship Jared – she needed to learn to be herself first); 200 years ago, hid Valentina’s journal from the bad man – the 4 year old Alex telling Caleb this – making her the key to discovering what happened to Valentina; her father a great architect, believing in hands on, and took Alix with him, listened to her, trained her (along with taking her fishing and teaching her to clean and cook them); she has completed her architecture degree, and working on final portfolio; she is a brilliant architect; fascinated with Jared (who lectured at their school, after which she wrote a poem about his lower lip, and kissing), wants to join his firm – and goes gaga when she sees him on the island, spending the weekend he is out on his boat figuring out how to gain his attention; and yet, once they meet – she reads between the lines, and figures out hero worship isn’t going to work… spending a year at Kingsley House as outlined in Addy’s will;
Jared Montgmery Kingsley: 36 years old; as jared Montgomery, a famous architect; as jared Kingsley, he is the islands go to man – for fixing leaks, designing sheds, babysitting, etc; bored, knows he is not god’s gift to architecture and annoyed with hero worshippers; the 7th Jared Montgomery Kingsly; along with all eldest males, he has always been able to see and talk with Caleb – a gruff sea captain who haunts Kingsley House – and they generally argue (especially about his cavalier attitude toward women); he is angry about Addy’s plan to give the house to Alix for a year, he does not want to deal with Alix, no hero worship, and he plans to leave the island;
Caleb Kingsley: 200 years ago (202 years to be exact), he fell in love with Valentina; but he decided he needed one more boat trip (3 years long) to China to secure his wealth, but was stranded in Chile with a broken book; when cousin found him and told him Valentina had his baby and was married to Obed Kingsley, he talked his cousin into giving him his ship, and staying until Caleb’s ship repaired – but he took the ship out in bad weather, and ship sank, all lives lost; his China ship returned leaving his son rich; and he returned to Nantucket after 6 years as a ghost – and his son (and future oldest grandsons etc) could see him, he can only appear in Kingsley House; he has watched generations of grandsons and family die, he has seen the souls of his loved ones return and die… and knows his time is finally coming to an end… the souls of the past are gathering now… and Alix is the key to the mystery of what happened to Valentina;
Dr. Huntley: Caleb’s father; a good man; professor in this life, lost his wife (soul of Caleb’s mother) and is somewhat lost without her…
Valentina: developed a soap using glycerin instead of lye; loved Caleb, asked him not to go on that last voyage, and found out after he left that she was pregnant; married the solicitous Obed, who once married, worked her hard making soap, and living in a shack of a home.. . we don’t find out until the end, but she decided to take Caleb and go to her Montgomery family, but when Obed found out, he struck out in anger and killed her (making note of it at the end of her diary), blamed her for his outburst, but in diary said he planned to turn himself in… but he didn’t (and pre-Alix hid the diary)…
Victoria Madsen: with the soul of Valentina; outrageous; outgoing; energetic; manipulative (when husband wouldn’t take the hint that she couldn’t stand his nose in the air family, and she slept with his partner, making sure he would catch her); when husband making noises of making up and forgiveness she takes 4 year old Alix to Nantucket – and they stay at Addy’s home… she read Jared the first’s stepmother’s diary, and used it as the outline to write a book… which became a best seller; she returned to Nantucket, to Addy, every August – and read another woman’s journals and wrote the next best seller about the Kingsley family – becoming very rich; she wants Valentina’s journal, and with Addy designs a will which would bring Alix to Kingsley House – to solve the mystery of Valentina, and to bring her to Jared; when finally returns to the island, and observes the comfort and love between jared and Alix, and she can tell they would let things slide as is… she pushes them apart (absence makes the heart grow fonder), gets Alix deeply involved in planning Izzie’s wedding – hoping that it will end up to be Alix’s wedding…
Adelaide Kingsley / Aunt Addy: enjoys Caleb; accepted and loved Jared when he was an angry teen – and brought Jared and Ken together; enjoys Victoria’s visits each year – but not showing her own journals.
Izzie/Glenn: Alix’s friend / co-architecture student – with plans of being an average, no big project, architect – married to Glenn and raising babies; her wedding is out of control – with his and her parents wanting their own way (gown, bridesmaids, food, flowers, etc); Alix is coordinating things on Nantucket – and Jared offers to build her chapel (on the location of Valentina’s burned down house) for the wedding, but before her wedding she finds out she is pregnant, and the stress is getting to her… in the end, she contacts Jordan and he agrees to keep her secret, and cover for them – they are going to elope to the Bahamas… and Jared has decided to marry Alix, and take Izzie’s place;
Kenneth Dobson: Alix’s father / architect / professor of architecture in university; after Victoria left/divorced him, Addy took him in, allowing him to stay in the guest house; after a year of moping and depression, Addy asks him to fix Jared’s mother’s house (her husband died), and suggests he use angry, almost delinquent, frequently drinking 16 year old Jared for labor; Jared had drawn an addition/fix up plan for the house when dad alive – and Addy shows them to Ken – and they use them… and they continue to work together… fish together… get over their anger/grief together… and Victoria finances his schooling…
Toby: roommate to Lexie; rich family; wants independence, and grows flowers (in hothouse Jared built) and runs a flower shop; gentle; beautiful; virginal; warm; and subject of future book…
Graydon Montgomery: Crown prince of Lanconia; comes in at very end… night before wedding – asked to be Toby’s escort for the wedding - his twin, drinking comes onto Toby and Lexie rudely… when Graydon meets Toby the next day, and Lexie reminds him they met the night before, Toby gives him the cold shoulder, saying she doesn’t like that he lied… they did not meet him the night before… and of course, Taggart/Montgomery tradition is you marry the one who can tell the difference between the twins; future book?
Lexie: Toby’s roommate; Roger’s personal assistant; she impatiently runs his life, telling what he can and cannot do… and does not acknowledge she loves him (future book?); she and Toby are sounding boards for both jared and Alix – friends to them both…
Roger Plymouth: real rich guy; real good looking; women fall over themselves; generous; allows Lexie to run his life… waiting for? (future book)
Jilli Taggart / Parthenia: family historian; Ken’s true love, past and present; comes to Nantucket to help sort through the paperwork; had a scummy 1st husband, divorced, and 2 boys are going to college;
Summary:
Jared and Alix move together – getting past their initial preconceptions of one another, and finding their soul mate… Alix sees all of jared – his Montgomery and his Kingsley sides – and loves and challenges both sides – and accept him, and trusts him even as he admits to having secrets not his that he is keeping from her; and jared sees in Alix the best of Victoria and Ken, and craves her; they work together to solve the Valentina mystery;
And though Caleb can’t tell how, he tells jared that Izzie’s wedding day will be his last day – and Jared is angry and depressed at thought of losing his grandfather, and of the possibility of losing Victoria… but it ends up that the current Dr. Hartley, (soul of Caleb’s father) who is mourning his wife’s death dies the night before Izzie’s wedding, and his soul sees Caleb, and offers his body to him… and Caleb steps into the body… and immediately takes himself into Victoria’s bed (who has been waiting for the love of her life)… ahhh
And Jared and Alix have a beautiful wedding, in the chapel she designed… ahhh
Memorable scenes:
Towards end, as Caleb is changing, he ‘pushes’ Alix to go to the attic, to dress up… and with his touch, he shows her the past – when he met Valentina – she sees the ‘souls’ of her father (marrying Parthenia – family/friend of Valentina), of her mother, of herself (drawing in the corner)… and Caleb returns from sea, annoyed there is a party in his house… goes up to the attic to be alone… runs across Valentina, who wanted a quiet moment… thinks she may be a ‘lady of the evening’, and invites her to join him… she goes along until he is naked, and then takes his clothes, and leaves… : )
Ken and Jilli are spending time together… are happy together… and Victoria pushes them together more by telling Ken thankyou for Jilli, who can help her, do her laundry (hand wash her undies), fix her food, etc… angering Ken so that he insists on Jilli moving in with him… and Caleb laughing from the window saying his Valentina did the same for them 200+ years earlier…
Alix, who has never spent time with children, is fascinated when Jared naturally steps in when asked to take a 2 year old off mom’s hands… cleaning him up (both getting naked and showering together) when he messes his pants – and then she tackles dressing him, and putting him to sleep;
Theme: love – falling in love, holding a love for 200 years, soul mates, knowing one another deeply, complimenting one another, talent,
Characters:
Alix Madsen: 4 years old, mother took her to Nantucket… where she saw and played with Caleb, a 200 year old ghost, and built things… met 14 year old, angry Jared, who brought her his legos, and helped her build with them (why her mother would not bring her to Nantucket – knew that she would easily fall in love, and worship Jared – she needed to learn to be herself first); 200 years ago, hid Valentina’s journal from the bad man – the 4 year old Alex telling Caleb this – making her the key to discovering what happened to Valentina; her father a great architect, believing in hands on, and took Alix with him, listened to her, trained her (along with taking her fishing and teaching her to clean and cook them); she has completed her architecture degree, and working on final portfolio; she is a brilliant architect; fascinated with Jared (who lectured at their school, after which she wrote a poem about his lower lip, and kissing), wants to join his firm – and goes gaga when she sees him on the island, spending the weekend he is out on his boat figuring out how to gain his attention; and yet, once they meet – she reads between the lines, and figures out hero worship isn’t going to work… spending a year at Kingsley House as outlined in Addy’s will;
Jared Montgmery Kingsley: 36 years old; as jared Montgomery, a famous architect; as jared Kingsley, he is the islands go to man – for fixing leaks, designing sheds, babysitting, etc; bored, knows he is not god’s gift to architecture and annoyed with hero worshippers; the 7th Jared Montgomery Kingsly; along with all eldest males, he has always been able to see and talk with Caleb – a gruff sea captain who haunts Kingsley House – and they generally argue (especially about his cavalier attitude toward women); he is angry about Addy’s plan to give the house to Alix for a year, he does not want to deal with Alix, no hero worship, and he plans to leave the island;
Caleb Kingsley: 200 years ago (202 years to be exact), he fell in love with Valentina; but he decided he needed one more boat trip (3 years long) to China to secure his wealth, but was stranded in Chile with a broken book; when cousin found him and told him Valentina had his baby and was married to Obed Kingsley, he talked his cousin into giving him his ship, and staying until Caleb’s ship repaired – but he took the ship out in bad weather, and ship sank, all lives lost; his China ship returned leaving his son rich; and he returned to Nantucket after 6 years as a ghost – and his son (and future oldest grandsons etc) could see him, he can only appear in Kingsley House; he has watched generations of grandsons and family die, he has seen the souls of his loved ones return and die… and knows his time is finally coming to an end… the souls of the past are gathering now… and Alix is the key to the mystery of what happened to Valentina;
Dr. Huntley: Caleb’s father; a good man; professor in this life, lost his wife (soul of Caleb’s mother) and is somewhat lost without her…
Valentina: developed a soap using glycerin instead of lye; loved Caleb, asked him not to go on that last voyage, and found out after he left that she was pregnant; married the solicitous Obed, who once married, worked her hard making soap, and living in a shack of a home.. . we don’t find out until the end, but she decided to take Caleb and go to her Montgomery family, but when Obed found out, he struck out in anger and killed her (making note of it at the end of her diary), blamed her for his outburst, but in diary said he planned to turn himself in… but he didn’t (and pre-Alix hid the diary)…
Victoria Madsen: with the soul of Valentina; outrageous; outgoing; energetic; manipulative (when husband wouldn’t take the hint that she couldn’t stand his nose in the air family, and she slept with his partner, making sure he would catch her); when husband making noises of making up and forgiveness she takes 4 year old Alix to Nantucket – and they stay at Addy’s home… she read Jared the first’s stepmother’s diary, and used it as the outline to write a book… which became a best seller; she returned to Nantucket, to Addy, every August – and read another woman’s journals and wrote the next best seller about the Kingsley family – becoming very rich; she wants Valentina’s journal, and with Addy designs a will which would bring Alix to Kingsley House – to solve the mystery of Valentina, and to bring her to Jared; when finally returns to the island, and observes the comfort and love between jared and Alix, and she can tell they would let things slide as is… she pushes them apart (absence makes the heart grow fonder), gets Alix deeply involved in planning Izzie’s wedding – hoping that it will end up to be Alix’s wedding…
Adelaide Kingsley / Aunt Addy: enjoys Caleb; accepted and loved Jared when he was an angry teen – and brought Jared and Ken together; enjoys Victoria’s visits each year – but not showing her own journals.
Izzie/Glenn: Alix’s friend / co-architecture student – with plans of being an average, no big project, architect – married to Glenn and raising babies; her wedding is out of control – with his and her parents wanting their own way (gown, bridesmaids, food, flowers, etc); Alix is coordinating things on Nantucket – and Jared offers to build her chapel (on the location of Valentina’s burned down house) for the wedding, but before her wedding she finds out she is pregnant, and the stress is getting to her… in the end, she contacts Jordan and he agrees to keep her secret, and cover for them – they are going to elope to the Bahamas… and Jared has decided to marry Alix, and take Izzie’s place;
Kenneth Dobson: Alix’s father / architect / professor of architecture in university; after Victoria left/divorced him, Addy took him in, allowing him to stay in the guest house; after a year of moping and depression, Addy asks him to fix Jared’s mother’s house (her husband died), and suggests he use angry, almost delinquent, frequently drinking 16 year old Jared for labor; Jared had drawn an addition/fix up plan for the house when dad alive – and Addy shows them to Ken – and they use them… and they continue to work together… fish together… get over their anger/grief together… and Victoria finances his schooling…
Toby: roommate to Lexie; rich family; wants independence, and grows flowers (in hothouse Jared built) and runs a flower shop; gentle; beautiful; virginal; warm; and subject of future book…
Graydon Montgomery: Crown prince of Lanconia; comes in at very end… night before wedding – asked to be Toby’s escort for the wedding - his twin, drinking comes onto Toby and Lexie rudely… when Graydon meets Toby the next day, and Lexie reminds him they met the night before, Toby gives him the cold shoulder, saying she doesn’t like that he lied… they did not meet him the night before… and of course, Taggart/Montgomery tradition is you marry the one who can tell the difference between the twins; future book?
Lexie: Toby’s roommate; Roger’s personal assistant; she impatiently runs his life, telling what he can and cannot do… and does not acknowledge she loves him (future book?); she and Toby are sounding boards for both jared and Alix – friends to them both…
Roger Plymouth: real rich guy; real good looking; women fall over themselves; generous; allows Lexie to run his life… waiting for? (future book)
Jilli Taggart / Parthenia: family historian; Ken’s true love, past and present; comes to Nantucket to help sort through the paperwork; had a scummy 1st husband, divorced, and 2 boys are going to college;
Summary:
Jared and Alix move together – getting past their initial preconceptions of one another, and finding their soul mate… Alix sees all of jared – his Montgomery and his Kingsley sides – and loves and challenges both sides – and accept him, and trusts him even as he admits to having secrets not his that he is keeping from her; and jared sees in Alix the best of Victoria and Ken, and craves her; they work together to solve the Valentina mystery;
And though Caleb can’t tell how, he tells jared that Izzie’s wedding day will be his last day – and Jared is angry and depressed at thought of losing his grandfather, and of the possibility of losing Victoria… but it ends up that the current Dr. Hartley, (soul of Caleb’s father) who is mourning his wife’s death dies the night before Izzie’s wedding, and his soul sees Caleb, and offers his body to him… and Caleb steps into the body… and immediately takes himself into Victoria’s bed (who has been waiting for the love of her life)… ahhh
And Jared and Alix have a beautiful wedding, in the chapel she designed… ahhh
Memorable scenes:
Towards end, as Caleb is changing, he ‘pushes’ Alix to go to the attic, to dress up… and with his touch, he shows her the past – when he met Valentina – she sees the ‘souls’ of her father (marrying Parthenia – family/friend of Valentina), of her mother, of herself (drawing in the corner)… and Caleb returns from sea, annoyed there is a party in his house… goes up to the attic to be alone… runs across Valentina, who wanted a quiet moment… thinks she may be a ‘lady of the evening’, and invites her to join him… she goes along until he is naked, and then takes his clothes, and leaves… : )
Ken and Jilli are spending time together… are happy together… and Victoria pushes them together more by telling Ken thankyou for Jilli, who can help her, do her laundry (hand wash her undies), fix her food, etc… angering Ken so that he insists on Jilli moving in with him… and Caleb laughing from the window saying his Valentina did the same for them 200+ years earlier…
Alix, who has never spent time with children, is fascinated when Jared naturally steps in when asked to take a 2 year old off mom’s hands… cleaning him up (both getting naked and showering together) when he messes his pants – and then she tackles dressing him, and putting him to sleep;
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2020
I used to read Jude deveraux books way back when I was in my 20's and 30's. She was one of my favorite authors. I read this book and even though I really enjoyed the book I wasn't blown away by it like I used to be. The story was really cute and I loved it but not enough to give it 5 stars.
The story is about Jared and Alix. It was written in a will that Alix is to stay in the Kingsley house for one year. The lady of the house who's will stated that Alix was to stay in the house was Addy. She is referred to as Aunt Addy. She had written many journals about Captain Caleb who fell in love with Valentina 200 years ago and Captain Caleb wondered the house for over 200 years as a ghost waiting for the day that someone could tell him what had happened to his beloved Valentina. She disappeared while he was at sea and no one ever seemed to know where she was. Caleb and Valentina were never married but they had a son together. Caleb and his crew died when his ship went down in a bad storm. Later Valentina married a family member in the Montgomery family so that her son was still a Montgomery. He was the first of many Jared Montgomery's. I should also say that only family could see and talk to Captain Caleb (he's a ghost) all except young 4 year old Alix who for some reason could see him and talk to him. That was the last time Alix was in Nantucket (that was where Captain Caleb and his family lived. She hadn't been back until Aunt Addy's will said she was to stay in this house for one year and try to learn the whereabouts to Valentina or her journal. She met the current Jared Montgomery who happens to be a famous architect and Alix was in awe of him. She had no idea that he was also Jared Kingsley. I New York where his business is he is Montgomery and in Nantucket he is Kingsley.
It is a cute and complicated love story that includes Captain Caleb's ghost, it also includes the younger Jared and Alix as well as the older Jared and Alix. There is also the 200 year old stories of Captain Caleb and Valentina. It was a fun story but I was lost some of the time. It wasn't hard to follow it just would lose me.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this to everyone. If you followed the Montgomery stories from 30 years ago then I say read this book. If anything I love Jude Deveraux's writing of romance books. I think she does an amazing job writing romance books.
The story is about Jared and Alix. It was written in a will that Alix is to stay in the Kingsley house for one year. The lady of the house who's will stated that Alix was to stay in the house was Addy. She is referred to as Aunt Addy. She had written many journals about Captain Caleb who fell in love with Valentina 200 years ago and Captain Caleb wondered the house for over 200 years as a ghost waiting for the day that someone could tell him what had happened to his beloved Valentina. She disappeared while he was at sea and no one ever seemed to know where she was. Caleb and Valentina were never married but they had a son together. Caleb and his crew died when his ship went down in a bad storm. Later Valentina married a family member in the Montgomery family so that her son was still a Montgomery. He was the first of many Jared Montgomery's. I should also say that only family could see and talk to Captain Caleb (he's a ghost) all except young 4 year old Alix who for some reason could see him and talk to him. That was the last time Alix was in Nantucket (that was where Captain Caleb and his family lived. She hadn't been back until Aunt Addy's will said she was to stay in this house for one year and try to learn the whereabouts to Valentina or her journal. She met the current Jared Montgomery who happens to be a famous architect and Alix was in awe of him. She had no idea that he was also Jared Kingsley. I New York where his business is he is Montgomery and in Nantucket he is Kingsley.
It is a cute and complicated love story that includes Captain Caleb's ghost, it also includes the younger Jared and Alix as well as the older Jared and Alix. There is also the 200 year old stories of Captain Caleb and Valentina. It was a fun story but I was lost some of the time. It wasn't hard to follow it just would lose me.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this to everyone. If you followed the Montgomery stories from 30 years ago then I say read this book. If anything I love Jude Deveraux's writing of romance books. I think she does an amazing job writing romance books.
September 10, 2022
Nantucket Brides #1 True Love
Romance-Contemporary-Historical-Paranormal-Mystery
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
Present Day- 1800’s
H Jared Montgomery Kingsley (Architect)
Jared Montgomery / Great Montgomery / an American Living Legend / Jared Montgomery Kingsley the
Seventh: over six feet, thirty-six, graying beard, dark blue eyes
h Alix Madsen ( Architect)
Alix / Alixandra: twenty-six, reddish-blonde hair, naturally curly, blue-green eyes, full lips
Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman’s relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix—fresh from a romantic breakup—but for reasons of her own Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding.
But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse.
Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair.
With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Romance-Contemporary-Historical-Paranormal-Mystery
Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
Present Day- 1800’s
H Jared Montgomery Kingsley (Architect)
Jared Montgomery / Great Montgomery / an American Living Legend / Jared Montgomery Kingsley the
Seventh: over six feet, thirty-six, graying beard, dark blue eyes
h Alix Madsen ( Architect)
Alix / Alixandra: twenty-six, reddish-blonde hair, naturally curly, blue-green eyes, full lips
Just as Alix Madsen is finishing up architectural school, Adelaide Kingsley dies and wills her, for one year, the use of a charming nineteenth-century Nantucket house. The elderly woman’s relationship to the Madsen family is a mystery to the spirited Alix—fresh from a romantic breakup—but for reasons of her own Alix accepts the quirky bequest, in part because it gives her time to plan her best friend’s storybook wedding.
But unseen forces move behind the scenes, creaking Kingsley House’s ancient floorboards. It seems that Adelaide Kingsley had a rather specific task for Alix: to solve the strange disappearance of one of the Kingsley women, Valentina, more than two hundred years ago. If that wasn’t troubling enough, Alix must deal with the arrogant (and extremely good-looking) architect Jared Montgomery, who is living in the property’s guesthouse.
Unbeknown to Alix, Jared has been charged with looking after her while she lives on the island—an easy task for him, considering the undeniable chemistry between the two. But Jared harbors secrets of his own, which, if revealed, may drive a wedge between the pair.
With a glorious Nantucket wedding on the horizon, sparks fly, and the ghosts of the past begin to reveal themselves—some of them literally. Finding their lives inextricably entwined with the turbulent fortunes of their ancestors, Alix and Jared discover that only by righting the wrongs of the past can they hope to be together.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
August 9, 2017
http://www.omundoencantadodoslivros.c...
Eu sei que ainda à pouco tempo terminei a leitura do ultimo volume desta trilogia, também sei que não devo ler muitos livros seguidos da mesma série, porque vou cansar-me e depois é uma grande chatice, mas a verdade é que não consegui parar quieta no meu canto e decidi ler o primeiro volume logo de seguida. E sabem de uma coisa? Gostei tanto *.*
Não consigo dizer qual dos dois gostei mais, até porque as historias são um pouco diferentes (apesar de seguirem um certo padrão), mas fiquei tão apaixonada por esta historia que me está a ser um pouco difícil ler o segundo livro, o único que me falta…
Mais uma vez a autora consegue prender o leitor na sua trama, demonstrando que a mesmo seguindo a mesma linha de pensamento consegue reinventar historias fantásticas e ao mesmo tempo surpreendentes. O que mais me fascinou nesta historia foi toda a trama passada nos bastidores, ou seja, tudo o que se tinha passado durante a infância das personagens principais e secundárias e também na justificação de tudo o que se ia passando, tanto no passado como no presente. O que mais me surpreendeu em toda a historia foram as ligações entre todos os personagens relativamente as reencarnações, pois havia algumas que eu não estava à espera. De qualquer forma, e tal como referi anteriormente, foi um livro que me deixou maravilhada e com aquela sensação de querer saber mais acerca do futuro que estava reservado para todas as personagens. Sem duvida que recomendo a leitura!
Eu sei que ainda à pouco tempo terminei a leitura do ultimo volume desta trilogia, também sei que não devo ler muitos livros seguidos da mesma série, porque vou cansar-me e depois é uma grande chatice, mas a verdade é que não consegui parar quieta no meu canto e decidi ler o primeiro volume logo de seguida. E sabem de uma coisa? Gostei tanto *.*
Não consigo dizer qual dos dois gostei mais, até porque as historias são um pouco diferentes (apesar de seguirem um certo padrão), mas fiquei tão apaixonada por esta historia que me está a ser um pouco difícil ler o segundo livro, o único que me falta…
Mais uma vez a autora consegue prender o leitor na sua trama, demonstrando que a mesmo seguindo a mesma linha de pensamento consegue reinventar historias fantásticas e ao mesmo tempo surpreendentes. O que mais me fascinou nesta historia foi toda a trama passada nos bastidores, ou seja, tudo o que se tinha passado durante a infância das personagens principais e secundárias e também na justificação de tudo o que se ia passando, tanto no passado como no presente. O que mais me surpreendeu em toda a historia foram as ligações entre todos os personagens relativamente as reencarnações, pois havia algumas que eu não estava à espera. De qualquer forma, e tal como referi anteriormente, foi um livro que me deixou maravilhada e com aquela sensação de querer saber mais acerca do futuro que estava reservado para todas as personagens. Sem duvida que recomendo a leitura!
February 4, 2018
http://www.leslecturesdemylene.com/20...
18/20 - J'ai adoré l'ambiance, les personnages et vivre ces aventures à Nantucket <3
18/20 - J'ai adoré l'ambiance, les personnages et vivre ces aventures à Nantucket <3
July 12, 2013
Originally posted at http://smexybooks.com/2013/07/review-...
Alix Madsen is surprised when a friend of her family’s passes away and leaves her a Nantucket mansion to live in for one year. Alix is even more surprised when she discovers the nephew whom is living in the guest house is non other than famed architect, Jared Montgomery. Alix, having just finished up architect school, is thrilled with the opportunity to meet the master.
Jared Montgomery (Kingsley) is tired and doesn’t want or need Alix’s hero worship. When his plans to leave the island before she arrives are thwarted, he finds himself slowly becoming intrigued by Alix’s passion for life and skills as an architect. As they spend more time together, the real reason for Alix’s stay in Nantucket come to light. Jared’s aunt wants Alix to find an old journal and solve a two hundred year old mystery that has plagued the family.
With a wedding in the works, secrets coming to light, and ghosts revealing themselves in the most particular ways, Alix and Jared discover they will need to fix the past if they have any chance at a future.
I have been a fan of Jude Deveraux’s since I first picked up The Velvet Promise and fell in love with Gavin and Judith Montgomery. From that day on, I devoured anything Deveraux wrote that centered around the Montgomerys and Taggarts. While I have enjoyed her historicals immensely, her contemporaries have always been hit and miss for me. Especially when paranormal aspects are incorporated. When I was informed that True Love was the beginning of a new series involving the Montgomerys and the Taggarts I requested right away. I was curious to see if this might be the one that might bring me on board with her present day romances. Needless to say, it was not.
At 400 plus pages, this is a hefty book. The first half of the book was literally a chore to read. Deveraux spends an inordinate amount of time introducing Jared to Alix and and working her way to the reasons Alix is really there. While some of this is necessary to the story, the sheer amount of mundane activities, repeating details (the lego story), and the never ending architectural references dragged the story to a monotonous crawl. What made it worse is once the story picks up, you realize that half of the information was not needed. It was mostly filler.
Once the flow picked up, I was happy to go finally forward but I found myself uneasy with the objectives of the multiple plot lines. The main conflict itself is a confusing conundrum. A young woman is called to solve a two hundred year old mystery concerning a family she isn’t related to and really knows nothing about. Of course, she can’t really be told what her mission is, it has to revealed in stages. The ghost, whom is a central figure in the story and mystery, is suppose to be only seen by those in the Kingsley/Montgomery family but can’t be mentioned to the female relatives for reasons unknown. Of course, Alix can see him and interact with him (which she does on occasions) but she can’t know he’s a ghost…because…it may scare her? Add that to Alix planning her best friend’s wedding, trying to facilitate a romance with Jared, deal with her parental issues, and build tiny architectural masterpieces and we are left with a plethora of plot lines that essentially left this reader scrambling to keep up.
The characters are amusing (at times) and plentiful but as overwhelming as the plot(s). There are multitudes and trying to keep track of the connections is confusing. We have the Kingsleys, Montgomerys, Taggarts, and then various residents of Nantucket who are related to all three through marriage somewhere on the family tree. Entwining the past with the present doesn’t help but actually hinders as you try to figure out who is who and what their connection is in the story and each other. Add in the reincarnation theme and I threw up my hands.
The romance between Alix and Jared is presumed and the chemistry is blase. A lot of tell but not show. I never got over my feeling that Alix loved Jared the architect first and foremost and the man second. I never saw where they actually crossed the line (emotionally) from attraction to love. Rather, we are just reading along and suddenly they are in bed together and their feelings have evolved. And that right there was my problem with the book as a whole. No real drama or emotion. Things happen but they are cleared up in the next paragraph and everything is all better. The story follows a predestined path and it never veers off that path. There are no surprises. No real twists or turns. It just all…happens.
The ending perked me up a little as I did want a certain character to get their happily ever after and we are given clues to the next installment but like I mentioned above, it was all too pat.
While I’m glad Ms. Deveraux is continuing her stories involving the Montgomery and Taggart family, I’m afraid I will be stopping here.
Rating: D
Alix Madsen is surprised when a friend of her family’s passes away and leaves her a Nantucket mansion to live in for one year. Alix is even more surprised when she discovers the nephew whom is living in the guest house is non other than famed architect, Jared Montgomery. Alix, having just finished up architect school, is thrilled with the opportunity to meet the master.
Jared Montgomery (Kingsley) is tired and doesn’t want or need Alix’s hero worship. When his plans to leave the island before she arrives are thwarted, he finds himself slowly becoming intrigued by Alix’s passion for life and skills as an architect. As they spend more time together, the real reason for Alix’s stay in Nantucket come to light. Jared’s aunt wants Alix to find an old journal and solve a two hundred year old mystery that has plagued the family.
With a wedding in the works, secrets coming to light, and ghosts revealing themselves in the most particular ways, Alix and Jared discover they will need to fix the past if they have any chance at a future.
I have been a fan of Jude Deveraux’s since I first picked up The Velvet Promise and fell in love with Gavin and Judith Montgomery. From that day on, I devoured anything Deveraux wrote that centered around the Montgomerys and Taggarts. While I have enjoyed her historicals immensely, her contemporaries have always been hit and miss for me. Especially when paranormal aspects are incorporated. When I was informed that True Love was the beginning of a new series involving the Montgomerys and the Taggarts I requested right away. I was curious to see if this might be the one that might bring me on board with her present day romances. Needless to say, it was not.
At 400 plus pages, this is a hefty book. The first half of the book was literally a chore to read. Deveraux spends an inordinate amount of time introducing Jared to Alix and and working her way to the reasons Alix is really there. While some of this is necessary to the story, the sheer amount of mundane activities, repeating details (the lego story), and the never ending architectural references dragged the story to a monotonous crawl. What made it worse is once the story picks up, you realize that half of the information was not needed. It was mostly filler.
Once the flow picked up, I was happy to go finally forward but I found myself uneasy with the objectives of the multiple plot lines. The main conflict itself is a confusing conundrum. A young woman is called to solve a two hundred year old mystery concerning a family she isn’t related to and really knows nothing about. Of course, she can’t really be told what her mission is, it has to revealed in stages. The ghost, whom is a central figure in the story and mystery, is suppose to be only seen by those in the Kingsley/Montgomery family but can’t be mentioned to the female relatives for reasons unknown. Of course, Alix can see him and interact with him (which she does on occasions) but she can’t know he’s a ghost…because…it may scare her? Add that to Alix planning her best friend’s wedding, trying to facilitate a romance with Jared, deal with her parental issues, and build tiny architectural masterpieces and we are left with a plethora of plot lines that essentially left this reader scrambling to keep up.
The characters are amusing (at times) and plentiful but as overwhelming as the plot(s). There are multitudes and trying to keep track of the connections is confusing. We have the Kingsleys, Montgomerys, Taggarts, and then various residents of Nantucket who are related to all three through marriage somewhere on the family tree. Entwining the past with the present doesn’t help but actually hinders as you try to figure out who is who and what their connection is in the story and each other. Add in the reincarnation theme and I threw up my hands.
The romance between Alix and Jared is presumed and the chemistry is blase. A lot of tell but not show. I never got over my feeling that Alix loved Jared the architect first and foremost and the man second. I never saw where they actually crossed the line (emotionally) from attraction to love. Rather, we are just reading along and suddenly they are in bed together and their feelings have evolved. And that right there was my problem with the book as a whole. No real drama or emotion. Things happen but they are cleared up in the next paragraph and everything is all better. The story follows a predestined path and it never veers off that path. There are no surprises. No real twists or turns. It just all…happens.
The ending perked me up a little as I did want a certain character to get their happily ever after and we are given clues to the next installment but like I mentioned above, it was all too pat.
While I’m glad Ms. Deveraux is continuing her stories involving the Montgomery and Taggart family, I’m afraid I will be stopping here.
Rating: D
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