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Linley & Patrick #1

A Love That Never Tires

Librarian note: Older covers for this edition can be found here: 01-Nov-2014, Aug-2015.

Linley Talbot-Martin is a girl who likes to get her hands dirty. As the daughter of a famous archaeologist, she’s been everywhere and seen everything—except London. When the Talbot-Martin team travels there for her father’s investiture, Linley finally gets her wish. But when the time comes to trade her jodhpurs and work boots for silk gowns and kid gloves, she may be in over her head.

Even though she can out-ride, out-shoot, and outsmart any girl in London society, Linley is destined to be the failure of the season. No one she meets cares about ancient pottery or lost Buddhist texts, and fundraising efforts for future expeditions keep coming up short. If the Talbot-Martin team doesn’t find money soon, they will be out of a job, and Linley will lose everything she holds dear.

Patrick Wolford, Marquess of Kyre (pronounced 'Keer'), is a man who knows his place. Well-connected and respected, he is everything everyone expects him to be, but beneath his façade, he is as neglected and crumbling as the family estate. Now the strain of keeping up appearances is taking its toll. The smart thing would be to marry the heiress nipping at his heels and be done with it, but when he meets Linley Talbot-Martin, who dares to shake up his seemingly proper world, he must choose between the life he’s always known and one he never dared to dream of.

379 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2014

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About the author

Allyson Jeleyne

57 books90 followers
llyson Jeleyne has been indie publishing historical romance since 2014. She writes tender (open-door!) love stories featuring adventurers, entrepreneurs, heiresses, peeresses, and survivors, each journeying through love and life in the Victorian era. Her novels explore what it means to belong while delivering deeply satisfying happily-ever-afters.

She earned an interdisciplinary studies degree in Creative Writing and Journalism while also studying British history & literature in her spare time. When not writing, she enjoys traveling and checking things off her bucket list.

She makes her home in the South Carolina lowcountry with her beloved dog, Dollie Madison (2005-2022).

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5 stars
599 (30%)
4 stars
608 (30%)
3 stars
514 (25%)
2 stars
182 (9%)
1 star
78 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews
Profile Image for Erin.
4,152 reviews462 followers
March 2, 2019
A little bit of an unconventional historical romance that takes readers from Morocco to London to India as an archeologist 's daughter finds herself falling for a British lord in pre World War I (1912/1913) It started out really great and I loved free spirited Linley, but once part two began and Patrick was rushing to India to "surprise " Linley, I suddenly lost interest.
Profile Image for Hail.
92 reviews20 followers
January 19, 2017
"A Love That Never Tires" - I was tired of it by the end.

Most of the book I found very forced. Linley and Patrick spent a lot of time moaning at one another. I think this was to create a kind of 'heated passion' but personally I just found them irritating.
Linley's Father was very selfish and his team was the most unorganised archaeological unit I have ever read about. Every part of this book seemed to be a lucky coincidence.

I also felt like the book wanted to address female oppression, but failed - Linley questions (twice) why is ok for men to have a sexual history but woman must remain virgins. Yet her and Patrick were exactly that. Linley can apparently out ride and out shoot any other girl in London, she carries a pistol and there was the incident with the French at the beginning of the book. Yet through out the rest of the book she kept needing to be rescued by Patrick.
The attitude and description toward the Suffragettes I also found very annoying and kinda insulting.
1 review1 follower
January 23, 2015
As a man who reads stereotypical books for men(I.e.crime, science fiction,etc...)I will admit I had low expectations for my first historical romance read. However those expectations were quickly forgotten as I dwelled into this book. What stuck out most for me were the vivid descriptions of the settings and time in which they took place in. The author has a unique talent of putting me in these varying locations...whether it be in downtown London or on an African coast. What surprised me was how much I invested in the characters of this book. Getting to know them better and better as pages and chapters progressed, I'd even catch myself smiling as the main character showed instances of growth and change throughout the book. I'd strongly recommend this book to any readers of historical romance, or to any reader looking for a good read period. Can't wait for the next book(s) to follow in this series.
Profile Image for Please Pass the Books.
396 reviews44 followers
February 17, 2015
The descriptions are magnificent, the characters are likeable (mostly), and the story itself is wonderfully written. I absolutely loved how the scenes and settings are so well integrated between dialogue--a miraculous feat for a debut indie novel--instead of lumped into long winded narratives. You get behind the eyes of the characters and see what they see, as they see it. Just wonderful.

I agree with another reviewer that in the follow up (which I hope comes fast!) that we see less of Linley's father and his friends.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all lovers of historical fiction, romance, and Edwardian love stories.

I received a free copy of this book from Story Cartel for the purpose of an unbiased review.
Profile Image for K..
4,987 reviews1,144 followers
September 7, 2020
Trigger warnings: serious illness, slut shaming, death of a sibling (in the past), graphic description of wounds.

Their love may never tire, but I certainly did.

I think a big part of my problem with this is that it was described as "Downton Abbey meets The Mummy" when it was in fact neither of those things. The two leads were utterly lacking in chemistry. The writing was aggressively mediocre. The extreme hatred of suffragettes was...baffling, to say the least. I rolled my eyes on every second page. The sex was...weirdly violent and not at all okay. The ending was beyond ridiculous.

And the constant references to how much time Linley had spent at Machu Picchu made me roll my eyes repeatedly because a) archaeologists are experts in ONE civilisation, not all of them, and b) it had only been discovered two years before this is supposed to be set so, uh, NO. Also, the moment where they locate a temple in the jungle and then immediately decide to........walk to the Himalayas???........was beyond baffling.

Basically? This was terrible and I hated it and I definitely won't be continuing the series. Not even the fact that it was free helped it to not suck.
Profile Image for Darla.
340 reviews32 followers
May 27, 2015
So this book was ok for me overall, it wasn't bad it wasn't great. There were some funny parts that made me laugh, and there were some sweet moments too. This was another free book I found on the Bookbub.com website and I will say that I am glad I didn't pay for it solely because it was just "ok". There were moments and behaviors that seemed incongruous with the characters (mostly Linley), from one moment to the next that made them seem inconsistent and unbelievable. That worked on my reading nerves. There was also a different outcome I was hoping for from this book just because, as sad as it would have been, it would have been a great spin on the originality of the storyline. Anyone who has read this before probably knows what situation I am talking about. I think a lot of the reasoning behind my rating is due to the ending; I wanted it to end differently and it didn't. Do I think it was worth the read?? Maybe/maybe not, this book will NOT resonant with me like others have so that tells me a lot.
Profile Image for ✨ Gramy ✨ .
1,381 reviews
July 30, 2017
There was obviously a lot of time, effort, and research poured into the contents of this book. They all melded together very nicely. I would much rather give up the sexually descriptive scenes to have learned more about how the archeological party reunited, how the father of the bride reacted to his daughter's recovery, the wedding news, as well as the place and wedding event. I felt very cheated by the conclusion of this particular book. Discovering there are three more to follow about this particular couple does not give me any hope.

I liked the book and the characters up until the explicit sexual scenes invaded the otherwise entertaining book. I don't understand why some authors think minute details convey any more imagination than allowing each reader to derive their own interpretation from those scenes. I just read the first few paragraphs of the second book through the Amazon preview and and was even further disappointed to discover that profanity has been added as well.

I am a fan of each book in a series standing on its own. This book did not meet that scrutiny. I am not a fan of having to read 4 books to find out what happens to one single couple. I am discouraged by the obvious desire of the author to stretch out the story to make more money. So I do not plan to purchase any further books in this series.
Profile Image for Anna Catharina.
640 reviews65 followers
June 20, 2022
Ein historischer Liebesroman mit einigen netten Ansätzen, aber auch einigen Tiefpunkten. Die wechselnden Schauplätze von Marokko über London und Indien hatten ihren Reiz, besonders das Kennenlernen in Marokko und das Wiedersehen in London haben mir gut gefallen. Die Liebesgeschichte war bis dahin auch wirklich süß, was mir aber nicht gefallen hat, waren die Gespräche über Sex, die fand ich unpassend. Es gab immer wieder Stellen, in denen mir die Personen zu modern und zu wenig nach 1913 klangen, auch die sehr negative Haltung zur Frauenbewegung fand ich einseitig und abwertend. Der Part in Indien war eine echte Achterbahn, auf der einen Seite spannend (besonders der Showdown am Ende), auf der anderen Seite hat ich das Buch bei den Sex-Szenen total verloren. Das war so gar nicht meins. Wirklich gar nicht.
Gelockt hat mich auch das archäologische Setting, aber mit Archäologie hat das Buch nichts zu tun. Besonders die Reise in Indien ist die reinste Katastrophe, keinerlei Vorbereitung, kein Proviant, null archäologische Forschung, reine Schatzjägerei. Auch ist der Rest des Teams, mit einer Ausnahme, ein echt unsympathische Truppe und ich hätte ihnen allen gewünscht, dass sie scheitern.
Profile Image for Mystica.
1,893 reviews34 followers
December 6, 2015
Shades of Georgette Heyer mixed up with a bit of Far Eastern travel!

A story involving a young girl, brought up by her father in a very unconventional style (for the time). Living her life in archaelogical ruins and coming to London as they are dead broke and he must find a financier for his next trip to discover the temple ruins which beckon so enticingly. Linley knows that her duty is to help her father obtain those finances by hook or by crook and to this end she goes along with his plans in London.

Meeting up with a Marquess seems fortuitous but things are not what they seem as he is not as well heeled as he sounds. His main idea was to find an heiress and marry her to bolster the family fortunes. Meeting Linley puts a spoke in the wheel in that scheme of things!

Covering London with all its conventionality at the times, and then moving across to Northern India almost at the Nepalese border was descriptive enough for me.

I did not like the title though as I felt it was not apt for the very lovely story it covered.
Profile Image for Mariana.
727 reviews82 followers
January 24, 2024
I read this for my 2024 Romance Around The Ages Challenge. It is difficult to find very many Edwardian HR, so I decided to give this one a try.

Both Linley and Patrick were likable characters, but they also had their foolish moments. The story was fun and adventurous. The setting took place in Morocco, London, and India. I would recommend if looking for something around the world.

Another unique thing about this series is books two and three are also Patrick and Linley rather than new H and h. Book 2 is set in WWI, so I think I will read it as well.
Profile Image for Jacqueline Driggers.
369 reviews16 followers
June 7, 2017
First, this is a cliffhanger book; which is not told in the blurb. Second, this isn't really a historical romance, which I've read lots of. Third, the book is at it's best at the beginning, and is downhill from there.

The beginning of the book is the best part. But the latter half of the book is not very good, and rather gruesome towards the end. The characters aren't that great, and the storyline drags on too long and isn't very good.

Bright spot is I picked this book up for free.
Profile Image for Melinda.
675 reviews3 followers
February 23, 2017
UGH. I can't believe I actually finished this book. It started out promising, but just got ridiculous and more frustrating as the chapters wore on. Linley was the most frustrating character. I liked her initially, but she turned into a completely different person by the end.
Profile Image for Ingrid Spera.
1,204 reviews29 followers
November 14, 2015
I will admit that I read this just as a lovey-dovey fluff piece, but I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found! This book has a depth I wasn't expecting and fairly believable characters that I was able to connect with which was completely unexpected. I wish the ending had been drawn out more, but overall a really enjoyable read!
Profile Image for Mela.
2,171 reviews280 followers
May 19, 2017
I have read this book, but I don't remember how long ago. I think a few years ago. What is more important, I remember that I enjoyed that a novel took place in an interesting places (this was why I had hopes that it would be worth reading). But I fear that it wasn't very much accurate with a historical reality (probability of a human behaviour, manners and so on). Nonetheless, if I recall it correctly, a romance had a few nice points.

It is for free now on Amazon. As for free you can give it a try. Perhaps you will like it more than me.
3,267 reviews76 followers
September 20, 2021
It's well written, with quite an adventure but I didn't like overwrought romance. The h's father is selfish, and he's taught her to be the same. She talks about being free all the while living on money they had begged from others. Truly awful people, little better than swindlers but they both thought themselves so much better than the H. He was lonely, titled, with entailed assets and lives in poverty. He was a Hero in the end, but it's only a HFN. I won't buy the next book, he deserved better than her.
Profile Image for Evelyn.
Author 1 book32 followers
September 13, 2021
This is book one of a series that has been on my Kindle for some time. Though I did enjoy parts of it, I was not enthralled enough to continue with the series. The best part of the story was the author's descriptions of foreign lands in the early 1900s. They were vivid and alive. You could imagine the characters in Morocco or in India and feel the action through them. I did find it intense at times and very gritty and life-threatening. I think I just prefer a little less action in my romances. It is a well-written book and others would probably enjoy it more.
Profile Image for Daniela Peixoto.
199 reviews11 followers
July 26, 2026
Bom, mas nao agarrou

Apesar da historia ter algo de interessante, nao me agarrou como esperava. Confesso que varios momentos passaram de uma forma que nao me ficaram retidos. Foi agradável e só
Profile Image for Britt.
220 reviews
July 28, 2015
I don't typically read historical fiction from this time period but it sounded interesting. The first half was good with Linley and Patrick meeting and Linley getting introduced to London life. However, things go downhill fast once the head to India. Linley has a series of awkward conversations that made me cringe. Regardless of her upringing, I have a really hard time with a smart girl like her being so naive about basic social protocols and expectations. She also flip flops from being an independent and capable women to throwing tantrums like a spoiled brat. Too much character inconsistency for me.
Profile Image for Kathy Bryson.
Author 11 books38 followers
June 23, 2015
An interesting story that does a credible job of presenting attitudes and habits of the time period it's set in. Lindley's father makes absolute decisions even to the point of hauling his daughter up the mountains in Tibet. Patrick expects his wife to be a virgin. The old-fashioned attitudes are striking to a modern perspective, but the sex scenes aren't old-fashioned which makes for an awkward fit. Otherwise well-written with a strong love story.
Profile Image for Shelby A.
114 reviews3 followers
April 27, 2015
This was another book introduced to me by BookBub, it sounded good with all the travel and adventure.
It was not that great. Although they went to exotic places, it was more about these two being together and not telling each other they were in love with the other. It was good writing, not very exciting, and of course there was turmoil and someone had to be near death. All in all, I say "meh".
293 reviews4 followers
May 6, 2015
Lovely Story!

It looks like they got it right. True love is rare and precious, and if you find it, you should cherish it. Nothing lasts forever, enjoy every moment like it's the last.
Profile Image for Cyndy.
336 reviews5 followers
November 19, 2015
Very good.

I visualize the the characters from the English Patient while reading. Finley an archeologists daughter and Patrick an English Lord are exact opposites but was drawn to each other. Their adventure is riveting. I am looking forward to their next adventure.
28 reviews
November 21, 2015
Okay, mindless read.

Beach read, maybe. A bit too obvious for my taste. More background, details about archeology or the monks, or anything might provide some substance, but it's lacking. Don't think I'll continue with the trilogy.
79 reviews
November 28, 2016
3.5 stars. The book started out well, but it got progressively more irritating, fake, and a little ridiculous. I wanted to like it, but I just wasn't sold on the characters. I'm probably being a little harsh, but I definitely wouldn't have wanted to spend money on it (I got it free through iBooks)
Profile Image for Carol.
56 reviews6 followers
April 30, 2015
I really wanted to like this book, after reading the synopsis, but I couldn't. The story was all over the place. The lead characters were not consistent. I did push through and finish the book.
Profile Image for Katie Chapman.
558 reviews2 followers
November 19, 2015
Excellent

A wonderful historical tale set just prior to WWI. This should be made into a movie or BBC series. Interesting places and characters.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 162 reviews