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Wizard's Daughter (Sherbrooke #10)
by
Catherine Coulter (Goodreads Author)
Dear Reader:
When Ryder Sherbrooke finds a child nearly beaten to death in an alley in Eastbourne, he takes her home to Brandon House. She doesn't speak for six months. Her first words, oddly enough, are a haunting song:
I dream of beauty and sightless night
I dream of strength and fevered might
I dream I'm not alone again
But I know of his death and her grievous sin.
Ah, and ju...more
When Ryder Sherbrooke finds a child nearly beaten to death in an alley in Eastbourne, he takes her home to Brandon House. She doesn't speak for six months. Her first words, oddly enough, are a haunting song:
I dream of beauty and sightless night
I dream of strength and fevered might
I dream I'm not alone again
But I know of his death and her grievous sin.
Ah, and ju...more
Paperback, 359 pages
Published
December 18th 2007
by Jove
(first published December 1st 2007)
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Community Reviews
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Now, this really *was* a first draft. Rife with anachronisms, the entire interesting part of the plot relegated to the last 40 pages, while the first 250 are devoted to the hero and heroine meeting, falling in *something*, getting married and screwing like their lives depended on it. It doesn't, btw. It would have been more interesting if it had.
The author's prevailing flaw appears to be laziness, she can't bear to follow up threads, so leaves them dangling in the breeze. And every now and then...more
The author's prevailing flaw appears to be laziness, she can't bear to follow up threads, so leaves them dangling in the breeze. And every now and then...more
Tenth in the Sherbrooke historical fantasy series set in 19th century London, England.
The Story
Almost dying in a massive storm at sea, Captain Jared Vail is rescued by a magical being at the time of Queen Elizabeth's reign and promises to pay his debt. By the time Vail dies, he has served his queen well, been rewarded with an earldom, and built a fine house in the middle of Sussex but not paid his debt.
Some 300 years later, the debt is still not paid when his descendant, Nicholas Vail, returns t...more
The Story
Almost dying in a massive storm at sea, Captain Jared Vail is rescued by a magical being at the time of Queen Elizabeth's reign and promises to pay his debt. By the time Vail dies, he has served his queen well, been rewarded with an earldom, and built a fine house in the middle of Sussex but not paid his debt.
Some 300 years later, the debt is still not paid when his descendant, Nicholas Vail, returns t...more
This book was really boring to me. The characters were interesting enough and even the plot held major potential. The problem was it seemed to take forever to get anywhere in the story.
The dialogue was really awkward and the jumping narratives a little confusing from time to time. I had high hopes for this book based on the back cover description, but I just could not get into it, it never delivered what it promised. It took me forever to read and when it was done I was vastly relieved!
The dialogue was really awkward and the jumping narratives a little confusing from time to time. I had high hopes for this book based on the back cover description, but I just could not get into it, it never delivered what it promised. It took me forever to read and when it was done I was vastly relieved!
The most current entry in the Sherbrooke series delves more deeply into the supernatural than previous books. When Nicholas Vail, the Earl of Mountjoy, returned to England for the first time since the age of 12, he never expected to find love with Rosalind de la Fontaine, the debt of the Vail family. Rosalind, a ward of Ryder and Sophia Sherbrooke, had been found at the age of eight, badly beaten and unable to remember anything of her life, including her name. The only thing that remained was a...more
This is part romance and part paranormal and it almost seems as if it didn't exactly know how it was going to do it. Rosalind is found as a young child by Ryder Sherbrooke and she is adopted into his family. She has become a lovely lady and we meet her at a ball with her family.
Nicholas Vail is the hero who is the great-grandson of Captain Vail who was saved by a sea spirit to perform a promise. Captain Vail's off-spring have been held to this promise each generation though until Nicholas none h...more
Nicholas Vail is the hero who is the great-grandson of Captain Vail who was saved by a sea spirit to perform a promise. Captain Vail's off-spring have been held to this promise each generation though until Nicholas none h...more
I really did like this book. It has a hint of paranormal in a pretty believable plot. It is set in 1800's England, the language is right for the period but not so much that its hard to read. It has heart racing thrills and mystery, romance without being raunchy, and characters to love. The only problem I had with this book? I read over 300 pages of mystery and suspense just to have the ending leave me questioning. I felt like the author just wanted the book to end so an ending was quickly writte...more
An entertaining book. Straightforward Coulter-type romance throughout most of the first 3/4 of the book and then major fantasy. Rosalind la Fontaine was found in an alley as a child, horribly beaten and mute. The first time she starts to make noise is when she sings a song. Nicholas Vail hasn't had an easy life. His father remarried when Nicholas was five and the new stepmother was horrible to him. Nicholas went to live with his grandfather, a reputed wizard, while his parents raised his three h...more
I didn't know anything about the author or any previous saga when I picked this book up at the library on CD. Now that I have finished with it, I am perusing the other reviews and I have to say that fellow readers who have given this 1 or 2 stars share my exact sentiments. The plot could have been interesting, but it didn't pick up until the last 15% of the novel. The rest of it just felt aimless, it would begin to become intriguing only to let me down after a paragraph or two. My curiosity woul...more
Pretty bad romance novel... It is neither a romance, nor drama, nor sci-fi ... It is just a "hodge-podge" of everything, but without any real depth. Characters are shallow - the author did not feel like spending the time to develop them. The plot could have been good - had the author spent the time to develop it! A lot of talk about this so-called book, boring passages read aloud, stupid songs and poems... only to have the actual second dimension left unclear. Maybe the the book was too boring f...more
I've enjoyed the other Sherbrooke novels. This one deals with the romance between Ryder Sherbrooke's adopted daughter, Rosalind, and Nicholas Vail. Nicholas is descended from a line of wizards who incurred a debt to an entity with Godlike powers in another dimension. As each male Vail reaches puberty, he starts dreaming about a girl who is that debt. When Nicholas sees Rosalind at a dance, he recognizes her as the Vail debt.Now all he has to do is win her and find out what he needs to do to canc...more
A typical Coulter book. A historical romance with enough twists and turns to keep you interested. What can I say but I keep coming back every time Catherine Coulter publishes a new book. I know they'll be witty (although even that is getting a little tired as it's the same wit dressed up in different characters) and they won't disappoint me. The more fantastical twist in this was a nice change of pace. I'm assuming Grayson will have a book out soon and I'm waiting for that one because I liked hi...more
Dec 11, 2009
Vanessa
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Vanessa by:
No One, Found it At the library
Shelves:
coulter
Although I have never read any of her bride series, this books sounds like it might be interesting because of the mystery twist. As for the audio book, not really sure - reader is ok, we'll see.
Ok, I'm on to disc 2 and I'm hooked. I have heard this reader before and I like her enough to believe in the characters and where they take me.
Now on Disc 6 and really enjoying the story. Strong characters, intrigue, mysteries and a little fantasy thrown in.
I have one more disc to go in this story - Enj...more
Ok, I'm on to disc 2 and I'm hooked. I have heard this reader before and I like her enough to believe in the characters and where they take me.
Now on Disc 6 and really enjoying the story. Strong characters, intrigue, mysteries and a little fantasy thrown in.
I have one more disc to go in this story - Enj...more
A Huge Waste of Time!
I have never read a book by Catherine Coulter before, and now I know why. The book itself was poorly written and not at all enjoyable. The dialogue is horrendous, and all the characters are a huge waste of space. Coulter even insults the reader by torturing them with horrible rhymes and poems throughout the narrative that are supposed to enhance the magical mystery behind the plot.
The book starts off with a flashback in which a captain is saved by a wizard and thus owes him...more
I have never read a book by Catherine Coulter before, and now I know why. The book itself was poorly written and not at all enjoyable. The dialogue is horrendous, and all the characters are a huge waste of space. Coulter even insults the reader by torturing them with horrible rhymes and poems throughout the narrative that are supposed to enhance the magical mystery behind the plot.
The book starts off with a flashback in which a captain is saved by a wizard and thus owes him...more
Gotta do this one quick to wrap up a challenge, my first challenge I ever attempted, and I had a year to do it, and it's been a year and almost 3 months... I guess I'm not good at challenges huh? Lol! Well, it's Coulter, and it's a Sherbrooke story, so I was hoping I'd like it... though I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. This one, to me, was nowhere near The Sherbrooke Bride in terms of goodness, but it was likable enough. I didn't mind the heroine Rosalind too badly, and Nicholas was...more
*** "Wizard's Daughter" by Catherine Coulter is tenth in the Sherbrooke series of 1835 London magic romances. Debutante Rosalind, a Sherbrooke ward, has sung every night in a dream to Nicholas. He returns from restoring his family fortune in the Orient to find and marry his destiny, despite envious murderous relatives. Unusually snappy dialogue crackles quickly as prophecies unfold slowly to an unreal finale. Only the couple's combined sorcery has power enought to save his ancestor in a land of...more
I truly enjoyed Wizard's Daughter and revisiting the Sherbrooke family. I felt Coulter created a wonderful story that pulls you into the world of two individuals, their destinies, and the mysterious, magical world of the pale. Ofcourse, being a romance novel, there are those infamous "love" scenes; however, they compose only a small part of the story. The story really focuses on Rosalind and Nicholas, and their quest to solve the mystery of Rosalind's past and the pale. I felt the characters and...more
Aug 02, 2011
Natalie
added it
This was an enjoyable book! I just happened to pick it up as something to read from a book sharing shelf because I like Catherine Coulter books - and although I was hesitant to think I would enjoy it, turns out it was a pretty good book and really hard to put down! I read some previous reviews here - not sure what they were expecting, but I found it to be a good mixture of historical and fantasy. I think she did an excellent job on this book and look forward to seeing a sequal!
I like C. Coulter's writing style in her historical romances -The straightforward style of speech favored by the heroine, the hero and even the suspicious bad guys. It is actually different from the social niceties usually shown in the writings of that period. The "modern" style of speech makes the stories livelier, I think.
So it is always fun to enjoy the dialogue between the young couple as they fall in love and get to know one another better, much better, mmm... This story uses a magical othe...more
So it is always fun to enjoy the dialogue between the young couple as they fall in love and get to know one another better, much better, mmm... This story uses a magical othe...more
Such an odd book, I'm not sure I'd actually recommend it. The first chapter doesn't make any sense til the end. The mysterious courtship is swift. The first 2/3rds of the book confuse the reader, gives more questions than answers, skips around alot, then at the end you're transported into the magical world of the pale where everything doesn't make sense but ends quickly.
The Viking series by this author was wonderful. This, however, was just... odd. I didn't find it a very believable regency roma...more
The Viking series by this author was wonderful. This, however, was just... odd. I didn't find it a very believable regency roma...more
Rosalind de la Fontaine...found nearly beaten to death by wharf when she's 8. Nicholas Vail is searching for her, as was his Father and grandfather. She can read a coded book written by a Wizard. They are led to a finale, where their heritage plays a part to "pay a debt."
Book was entertaining until the end chapters. The Magic involved was trite and predictable. Found it disappointing.
Book was entertaining until the end chapters. The Magic involved was trite and predictable. Found it disappointing.
It took me a little while to get into this book, and I wouldn't have bothered except that I bought it in a mad dash at the used book store that was closing when I walked in the door and took it to the beach, so I didn't have much choice but to read it for the day. By page 40 or so it had picked up and I found it quite engaging, though not intellectually fulfilling. It's a decent beach read.
One of our choices for listening material while driving to Seattle, WA. OMG another convoluted story with a hundred sidebars. Thirty chapters in the author adds steamy sex for some 5 chapters - why? Added nothing to the book and it seemed pretty outrageous for the time period --- and the female character. Humorous in areas but not sure the author meant it to be. Not my kind of book.
Ok, beyond the way too campy dialog, I don't like the paranormal aspect. I used to really like the Catherine Coulter historicals because they were just a little campy; but this just about jumps the shark. Meh. No more historicals for me from CC...and I don't like her contemporaries much anymore either. So, maybe no more Catherine Coulter, period. That's sad.
I love the Sherbrooke's. This story was an also-ran. I liked it and it did include Ryder Sherbrooke and his family. However, I felt it was really a vehicle for Ms. Coulter to try her hand at paranormal. "Paranormals" are really not my cup of tea, but it was an intriguing story. She left an opening for more stories with these characters. If so, I probably will not be reading them.
The book was very slow to start and the jumping dialogue left something to be desired. I found myself struggling to pick up the book and finish until the last 50 pages or so when it really picked up. While I did enjoy the basis of the story, I think it could have been fleshed out and explained better. This really had great potential!
I have read most of this series by Catherine Coulter. This last one was not of the same caliber as the previous novels. The others were realistic historical romance. This one had a bit too much fantasy for my taste. I still would encourage fans of historical romance to read the other books of the Bride series.
This one in the series starts out great, however, about 3/4 of the through it takes a sudden turn to great imagination and a totaly different plane. The imagination for this part of the book is fantastic, but I can't help but wonder if it is too drastically different from the beginning of the book to make it truly likeable, or if the difference makes it all the more likeable. Perhaps it depends on the mood while reading it.
Jul 13, 2010
Annette
added it
Wow, pages and pages of reviews on this book, and like every book, many different opinions from hate it to love it...Which is quite normal. No one can like the same of everything or it would be a very boring world. I like the whole story line, I like the way Catherine writes, the play on words...casual and sweeping...the Pale book, the wizards...all the things that interest me, but it isn't holding my attention. If nothing else I will skim read through it as I want to know what will happen, and...more
Not sure what to say about this one. I really only got it because I like Catherine Coulter's FBI series, so I thought I'd see what this historical romance was about. It was not bad, but kinda weird. I can't really see recommending it to many of my friends, because I don't think any of them would really be interested in it. It was too middle ground with the wizardry, too middle ground with the romance, and too middle ground with the danger. It was just okay.
Doesn't begin to compare with earlier titles in the series. It took me twice as long as usual to get through the book. Even by bringing in earlier characters - it isn't enough to salvage this book.
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Jan 17, 2009 09:52am