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In the Brief Eternal Silence
Enter into the world of the Duke of St. James in Victorian England, 1863. . . Lizzie Murdock has heard of this Duke, derisively known as merely 'St. James' in an ironic twist to the title he holds versus his lifestyle known to be anything but saintly. The fact that he is rich and once considered 'the catch of the decade' holds no attractions for her. When he offers her an astounding proposal, she is more offended than flattered and vows to rebuff his determined advances. Their continued sparring over her future leads to the revelation that he believes he won't be sharing in it for very long. "There is a very good possibility that you shall become a widow at an extremely young age," he says. "Now doesn't that make the prospect of marrying me much more pleasant?" With those words, Lizzie is sucked into his world, a world where she expects to find a self-centered man enjoying privilege and ease, but where instead she finds a man of uncommon character fighting for his life and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for those he loves. Her involvement causes consequences that neither of them can foresee, and an arranged proposal meant to flush out evil produces much more until their very survival will depend upon their love for each other.
440 pages, Paperback
First published November 21, 2005
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 19, 2009
(reposted from my Amazon critque)
I stumbled upon this book via Amazon's suggestions, and was won over by its five five-star reviews-- a fact which I now *deeply* regret.
In the Brief Eternal Silence has an okay plot (the Duke of St. James has sworn a life of vengeance upon whoever killed his parents when he was a child, and said quest has, though done in secret, given him the reputation of rakehell. While interested in a horse, he meets plain, brown Lizzie Murdock and decides that marrying her will be the best way to draw his enemies out. She, of course, has more gumption than he bargained for.) However, the mystery is easily solved (I figured out who the killer was as soon as that character was introduced) and the characters are caricatures. (For example, Lizzie suffers from what I call the "Bella Swann" syndrome in that she's a spinster (at 20) whom everyone finds plain, until suddenly she shows up in London and men are left-and-right trying to protect her, and marry her and at least dance with her at Almack's.)
But as anyone who reads historical romance novels knows, it's not necessarily the plot which holds a reader's interest-- a mediocre plot can be overcome by attention to historical accuracy and, most importantly, the chemistry between the main characters. Unfortunately, Ms Melvin's novel is woefully lacking in both. While she has clearly done some research, she lapses on such things as appropriate titles/inheritance and customs of mourning. Far more importantly, she shows no spark between the romantic couple-- she tells us it's there, but it's never palpable to the reader. (Frankly, one of the secondary characters who briefly courts Lizzie seems to have more chemistry with her than the main character.) Worst, Lizzie, who is supposed to be so plucky, does not react to what essentially amounts to the hero threatening to rape her (so as to make her used goods so she'll have to marry him) at the beginning of the book, or to strangle her (if she had delayed in telling him some news) at the end of the book. I'm all for dark, dangerous heroes, but not ones which threaten violence on their supposed beloveds!
Finally, what this book needed more than anything was several more rewrites and a ruthless editor. Descriptions quickly became repetitive (yes, yes, St. James is short and has gold eyes, I get it), grammar and spelling were at times problematic, and the whole book could have been much better paced if the same number of things happened in about 2/3rds the amount of pages/words. Characters would have a conversation, and then two pages later would recap the conversation with another character. When used well (and sparingly), this technique can tell readers a lot about the character doing the telling-- but that did not seem to be the purpose here. Instead, the book was redundant and boring, and to be quite honest, I skipped about 200 pages in the middle to just read the end and be sure I was correct about the "mystery." (I'd have simply set the book aside much earlier on if I hadn't been so appalled at how mislead I'd been in reading the previous reviews, and wanted to post my own.)
If you're looking for a well researched Regency/Victorian mystery, check out C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series or Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel series. If you're looking for a regency romance, well, there are thousands on the market and I'd suggest Julia Quinn and Eloisa James to start. I would not recommend this poorly edited piece.
(Please note, the author herself responded to my criticism on Amazon. My review is long enough that I shan't copy/paste her 5 comment response here, but if you wish to see it, or my response to that, they are available on that site.)
I stumbled upon this book via Amazon's suggestions, and was won over by its five five-star reviews-- a fact which I now *deeply* regret.
In the Brief Eternal Silence has an okay plot (the Duke of St. James has sworn a life of vengeance upon whoever killed his parents when he was a child, and said quest has, though done in secret, given him the reputation of rakehell. While interested in a horse, he meets plain, brown Lizzie Murdock and decides that marrying her will be the best way to draw his enemies out. She, of course, has more gumption than he bargained for.) However, the mystery is easily solved (I figured out who the killer was as soon as that character was introduced) and the characters are caricatures. (For example, Lizzie suffers from what I call the "Bella Swann" syndrome in that she's a spinster (at 20) whom everyone finds plain, until suddenly she shows up in London and men are left-and-right trying to protect her, and marry her and at least dance with her at Almack's.)
But as anyone who reads historical romance novels knows, it's not necessarily the plot which holds a reader's interest-- a mediocre plot can be overcome by attention to historical accuracy and, most importantly, the chemistry between the main characters. Unfortunately, Ms Melvin's novel is woefully lacking in both. While she has clearly done some research, she lapses on such things as appropriate titles/inheritance and customs of mourning. Far more importantly, she shows no spark between the romantic couple-- she tells us it's there, but it's never palpable to the reader. (Frankly, one of the secondary characters who briefly courts Lizzie seems to have more chemistry with her than the main character.) Worst, Lizzie, who is supposed to be so plucky, does not react to what essentially amounts to the hero threatening to rape her (so as to make her used goods so she'll have to marry him) at the beginning of the book, or to strangle her (if she had delayed in telling him some news) at the end of the book. I'm all for dark, dangerous heroes, but not ones which threaten violence on their supposed beloveds!
Finally, what this book needed more than anything was several more rewrites and a ruthless editor. Descriptions quickly became repetitive (yes, yes, St. James is short and has gold eyes, I get it), grammar and spelling were at times problematic, and the whole book could have been much better paced if the same number of things happened in about 2/3rds the amount of pages/words. Characters would have a conversation, and then two pages later would recap the conversation with another character. When used well (and sparingly), this technique can tell readers a lot about the character doing the telling-- but that did not seem to be the purpose here. Instead, the book was redundant and boring, and to be quite honest, I skipped about 200 pages in the middle to just read the end and be sure I was correct about the "mystery." (I'd have simply set the book aside much earlier on if I hadn't been so appalled at how mislead I'd been in reading the previous reviews, and wanted to post my own.)
If you're looking for a well researched Regency/Victorian mystery, check out C.S. Harris's Sebastian St. Cyr series or Kate Ross's Julian Kestrel series. If you're looking for a regency romance, well, there are thousands on the market and I'd suggest Julia Quinn and Eloisa James to start. I would not recommend this poorly edited piece.
(Please note, the author herself responded to my criticism on Amazon. My review is long enough that I shan't copy/paste her 5 comment response here, but if you wish to see it, or my response to that, they are available on that site.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 9, 2012
It takes a lot to get me to abandon a book; it has happened fewer than a dozen times in my entire life. Unfortunately 25 percent of the way into this book, I can take no more.
The shoddy editing, no discernible plot that makes any sense, and characters I couldn't care less about were bad enough. The author's failure to comprehend even the basics of English etiquette (for example, one does not address a duke as "Miduke," nor a dowager duchess as "Dowager") grated at every turn. Then there were grammatical errors such as "damnedably" where "damnably" was meant, run-on sentences that went on for more than 50 words in a couple of cases ... and my favorite, "his eyes razed her." I do not think the author, who now runs a small press, knows what that word means or she would not have used it.
Honestly, I found myself embarrassed for the author. The idea (what I could discern of it) of her book had some merit, but the execution was dreadful.
The shoddy editing, no discernible plot that makes any sense, and characters I couldn't care less about were bad enough. The author's failure to comprehend even the basics of English etiquette (for example, one does not address a duke as "Miduke," nor a dowager duchess as "Dowager") grated at every turn. Then there were grammatical errors such as "damnedably" where "damnably" was meant, run-on sentences that went on for more than 50 words in a couple of cases ... and my favorite, "his eyes razed her." I do not think the author, who now runs a small press, knows what that word means or she would not have used it.
Honestly, I found myself embarrassed for the author. The idea (what I could discern of it) of her book had some merit, but the execution was dreadful.
November 30, 2011
This was a great book with depth of both emotion and plot. Lizzie is a great character, neither flamboyant nor ditsy. She is level-headed and feels deeply. St James is a deep character who experiences situations and confronts decisions that make him more of a tarnished hero, but one that you will love nonetheless. The story is well told in both it's description and speed. So much happens that you are left begging for more to figure out the next step in the story and what will happen next, rather than overwhelmed with the many characters and events. The romance is fun and sweet, intense without crossing a line. The overall mystery and suspense is great and keeps the reader guessing as much as the characters. I was pulled emotionally into this story to the point that my heart would race. I would highly recommend this book and I hope this is not the only book by this author.
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http://cleanromancereviews.blogspot.com
February 23, 2016
I really enjoyed this book! I loved the slow romance build between the H and h: they were perfect for each other, but it sure took a while for them to figure it. The H is definitely broken, and I loved how the h accepted him and they complemented each other. My only dislike was some of the language. I bought it on my Kindle and there's no way to "redact" the deal breaker (for me, anyway) swears (G-d) which were pretty frequent. I'm going to buy the hard copy - it's that good!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews