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Tangled Dreams
After Marianna Lowth takes a chance on a marriage of convenience with Richard Maddox, she discovers her flair for investing in stocks. Little does she realize that her investments rouse the interest of her indifferent husband, and he decides to court her…for reasons best known to himself.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
14 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Julie Tetel Andresen
41 books40 followersAlso known as Julie Tetel and Julia Joyce
Julie Tetel Andresen has always loved history, travel and foreign languages. She has lived for extended periods in Germany, France, Romania and Vietnam. When she is not out of the country, she can be found in Durham, North Carolina or Orlando, Florida, as well as New York City.
She grew up with a passion for playing the piano. As an adult she transferred that passion into writing romance novels and scholarly books about language. She likens writing essays in foreign languages to playing scales and arpeggios as warm-up exercises for writing in English. She also practices yoga on a regular basis and thinks of learning new grammatical forms as trying new mental asanas: can she get her leg behind her head in Romanian or get into full lotus in Vietnamese? No? Well, then, how about triangle pose or half-lotus?
Julie Tetel Andresen has always loved history, travel and foreign languages. She has lived for extended periods in Germany, France, Romania and Vietnam. When she is not out of the country, she can be found in Durham, North Carolina or Orlando, Florida, as well as New York City.
She grew up with a passion for playing the piano. As an adult she transferred that passion into writing romance novels and scholarly books about language. She likens writing essays in foreign languages to playing scales and arpeggios as warm-up exercises for writing in English. She also practices yoga on a regular basis and thinks of learning new grammatical forms as trying new mental asanas: can she get her leg behind her head in Romanian or get into full lotus in Vietnamese? No? Well, then, how about triangle pose or half-lotus?
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2013
This is more or less your basic arranged marriage storyline, Lord Anthony Maddox needs someone to keep his newly inherited estate in order and Marianna Lowth is the one he picks. I think he twists her arm on the marriage choice, but I can't remember the specifics and I'm not going back through to refresh my memory. Marianna moves to the house in Town and is very popular with the *in crowd*, so there's lots and lots of endless parties and social chat to wade through. Anthony is involved in some subterfuge swirling around French refugees in between trying to get new social bills into the House of Lords.
Same old, same old formula, although at first I thought there was some hope since the heroine at least acted appropriate to her period and social station and not a foot-stomping Miss. Anthony was a nice broody hero, without being a total ass. By mid-point I was getting bogged down by the endless parties and secondary characters that I couldn't follow. I had planned on slogging through anyway, that is until I got to the big love scene on page 223 and got this:
"...the tenderest of treasures in its silken nest"..."the pearl of bliss itself"..."they shuddered together, as if releasing a flock of doves".
I yield.
Same old, same old formula, although at first I thought there was some hope since the heroine at least acted appropriate to her period and social station and not a foot-stomping Miss. Anthony was a nice broody hero, without being a total ass. By mid-point I was getting bogged down by the endless parties and secondary characters that I couldn't follow. I had planned on slogging through anyway, that is until I got to the big love scene on page 223 and got this:
"...the tenderest of treasures in its silken nest"..."the pearl of bliss itself"..."they shuddered together, as if releasing a flock of doves".
I yield.
July 30, 2018
This book is more of an information dump about the late 1700s than it is a romance. Lots of details about the Stock Exchange, the French Revolution, the slave trade, women's role in society, the game of cricket as played at a house party, various games to be played at a gaming club, etc. This could have been interesting but the writing was a bit on the clunky side and needed editing. Shorter and crisper would have worked for me. For example, here's how Tetel Andresen describes our hero and heroine's mutual orgasm at one point in the story: "Moments later they shuddered together, as if releasing a flock of doves." I shudder to imagine where the doves would have been released.
In case you are needing a synopsis of the story, hero Anthony Maddox enters into a marriage of convenience with heroine Marianna Lowth. She had been friends with Anthony's uncle Edward, who, when he died, left instructions in his will that Anthony would inherit Maddox Hall only if he offered marriage to Marianna. Marianna agrees to the marriage to gain a measure of control over her life, since at that moment she was living with her brother and his wife. Anthony needs Maddox Hall because he is involved as a government agent in finding French spies and the estate offers a good vantage point for that. (It must be noted that Marianna is not aware of Maddox's work for the government.)
The marriage gets off to an indifferent start. Maddox is off chasing spies most of the time and leaves Marianna to her own devices. She gets involved in the stock exchange, meets people and develops an active social life, and just in general learns to entertain herself without the interference of a husband. (BTW, it must be mentioned that they have agreed not to consummate the marriage. Marianna's wish, not Maddox's. On the occasions that Maddox is home he learns about Marianna's interests and is not amused. So we have conflict at first and a gradual getting to know one another and a not-too-believable finally falling in love. Spy and stock market issues are also somewhat resolved along the way.
It wasn't a very romantic read for me. I didn't like the writing style much nor did I find myself liking the characters very much. They needed to be fleshed out a bit more and also needed to communicate with each other much better for me to appreciate it as a work of romantic fiction. The book did have its historical fiction aspect covered better and perhaps that's what the author was more interested in. But the awkward writing took away from my enjoyment of any aspect of the story, romantic or historical.
In case you are needing a synopsis of the story, hero Anthony Maddox enters into a marriage of convenience with heroine Marianna Lowth. She had been friends with Anthony's uncle Edward, who, when he died, left instructions in his will that Anthony would inherit Maddox Hall only if he offered marriage to Marianna. Marianna agrees to the marriage to gain a measure of control over her life, since at that moment she was living with her brother and his wife. Anthony needs Maddox Hall because he is involved as a government agent in finding French spies and the estate offers a good vantage point for that. (It must be noted that Marianna is not aware of Maddox's work for the government.)
The marriage gets off to an indifferent start. Maddox is off chasing spies most of the time and leaves Marianna to her own devices. She gets involved in the stock exchange, meets people and develops an active social life, and just in general learns to entertain herself without the interference of a husband. (BTW, it must be mentioned that they have agreed not to consummate the marriage. Marianna's wish, not Maddox's. On the occasions that Maddox is home he learns about Marianna's interests and is not amused. So we have conflict at first and a gradual getting to know one another and a not-too-believable finally falling in love. Spy and stock market issues are also somewhat resolved along the way.
It wasn't a very romantic read for me. I didn't like the writing style much nor did I find myself liking the characters very much. They needed to be fleshed out a bit more and also needed to communicate with each other much better for me to appreciate it as a work of romantic fiction. The book did have its historical fiction aspect covered better and perhaps that's what the author was more interested in. But the awkward writing took away from my enjoyment of any aspect of the story, romantic or historical.
June 14, 2021
French Revolution Intrigue
The historic research shines through in this book. I enjoyed the heroine. I admit to having a few qualms being on the side of the aristocracy working against a people’s revolution.
The historic research shines through in this book. I enjoyed the heroine. I admit to having a few qualms being on the side of the aristocracy working against a people’s revolution.
January 10, 2014
Tangled Dreams is definitely an unexpected historical romance treasure with a significant measure of mystery and the perfect touch of sexual tension that shouldn't be missed by readers who enjoy Jeanne Kalogridis and Philippa Gregory. Andresen builds strong, flawed characters that pull the reader "down the foxhole" and into their world. It's not often the characters' actions speaker louder than the written word however, Andresen's brilliant style accomplishes that effect. A refreshing and smart read!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews