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Surrender the Heart
Christopher Blanchard Was Everything She'd Ever Needed Yet Didn't Want
Ariane de Valmont prized her independence above all else, and to secure it, she'd struck a seductive bargain with a tantalizing American. Now she feared that in this heart's gamble, le beau sauvage , as Parisian society had named him, held all the cards .
The son of scandal, Chris Blanchard caused a sensation among the "beau monde," intending to settle old scores and quickly be gone again. Until he was caught by the gaze of Ariane de Valmont, whose eyes bespoke a forever kind of love.
Ariane de Valmont prized her independence above all else, and to secure it, she'd struck a seductive bargain with a tantalizing American. Now she feared that in this heart's gamble, le beau sauvage , as Parisian society had named him, held all the cards .
The son of scandal, Chris Blanchard caused a sensation among the "beau monde," intending to settle old scores and quickly be gone again. Until he was caught by the gaze of Ariane de Valmont, whose eyes bespoke a forever kind of love.
288 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Nina Beaumont
26 books262 followersNina Gettler was born in Salzburg, Austria, home to Mozart and the Von Trapp family. She is of Russian descent, whose family tree includes the Stroganoff family, Count Zhubov, who is reputed to have been Catherine the Great's last lover, and several other interesting historical characters. She grew up in Massachusetts, USA, and after spending her first two years of college in Austria, graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a B.A. in French and an M.A. in German.
Returning to Austria in 1970, Nina worked for sixteen years as a translator for Russian, French and Italian before turning to writing full-time. Her life-long interest in history and her fluency in several languages has been of great help in the in-depth research she does for her books, which includes traveling to where the stories are set. After spending 25 years in Austria, she relocated to Seattle in July 1995 on the strength of a gut feeling that this was the right place for her to go.
Returning to Austria in 1970, Nina worked for sixteen years as a translator for Russian, French and Italian before turning to writing full-time. Her life-long interest in history and her fluency in several languages has been of great help in the in-depth research she does for her books, which includes traveling to where the stories are set. After spending 25 years in Austria, she relocated to Seattle in July 1995 on the strength of a gut feeling that this was the right place for her to go.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 17, 2010
Being dragged to Paris for the season, Ariane de Valmont had to find a way to get her father to back off, not to mention all the eligible men that were paying unwanted attention to her. She was just not interested in marriage, it was just another way a man could gain control over a women and Ariane didn’t want anything to do with it. After the death of his father, Christopher Blanchard had very few reasons to be in Paris and every desire to get it over with. The ghosts of his past were following him through out Paris and as he did his best to ignore them, Ariane approached him with a most inappropriate deal, one that he saw as an amusing way to pass his time in Paris.
A typical Historical Romance, one where the main plot of the story is all about both people not feeling comfortable telling the truth about how they really feel. The author showed just how matched they were with each decision not to admit to their feeling by doing an almost word for word - he thought she thought - a couple of different times. Some part of me found that funny, another part found it a bit obvious, but the effect in the end was overall a good one.
A typical Historical Romance, one where the main plot of the story is all about both people not feeling comfortable telling the truth about how they really feel. The author showed just how matched they were with each decision not to admit to their feeling by doing an almost word for word - he thought she thought - a couple of different times. Some part of me found that funny, another part found it a bit obvious, but the effect in the end was overall a good one.
March 14, 2021
Writing a Bit Heavy-Handed
When I saw this book at a book review site, the idea of a historical romance taking place in late 1850s Paris intrigued me. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped for several reasons. First of all, when both viewpoint characters were introduced, the author engaged in two rather prodigious information dumps. Like most readers, I do not enjoy this type of info shortcut employed by far too many authors. This is a proper novel-length book, and the author should have had time to artfully weave in the information she shared without resorting to dumping. On top of this, I felt like the writing itself was a bit heavy-handed, making for a ponderous read. The author also did not have a good grasp of grammar, punctuation, and usage. Here's an example of a very poorly done sentence: “The ladies, either alone or in the company of parents, chaperones, or, since this was Paris, after all, lovers, occupied the boxes, and the men, who were either unattached or pretending to be so, were in the stalls.” Yes, that's just one sentence! Perhaps the artful use of em-dashes would have helped break up this overlong sentence so that it may be at least a little more visually appealing... as well as break up the pieces of information so they can be more easily read. All in all, I found myself disappointed in this book, though the couple did have chemistry.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
When I saw this book at a book review site, the idea of a historical romance taking place in late 1850s Paris intrigued me. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped for several reasons. First of all, when both viewpoint characters were introduced, the author engaged in two rather prodigious information dumps. Like most readers, I do not enjoy this type of info shortcut employed by far too many authors. This is a proper novel-length book, and the author should have had time to artfully weave in the information she shared without resorting to dumping. On top of this, I felt like the writing itself was a bit heavy-handed, making for a ponderous read. The author also did not have a good grasp of grammar, punctuation, and usage. Here's an example of a very poorly done sentence: “The ladies, either alone or in the company of parents, chaperones, or, since this was Paris, after all, lovers, occupied the boxes, and the men, who were either unattached or pretending to be so, were in the stalls.” Yes, that's just one sentence! Perhaps the artful use of em-dashes would have helped break up this overlong sentence so that it may be at least a little more visually appealing... as well as break up the pieces of information so they can be more easily read. All in all, I found myself disappointed in this book, though the couple did have chemistry.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
November 28, 2019
Surrender the Heart was an enjoyable historical romance set in Paris, between an unlikely couple. They both had completely different reasons for entering into an agreement, Ariane so she could have freedom from being pursued by other suitors when she is in no way looking for a husband and Chris because he enjoys a wager and thinks it might be fun to show Ariane some pleasure.
These two really needed to have better conversations between each other, but since they were both determined not to admit to feeling things neither wanted nor wanted to admit to, you can understand why there was so much miscommunication.
I really liked Chris as our hero, I thought he was lovely and genuine despite his roguish ways. I felt for him when he had dealings with his father's estranged wife and his half brother, no child should be blamed for the sins of their parents.
It took me a while to completely warm to Ariane, at times she came across as spoilt and selfish, at others, you could completely understand her dilemma and her naivety and how they brought about some of her behaviours. She did grow on me though and I hoped these two would get their act together and work things out.
There were several very unlikeable characters who added to the story and one very unlikeable scene, but they all added to the story and made you feel for our two main characters.
An enjoyable read.
These two really needed to have better conversations between each other, but since they were both determined not to admit to feeling things neither wanted nor wanted to admit to, you can understand why there was so much miscommunication.
I really liked Chris as our hero, I thought he was lovely and genuine despite his roguish ways. I felt for him when he had dealings with his father's estranged wife and his half brother, no child should be blamed for the sins of their parents.
It took me a while to completely warm to Ariane, at times she came across as spoilt and selfish, at others, you could completely understand her dilemma and her naivety and how they brought about some of her behaviours. She did grow on me though and I hoped these two would get their act together and work things out.
There were several very unlikeable characters who added to the story and one very unlikeable scene, but they all added to the story and made you feel for our two main characters.
An enjoyable read.
March 7, 2021
The last part in the series Fearless Women Historical Romance Series is distantly linked to the other books. This part tells the story of the niece (described in part 2) living in France. She has managed her parents estate for years and does not want to marry a man and thereby lose her independence. She also never wants to fall in love and thus let her happiness depend on what someone else allows her. However, her father wants her to get married and takes her to Paris for the season.
Chris returns to France to inform his father's wife of his death. He is hardly tolerated by high society when his eye falls on comtesse Arianne.
She decides to use the American as a shield against the young men seeking her company and proposes Chris to pretend. He agrees but his goal is to seduce her. Both have no desire to get married. But how do you keep your heart from getting involved when the stakes are high?
In the other stories in this series, love was an important part and the tensions of the revolt lingered in the background. Above all, this was a beautiful love story
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Chris returns to France to inform his father's wife of his death. He is hardly tolerated by high society when his eye falls on comtesse Arianne.
She decides to use the American as a shield against the young men seeking her company and proposes Chris to pretend. He agrees but his goal is to seduce her. Both have no desire to get married. But how do you keep your heart from getting involved when the stakes are high?
In the other stories in this series, love was an important part and the tensions of the revolt lingered in the background. Above all, this was a beautiful love story
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
January 30, 2021
What will he decide?
I am so glad I kept reading this series after having some doubts at the beginning because each book got better! This one has two gamblers who are both a bit wicked. I loved these characters. Ariane wants more than just finding a husband. She rather be home taking care of the family’s stable. Chris had also seen Ariane and the sparks were flying even without them knowing who each other were. The first chapter was such a great set up for the piece. There some twists in the piece and choices that will need to be made and not till the very end will all questions be answered. This was a splendid read and I highly recommend it. I did receive a free copy of this book and I voluntarily chose to review it.
I am so glad I kept reading this series after having some doubts at the beginning because each book got better! This one has two gamblers who are both a bit wicked. I loved these characters. Ariane wants more than just finding a husband. She rather be home taking care of the family’s stable. Chris had also seen Ariane and the sparks were flying even without them knowing who each other were. The first chapter was such a great set up for the piece. There some twists in the piece and choices that will need to be made and not till the very end will all questions be answered. This was a splendid read and I highly recommend it. I did receive a free copy of this book and I voluntarily chose to review it.
February 14, 2021
This is the fifth book in the Fearless Women Historical Romance series and I have really been enjoying all the stories. The story is set in Paris and we are introduced to Chris and Ariane, an unlikely pair. Ariane is forced to participate in the season and she makes a deal with Chris so that she doesn't have to deal with unwanted suitors. She is an independent woman and wants more from marriage than just gaining a husband. I enjoyed the interactions between Ariane and Chris and they had really excellent chemistry. There are some twists and turns that definitely kept me interested. This is an enjoyable book and a nice addition to the series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
December 31, 2019
The book was ok, but I think it’s a one time read for me. Sorry to the author.
November 18, 2023
Esqueça a ambientação parisiense, a autora preferiu manter o casal no quarto e se divertir descrevendo as cenas.
Recomendo.
Recomendo.
January 13, 2010
Surrender The Heart is a historical set in Paris. The heroine is Ariane De Valmont and the hero is Christopher Blanchard.
Ariane is an independent woman that wants to make sure that she finishes her season unwed, so she enlists the help of Christopher to play her suitor and frighten off anyone that might be interested. What she doesn't count on is falling in love with him, and he with her.
Most of the plot twist revolve around Christopher's French family that don't wish to acknowledge him because he's illegitimate.
There are some characterizations that bother me...Ariane's father, who is abusive to his wife but seemingly allows Ariane to run the estate. And her mother, who you almost wonder exists.
The good thing is that though these small flaws in the story are annoying, it doesn't hurt the overall plot, and that makes this a really enjoyable read.
Ariane is an independent woman that wants to make sure that she finishes her season unwed, so she enlists the help of Christopher to play her suitor and frighten off anyone that might be interested. What she doesn't count on is falling in love with him, and he with her.
Most of the plot twist revolve around Christopher's French family that don't wish to acknowledge him because he's illegitimate.
There are some characterizations that bother me...Ariane's father, who is abusive to his wife but seemingly allows Ariane to run the estate. And her mother, who you almost wonder exists.
The good thing is that though these small flaws in the story are annoying, it doesn't hurt the overall plot, and that makes this a really enjoyable read.
October 17, 2014
it was ok
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews