What do you think?
Rate this book
FIRE OPALS
I cannot imagine," said Charlotte, "why you should want so unwilling a bride. With your money and your title, surely you can buy one that is willing?"'
His fingers closed more tightly on hers, crushing them before he released her hand abruptly "You shall learn the lesson of that one day, I think," Lord Arundell said smoothly.
It was the match her father dreamed of. And Charlotte dreaded. She had no illusions. Charlotte knew she'd never be allowed to marry for love. She wanted, at least, to be able to respect the man she'd wed.
Lord Arundell had to be the most insufferably arrogant man she had ever met. But every day Charlotte's chances for a good offer were growing slimmer. Her high spirits and sense of adventure were leading her into scrapes that were ruining her reputation. Her lather insisted that she must be married. Fast. Before there was another scandal.
Once she married, nothing changed. In fact, there was more gossip than ever when Lord Arundell insisted upon keeping his mistress under the same roof as his wife.
His fingers closed more tightly on hers, crushing them before he released her hand abruptly "You shall learn the lesson of that one day, I think," Lord Arundell said smoothly.
It was the match her father dreamed of. And Charlotte dreaded. She had no illusions. Charlotte knew she'd never be allowed to marry for love. She wanted, at least, to be able to respect the man she'd wed.
Lord Arundell had to be the most insufferably arrogant man she had ever met. But every day Charlotte's chances for a good offer were growing slimmer. Her high spirits and sense of adventure were leading her into scrapes that were ruining her reputation. Her lather insisted that she must be married. Fast. Before there was another scandal.
Once she married, nothing changed. In fact, there was more gossip than ever when Lord Arundell insisted upon keeping his mistress under the same roof as his wife.
271 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 12, 1977
7 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Janet Louise Roberts
77 books34 followersSee pseudonyms Louisa Bronte, Rebecca Danton & Janette Radcliffe. Some of the listed titles are more straight romance than romantic suspense.
Janet Louise Roberts was born on January 20, 1925, in New Britain Connecticut, the daughter of a missionary in a conservative church. She wrote contemporary, historical, and gothic romances, as well as occult horror romances such as The Devil’s Own, Isle of the Dolphins, Lord Satan, and Her Demon Lover. She used pseudonyms for several of her works.
Roberts died on June 11, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio.
Janet Louise Roberts was born on January 20, 1925, in New Britain Connecticut, the daughter of a missionary in a conservative church. She wrote contemporary, historical, and gothic romances, as well as occult horror romances such as The Devil’s Own, Isle of the Dolphins, Lord Satan, and Her Demon Lover. She used pseudonyms for several of her works.
Roberts died on June 11, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 21, 2024
HAIKU BOOK REVIEW: Fire Opals, by Janet Louise Roberts
A husband made of
filth, completely, utterly
irredeemable.
A husband made of
filth, completely, utterly
irredeemable.
February 20, 2023
Too unbelievable
The whole mistress thing ruined the book. Yes they weren't his mistresses but it still kissed me off that he lied. Normally I am relieved to find out it was all a sham to make the heroine jealous but I just was disappointed. This author has been hard to read and I must admit, I am glad he didn't really cheat, but the pain he caused to both the heroine and the reader was just unacceptable. I am not sorry I read it but I am sorry I believed it. Just saying...
The whole mistress thing ruined the book. Yes they weren't his mistresses but it still kissed me off that he lied. Normally I am relieved to find out it was all a sham to make the heroine jealous but I just was disappointed. This author has been hard to read and I must admit, I am glad he didn't really cheat, but the pain he caused to both the heroine and the reader was just unacceptable. I am not sorry I read it but I am sorry I believed it. Just saying...
April 9, 2023
Everything that the other reviews state is true. The H is cruel, and his behavior is unforgivable. However, this book is strangely mesmerizing because his behavior is so egregiously bad that it’s impossible to imagine that it will be resolved in any way, except for a murder.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 28, 2022
The hero of this book: (1) marries a spirited, not-very-concerned-with-propriety teenager, (2) gets upset when she continues to flout propriety and act spirited, (3) runs a couple of mills (despite being a marquis, ignore that) with the help of a disgusting mill manager who's cheating him and blatantly and flagrantly abuses the child laborers, which the hero is too arrogant to notice (he refuses to talk to the villagers, all of whom are aware of and horrified by the level of abuse, and when his wife starts touring the mills he basically tells her to shut up, the manager is handling everything and he's not interested in hearing about it), and (4) is having an affair with a divorcee and brings her to live at his country house and act as his hostess because his teenage wife is annoying him, also bringing several of society's biggest gossips along for the ride, thereby humiliating his wife before the entirety of high society (at the end of the book ). I mean, 1, 2, and 4 are bad enough from a romance novel perspective, but the fact that he didn't care about the (vividly described and unfortunately realistic) mistreatment of his six-year-old workforce is disgusting.
It's kind of fascinating to read these old regencies, though, because they're a lot less afraid to make their main characters jerks; there's a level of attempted realism that a modern category regency would never go for, because it's so horrifying. (The heroine's father, a mill owner, also employs child laborers and the happy ending here is for them to have... uh... an eight-hour work day.) Like, it's awful but it's also an acknowledgment of what all those millionaire industrialist heroes were actually doing, and how all those aristocratic heroes would have viewed the local peasantry.
It's kind of fascinating to read these old regencies, though, because they're a lot less afraid to make their main characters jerks; there's a level of attempted realism that a modern category regency would never go for, because it's so horrifying. (The heroine's father, a mill owner, also employs child laborers and the happy ending here is for them to have... uh... an eight-hour work day.) Like, it's awful but it's also an acknowledgment of what all those millionaire industrialist heroes were actually doing, and how all those aristocratic heroes would have viewed the local peasantry.
February 14, 2021
I have to admit that when I started this book, I was a little wary. This book is (very slightly) older than me. Sometimes, when I've read romance books that are a little bit older, I've struggled a little. Just because they have become so dated. Of course, when you are dealing with a novel that's set in the past, it is already in some ways 'dated' so that doesn't always matter.
I quickly got pulled into Fire Opals and really enjoyed the way that the story unfolded. It's marketed as a Regency Romance, but to me I would have thought it later, perhaps victorian. There is a lot about the mills and the conditions that the children are working in. Although I think that weaving and spinning mills were around in the Regency period, much of it was fairly new technology. I'm sure that it's mentioned that in the case of our hero, the mill has been in the family for a couple of generations at least. Our heroine's father has also worked his way up from working as a child to owning his own mills in Leeds. It just all screams Victorian to me, not regency.
The romance itself is very much in the style of Georgette Hayer. We have the brooding and sarcastic (but ultimately misunderstood and very much in love with our heroine) hero. Our heroine is trying to fight for her freedom, falling in love with the hero but thinking that he hates her.
I loved the story. I couldn't help but read on and find out how Charlotte and Darcy would work out their differences. Although Darcy is distant from Charlotte, he's not a monster. The first night they have sex was a little uncomfortable, as she is clearly not fully willing, but I think in the context of the period and the situation it was actually handled quite well.
There were a couple of things that did stand out to me, although not full of Americanisms it was quite clear that the book is written by someone who is not British and having checked she was American. It's not anything major, just little things that someone living in the UK would know. (Types of trees, slightly odd turns of phrase, that kind of thing.) Also, rather oddly, the mill is based in the Cotswolds, but the children from the mill have Scottish accents. Why, how did they get there, where did they come from (other than Scotland obviously) it makes no sense, but never mind.
I really enjoyed this romance. It has a feel of Hayer, but with a very little bit more of the romance and physical side of things than she would show, although less than we might be used to today. I would certainly be keen to read another historical romance from this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I quickly got pulled into Fire Opals and really enjoyed the way that the story unfolded. It's marketed as a Regency Romance, but to me I would have thought it later, perhaps victorian. There is a lot about the mills and the conditions that the children are working in. Although I think that weaving and spinning mills were around in the Regency period, much of it was fairly new technology. I'm sure that it's mentioned that in the case of our hero, the mill has been in the family for a couple of generations at least. Our heroine's father has also worked his way up from working as a child to owning his own mills in Leeds. It just all screams Victorian to me, not regency.
The romance itself is very much in the style of Georgette Hayer. We have the brooding and sarcastic (but ultimately misunderstood and very much in love with our heroine) hero. Our heroine is trying to fight for her freedom, falling in love with the hero but thinking that he hates her.
I loved the story. I couldn't help but read on and find out how Charlotte and Darcy would work out their differences. Although Darcy is distant from Charlotte, he's not a monster. The first night they have sex was a little uncomfortable, as she is clearly not fully willing, but I think in the context of the period and the situation it was actually handled quite well.
There were a couple of things that did stand out to me, although not full of Americanisms it was quite clear that the book is written by someone who is not British and having checked she was American. It's not anything major, just little things that someone living in the UK would know. (Types of trees, slightly odd turns of phrase, that kind of thing.) Also, rather oddly, the mill is based in the Cotswolds, but the children from the mill have Scottish accents. Why, how did they get there, where did they come from (other than Scotland obviously) it makes no sense, but never mind.
I really enjoyed this romance. It has a feel of Hayer, but with a very little bit more of the romance and physical side of things than she would show, although less than we might be used to today. I would certainly be keen to read another historical romance from this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
October 2, 2010
An old favorite. A pretty good regency and worth the read.
February 19, 2021
Fire Opals is a historical romance which was released many years ago and has recently been re-released. As a result, it completely stands out compared to newer releases in the same genre and comes across as out dated in some of its concepts and handling of certain issues.
Charlotte lives life by the pants of her seat, enjoying herself with her brother and a few other members of the ton and often finds herself in some scrape or another. Her father despairs of her behaviour and decides that the only solution to her wildness is marriage. He arranges a match with Darcy Saltash, Lord Arundell.
I found Charlotte to be a really good character but as much as I tried, I couldn't like Darcy. He was high handed and autocratic and whilst historical heroes usually start off like that, by the end of the book, the heroine has brought them down a peg or two. This didn't happen here. I didn't like the way he treated Charlotte and the more he behaved like a brute, the more I found Charlotte shone. She showed real growth as a character through the book although she also had a small share of not-so-great moments.
There were some real hard hitting social issues addressed in the book which I thought were handled really well but don't make for light and easy reading.
Charlotte lives life by the pants of her seat, enjoying herself with her brother and a few other members of the ton and often finds herself in some scrape or another. Her father despairs of her behaviour and decides that the only solution to her wildness is marriage. He arranges a match with Darcy Saltash, Lord Arundell.
I found Charlotte to be a really good character but as much as I tried, I couldn't like Darcy. He was high handed and autocratic and whilst historical heroes usually start off like that, by the end of the book, the heroine has brought them down a peg or two. This didn't happen here. I didn't like the way he treated Charlotte and the more he behaved like a brute, the more I found Charlotte shone. She showed real growth as a character through the book although she also had a small share of not-so-great moments.
There were some real hard hitting social issues addressed in the book which I thought were handled really well but don't make for light and easy reading.
March 2, 2021
Steamy
Just like red haired Charlotte. I can side with her, I should have had red hair, I'm not the hold back type. I would definitely had trouble in society if I had to live like this woman
Just like red haired Charlotte. I can side with her, I should have had red hair, I'm not the hold back type. I would definitely had trouble in society if I had to live like this woman
January 16, 2023
I enjoyed this story and appreciated the author’s excellent research into the Regency era. It will probably sound weird, but my only real quibble was that the author named the hero Darcy, which immediately made me compare him to Jane Austen’s iconic hero. Needless to say, the “real” Darcy leaves all others in the shade. Still, this was an enjoyable story that I’d recommend to anyone who likes reading old-style/traditional Regency romances.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews