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The Sign of Love
Kartlend B. - Vsled za toboi.. Roman Panorama., Moscow, 2000 yr., 192. Paperback
167 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1977
About the author
Barbara Cartland
1,049 books849 followersBorn in 1901, Barbara Cartland started her writing career in journalism and completed her first book, Jigsaw, when she was just 24. An immediate success, it was the start of her journey to becoming the world’s most famous and most read romantic novelist of all time. Inspiring a whole generation of readers around the globe with her exciting tales of adventure, love and intrigue, she became synonymous with the Romance genre. And she still is to this day, having written over 644 romantic fiction books.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, plays, music, poetry and several advice books on life, love, health and cookery – totalling an incredible 723 books in all, with over 1 billion in sales.
Awarded the DBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 in honour of her literary, political and social contributions, she was President of the Hertfordshire branch of the Royal College of Midwives as well as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and Deputy President of the St John Ambulance Brigade.
Always a passionate advocate of woman’s health and beauty, she was dubbed ‘the true Queen of Romance’ by Vogue magazine in her lifetime. Her legend continues today through her wonderfully vivid romantic tales, stories that help you escape from the day to day into the dramatic adventures of strong, beautiful women who battle, often against the odds, eventually to find that love conquers all.
Find out more about the incredible life and works of Dame Barbara Cartland at www.barbaracartland.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 27, 2023
Note: this is the one that includes a shipboard romance between Rose and Jack 😂 Yes, Dame Cartland was ahead of James Cameron. Though, they were super minor characters, the coincidence struck me as amusing.
The heroine, Bettina (I like her name 😁) is called home from her school by her father. Though her father moves in the aristocratic circles, they are quite poor.
At the station, her companion has a heart attack, but thankfully the heroine is assisted by a young Lord. He seems to know her father and helps her get to London safely.
The father is friends with a Duke and he has been invited, along with some other friends, to the celebration for the opening of the Suez canal. At first the father declines, on account of the heroine, which leads the Duke to extend the invitation to the heroine herself.
They all go on to the yacht of the Duke, together with not one, but two OW!🫢 The two other women are busy being jealous of each other and hardly pay any attention to the heroine. They spend most of their time trying to one up each other and vying for the Duke’s attention.
The Duke has also invited his younger half brother, and it turns out this is the young man who helped the heroine at the station. At first, i thought he would be the love interest, but knowing Dame Cartland’s formula, its always the most Alpha male who is paired with the heroine.
So yes as the story progresses, the young man seems to be more and more a sanctimonious preaching prig, that no one really likes. And the heroine is getting more and more desperate since the father seems to want to promote a match between them. The younger brother does not get along w the Duke either and they have a very acrimonious relationship.
After one particularly bad row, the Duke suddenly asks the father for the heroine’s hand in marriage. They all agree to announce it after the yacht trip since the two OW would likely kill the heroine if they find out!
When they return to England, the Duke takes the heroine and her father to his castle. The brother tries to kidnap he heroine but the Duke saves her, and this leads to their declaration of mutual love for each other for a HEA.
The heroine, Bettina (I like her name 😁) is called home from her school by her father. Though her father moves in the aristocratic circles, they are quite poor.
At the station, her companion has a heart attack, but thankfully the heroine is assisted by a young Lord. He seems to know her father and helps her get to London safely.
The father is friends with a Duke and he has been invited, along with some other friends, to the celebration for the opening of the Suez canal. At first the father declines, on account of the heroine, which leads the Duke to extend the invitation to the heroine herself.
They all go on to the yacht of the Duke, together with not one, but two OW!🫢 The two other women are busy being jealous of each other and hardly pay any attention to the heroine. They spend most of their time trying to one up each other and vying for the Duke’s attention.
The Duke has also invited his younger half brother, and it turns out this is the young man who helped the heroine at the station. At first, i thought he would be the love interest, but knowing Dame Cartland’s formula, its always the most Alpha male who is paired with the heroine.
So yes as the story progresses, the young man seems to be more and more a sanctimonious preaching prig, that no one really likes. And the heroine is getting more and more desperate since the father seems to want to promote a match between them. The younger brother does not get along w the Duke either and they have a very acrimonious relationship.
After one particularly bad row, the Duke suddenly asks the father for the heroine’s hand in marriage. They all agree to announce it after the yacht trip since the two OW would likely kill the heroine if they find out!
When they return to England, the Duke takes the heroine and her father to his castle. The brother tries to kidnap he heroine but the Duke saves her, and this leads to their declaration of mutual love for each other for a HEA.
March 15, 2015
The main strange thing was how nice gentleman Lord Justas turned into a monster in a matter of weeks. Bettina was grateful to him and then began to feel afraid of him. I was just disgusted. :\
Gentleman in love was very nice and attentive. As always he was not as bad as his reputation. As always he kept his good work well hidden from the society eyes.
I was glad to know they had their love-talk before the marriage took place. Cause it was kinda arranged and heroine felt bad for that, even if she was trying not to.
I like when part of the story is happening on a yacht or other kind of ships. Closed spaces quicker bring heroes together. And even on a ship full of people they are able to find places to be alone. Storms are very convenient for that, cause heroes usually are the only ones that are not seasick :)
Gentleman in love was very nice and attentive. As always he was not as bad as his reputation. As always he kept his good work well hidden from the society eyes.
I was glad to know they had their love-talk before the marriage took place. Cause it was kinda arranged and heroine felt bad for that, even if she was trying not to.
I like when part of the story is happening on a yacht or other kind of ships. Closed spaces quicker bring heroes together. And even on a ship full of people they are able to find places to be alone. Storms are very convenient for that, cause heroes usually are the only ones that are not seasick :)
September 18, 2014
Nice light read that requires no brain power. Enjoyable.
February 11, 2024
Not my favorite BC book but definetly entertaining. I loved the Suez Canal part.
April 8, 2024
Dame Barbara Cartland is the only writer ever who can repeat the same theme in a thousand novels but still get my attention every time. The Sign of Love is also one of such adorably formulaic novels that I cannot get enough of. It has all the BC standard ingredients like a rich, handsome, playboy hero, an ethereally lovely heroine who is pure as morning dew, some alluring other women, an evil villain and a story set in the middle of a historical event. BC's novels typically feature a slightly older hero and a younger heroine but this novel is a stretch - the heroine is a girl just out of school room and the hero (a widower and a womanizer) is her father's friend and is presumably twice her age. The setting is beautiful - the hero takes a bunch of aristocrats in his yacht to participate in the opening of Suez canal and the heroine is an unlikely young member of that group. The hero brings aboard his yacht not one but two of his mistresses, who literally fight with each other for his attention. And while hopping between their cabins, he finds time to fall in love with the innocent and beautiful heroine and they get married and live happily ever after. This may not be everyone's idea of a romance but for me it is just the right kind of book that I can read a 100 times.
January 26, 2018
I was rather more interested in the heroine's Outlook in life rather than the love story and anything else in this book, it's still overall an enjoyable and eye opening kind of book....
May 22, 2022
The descriptions of travelling along the Suez Canal added to my enjoyment of this book.
June 10, 2023
No soy muy afín del género romántico o la novela rosa, pero quiero poder leer y disfrutar todos los géneros posibles de la literatura, así que decidí darle una oportunidad a la obra de Barbara Cartland. Fue un libro sencillo y bonito, pero sólo le doy tres estrellas porque el final me resultó muy empalagoso.
December 8, 2022
Loved this book as a teenager and remains in my bookshelves. A pity this has not been released on Kindle when you look at some of the titles that have been chosen,
I liked the characters of Bettina and Varien.
Yes Cartland's books are noticeably light and highly romanticized, but some were an enjoyable read. This is a favourite with me.
I liked the characters of Bettina and Varien.
Yes Cartland's books are noticeably light and highly romanticized, but some were an enjoyable read. This is a favourite with me.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews