Дикарка Жасмин

O'Malley Saga #6

by Bertrice Small, Бертрис Смолл

Небо определило Жасмин, восхитительной, как экзотический цветок, дочери Великого Могола Индии и пленной английской аристократки, странную судьбу. Приключения приводили красавицу в разные страны, опасности окружали ее, — но самым невероятным и прекрасным приключением девушки стала любовь — пылкая, страстная, пламенная любовь мужественного, неукротимого ирландца Рори Магвайра…

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Erotica, India

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Bertrice Williams was born on December 9, 1937 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, the daughter of Doris S. and David R. Williams, both broadcasters. She studied at Attended Western College for Women and Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School. On October 5, 1963, she married George Sumner Small, a photographer and designer with a History Major at Princeton. They had a son Thomas David. She lived on eastern Long Island for over 30 years. Her greatest passions were her family; Finnegan and Sylvester, the family cats; Nicki, the elderly cockatiel who whistles the NY Mets charge call; her garden; her work, and just life in general.

Published since 1947, Bertrice Small was the author of over 50 romance novels. A New York Times bestselling author, she had also appeared on other best-seller lists including Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and the L.A. Times. She was the recipient of numerous awards including Career Achievement for Historical Romance; Best Historical Romance; Outstanding Historical Romance Series; Career Achievement for Historical Fantasy; a Golden Leaf from the New Jersey Romance Writers chapter of Romance Writers of America; an Author of the Year (2006) and Big Apple Award from the New York City Romance Writers chapter of RWA, and several Reviewers Choice awards from Romantic Times. She had a "Silver Pen" from Affair De Coeur, and an Honorable Mention from The West Coast Review of Books. In 2004 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by ROMANTIC TIMES magazine for her contributions to the Historical Romance genre. And in 2008 she was named by ROMANTIC TIMES along with her friends Jennifer Blake, Roberta Gellis and Janelle Taylor, a Pioneer of Romance.

Bertrice Small was a member of The Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, PAN, and PASIC. She was also a member of RWA's Long Island chapter, L.I.R.W., and is its easternmost member on the North Fork of Eastern Long Island.

Reviews

[Kerri (Book Hoarder) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ambassador of purple prose!

"He could feel her tensing within, and then her quivering little flutters of satisfaction as she crowned the head of his manhood with her own sweet honeyed libations of pleasure. The warmth of it sent him out of control, and his own love juices burst forth in greater measure, searing her hidden garden with an intensity of ecstasy. . . ."

Teenaged me unfortunately thought this was awesome. LOL.

Still, it holds a fond place in my heart.

[Sonia N. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read just about all of the beloved Bertrice Small books!! They are all 5 stars!!

Jasmine is Velvet's daughter, and Velvet is the beautiful heroine Skye O'Malley's daughter!
Jasmine is a beautiful Indian Princess, her beautiful mother had to leave her behind. Which, when I read in Velvet's story it was so heart breaking, I cried. But didn't like that she, Yasaman had to be left.
In this book her half-brother has unbrotherly feelings for her and plans on using her for his purpose. She is happily married to Prince Jamal and he is tragically murdered. Which inturn leaves Jasmine no choice but flee to England where her grandmother, the infamous Skye O'Malley lives.
Once in England her beauty attracts many powerful men. One being the Prince Henry Stuart. But, her second husband the Earl of Glenkirk and her share a passionate love!
I love Bertrice Small's attention to every detail, from the food at the time, to the castles, the furniture, the clothes and so on, especially her erotic attention to details with the love scenes.
This is a wildy passionate love story and it's hard to tell if she will find her happily ever after, so read this amazing historical filled, passionate, detailed romance!

[Trixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Jasmine begins where This Heart of Mine left off, from the separation of Jasmine's parents. Jasmine's mother, Velvet, managed to rekindle love with her first husband, while Jasmine's father Akbar, wasn't as enamored of any of his other 39 wives, and the loss of Velvet in his life made his hair turn white in a week.

And so Jasmine's childhood in India continues without her mother, but with some very devoted caretakers.

The reason she leaves India as a teenager is her half-brother's insane lust for her. He has killed her husband and when Akbar dies he will force Jasmine into his bed.

Jasmine's life in England starts, where she meets her grandmother--and the rest. She effortlessly makes an enemy with Velvet's stepdaughter Sybil, but then makes up with her after nearly causing a scandal. She marries, has children, travels to Ireland, and is widowed. It is here that ONE of the most contrived situations in the book takes place.

Understandably Jasmine would grieve at her husband's death, but it doesn't seem remotely realistic that she would have the power to drain her own life force away, unless her demand of one last sexual encounter with the dead husband is granted. (Or as my husband states it, "She needs dick or she'll die.") And how bad could a nineteen-year-old girl's eyesight be, that she doesn't notice the man in her bed isn't her husband? I think it was only the author's device for making that child have bright red hair, or perhaps for letting the character of Rory Maguire have a night in a woman's bed who is so far above his station.

Contrived situation #2: The prince wants you, and you have to do it, because one day he'll be king. Really? Again, huh, twice in the same book? Wasn't this why she once left India? I find it difficult to believe that any man in a powerful position would insist on an unwilling woman in his bed when there must be an assortment of beautiful, willing women. However, the Bertrice Small ethos is, "But she's REALLY beautiful, so of course he will settle for no one else."

And although Jasmine's grandmother certainly has a recipe for a potion preventing pregnancy, it is not used with the princely lover, so Jasmine has a bastard son. If ever there were a time to use "the potion," this would have been it! But conveniently for Bertrice Small there is one bastard child, so she can use the phrase "not-so-royal Stuart" EVERY time she refers to this child FOR THE REST OF HIS NATURAL LIFE!! As well as referring to which "side of the blanket" the child was born on, and a recap of how Stuarts deal with such progeny (generously). The "stain of bastardy" helps pad her subsequent books in this series, certainly.

I find it difficult to sympathize with much of Jasmine's life because the situations are so farfetched and really a bit overused. She never gets kidnapped and taken to a harem (which happens to FIVE other women in this ten-book series) but like every other heroine except Aidan, her beauty and wealth are boundless. If only her wits were as interesting!

The two feisty things she does, the whole book through, are to sell her first husband's five sex slaves off, and to abscond with her four children from England, to escape a third arranged marriage.

The only thing I was really dissatisfied about was that she did not become closer with her mother, Velvet. I felt Velvet really did not make enough effort there, and it decreased my liking for both Velvet and Jasmine.

The enduring effect of this book in my family is that I occasionally moan "Ohhh, Rowan!" when I am being melodramatic. It's kind of a family joke for someone who gets excited for an inadequate reason.

But hey, despite my nit-picking, I'm on my second copy! :-)

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the third Bertrice Small book I read. The previous two were The Spitfire, and Love,Remember Me, which enchanted me. This one, Wild Jasmine, not so much. Aside from the purple prose (how many times did I have to read about yet another lover fondling Jasmine' s cone shaped orbs???), the plot just meandered on, and I found myself bored at times.

The two previous books I read were heavy on history, light on romance. This one was just the opposite. I think I have to agree with another reviewer who stated that the author missed her true calling as a straightforward historical fiction writer. She truly writes compellingly about real life historical figures and takes the reader on highly enjoyable romps through several European Courts of different eras. Wild Jasmine was a silly bodice ripper and while I can enjoy those silly books if I am in the mood, I had come to expect a lot more from the author therefore I was disappointed in this one.

I am still a fan of the author and will definitely give her other books a chance, hoping for the highly entertaining, if not exactly accurate, historical fiction I loved so much in The Spitfire and Love, Remember Me.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first part of the book when Jasmine was in India... but once she arrived in England, the book moved slowly and the story became dull. The retelling of Jasmine’s story once she arrived in England was told way too many times to all the relatives. But points at the end though, as Jasmine did pull a fast one over the poor Earl.

[Amarilli 73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 - Con questo sesto volume si chiude la grande saga degli O'Malley, iniziata con le avventure dell'indomita Skye, tra Irlanda, corte di Elisabetta I e pirati del Mediterraneo, continuata poi con la figlia Velvet, tra gli harem di Costantinopoli e l'India, mentre i vari membri accumulavano e perdono ricchezze e titoli, riuscendo sempre a cadere in piedi e a restare uniti.

Qui partiamo dalla Corte del Gran Mogol, dove Velvet/Cadra aveva vissuto anni come sposa amatissima del sovrano, prima di essere costretta a far ritorno in Inghilterra lasciando una figlia neonata.
Jasmine è cresciuta con il padre, tra fasti e tradizioni indiane (compresa l'educazione nell'arte dell'amore) e viene fatta sposare adolescente per sfuggire alle mire del fratellastro. Tuttavia, quando gli intrighi di palazzo si complicano troppo, il Gran Mogol decide che la salvezza potrà essere assicurata solo dai lontani parenti O'Malley.
La prima parte del romanzo, circa duecento pagine su cinquecento, è dunque tutta di ambientazione indiana, e mi è piaciuta molto, tra tradizioni esotiche e intrighi di mogli, concubine ed eunuchi.

Poi la vicenda si sposta tra Irlanda e Londra, dove è al potere Giacomo Stuart, pur in un'epoca instabile, tra luci e ombre.
Dopo aver furoreggiato in Oriente, è logico che la conturbante fanciulla si lasci dietro una scia di cuori infranti, tra conti, cavalieri e persino un principe inglese. In molto vorrebbero imporle unioni di convenienza o ricattarla, ma lei è la nipote di Skye in tutto e per tutto.
Anche per questo ho apprezzato il doppio finale: quando già mi ero rassegnata a vedere la nostra eroina obbedire al potere del re, Jasmine è riuscita a sorprendermi di nuovo.

N.B. Segnalo che, in effetti, le vicende di Jasmine e James continuano in una serie ulteriore (SKYE'S LEGACY), dedicata ai loro discendenti, e di cui in passato sono stati pubblicati due volumi anche in italiano. Temo però che non avrò più occasione di leggerli.

[Nenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bertrice Small is God! Her books breach the limits of ecstatic and provocative. Her characters are legend.

[Lady A-♀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning started off fast but it slowed down once she married Rowan. Also, Sybilla or whatever he name was was annoying.

[Nisha · Rating 2.5 out of 5]

Content warnings: Child marriage, sexual abuse of a minor, incestuous obsession, sexual assault, dubious and absent consent, reproductive coercion, pregnancy loss, murder, violence, misogyny, racism, religious persecution, colonialism and forced displacement.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD.

WTF did I just read?

I genuinely don't know how to rate this book. On one hand, it's one of the most profoundly problematic historical romances I've encountered. On the other, I could not put the fucking thing down.

I was offended, horrified, angry, concerned and had to find out what happened next.

Wild Jasmine is so spectacularly, magnificently unhinged that I simply HAD to know what insanity Bertrice Small had planned next.

The prose is very lush, excessively purple, and the historical settings are very atmospheric. Small knows how to write compelling family drama, political intrigue and genuinely interesting female characters.

But the narrative choices? My God.

Our FMC, Jasmine, begins life as a Mughal princess, the daughter of Emperor Akbar. She's beautiful, clever, fabulously wealthy and apparently possesses some supernatural ability to make every man she encounters fall obsessively in love with her.

And her life story is absolutely ridiculous.

At thirteen, she's married off to a Kashmiri prince because her 32 year old half brother has developed a deeply disturbing obsession with her and is lusting after her.

And throughout this section, Jasmine and everyone around her keep declaring she's fine to be married becuase she got her first period and that she's a woman now because she's started menstruating.

Pretty sure getting your period doesn't magically make you an adult mentally and emotionally... but sure.

This is my first major issue with the book. Small repeatedly sexualises an underage heroine while framing her marriage and intimate relationships as beautiful, romantic experiences. The narrative recognises that her brother's behaviour is wrong, yet presents her relationship with another adult man as a romantic awakening.

The distinction seems to be that one man is the villain and the other is handsome and loving.

That's not particularly reassuring, Bertrice.

Anyway, Jasmine falls in love with her 30 something husband, Jamal. Kicks all of his jealous courtesans out of the palace and takes her place as his child bride.

And then her half brother arranges to have him murdered in an elephant related fratricide assassination conspiracy.

Yes. An elephant. Basically Jasmine's gross brother convinces Jamal's brothers to commit fratricide but make it look liek an accident. So they come up with crushing Jamal by elephant.

So by age fourteen, Jasmine is widowed, and suffers a miscarriage from the trauma and is being sent to England to escape her own brother.

At fifteen, she arrives in England, reunites with her biological mother at an elaborately staged birthday party, meets her enormous aristocratic family, and promptly gets into a physical altercation with her stepsister.

Welcome to England, darling. Here's your family. Please punch your stepsister.

And naturally, it's time for another romance.

Enter Rowan Lindley, Marquess of Westleigh, who immediately decides he wants to marry her.

But what's this? A new challenger enters the ring.

James Leslie, Earl of Glenkirk.

Who also happens to be the man her stepsister wants to marry.

Except Glenkirk sees Jasmine and decides she's so beautiful, exotic and irresistible that he'd rather pursue her.

So of course he does.

The two become involved, her stepsister discovers them in Glenkirk's bed, and she starts screaming, tries to attack Jasmine, Glenkirk jumps out of bed to intervene. She sees him completely naked, apparently this is the first time she's ever seen a naked man and then promptly FAINTS.

Naturally, there's an enormous scandal.

And after all that, Jasmine doesn't even marry Glenkirk.

At sixteen, she marries Rowan instead.

Glenkirk, however, will spend practically the rest of the novel lingering in the background, apparently unable to move on with his life.

Now, this is where the timeline becomes truly absurd.

At eighteen, Jasmine is married, has children, and receives a birthday present from Rowan.

Three thousand acres of Irish land, complete with a castle and an entire village.

Except this is seventeenth-century Ulster, where the English Crown is redistributing Irish lands, and the estate previously belonged to the Maguires.

When Jasmine arrives, she discovers her evil, sexist, anti Catholic estate agent, Eamon Feeny, has displaced the entire Irish Catholic population.

She fires him, restores the villagers to their homes, and appoints Rory Maguire as estate manager.

Except Rory is the guy that originally owned the property.

So now the dispossessed Irish lord is managing his ancestral estate for the woman who received it as a birthday present.

And, naturally, Rory also appears to be falling in love with her.

The colonial storyline is interesting, but also troubling. Small acknowledges religious persecution, dispossession and the competing claims to Irish land, yet seems to suggest that Jasmine's benevolence largely resolves the underlying injustice.

Okay Betrice... eing a kind colonial landlord doesn't erase colonialism.

But anyway, at age nineteen, Jasmine is happily married, raising her children, and managing her Irish estate.

Until Feeny, the estate agent she fired, returns with a musket.

He attempts to assassinate her.

Misses.

And kills Rowan instead.

Second husband. Second murder. All before her twentieth birthday.

And Jasmine responds by ordering the murderer hanged with her dead husband's belt.

Then the novel takes an even darker turn involving a serious violation of Jasmine's bodily autonomy while she's incapacitated, followed by a deliberate cover-up by people she trusts. Basically her steward decides that only way to ensure Jasmine recovers from her grief-induced illness is...SEX.

It reads like the steward convinces himself that because Jasmine is deliriously calling for her dead husband, and that physical intimacy with another man will somehow bring her back to life. He also gets the local PRIEST and Jasmine's former tutor, involved in this completely insane plan.

AND THEY DECIDE RORY MAGUIRE IS THE MAN FOR THE JOB.

Now, Rory is secretly in love with Jasmine, because OFC he is.

But let me make it VERY CLEAR that Jasmine has never agreed to an intimate relationship with Rory. ALSO SHE'S UNCONSCIOUS. SHE CANNOT CONSENT.

And Rory actually recognises how wrong this could be. He worries that if she wakes up and discovers what happened, she will accuse him of rape.

SO HE KNOWS THERE'S A PROBLEM. BUT HE GOES ALONG WITH IT ANYWAY.

The steward even discusses making sure Jasmine won't remember what happened.

AND THEN THEY ACTUALLY CARRY OUT THIS PLAN.

Rory sexually assaults Jasmine while she's incapacitated, and delirious believing she's with her dead husband.

The steward is also present, secretly supervising the whole thing.

I'M SORRY. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?

The SURPRISE Jasmine is pregnant.

Jasmine subsequently gives birth to a daughter whose biological paternity becomes uncertain. The family suspects Rory may be the father, while Jasmine believes the child is Rowan's.

Rather than tell her the truth about what happened, everyone conspires to keep it secret. And we're apparently supposed to accept that their intentions justify their actions.

Anyway, Jasmine eventually returns to England.

At twenty-one, she's been married twice, widowed twice, and has three children.

Surely she can just live quietly now?

Lol. No

Because Henry Frederick Stuart, the Prince of Wales, falls in love with her.

Yes. The actual heir to the English throne.

Apparently, earls and marqueses are no longer sufficiently impressive. We've moved directly into the royal family.

They become lovers, and Jasmine has another child.

And for a moment, everything is wonderful.

Except the prince dies.

So Bertrice kills off another one of Jasmine's romantic partners.

Three great loves. Three dead men.

At this point, any man considering courting her should probably update his will.

AND REMEMBER GLENKIRK?

The Earl from that ridiculous scandal years earlier?

He's back.

Because apparently this man has spent years waiting for another opportunity.

The king appoints him guardian of Jasmine's royal son and decides the two should marry.

Jasmine refuses to be rushed, and the novel concludes with her disappearing to France with her children while Glenkirk prepares to follow her.

So the book literally ends with yet another aristocrat chasing this woman across Europe.

Bertrice. Please.

Let's consider the timeline.

By her early twenties, Jasmine has been married twice, lost both husbands to murder, suffered a pregnancy loss, had four children, fled an incestuous family nightmare, moved between continents, caused multiple aristocratic scandals, received an Irish village, survived an assassination attempt, ordered an execution, become entangled in a secret paternity scandal, and had a romance with the heir to the English throne.

And throughout all this, practically every eligible man she encounters seems determined to marry her.

This woman has lived approximately eight lifetimes before her twenty-third birthday.

It's genuinely deranged.

But here's what makes this book so difficult to evaluate: I actually enjoyed reading it.

Not because I approved of its content. Quite the opposite.

The age disparities, consent issues, sexualisation of the heroine as a child, exoticisation of India, misogyny, colonial politics and relentless romanticisation of male possessiveness are deeply troubling.

And historical context doesn't automatically excuse those choices. This novel was published in 1992, and although genre conventions have evolved, there's a difference between depicting troubling historical practices and inviting readers to find them romantic.

But Small is a compelling storyteller.

Her prose is atmospheric, her female characters are often fascinating, and she has a remarkable talent for making even the most absurd developments impossible to look away from.

Every time I thought the story couldn't possibly become more outrageous, something even more ridiculous happened.

An elephant murder conspiracy. An Irish village as a birthday present. A homicidal estate agent. A secret paternity scandal. The Prince of Wales.

It's like someone challenged Bertrice Small to write the most melodramatic historical romance imaginable, and she said, hold my pen.

Ultimately, the prose is good, the storytelling is addictive, and the moral framing is an absolute disaster.

I can recognise that a book is deeply problematic while also admitting that it entertained the hell out of me.

And that's exactly what happened here.

Did I approve of what I was reading? Absolutely not.

Was I frequently horrified? Yes.

Did I question the author's narrative decisions? Yes.

Could I put it down? Not for a second.

Wild Jasmine is an ethically troubling, outrageously excessive, utterly bonkers historical romance that somehow manages to be both infuriating and compulsively readable.

It's not so much a love story as a multinational safeguarding investigation, an aristocratic crime spree and a geopolitical crisis, all wrapped in silk, jewels and exceptionally purple prose.

Bertrice Small, you absolute menace. What a ride.

[Pindar's Muse · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of this book takes place in Mughal India. It is exotic and erotic and full of rich details. The plot becomes boring as soon as the book transitions to England. It's mostly about life at court and within the family. There are too many relations to keep straight, and the family dynamic isn't really of interest.

Jasmine, the protagonists, is not a likeable character. She's painted as this intelligent, independent, strong woman, but isn't relatable at all. She's too perfect. Her Indian background is quickly dropped from the plot after she exits India. What happens to Rugaiya, her surrogate mother? Does Salim ever try to locate her? The reader doesn't even know what becomes of the two cats that travel with Jasmine to England. Even her faithful servants barely play parts in the book after Part I concludes.

Events in the book become so predictable. Husband dies? Check. Have another man's baby? Check. Prince dies? Check. It's easy to guess these things before they come to pass.

Then there's the unbelievable sexual encounters (even by historical romance standards). At one point, Jasmine goes off to have sex with an earl because she's lonely. She has sex with him during a gala on a whim (this is the 17th century). Wouldn't this cause a serious scandal? Everyone just laughs it off and moves on. There's another scene where she has to have sex whilst being unconscious (or semi-asleep?) in order to stay alive. That's a bit of a stretch.

Small's "The Kadin" was excellent. This book, however, fell short of some of her other works that focus on exotic landscapes, although it may appeal to those who are interested in English court life.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first bodice ripper I have read in a long while and I must say I enjoyed it!

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical romance with plenty of sizzle and adventure. I liked this sixth book of the series best.

[H is for Hydraulics · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even for Bertrice Small, the plot is unusually silly. Worse, boring.

[Romanticamente Fantasy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malefica81 - per RFS
.
Bentornate Fenici!

Oggi parleremo dell’ultimo volume della saga degli O’Malley ma anche dell’ultimo libro, almeno in cartaceo, che uscirà per la Mondadori. Ebbene sì, gli Harmony cartacei non esisteranno più, solo in ebook ed è davvero una tristezza infinita.

La principessa Begum Yasaman Kama è la figlia adorata del Gran Mogol d’India e di Candra, la sua bellissima “Rosa Inglese” che ha dovuto lasciare andare perché sposata a un altro uomo. Il vero nome di Candra che significa Luna è Velvet, la figlia di Skye O’Malley de Marisco, la capostipite di tutta questa lunga saga.

Yasaman è bellissima, ha capelli neri come ali di corvo, occhi di un blu innaturale, soprattutto per gli standard indiani e uno spirito indomito. Così bella e volitiva che ha stregato anche il fratellastro Salim (nu puorc a mio avviso, uno stronzo di prima categoria che vuole la giovane tutta per sè e inizia a provare sentimenti di possesso e non di amore per lei quando ha soli tredici anni!). Salim ha tutte le intenzioni di diventare il prossimo Mogol dato che è l’erede designato e vuole Yasaman come sua sposa e madre dei suoi figli, cita sempre “come i Faraoni che si sposavano tra fratelli”, un incesto bello e buono.

Ma il Mogol è più furbo del suo caro figlio e per proteggerla la fa sposare al principe Jamal con il quale Yasaman scopre l’amore. Sì, si innamora del giovane e aspetta un figlio suo ma la felicità è breve, quel bastardo di Salim trama con i fratelli di Jamal e il giovane viene assassinato. Lei perde il bambino e con il cuore in pezzi viene fatta scappare dall’India e mandata in Inghilterra dalla madre. Qui si fa chiamare Jasmine de Marisco e trova rifugio presso la madre Velvet e la nonna Skye.

Alla corte del re Giacomo I, dovrà lottare per la propria sicurezza, la sua bellezza accenderà passioni e intrighi a cui dovrà sottrarsi. Riuscirà a trovare la felicità in una terra non sua?

Jasmine lotta, ama, non ha paura e sa difendersi. Penso di aver amato questo personaggio fin dal primo momento. Non si lascia abbattere nemmeno dopo che le uccidono il marito, povero Jamal.

Salim è davvero un gran pezzo di merda ma non vi dirò che fine farà per non rovinarvi il divertimento.

Una delle figure più controverse di questo libro è Sybilla, la sorellastra di Jasmine (e pure qui, la voglia di prenderla a randellate sulle gengive era tantissima, davvero una viziata di prima categoria ma poi cambia nel corso della storia), si dice che se un personaggio si odia durante la lettura è perché è stato scritto bene.

La Small è particolarmente prolissa ma è la regina dello storico, ti porta dentro e ti fa vivere ogni parte della storia, ti teletrasporta in India e in Inghilterra, ti sembra davvero di sentire l’odore del gelsomino, o quello dell’erba in Irlanda.

Quindi libro consigliato assolutamente.

Un saluto dalla vostra Mal

[Mercedes · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh my God finally I read this book because my boyfriend got it for me for our anniversary that was in July and never takes me more than 2 months to read a book but this book was so slow and so boring and I could not for the life of me get into it that was such an annoying character who was just perfect Beyond everything which was annoying in itself but then but then the main character has men falling at her feet left and right which is just not true and it just was all around crap

[Brennan Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reread! Love Bertrice Small, her attention to every detail is ::chefs kiss:: I’ll admit that I never really paid much attention to ages while reading her stories, I figured she was just being as historically accurate as possible, but I won’t lie - that bothers me more now than my first time reads. Take that out of the mix and the nod to history thrown in with stories of strong women is great! Loved Skye O’Malley, so the continuation of her legacy with Jasmine was awesome.

[Kristina Deluise · Rating 4 out of 5]

velvet's daughter is coming home.
she never told alex.
she has some explaining to do
sybil is not happy about another girl in the family
there is Jasmine,
please check out my video for this book on youtube in may,
lots of spoilers

[Aracely Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!

I have truly enjoyed reading this book. It has taken me on a beautiful adventure. Love it! If you have not read any other f Sky adventures, you are missing out.

[maritzaking · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read, love you series.

Loved it, I would definitely recommend these books and the others she has written also. She is an amazing writer

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book very frustrating.

[Carissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can I just say when Velet's surprise party introduction to Jasmine with everyone's reaction was quite hilarious!!

[BlueBootedBiblioGirl]

Have soft cover and 1992 (first edition?) hard cover, and first edition 1992 trade size with full artistic cover

[shelly shells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

[WhatsIrilisReading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favorite. Skies granddaughter Jasmines story.

[Tina Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this in high school and I wish I had taken the lessons from the powerful women. In this series. If a man wants you, they will chase you and make you feel like a Queen in their universe.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Princess Yasamin lived a charmed life in India until her brother's quest for power and dominance resulted in the death of her husband. Realizing her father, the ruler of India was ill and unable to protect her much longer, Yamasin flees to England to the safety of her English mother's family. Anglicizing herself as Jasmine, she forms a special bond with her dynamic grandmother Skye O'Malley, and begins a journey of love, heartache and scandal.

Almost written as two books (part one being India, part 2 as England) this was an interesting although not entirely engrossing. Jasmine is an interesting, strong willed heroine yet after over 500 pages, I still didn't feel like I "knew her." Small had the potential to incorporate plot points from Jamine's time in India yet missed the opportunity. As a result-the ending was mundane.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Bertrice Small book I read and I loved it! It has stuck with me through out the years and when I need a good historical romance book I always pick this one up. Jasmine is a great lead character who lives through some pretty horrible things but always seems to pick herself up and look to the future. There is nothing else I can really say but that I love this book!!!

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beatrice Small is one of my favorite authors of Romance. She knows how to tell a story to make you laugh and cry all a tthe same time. She makes you fall in love with the heroes and heroines and absolutely loath the villans. She is truely amazing and you would be entranced to read any one of her books. I know I am! I can't wait for her new ones to come out!

[Cathie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

several love stories, Jasmine is more like her grandmother Sky, Her first husband was killed by her half brother and her 2nd was killed as well, Jasmine then has an affair with Prince Henry, and she then she finally finds love but runs from it.

[Greyland Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
This seemed like a never ending which series (she ties in alot of other characters from previous books in O'Malley Saga) this one end in a cliff hanger.
But I do enjoy reading Small's books and Can't wait to start on Inheritance next.