What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sons of the Revolution #2
The Making of a Gentleman
Twelve years in a French prison leave Armand Harcourt a hollow shell. Back in England, his noble family hire Felicity Bennett to teach him manners and speech. Desire shakes both, and heals their past scars in surprising dangerous ways.
363 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
About the author
Shana Galen
88 books1,525 followersShana Galen is three-time Rita award nominee and the bestselling author of fast-paced, witty, and adventurous Regency romances. Kirkus says of her books, "The road to happily-ever-after is intense, conflicted, suspenseful and fun," and RT Bookreviews calls her books “lighthearted yet poignant, humorous yet touching." She taught English at the middle and high school level off and on for eleven years. Most of those years were spent working in Houston's inner city. Now she writes full time. She's happily married and has a daughter who is most definitely a romance heroine in the making.
Want to know more? Visit Shana's website at http://www.shanagalen.com and sign up to be notified when Shana has a new release http://bit.ly/ShanaGalenNews
Want to know more? Visit Shana's website at http://www.shanagalen.com and sign up to be notified when Shana has a new release http://bit.ly/ShanaGalenNews
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
June 19, 2011
Note: This review, and all my reviews, comes from my blog - Romantic Rose's Bookshelf (http://romantic-rosesblog.blogspot.com)
Book 2 in the Sons of the Revolution Series
How unfortunate. I was so excited to read this book, and it turned out to be a flop. Miss Felicity Bennett, the poor daughter of a deceased vicar is to become Armand Harcourt’s, the Comte de Velére, tutor. She has been hired to teach him how to speak. Armand has been in prison for about half his life and his just recently been rescued by his brother, Julien, the duc. He will not speak to anyone, and has not spoken in years. Miss Bennett is supposed to coax it out of him, as well as teach him how to be a polite member of society (which never happens, so... in essence... she's a failure).
Upon first meeting the Comte, Miss Bennett finds herself enraptured by his wild good looks, and he finds himself equally attracted to her. He loves her music and her… ah… yellow hair. He sweeps her up into his arms, to… to do what? Ah, the first of many problems. Armand doesn’t know about kissing or making love because he’s been in prison for years and years, ever since he was a boy. So… how on earth does he know what to do? That thought was niggling at the back of my mind, whenever they went at it. How does he know he wants her naked? How does he know he wants her hoo hah if he’s never heard of one or even knows it exists? The illogical, unrealistic nature of it all bothered me.
Second, I get really annoyed at plots that are too simple, too easy to solve. The main problem for Felicity was her betrothed, Charles, who owed plenty of money to debtors. Galen built this huge suspenseful plot around him *BIG SPOILER ALERT*, completely blowing up the situation with mentions of murder and scandal… and then it was solved by Charles getting dragged to debtor’s prison. And the same thing happened with the main suspense surrounding the Comte. Run off to France for a day, sneak off unnoticed, find the treasure - there it is, its been there all along! Amazing! - and goodbye bad guys. *END OF BIG SPOILER ALERT* 'What?' I found myself crying out, 'All this suspense for that shitty little climax?' I felt like I was being cheated. Like Galen got lazy at the end and just wrote off the whole thing with a few sentences. Some of the scenes were also a little confusing.
Thirdly, I hate those stories where the hero only likes something if the heroine does it (I’m not talking sexually). I mean, why is it the Comte can stand Felicity’s touch, but no one else’s, right from the bat? And why does he trust her right away when he distrusts everyone else and hates to leave his back unprotected? It always seems false to me when a writer does that – because it is false. This man who can’t bear anyone’s touch, even that of his gentle mother, suddenly starts picking up this girl and hauling her away over his shoulder (literally, he does this! What is with the caveman approach?) as if he’s totally okay with the touchy-feely? I, again, felt like Galen was being lazy. It seemed as though she didn’t want to take the time to make them discover and trust one another. As if she wanted to jump straight into love and lust. So, unfortunately, Galen gets a low grade on this one for its disjointed writing, small climaxes, and the unrealistic behavior of characters.
I will say this small positive, though. The scene where the Comte tells her he loves her is beautiful and touching. *Sniff*
“Sexy”ness rating: Hot…ish.
Overall Rating: D+
Bottom Line: If you like deep suspense that goes nowhere, a tortured hero who at first can’t speak and has never heard of sex (or done it before) but is remarkably good at it anyway, and lackluster romance, characters (primary, secondary, protagonist, antagonist and supporting were all completely flat), and scenes this book is for you! Others… beware. There are very few redeeming moments in this book, and almost no wit. This is not one of Galen's finest.
Book 2 in the Sons of the Revolution Series
How unfortunate. I was so excited to read this book, and it turned out to be a flop. Miss Felicity Bennett, the poor daughter of a deceased vicar is to become Armand Harcourt’s, the Comte de Velére, tutor. She has been hired to teach him how to speak. Armand has been in prison for about half his life and his just recently been rescued by his brother, Julien, the duc. He will not speak to anyone, and has not spoken in years. Miss Bennett is supposed to coax it out of him, as well as teach him how to be a polite member of society (which never happens, so... in essence... she's a failure).
Upon first meeting the Comte, Miss Bennett finds herself enraptured by his wild good looks, and he finds himself equally attracted to her. He loves her music and her… ah… yellow hair. He sweeps her up into his arms, to… to do what? Ah, the first of many problems. Armand doesn’t know about kissing or making love because he’s been in prison for years and years, ever since he was a boy. So… how on earth does he know what to do? That thought was niggling at the back of my mind, whenever they went at it. How does he know he wants her naked? How does he know he wants her hoo hah if he’s never heard of one or even knows it exists? The illogical, unrealistic nature of it all bothered me.
Second, I get really annoyed at plots that are too simple, too easy to solve. The main problem for Felicity was her betrothed, Charles, who owed plenty of money to debtors. Galen built this huge suspenseful plot around him *BIG SPOILER ALERT*, completely blowing up the situation with mentions of murder and scandal… and then it was solved by Charles getting dragged to debtor’s prison. And the same thing happened with the main suspense surrounding the Comte. Run off to France for a day, sneak off unnoticed, find the treasure - there it is, its been there all along! Amazing! - and goodbye bad guys. *END OF BIG SPOILER ALERT* 'What?' I found myself crying out, 'All this suspense for that shitty little climax?' I felt like I was being cheated. Like Galen got lazy at the end and just wrote off the whole thing with a few sentences. Some of the scenes were also a little confusing.
Thirdly, I hate those stories where the hero only likes something if the heroine does it (I’m not talking sexually). I mean, why is it the Comte can stand Felicity’s touch, but no one else’s, right from the bat? And why does he trust her right away when he distrusts everyone else and hates to leave his back unprotected? It always seems false to me when a writer does that – because it is false. This man who can’t bear anyone’s touch, even that of his gentle mother, suddenly starts picking up this girl and hauling her away over his shoulder (literally, he does this! What is with the caveman approach?) as if he’s totally okay with the touchy-feely? I, again, felt like Galen was being lazy. It seemed as though she didn’t want to take the time to make them discover and trust one another. As if she wanted to jump straight into love and lust. So, unfortunately, Galen gets a low grade on this one for its disjointed writing, small climaxes, and the unrealistic behavior of characters.
I will say this small positive, though. The scene where the Comte tells her he loves her is beautiful and touching. *Sniff*
“Sexy”ness rating: Hot…ish.
Overall Rating: D+
Bottom Line: If you like deep suspense that goes nowhere, a tortured hero who at first can’t speak and has never heard of sex (or done it before) but is remarkably good at it anyway, and lackluster romance, characters (primary, secondary, protagonist, antagonist and supporting were all completely flat), and scenes this book is for you! Others… beware. There are very few redeeming moments in this book, and almost no wit. This is not one of Galen's finest.
January 9, 2016
Armand, has recently been rescued from twelve years in prison by his brother that he barely recognizes. Armand, can't stand another's touch, and he doesn't understand most of what is going on around him. He can understand some of that which his family speaks of, but he has yet been able to communicate with them. After continually suffering from nightmares, his brother and sister in law decide to hire a tutor for him, to bring out his speech. Felicity, needs this job desperately. Her father has just passed away, and unless she can come up with the funds, she will be forced to marry someone she despises more than anything. She is shocked to learn that she won't be a governess for a child, but a tutor for a grown man that has a wild look about it, but for some reason she doesn't fear him. She senses something more about him, she feels drawn to him. Armand is shocked to find that for the first time in his life, he can touch someone and not be overridden with pain. He knows he must have her, he doesn't understand his attraction to her, but he starts to feel love and will do anything to protect her from those that would destroy him.After reading The Making of a Duchess, I had heard some average things about "The Making of a Gentleman", so I wasn't expecting a great and fabulous story. I just love it when I am wrong though. The circumstances of the story are exactly what I love about a good book. The hero is different, the kind that we don't see too often. He is a very tortured hero, he can't even speak, has never felt desire for anything, and can't abide another's touch. Armand has a strong will though, stubborn to a fault, and defends fiercely. Armand is a virgin hero. Which is one of the things I enjoyed about this story. Its rare to find a virgin hero, and I enjoyed seeing Armand and Felicity grow together in a intimate way. It was such a delight to see these two fall in love, it was very heart wrenching at times. Felicity, has a difficult past, grieves for her father, but is determined to help Armand, even though her life is about to crumble. I did feel like Felicity could have had a bit more backbone though, but eventually we see her finally have one toward the end. I did like how Felicity is able to reach a part of Armand that no one else is able to, there were many sweet and tender moments of the story that totally captured my heart. Overall a entertaining read, that had such vivid descriptions and such a delicious story that is unforgettable. Full of intensity, passion, intrigue that turns into a wonderful tale.
September 30, 2010
Felicity Bennett is engaged to marry a gambling swindler against her will, her only way out is to pay him. So she accepts a tutoring position for the impressive Duc and Duchesse de Valere. Felicity expects to be a governess to a small boy named Armand, but she finds out that Armand is a very handsome, if untamed, grown man. Armand had been imprisoned since childhood during the French Revolution. While in prison, he lost all human contact, even losing his ability/desire to speak and touch others. Will Felicity be able to help him communicate in society and overcome his past, and can Armand help her overcome hers?
I loved this book! The romance between Felicity and Armand was magical. It seemed like they were the only two people in the world. Armand was so guileless in his feelings for Felicity, he never played Society's games, always choosing to ignore their rules. I loved that the romance was so simple because of Armand's lack of knowledge of "The Rules"-not to mention that he didn't care to even learn them. Armand was so fierce, but since he had been through so much pain, he was very vulnerable.
I liked the backdrop of the French Revolution. It's not something you read about a lot in historical romance, so it was good to read something new. And Armand being a Comte just sounded exotic and untamed just like him.
This romance was very much about a fantasy and a very pure love. The story was simple and not overcomplicated with side stories. There was a very clear and valid reason why Armand didn't speak, which made the story believable. The book reminded me a bit of a Tarzan-type of story, or even a little like "The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie."
I loved this book, true love stories like this are what historical romance is all about. Shana Galen is one of my new authors to watch!
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
reviewed for http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com
I loved this book! The romance between Felicity and Armand was magical. It seemed like they were the only two people in the world. Armand was so guileless in his feelings for Felicity, he never played Society's games, always choosing to ignore their rules. I loved that the romance was so simple because of Armand's lack of knowledge of "The Rules"-not to mention that he didn't care to even learn them. Armand was so fierce, but since he had been through so much pain, he was very vulnerable.
I liked the backdrop of the French Revolution. It's not something you read about a lot in historical romance, so it was good to read something new. And Armand being a Comte just sounded exotic and untamed just like him.
This romance was very much about a fantasy and a very pure love. The story was simple and not overcomplicated with side stories. There was a very clear and valid reason why Armand didn't speak, which made the story believable. The book reminded me a bit of a Tarzan-type of story, or even a little like "The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie."
I loved this book, true love stories like this are what historical romance is all about. Shana Galen is one of my new authors to watch!
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review
reviewed for http://inthehammockblog.blogspot.com
April 3, 2021
Pretty good. The beginning was promising then at about 70% the story got a little far fetched.
I have two main complaints. Logic and antagonist.
Logic..
The antagonist was cartoonish and clearly an idiot.
The fight scenes near the end were boring and unrealistic.
I lost all respect for the heroine when she
The ending was meh. We don't get to see
I loved Armand, our hero. He was a bit wild and tormented. A bit odd and child like. He knew what he wanted and nothing would stand in his way. He didn't like or care about the rules of society, but tried his best to abide by them..
The heroine was ok. I liked that she went with her heart and didn't allow the "rules" to dictate her actions as much as she could have.
I would recommend it if you can get it cheap or free. I will consider reading more by this author.
Content concerns:
I have two main complaints. Logic and antagonist.
Logic..
The antagonist was cartoonish and clearly an idiot.
The fight scenes near the end were boring and unrealistic.
I lost all respect for the heroine when she
The ending was meh. We don't get to see
I loved Armand, our hero. He was a bit wild and tormented. A bit odd and child like. He knew what he wanted and nothing would stand in his way. He didn't like or care about the rules of society, but tried his best to abide by them..
The heroine was ok. I liked that she went with her heart and didn't allow the "rules" to dictate her actions as much as she could have.
I would recommend it if you can get it cheap or free. I will consider reading more by this author.
Content concerns:
March 16, 2015
I read this book because I was led to believe it had a character driven story similar to The Wild Child. I was wrong. Rather, it is similar superficially and only for the first half. Then it morphs into a wallpaper historical with a weak, last minute suspense/action plot.
The romance was bland. It had promise, especially with the pianoforte scenes, but derailed into standard telling. I wanted to see Armand and Felicity spending more time together connecting cerebrally or emotionally. It was cute how Armand was determined to marry Felicity but it quickly wore thin. He only wanted to marry her because he wanted to get laid.
I lost interest halfway through the book and started heavily skimming 75% through. Felicity’s fiancé’s action toward his ladybird was unnecessary and out of left-field. I never did understand why her fiancé wanted to enforce their betrothal, unless it was just because he knew he could extort money out of her for it. Too much was glossed over regarding Armand’s prison stay. I question how quickly Armand’s mind adapted to release from solitary confinement after 12 years. He was 11 years old when imprisoned but after only a few months released merely needed a few weeks of social lessons to regain his speech and become a functioning adult. The scientist in me has a lot of questions regarding stunted cognitive development. I wasn’t expecting a story like Nell but I would have thought more work was needed to develop Armand.
The writing was fine and I would consider giving the author another try. Good thing because I already own one of her earlier books.
The romance was bland. It had promise, especially with the pianoforte scenes, but derailed into standard telling. I wanted to see Armand and Felicity spending more time together connecting cerebrally or emotionally. It was cute how Armand was determined to marry Felicity but it quickly wore thin. He only wanted to marry her because he wanted to get laid.
I lost interest halfway through the book and started heavily skimming 75% through. Felicity’s fiancé’s action toward his ladybird was unnecessary and out of left-field. I never did understand why her fiancé wanted to enforce their betrothal, unless it was just because he knew he could extort money out of her for it. Too much was glossed over regarding Armand’s prison stay. I question how quickly Armand’s mind adapted to release from solitary confinement after 12 years. He was 11 years old when imprisoned but after only a few months released merely needed a few weeks of social lessons to regain his speech and become a functioning adult. The scientist in me has a lot of questions regarding stunted cognitive development. I wasn’t expecting a story like Nell but I would have thought more work was needed to develop Armand.
The writing was fine and I would consider giving the author another try. Good thing because I already own one of her earlier books.
May 3, 2021
It was an interesting book. I liked our hero and the way he discovering the world. There was little too much introspective thoughts that didn’t add anything to the story.
March 26, 2018
THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD
FULL REVIEW TO COME
FULL REVIEW TO COME
October 23, 2010
Felicity Bennett has been hired to tutor Armand Harcourt, the comte de Valere. The former vicar's daughter thinks she’ll be teaching a young boy, and has no other choice but to accept this work, although she isn't too thrilled working for an aristocrat. Felicity is being blackmailed by her deceased father's former caretaker, Charles St. John, who is threatening her. She must find a way to give him twenty-five pounds or marry him. Why he needs that exact amount in some sort of mystery that I found a bit silly, but hey, we need a nasty villain to threaten the heroine and her virtue after all. Felicity had no clue that her father and this man signed a marriage agreement before he died. And because Felicity has no where else to turn for help, she may have no choice but to accept marriage to this nasty, “I’m channeling my twirling mustache, let me tie you to the train tracks” suitor.
When Felicity arrives and is met by the Duchesse de Valere, she’s incredibly nervous but is soon put at ease. That is until Felicity is left alone and begins to play the pianoforte where she is met by a strange man who comes into the room and starts to howl. Even though she is frightened by this hottie wolf singer, the Duc and the Duchesse comes to her rescue. She won't be tutoring a young boy as she was led to believe, but will be teaching this howling man who has lost the ability to speak and is close to wild. Due to the French Revolution, the comte has spent the twelve years in a Parisian prison starting when he was only eleven-years-old. His brother the Duc and his mother were able to escape, and have spent all that time looking for Armand and another brother who also went missing.
Armand can't stand to be touched by anyone, that is until Felicity, the pretty woman with the yellow hair comes into his home. He can’t bear to hear people speak and dare not speak himself. But with Felicity, he does want to communicate with her through touch and with her music. Armand finds Felicity more than pleasing, and although he barely has had any contact with women in general, he wants Felicity to teach him about the passion a man and woman can share with one another.
Felicity wants to help Armand function in society again. But his past comes back to haunt him and soon he and Felicity are caught up in a dangerous world of intrigue. There are those who will stop at nothing until Armand can lead them to a buried treasure only he can find.
The Making of a Gentleman has a true tortured and scarred hero who learns to live again thanks to his teacher. Felicity becomes part of a very strange family due to the past horrors they have endured because of war. Armand has suffered the most and longs to be free from the mental and emotional chains surrounding him. The way he and Felicity interact makes for wonderful reading, especially when Armand decides he wants Felicity as his wife. Armand has no idea how to court or romance a woman. As he tries to make sense of the "rules" of society, he also tries to make Felicity want him as much as he wants her. Armand has never been with a woman on an intimate level, and when he meets Felicity, he decides she will teach him in the ways of love. *insert swoony sigh here*
I really wished Shana Galen had stuck to the growing relationship aspect of Felicity and Armand and not this whole subplot of French spies who stalk Armand for this own nefarious reasons. Also the drama regarding Felicity and St. John doesn't make sense at all. Felicity has nothing worthwhile that St. John would want. There really is no reason given why he is forcing her into marriage, as well as the need for specific amount of money that he feels only she can get. His motivation simply didn’t make sense to me as a reader. It felt so out of place along with Armand's enemies who come out of nowhere. The whole basis of the story changes in such a way that you can't help but wonder if Shana got to a certain point and found herself boxed into a corner.
I've read Shana Galen's past works and I can say her writing has vastly improved with The Making of a Gentleman even though some of the plot devices are far fetched and out of place. This book has so much promise, but then lost it more than half-way through. Shana has created a wonderful hero with Armand, even though Felicity is a bit too wishy-washy and simplistic in a way where she faded into the background.
The Making of a Gentleman may have had me asking too many questions on why certain things were done, but I would recommend you read for the characterization of Armand and how he tries to lay claim to Felicity, the only woman he allows not only to touch his body, but also his heart and soul.
When Felicity arrives and is met by the Duchesse de Valere, she’s incredibly nervous but is soon put at ease. That is until Felicity is left alone and begins to play the pianoforte where she is met by a strange man who comes into the room and starts to howl. Even though she is frightened by this hottie wolf singer, the Duc and the Duchesse comes to her rescue. She won't be tutoring a young boy as she was led to believe, but will be teaching this howling man who has lost the ability to speak and is close to wild. Due to the French Revolution, the comte has spent the twelve years in a Parisian prison starting when he was only eleven-years-old. His brother the Duc and his mother were able to escape, and have spent all that time looking for Armand and another brother who also went missing.
Armand can't stand to be touched by anyone, that is until Felicity, the pretty woman with the yellow hair comes into his home. He can’t bear to hear people speak and dare not speak himself. But with Felicity, he does want to communicate with her through touch and with her music. Armand finds Felicity more than pleasing, and although he barely has had any contact with women in general, he wants Felicity to teach him about the passion a man and woman can share with one another.
Felicity wants to help Armand function in society again. But his past comes back to haunt him and soon he and Felicity are caught up in a dangerous world of intrigue. There are those who will stop at nothing until Armand can lead them to a buried treasure only he can find.
The Making of a Gentleman has a true tortured and scarred hero who learns to live again thanks to his teacher. Felicity becomes part of a very strange family due to the past horrors they have endured because of war. Armand has suffered the most and longs to be free from the mental and emotional chains surrounding him. The way he and Felicity interact makes for wonderful reading, especially when Armand decides he wants Felicity as his wife. Armand has no idea how to court or romance a woman. As he tries to make sense of the "rules" of society, he also tries to make Felicity want him as much as he wants her. Armand has never been with a woman on an intimate level, and when he meets Felicity, he decides she will teach him in the ways of love. *insert swoony sigh here*
I really wished Shana Galen had stuck to the growing relationship aspect of Felicity and Armand and not this whole subplot of French spies who stalk Armand for this own nefarious reasons. Also the drama regarding Felicity and St. John doesn't make sense at all. Felicity has nothing worthwhile that St. John would want. There really is no reason given why he is forcing her into marriage, as well as the need for specific amount of money that he feels only she can get. His motivation simply didn’t make sense to me as a reader. It felt so out of place along with Armand's enemies who come out of nowhere. The whole basis of the story changes in such a way that you can't help but wonder if Shana got to a certain point and found herself boxed into a corner.
I've read Shana Galen's past works and I can say her writing has vastly improved with The Making of a Gentleman even though some of the plot devices are far fetched and out of place. This book has so much promise, but then lost it more than half-way through. Shana has created a wonderful hero with Armand, even though Felicity is a bit too wishy-washy and simplistic in a way where she faded into the background.
The Making of a Gentleman may have had me asking too many questions on why certain things were done, but I would recommend you read for the characterization of Armand and how he tries to lay claim to Felicity, the only woman he allows not only to touch his body, but also his heart and soul.
April 10, 2021
Felicity and Armand. The romance part is 4.5 and 5 stars to me. The mystery/villains part dropped it to 3.5 to 4 stars so going with 4 stars. Armand can only be touched by Felicity without pain.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 14, 2021
This could have been a great story. I loved the premise, young boy jailed for 12 years and is so traumatised that he can’t speak, knows very little about anything and needs to be socialised. Pretty female governess hired to tutor him. Mysterious antagonists searching for treasure. This had so much promise but sadly didn’t meet it.
Felicity is apparently being blackmailed by Charles to give him £25 or he’ll force her to implement their betrothal!? What? This was the most nonsensical, unbelievable motivation I’ve come across. She is poverty stricken - why would he only want £25?
Armand emerges from his ‘fugue’ state with remarkable speed and skill. He manages to become remarkably fluent in a matter of days and go straight to alpha hero sexual performance in one leap without having had a single prior experience and no knowledge whatsoever .
I was enthralled for the first half of the book and then totally disappointed by the last half. Problems got sorted in the flicker of an eyebrow and difficult people removed as easily. Sorry - very disappointed!
Felicity is apparently being blackmailed by Charles to give him £25 or he’ll force her to implement their betrothal!? What? This was the most nonsensical, unbelievable motivation I’ve come across. She is poverty stricken - why would he only want £25?
Armand emerges from his ‘fugue’ state with remarkable speed and skill. He manages to become remarkably fluent in a matter of days and go straight to alpha hero sexual performance in one leap without having had a single prior experience and no knowledge whatsoever .
I was enthralled for the first half of the book and then totally disappointed by the last half. Problems got sorted in the flicker of an eyebrow and difficult people removed as easily. Sorry - very disappointed!
October 16, 2011
Started out good, but -- about midway through -- devolved into a sloppy, boring mess. The characters are never well-developed, and the plot drags and drags and drags...
The story is this: Armand was a French aristocrat captured during the French Revolution, when he was 11. He was put in a prison cell and left to rot, growing up with only a pet rat for companionship. Somehow, 12 years later, Armand's brother rescues him and takes him to the family's new home in England (they can't very well go back to France, sadly). Armand, of course, is uncouth and dirty and childish in behavior, having been forced to grow up in a prison cell. He also refuses to talk or be touched. So, the family gets him a tutor. A young, nubile, blonde female tutor. Yeeeaaahhh, I don't know. It's an incredibly flimsy plot, just so you know.
Anyway, the story unfolds from there. Armand is, obviously, hot for sexy teacher, Felicity. There's also some sort of ridiculous spy plot or something about treasure. It's dumb and poorly executed, that's all you need to you know. Also, the chemistry between the two leads starts out strong, but then heads to Lukewarm City because the author never bothers to flesh out the characters. They are superficial; there are no hidden depths or motivations. Everything they feel or think, they express. There is no introspection and nothing to indicate that these characters are anything more than Stock Hero and Heroine #25,8897A, ripped straight from the Harlequin vault of characters. Totally bland, completely generic -- ALL THE CHARACTERS, too. No one had a lickspittle of real, genuine personality.
The writing wasn't awful, though. It was competent. However, the story, characters and plot were sub-par. IF you're looking for a rich, deep story with wonderful characters, though, look elsewhere. 2 stars = D grade.
The story is this: Armand was a French aristocrat captured during the French Revolution, when he was 11. He was put in a prison cell and left to rot, growing up with only a pet rat for companionship. Somehow, 12 years later, Armand's brother rescues him and takes him to the family's new home in England (they can't very well go back to France, sadly). Armand, of course, is uncouth and dirty and childish in behavior, having been forced to grow up in a prison cell. He also refuses to talk or be touched. So, the family gets him a tutor. A young, nubile, blonde female tutor. Yeeeaaahhh, I don't know. It's an incredibly flimsy plot, just so you know.
Anyway, the story unfolds from there. Armand is, obviously, hot for sexy teacher, Felicity. There's also some sort of ridiculous spy plot or something about treasure. It's dumb and poorly executed, that's all you need to you know. Also, the chemistry between the two leads starts out strong, but then heads to Lukewarm City because the author never bothers to flesh out the characters. They are superficial; there are no hidden depths or motivations. Everything they feel or think, they express. There is no introspection and nothing to indicate that these characters are anything more than Stock Hero and Heroine #25,8897A, ripped straight from the Harlequin vault of characters. Totally bland, completely generic -- ALL THE CHARACTERS, too. No one had a lickspittle of real, genuine personality.
The writing wasn't awful, though. It was competent. However, the story, characters and plot were sub-par. IF you're looking for a rich, deep story with wonderful characters, though, look elsewhere. 2 stars = D grade.
October 19, 2010
Shana Galen's The Making of a Gentleman, the second book in her Sons of the Revolution series, is the riveting tale of a brutalized man and his salvation through love.
This tale of three brothers separated by the atrocities of the French Revolution continues with the story of second brother, Armand. After rotting for twelve years in a French prison, Armand must relearn how to live a normal life. Although his body has healed, his demons so terrify him he can no longer speak--until he meets Miss Felicity Bennett. His desperate family has hired her as a tutor to guide Armand on his tortuous journey back into the world.
The lovely Felicity reaches him through her music, her tolerance and also with her touch. After the abuse Armand has endured, even a kind touch pains him--but not Felicity's.
Unfortunately, deadly mystery surrounds them. Two men stalk Armand and he cannot remember why. Felicity harbors secrets of her own, ones that can separate her and Armand even as their growing attraction draws them closer.
Armand is my favorite type of hero--a good man whose suffering has made him a better man. Ms. Galen does a masterful job of showing the world from the viewpoint of a man stripped of his humanity and how his perception changes as he heals.
I enjoyed this book even more than The Making of a Duchess, which I liked very much. When does the next book come out?
ARC provided by Sourcebooks
This tale of three brothers separated by the atrocities of the French Revolution continues with the story of second brother, Armand. After rotting for twelve years in a French prison, Armand must relearn how to live a normal life. Although his body has healed, his demons so terrify him he can no longer speak--until he meets Miss Felicity Bennett. His desperate family has hired her as a tutor to guide Armand on his tortuous journey back into the world.
The lovely Felicity reaches him through her music, her tolerance and also with her touch. After the abuse Armand has endured, even a kind touch pains him--but not Felicity's.
Unfortunately, deadly mystery surrounds them. Two men stalk Armand and he cannot remember why. Felicity harbors secrets of her own, ones that can separate her and Armand even as their growing attraction draws them closer.
Armand is my favorite type of hero--a good man whose suffering has made him a better man. Ms. Galen does a masterful job of showing the world from the viewpoint of a man stripped of his humanity and how his perception changes as he heals.
I enjoyed this book even more than The Making of a Duchess, which I liked very much. When does the next book come out?
ARC provided by Sourcebooks
March 25, 2016
It's a bad sign when you finish reading a romance novel and your immediate impulse is to demand the author cite her sources. Unfortunately, that's exactly the response Galen's Making of a Gentleman elicited, as the entire plot hinges upon the psychological trauma of its male lead, whose symptoms are nonsensical to the point of silliness.
Armand, Comte de Valere, spent twelve hellish years in a French prison after seeing his father guillotined by the Revolution. Now, thanks to his brother, he's free - at least physically - and his concerned family hire a tutor to help ease Armand back into the world of social graces. Because this a romance novel, the tutor is naturally female, hot, and possesses the ability to magically fascinate le Comte into forgetting his trauma at the drop of a garter.
And therein lies the problem. Galen provides Armand with a raft of issues - he can't speak, has apparently forgotten most language skills, and feels pain when someone touches him - which largely exist just to evaporate as soon as he gets his hands on the heroine. His characterization is also wobbly, as the author struggles to convince us he's super smart despite being completely nonverbal while simultaneously trying to elide the lack of emotional development her chosen backstory would result in. Even supposing we assume that Armand managed to hang onto enough memories from early childhood to help establish an emotional framework of some kind, there's still the fact that our hero comes to us a virgin (maybe? 12 years in French prison, guys), which Galen completely fails to address in the main characters' physical encounters. Let's be real for a minute: if men with no experience or emotional maturity could bring women to screaming orgasm every time, there'd be a hell of a lot smaller market for romance novels.
The remaining plot elements - including a ludicrous blackmail scheme - aren't enough to overcome the gaping characterization hole at the center of Galen's narrative. The making of this particular Gentleman could have used a bit more research and a lot more psychological validity.
Armand, Comte de Valere, spent twelve hellish years in a French prison after seeing his father guillotined by the Revolution. Now, thanks to his brother, he's free - at least physically - and his concerned family hire a tutor to help ease Armand back into the world of social graces. Because this a romance novel, the tutor is naturally female, hot, and possesses the ability to magically fascinate le Comte into forgetting his trauma at the drop of a garter.
And therein lies the problem. Galen provides Armand with a raft of issues - he can't speak, has apparently forgotten most language skills, and feels pain when someone touches him - which largely exist just to evaporate as soon as he gets his hands on the heroine. His characterization is also wobbly, as the author struggles to convince us he's super smart despite being completely nonverbal while simultaneously trying to elide the lack of emotional development her chosen backstory would result in. Even supposing we assume that Armand managed to hang onto enough memories from early childhood to help establish an emotional framework of some kind, there's still the fact that our hero comes to us a virgin (maybe? 12 years in French prison, guys), which Galen completely fails to address in the main characters' physical encounters. Let's be real for a minute: if men with no experience or emotional maturity could bring women to screaming orgasm every time, there'd be a hell of a lot smaller market for romance novels.
The remaining plot elements - including a ludicrous blackmail scheme - aren't enough to overcome the gaping characterization hole at the center of Galen's narrative. The making of this particular Gentleman could have used a bit more research and a lot more psychological validity.
December 20, 2011
Interesting for the most part. Armand was an interesting character although his back story could have been explained a little bit more. Also since he had been in prison since he was 11 years old, I sort of thought that he recovered a bit too fast. Most of the scenes of him regaining his speech and such were told and off camera and not shown or seen by the reader. Maybe it wouldn't have seemed so quick if we'd seen more of it and frankly that was the most interesting part of the book. I did enjoy how insistent Armand was that he wanted Felicity and how he naively went about making it happen. The part about the treasure and why he was kept in the prison didn't make a whole lot of sense and needed more explanation. The bit with the betrothal might be hard for modern readers to swallow sense most people are not used to the fact that those sorts of things were binding contracts back then and breech of contract suits could be filed over them. Maybe some more info about those practices would have helped. On the whole though I enjoyed it.
November 29, 2010
Can't really say I 'read' the whole thing considering I skimmed 80% of it. The story and the characters just didn't grab me. It was dull for me. The plot was there I read the description on the back of the book and was interested I liked the set up for it but it just quickly lost me. Characters weren't fully developed and I felt the villian, Felicity's fiance was a bit contrived to me. The whole aspect of Armand being locked up for 12 years and struggling to adapt to the real world I felt wasn't pushed far enough. I wanted to see more of him learning and struggling rather than him thinking of ways to bed Felicity. That made the whole story superficial for me and lacking. Plus I felt some of the dialogue was tedious with Felicity constantly asking question after question in her head it was like 'I get it! you aren't sure'. All the rambling continuous questions was a bit much and managed to make the dialogue repetitive and redundant.
February 13, 2012
Buku ini aku pinjam dari sahabatku Chiko, berharap isi cerita sesuai dengan sinopsis dan cover nya yang menarik hati.
Sayang nya aku kecewa. [image error]
Di awal2 sih bagus, penggambaran si anak yg trauma terhadap pembantaian saat revolusi Peraancis, di usia 11 tahun dia di tahan,di kucil kan di sel,dan hanya di temani dinding gelap dan tikus2...sampai dia jadi takut bicara dan selama 12 tahun di penjara dia takut bicara hingga jadi bisu dan selalu takut dengan sentuhan. [image error]
Namun sampai di tengah saat si hero ketemu heroine nya mulai terjadi keanehan, seluruh keluarga yg selama ini berusaha membuat dia bicara dan selalu gagal.,terbengong2 saat dengan mudah nya sang hero ini berbicara karena "diminta bicara" oleh tutor nya nan cantik jelita, yang bahkan sentuhan nya tidak membuat dia kepanasan.
Aku juga ga suka dengan penggambaran tokoh hero yang di buat berkesan embicil, bodoh sekali..bayangin aja, masa dia ga tau yg namanya "breast"...sampe nanya2 ,ini apa sih namanya, kok lembut ya? Harus nya ini kan moment2 romantis, atau moment2 bikin ngakak...tapi aku kok meringis bodoh jadinya ya...merasa ga seru aja dengan kebodohan karakter hero nya.... [image error]
Armand ini comte, adik le duc (mereka org Perancis yg ngungsi ke Inggris) yang selama 12 thn terpenjara dan teraniaya krn semua keluarga nya terpisah bercerai berai. Bebberapa bulan ini Armand di temukan kakak nya dan membisu ., gak mau pakai sepatu, dan ga suka di sentuh.
Satu saat , istri Julien kakak nya Armand mebawakan tutor buat Armand dan tutor ini cantik sekali (ibu guru ku cantik sekali, heheheh)...
Baru ahri pertama, si tFelicity ini main piano dan membuat Armand terpesona, jadilah Armand merasa dia pengen deket terus dengan felicity.
Sampe satu saat,besok nya, Felicity ga mau main piano kalo Armand ga ngomong, "play" kata pertama Armand...ajaib kan? menurut aku sih,ini terlalu cepat, dan terlalu amazing lah....
Gara2 si Felicity ga mau di cium kalo ga merit,si Armand ngajak merit (cuma karena mau uhuk2 aja sesuai The Rules), aneh lagi. Keluarga nya Armand jelas aja ga mau , kan Felicity cume gopverness gitu kan, dan di ajaklah Armaand ke acara musicale yg di harapkan dia bisa berkenalan dengan para gadis2 calon potensial.
sayang nya Armand ga mau, dia tetap aja terobsesi sama Felicity, sampe after acara itu mereka melakukan "hal2 yang di inginkan" di kebun.
Disinilah miomen bloon itu terjadi, dimana Arman ga tau apa itu breast...halah.... [image error]
Kisah nya berputar2 antara itu aja, ke blo'on-an Armand, sampe menemukan cinta sejati nya pada Felicity,akhirnya.
Ada juga sih beberapa kejadian soal treasure yang terkesan cuma tempelan aja.
Aku cuma berani kasih 3 bintang, itu juga tadinya niatnya ngasih 2, tapi demi menghormati Chiko yg baik hati meminjamkan buku ini dan cover nya yg cantik, aku kasih 3 deh. [image error]
Sayang nya aku kecewa. [image error]
Di awal2 sih bagus, penggambaran si anak yg trauma terhadap pembantaian saat revolusi Peraancis, di usia 11 tahun dia di tahan,di kucil kan di sel,dan hanya di temani dinding gelap dan tikus2...sampai dia jadi takut bicara dan selama 12 tahun di penjara dia takut bicara hingga jadi bisu dan selalu takut dengan sentuhan. [image error]
Namun sampai di tengah saat si hero ketemu heroine nya mulai terjadi keanehan, seluruh keluarga yg selama ini berusaha membuat dia bicara dan selalu gagal.,terbengong2 saat dengan mudah nya sang hero ini berbicara karena "diminta bicara" oleh tutor nya nan cantik jelita, yang bahkan sentuhan nya tidak membuat dia kepanasan.
Aku juga ga suka dengan penggambaran tokoh hero yang di buat berkesan embicil, bodoh sekali..bayangin aja, masa dia ga tau yg namanya "breast"...sampe nanya2 ,ini apa sih namanya, kok lembut ya? Harus nya ini kan moment2 romantis, atau moment2 bikin ngakak...tapi aku kok meringis bodoh jadinya ya...merasa ga seru aja dengan kebodohan karakter hero nya.... [image error]
Armand ini comte, adik le duc (mereka org Perancis yg ngungsi ke Inggris) yang selama 12 thn terpenjara dan teraniaya krn semua keluarga nya terpisah bercerai berai. Bebberapa bulan ini Armand di temukan kakak nya dan membisu ., gak mau pakai sepatu, dan ga suka di sentuh.
Satu saat , istri Julien kakak nya Armand mebawakan tutor buat Armand dan tutor ini cantik sekali (ibu guru ku cantik sekali, heheheh)...
Baru ahri pertama, si tFelicity ini main piano dan membuat Armand terpesona, jadilah Armand merasa dia pengen deket terus dengan felicity.
Sampe satu saat,besok nya, Felicity ga mau main piano kalo Armand ga ngomong, "play" kata pertama Armand...ajaib kan? menurut aku sih,ini terlalu cepat, dan terlalu amazing lah....
Gara2 si Felicity ga mau di cium kalo ga merit,si Armand ngajak merit (cuma karena mau uhuk2 aja sesuai The Rules), aneh lagi. Keluarga nya Armand jelas aja ga mau , kan Felicity cume gopverness gitu kan, dan di ajaklah Armaand ke acara musicale yg di harapkan dia bisa berkenalan dengan para gadis2 calon potensial.
sayang nya Armand ga mau, dia tetap aja terobsesi sama Felicity, sampe after acara itu mereka melakukan "hal2 yang di inginkan" di kebun.
Disinilah miomen bloon itu terjadi, dimana Arman ga tau apa itu breast...halah.... [image error]
Kisah nya berputar2 antara itu aja, ke blo'on-an Armand, sampe menemukan cinta sejati nya pada Felicity,akhirnya.
Ada juga sih beberapa kejadian soal treasure yang terkesan cuma tempelan aja.
Aku cuma berani kasih 3 bintang, itu juga tadinya niatnya ngasih 2, tapi demi menghormati Chiko yg baik hati meminjamkan buku ini dan cover nya yg cantik, aku kasih 3 deh. [image error]
September 2, 2015
Ranting spoilers ahead!!!!
Charles is one of the worst historical romance villains ever. Think Home Alone 2 level villain. He sets up a con for years in order to trick Felicity's father into a betrothal contract. Felicity is poor as a church mouse, literally as the daughter of an impoverished vicar, yet Charles goes to great lengths to set her up so that someday when she has a job as a governess (maybe) she can give him her year's salary of 25 pounds to get him to end the betrothal. Way to go for the big pay off Charles. Unfortunately, Felicity is idiot enough to see this as a huge deal thus allowing Charles' ridiculous schemes. I get that in 1801 England the desire to not cause a scandal is a big motivator. But Felicity, you are a nobody from nobody-ville. Nobody cares if you marry the guy or not. If my historical romance scandal detector is calibrated correctly, then I think a girl breaking a betrothal is on the level of a 3 line notice on page 8 of a Tuesday edition paper. But a guy breaking a betrothal is above the fold Sunday edition - everyone (other men) would then think something is wrong with her. Thus, Felicity is being blackmailed to cause a bigger scandal than just ending the contract in the first place. Idiot.
And I know some are going to disagree with me on this, but just bare with me for a second. I found Felicity's relations with Armand to be kind of rapey. Armand is a hot adult intelligent man who strongly pursues Felicity and wants to marry her. He is also suffering from a 12 year traumatic event that has left him feral and mute. Felicity is hired as his tutor because he reacts better with women (side note: no male rape) than with men. Armand doesn't understand about love, lust, marriage, that sex leads to babies, rules of courtship, etc. Felicity does and as his tutor is in a position of knowledge and power over him as well as a full understanding that any relations with him would be wrong - both from her own internal musings as well as a frank conversation with her employer's wife, Sarah (Armand's sister-in-law), about how vulnerable Armand is. Think I'm crazy? Just change the genders on the main characters - male tutor with female trauma victim - or think therapist/patient. Suddenly seems kind of creepy doesn't it?
Then there is the rest of the story. There is another set of villains after knowledge that Armand has locked in his head. They are also of the Home Alone variety but at least have better motives. There is the dowager Duchess who swaps from don't gold-dig near my son to give it up to him because of love for no reason. Then there is Armand's brother, Julien, and his sister in law Sarah who I didn't hate but were huge hypocrites. So many problems! Why did I finish this?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2010
In a word: WONDERFUL!
This is the ultimate in a wounded hero! I don't find many historical romance books with true walking wounded heroes in them, but this one is superb! The hero Armand, was imprisoned as a young boy for 12 long years. He was in isolation, no human touch, no human interaction and no human speech. When he is found and rescued from prison by his older brother Julien, Armand is nearly an animal. He can't tolerate human touch, can't speak and has lost most of his understanding of language. Having not spoken or been spoken to in twelve years his mouth can't form the words of speech and his mind struggles to recall what words mean.
(He reminded me a bit of a cross between Tarzan and the Beast from 'Beauty and the Beast'. He was wild and untamed when he was first rescued, it took a beautiful and gentle woman to calm him and reach him when all others failed. And his looks and intensity brought to mind Ian Somerhalder -'Damon' on Vampire Diaries- for me).
When all the families attempts at reaching him fail, they decide to hire a tutor. They hire Miss Felicity Bennett, a woman who has just recently lost her father and who is desperate to get out of a betrothal her dying father signed her into with a devious swindler.
The moment Armand sees her, he's drawn to her. She connects with him on a level he hasn't connected with another human being most of his life. These two are wonderful together! Felicity is an innocent woman and Armand, while he's a full grown man, is as innocent as she is- even if his body knows what it wants Armand hasn't figured it all out yet.
While Felicity reaches out to Armand and begins teaching him to speak, social manners and how to accept human touch, Armand is teaching Felicity what it is to love and be loved.
This is a DELIGHTFUL historical romance! I HIGHLY recommend it to historical romance fans.
This is the ultimate in a wounded hero! I don't find many historical romance books with true walking wounded heroes in them, but this one is superb! The hero Armand, was imprisoned as a young boy for 12 long years. He was in isolation, no human touch, no human interaction and no human speech. When he is found and rescued from prison by his older brother Julien, Armand is nearly an animal. He can't tolerate human touch, can't speak and has lost most of his understanding of language. Having not spoken or been spoken to in twelve years his mouth can't form the words of speech and his mind struggles to recall what words mean.
(He reminded me a bit of a cross between Tarzan and the Beast from 'Beauty and the Beast'. He was wild and untamed when he was first rescued, it took a beautiful and gentle woman to calm him and reach him when all others failed. And his looks and intensity brought to mind Ian Somerhalder -'Damon' on Vampire Diaries- for me).
When all the families attempts at reaching him fail, they decide to hire a tutor. They hire Miss Felicity Bennett, a woman who has just recently lost her father and who is desperate to get out of a betrothal her dying father signed her into with a devious swindler.
The moment Armand sees her, he's drawn to her. She connects with him on a level he hasn't connected with another human being most of his life. These two are wonderful together! Felicity is an innocent woman and Armand, while he's a full grown man, is as innocent as she is- even if his body knows what it wants Armand hasn't figured it all out yet.
While Felicity reaches out to Armand and begins teaching him to speak, social manners and how to accept human touch, Armand is teaching Felicity what it is to love and be loved.
This is a DELIGHTFUL historical romance! I HIGHLY recommend it to historical romance fans.
April 17, 2013
The set-up had my name all over it: impoverished but feisty heroine who becomes a tutor to the hero, a French nobleman who hasn't spoken in 12 years and acts barely human.
And it was enjoyable enough, until our hero got cured and set out on some royal treasure-related adventure with the heroine. Whaaat? First of all, changing set-ups in the middle of the book is a little odd, but whatever. But also, the book became pretty dull because a strong adventure plot is clearly not this author's selling point. Not to mention the bad guys made no sense and were so yawn-worthy, I already can't remember their final fate (and let's face it, hiring proper guards etc would have been a lot simpler to deal with them).
Also, heroine's whole dilemma made no sense to me - women broke engagements even in 19th century, just do it, don't run around at behest of your reprehensible fiance!
One final gripe - hero is a virgin who's never even gone to second base before and hasn't even seen sexy pictures or similar. Yet, somehow, when he and heroine inevitably make love, he is a dream lover - ummm, what? Kinsale's The Shadow and the Star is a heck of a lot more accurate on what that would be like (short version - not fun).
And it was enjoyable enough, until our hero got cured and set out on some royal treasure-related adventure with the heroine. Whaaat? First of all, changing set-ups in the middle of the book is a little odd, but whatever. But also, the book became pretty dull because a strong adventure plot is clearly not this author's selling point. Not to mention the bad guys made no sense and were so yawn-worthy, I already can't remember their final fate (and let's face it, hiring proper guards etc would have been a lot simpler to deal with them).
Also, heroine's whole dilemma made no sense to me - women broke engagements even in 19th century, just do it, don't run around at behest of your reprehensible fiance!
One final gripe - hero is a virgin who's never even gone to second base before and hasn't even seen sexy pictures or similar. Yet, somehow, when he and heroine inevitably make love, he is a dream lover - ummm, what? Kinsale's The Shadow and the Star is a heck of a lot more accurate on what that would be like (short version - not fun).
October 14, 2010
THE MAKING OF A GENTLEMAN by Shana Galen is a fantastic and unique historical romance. Armand is such an interesting character. After spending 12 years in a French prison he can’t stand to be touched and doesn’t speak. This sets a very interesting challenge for Felicity, his tutor. I liked how unique this story was, but at times wasn’t sure I could completely buy the change in Armand. He goes from not remembering how to speak to speaking in full sentences seemingly overnight. Also, his misunderstanding of certain words worked from a plot point of view but didn’t fit with how he was able to reconnect with language in the story. I loved the relationship between Armand and Felicity. At first the relationship has a very childlike vibe to it as Armand is learning from her some very basic things. The relationship changes as Armand himself changes. There are several subplots that feel into the main story (the romance) very well. All in all this was a pretty great read. I liked this book a lot better than the first one in the series. You could tell a difference in the writing between the two books. I am looking forward to the next book about the last brother, the pirate.
June 3, 2014
Sooooo. Let me just begin by saying that I liked this book. We'll get that out of the way right now. I think book 1 was probably my favorite, and that's likely because of some... aspects that were relatively unbelievable in THIS book.
The picture we get of Armand in The Making of a Duchess is one of an extremely... stunted(?) man. He can't talk, doesn't appear to understand what's going on, and is pained by touching. That's how The Making of a Gentleman starts off, so suffice to say, Armand went through some SERIOUS transformations in this book.
I just don't know how much of that transformation I can believe. It kind of makes me want to go out and research psychological issues like this, where someone goes mute after a traumatic experience. You know, rather than read the book or write my review.
I chose to suspend my belief instead of getting annoyed or questioning the logic behind it because I was looking for an escape, and Shana Galen provides that. And it was kind of cool to see how Felicity managed to break through Armand's defenses and walls.
And, of course, this book sets up the next in the series and I can't wait to dig in.
The picture we get of Armand in The Making of a Duchess is one of an extremely... stunted(?) man. He can't talk, doesn't appear to understand what's going on, and is pained by touching. That's how The Making of a Gentleman starts off, so suffice to say, Armand went through some SERIOUS transformations in this book.
I just don't know how much of that transformation I can believe. It kind of makes me want to go out and research psychological issues like this, where someone goes mute after a traumatic experience. You know, rather than read the book or write my review.
I chose to suspend my belief instead of getting annoyed or questioning the logic behind it because I was looking for an escape, and Shana Galen provides that. And it was kind of cool to see how Felicity managed to break through Armand's defenses and walls.
And, of course, this book sets up the next in the series and I can't wait to dig in.
November 2, 2011
Ok, these books were bought for me in a series, and I have the same complaints about the plot and the writing as I did the last time.
The plot was rushed and while it lacked the spy element that the last book had, it held a Jane Eyre quality that I appreciated. The characters were less creative and the timeframe in which the book was supposed to take place was highly inaccurate. The development of speech would honestly not make the leaps and strides that it did in the book. It was interesting that the brother had a side plot that involved his past, however that lacked development, again I'm guessing due to length.
Overall, I'm not itching to finish the series, however I will simply because it was purchased for me in a set when Borders closed. I will finish some other books before I continue with this series.
The plot was rushed and while it lacked the spy element that the last book had, it held a Jane Eyre quality that I appreciated. The characters were less creative and the timeframe in which the book was supposed to take place was highly inaccurate. The development of speech would honestly not make the leaps and strides that it did in the book. It was interesting that the brother had a side plot that involved his past, however that lacked development, again I'm guessing due to length.
Overall, I'm not itching to finish the series, however I will simply because it was purchased for me in a set when Borders closed. I will finish some other books before I continue with this series.
August 1, 2010
I read this because it was a conference freebie and I was stuck in the airport for several hours. Well-written for its genre, but just not my genre. At one point, the impassioned hero throws the heroine over his shoulder and carries her out of a ton party, and I couldn't help but recall Freddy Standen (in Georgette Heyer's 'Cotillion', five stars) commenting on similar behavior by Young Lochinvar in Byron's 'Marmion': "Sounds like a dashed loose screw." Georgette Heyer has forever spoiled me for any other Regency romances!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2012
It was ok. That is probably my biggest complaint with this book. It was ok. I think I expected more then what we got because I did enjoy the first one and i was interested in Armand's story and I grew to like Felicity but ugh, wasn't loving on this book. Too many things going on, too many crazy characters. I do want to read brother #3 however though at this point, I'm going in with no expectations. Maybe it'll help.
November 20, 2013
The second lovely book in Shana Galen's romantic Sons of the Revolution series.
I love Shana Galen's writing. She has a way of creating a beautiful and tender love story filled with romance, humor, intrigue, adventure, and firmly sets it in an historic time period, here the tumultuous years after the French Revolution and the scarring aftereffects on a noble French family trying to piece their lives back together. For my full review: http://bit.ly/1iuPZEm
I love Shana Galen's writing. She has a way of creating a beautiful and tender love story filled with romance, humor, intrigue, adventure, and firmly sets it in an historic time period, here the tumultuous years after the French Revolution and the scarring aftereffects on a noble French family trying to piece their lives back together. For my full review: http://bit.ly/1iuPZEm
October 1, 2010
Galen does another Harcourt tale of love. Review Aisle B http://aisleb.tumblr.com/post/1220753...
March 30, 2020
- Armand and Felicity
a great romantic comedy with some action/drama real good!!! Their story had a wonderful HEA
a great romantic comedy with some action/drama real good!!! Their story had a wonderful HEA
July 1, 2017
This a copy of my Amazon review
First, I borrowed this book from my one of my favorite places, the Mead Public Library(picture of book attached) in my hometown.
As an out of the closet male reader of Historical and Regency Romance, I found this book to be very enjoyable and very kind to my wounded heart.
Ms.Galen takes you into this story about Armand, Comte de Valère, a young man who is wounded both mentally and physically from his time in prison. He has lost much of his will to socialize even though he is freed to regain his rightful place in the world. As I read this tale, I could relate to his struggles on a very personal level and I felt a relationship with him I have seldom felt in the stories I have read.
His family hires a tutor to guide him back into life, Ms. Felicity Bennett. She is a young and beautiful lady who seems to knows more about Armand then he finds comfortable with. She is also wounded but by the dealing of her own family and by the man she is betrothed to marry.
Neither one of these two will know, at first, that their pasts may cause a problem neither seems capable of solving.
To say anymore would give you, the reader, too much information that i may ruin your read. I will say that Ms. Galen will take you on an adventure which will make you cry, laugh, feel pain, and totally mesmerize you. Ms. Galen's is writing style is smooth and descriptive.
Take a few hours, days, or whatever you need to fall into this story.
First, I borrowed this book from my one of my favorite places, the Mead Public Library(picture of book attached) in my hometown.
As an out of the closet male reader of Historical and Regency Romance, I found this book to be very enjoyable and very kind to my wounded heart.
Ms.Galen takes you into this story about Armand, Comte de Valère, a young man who is wounded both mentally and physically from his time in prison. He has lost much of his will to socialize even though he is freed to regain his rightful place in the world. As I read this tale, I could relate to his struggles on a very personal level and I felt a relationship with him I have seldom felt in the stories I have read.
His family hires a tutor to guide him back into life, Ms. Felicity Bennett. She is a young and beautiful lady who seems to knows more about Armand then he finds comfortable with. She is also wounded but by the dealing of her own family and by the man she is betrothed to marry.
Neither one of these two will know, at first, that their pasts may cause a problem neither seems capable of solving.
To say anymore would give you, the reader, too much information that i may ruin your read. I will say that Ms. Galen will take you on an adventure which will make you cry, laugh, feel pain, and totally mesmerize you. Ms. Galen's is writing style is smooth and descriptive.
Take a few hours, days, or whatever you need to fall into this story.
November 16, 2019
There was something about this book that really got to me. Galen could have developed the book better in so many ways but nonetheless I enjoyed it very much. I loved the characters, they seemed a bit stereotypical at first but Galen developed the main ones in interesting ways. Armand and childish dislike of "The Rules" was very funny. His sudden leap into manhood was pretty damn sexy. Insta-lust is difficult to pull off and often one has to overlook it to enjoy an otherwise good book. I think Galen did it pretty well here because it was more than just lust, the intensity of Armand's feelings for Felicity were very complex. I also liked that Felicity acknowledged she felt it as well and while her love developed (too) quickly, she still struggled with knowing being intimate with him was wrong (breaking the Rules!) but couldn’t resist being wanted so desperately. It's called chemistry!
If anything, it was hard to wrap my head around how healthy Armand looked after spending his developmental years in very harsh conditions with very little food and nourishment, but hey! It's Romance! One generally needs to suspend one’s sense of disbelief at some point while reading a Romance novel.
I haven't read any other book in the series so I'm not sure how Book 1 will compare (about Armand's brother Julien) but I found his brother compelling. I particularly liked how Galen developed that relationship, how Julien engaged with his brother and how surreal Armand's progress felt to him.
If anything, it was hard to wrap my head around how healthy Armand looked after spending his developmental years in very harsh conditions with very little food and nourishment, but hey! It's Romance! One generally needs to suspend one’s sense of disbelief at some point while reading a Romance novel.
I haven't read any other book in the series so I'm not sure how Book 1 will compare (about Armand's brother Julien) but I found his brother compelling. I particularly liked how Galen developed that relationship, how Julien engaged with his brother and how surreal Armand's progress felt to him.
August 3, 2020
3.5
This was good enough that I would try another by this author, but by no means was it a great book. It felt like there were two completely different books combined together: one a soft story of healing, and one a high stakes spy story. I like both of those tropes, but together it didn't really mesh, especially in terms of character development. I feel like I really lost a feel of who Armond and Felicity were about half way through.
Another thing that bothered me (and a number of other reviewers) was that this man was by himself for many of his formative years, and was maybe 24? when this story happened, and he was great at sex? he knew absolutely nothing about it, but brought Felicity to orgasm? Also it felt like the progress he made was so much faster than it should have been, and by the end he was fine but just didn't know some words. Overall, two thoughts: Character development was not great, and this would have been better as a soft, slow burn romance with more character development, as opposed to whatever it was
This was good enough that I would try another by this author, but by no means was it a great book. It felt like there were two completely different books combined together: one a soft story of healing, and one a high stakes spy story. I like both of those tropes, but together it didn't really mesh, especially in terms of character development. I feel like I really lost a feel of who Armond and Felicity were about half way through.
Another thing that bothered me (and a number of other reviewers) was that this man was by himself for many of his formative years, and was maybe 24? when this story happened, and he was great at sex? he knew absolutely nothing about it, but brought Felicity to orgasm? Also it felt like the progress he made was so much faster than it should have been, and by the end he was fine but just didn't know some words. Overall, two thoughts: Character development was not great, and this would have been better as a soft, slow burn romance with more character development, as opposed to whatever it was
Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews