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China Rose
FORBIDDEN LOVE
China looked up into the steel gray eyes of Justin Cross and a surge of excitement raced through her. Everything about his rugged good looks spelled danger. . .and fascination. But her hand had been promised to his brother!
When China moved into the great Cross mansion at Portsmouth to become the bride of Sir Ranulf Cross, her presence enflamed the already raging conflicts among the Cross brothers. And amid bitter charges of betrayal and blackmail, Justin was banished from the house.
With Justin suddenly gone, China is tormented by the words left unspoken, and on the eve of her wedding, she is seized by the reckless desire to see Justin once more. For the message he left on her pillow could only mean the promise of love...
China looked up into the steel gray eyes of Justin Cross and a surge of excitement raced through her. Everything about his rugged good looks spelled danger. . .and fascination. But her hand had been promised to his brother!
When China moved into the great Cross mansion at Portsmouth to become the bride of Sir Ranulf Cross, her presence enflamed the already raging conflicts among the Cross brothers. And amid bitter charges of betrayal and blackmail, Justin was banished from the house.
With Justin suddenly gone, China is tormented by the words left unspoken, and on the eve of her wedding, she is seized by the reckless desire to see Justin once more. For the message he left on her pillow could only mean the promise of love...
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
29 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 23, 2024
China Rose is an enjoyable gothic romance by Marsha Canham. It has a spooky and suspenseful atmosphere where the heroine encounters 3 competitive brothers with mysterious, dark family secrets, sees people in her room at night, and gets lost in hidden passageways.
China Rose's betrothal to Sir Ranulf Cross has been arranged for some time and now's the time to say "I do." She feels a little mousy when she meets Sir Ranulf Cross, and Sir Ranulf barely seems to see her beyond her frumpy clothes, so she is, understandably so, feeling insecure about her upcoming nuptials. This feeling is heightened when she meets Justin Cross, Ranulf's brother, a bad boy who Ranulf hates, and who is said to profit from black ivory AKA slavery.
I didn't read the book description too carefully so I wasn't sure who was the hero for a while, especially the rumours surrounding Justin and his profiting from slavery threw me off the scent. What I enjoyed about China Rose is the unraveling of the mystery. I was intrigued enough to want to know what was going on between the Cross brothers. Although you do have to suspend your disbelief when you figure it out. I don't believe Bessie was that unobservant but she sure did have a lot of fun!
And speaking of dear Bessie, she was a bit of a caricature of the happy-go-lucky prostitute, but I liked that Justin defended her as a person to China. To be honest, China Rose might have been a bit more interesting if the heroine was Bessie! The brothers sure did fight over that bone...
China Rose is the first Marsha Canham novel I finished. If anyone has any recommendations of other Canham stories to read aside from Bound By The Heart (which I haven't felt compelled to read past the 30% mark), I'm all ears!
China Rose's betrothal to Sir Ranulf Cross has been arranged for some time and now's the time to say "I do." She feels a little mousy when she meets Sir Ranulf Cross, and Sir Ranulf barely seems to see her beyond her frumpy clothes, so she is, understandably so, feeling insecure about her upcoming nuptials. This feeling is heightened when she meets Justin Cross, Ranulf's brother, a bad boy who Ranulf hates, and who is said to profit from black ivory AKA slavery.
I didn't read the book description too carefully so I wasn't sure who was the hero for a while, especially the rumours surrounding Justin and his profiting from slavery threw me off the scent. What I enjoyed about China Rose is the unraveling of the mystery. I was intrigued enough to want to know what was going on between the Cross brothers. Although you do have to suspend your disbelief when you figure it out. I don't believe Bessie was that unobservant but she sure did have a lot of fun!
And speaking of dear Bessie, she was a bit of a caricature of the happy-go-lucky prostitute, but I liked that Justin defended her as a person to China. To be honest, China Rose might have been a bit more interesting if the heroine was Bessie! The brothers sure did fight over that bone...
China Rose is the first Marsha Canham novel I finished. If anyone has any recommendations of other Canham stories to read aside from Bound By The Heart (which I haven't felt compelled to read past the 30% mark), I'm all ears!
November 22, 2015
From the author about the digital edition of this book:
In order to convert the book into an ebook, it had to be rewritten onto a computer by yours truly, who could not resist the urge to tweak a few scenes, tidy up some grammar, and lose some of the purple prose that contributed to the branding of historical romances with the loving term: bodice rippers.
OK then, and please note that despite this somewhat harsh review, I really do like Canham's stories. Always a nice bit of romance, a yummy hero and swashbuckling and derring-do (especially the pirate ones like this). In the original paperback format I might have rated this much higher and enjoyed it a lot more, but on those typos in the edition I read (purchased in 2012 according to the Amazon page). So...I will just quote from my highlights and let others be the judge if the book is a good fit or not.
You just wait until I've finished with you--you're own shadow will sit up and take notice.
I could be wrong, but I think that's your.
...taken to Our Sisters of Diving Mercy Hospital...
Diving? Really?
Mrs. Biggs hand...
One example of many missing apostrophes. Oh, and many, many misuses of its and it's.
I intent to leave Portsmouth the way...
We took on three miliamen who preferred your command...
What is this word, miliamen?
But the big kicker and pretty near deal-breaker was this one, and this book is set some time after Waterloo. I don't recall the exact year being noted.
I come by my lust for adventure on the seas naturally. Our father, Sir Anthony Cross, was an admiral in His Majesty's Navy. He retired from service after losing an arm, like Nelson, in 1912.
1912. Could be wrong again, but the is that famous Admiral Nelson that wiki says lost his arm in 1812. This review is getting long winded enough for additional quotes, but there were a ton of dropped words that should be been in sentences plus words not complete to fit the sentence, i.e. learn instead of learned.
/rant
In order to convert the book into an ebook, it had to be rewritten onto a computer by yours truly, who could not resist the urge to tweak a few scenes, tidy up some grammar, and lose some of the purple prose that contributed to the branding of historical romances with the loving term: bodice rippers.
OK then, and please note that despite this somewhat harsh review, I really do like Canham's stories. Always a nice bit of romance, a yummy hero and swashbuckling and derring-do (especially the pirate ones like this). In the original paperback format I might have rated this much higher and enjoyed it a lot more, but on those typos in the edition I read (purchased in 2012 according to the Amazon page). So...I will just quote from my highlights and let others be the judge if the book is a good fit or not.
You just wait until I've finished with you--you're own shadow will sit up and take notice.
I could be wrong, but I think that's your.
...taken to Our Sisters of Diving Mercy Hospital...
Diving? Really?
Mrs. Biggs hand...
One example of many missing apostrophes. Oh, and many, many misuses of its and it's.
I intent to leave Portsmouth the way...
We took on three miliamen who preferred your command...
What is this word, miliamen?
But the big kicker and pretty near deal-breaker was this one, and this book is set some time after Waterloo. I don't recall the exact year being noted.
I come by my lust for adventure on the seas naturally. Our father, Sir Anthony Cross, was an admiral in His Majesty's Navy. He retired from service after losing an arm, like Nelson, in 1912.
1912. Could be wrong again, but the is that famous Admiral Nelson that wiki says lost his arm in 1812. This review is getting long winded enough for additional quotes, but there were a ton of dropped words that should be been in sentences plus words not complete to fit the sentence, i.e. learn instead of learned.
/rant
May 24, 2011
I really struggled to get through this book.
The pros:
It had an interesting plot. 3 brothers who can't stand each other are continually at each others throat. One actually just sits around and stirs up shit just to goad the other two into mayhem and hatefulness. Heard the story of Caine and Able? Actually it wasn't quite like that, but pretty close. Made for some intrigue and mystery though. I had to put on my sleuth hat while I sorted out all the evidence to figure out "who done it".
I was wrong.
So the 2 stars are because I didn't figure it out.
The cons:
Well, just about everything. Where to start...
The story was short, so everything had to be done in zoom mode. Maybe could have been better if it was about 200 pages longer. There was a lot of stuff packed into 280 pages.
But then again, maybe not.
Just seemed everything skimmed the surface, alot. Particularly the characters. I never quite got a handle on them. Any of them.
Just when I got a picture of the (h) China, she up and changed on me and I never got over being confused about her. Characters should act in character.
But, we had to get the sex in there and the "relationship".
Maybe the re-write is better. I'll never know because I don't care.
The pros:
It had an interesting plot. 3 brothers who can't stand each other are continually at each others throat. One actually just sits around and stirs up shit just to goad the other two into mayhem and hatefulness. Heard the story of Caine and Able? Actually it wasn't quite like that, but pretty close. Made for some intrigue and mystery though. I had to put on my sleuth hat while I sorted out all the evidence to figure out "who done it".
I was wrong.
So the 2 stars are because I didn't figure it out.
The cons:
Well, just about everything. Where to start...
The story was short, so everything had to be done in zoom mode. Maybe could have been better if it was about 200 pages longer. There was a lot of stuff packed into 280 pages.
But then again, maybe not.
Just seemed everything skimmed the surface, alot. Particularly the characters. I never quite got a handle on them. Any of them.
Just when I got a picture of the (h) China, she up and changed on me and I never got over being confused about her. Characters should act in character.
But, we had to get the sex in there and the "relationship".
Maybe the re-write is better. I'll never know because I don't care.
August 9, 2012
3.5 stars - kind of a toothless bodice ripper, because I think she rewrote? But still totally fun with a great trio of dastardly brothers. MC is a great swashbuckler - and not afraid to get a little gory.
October 23, 2011
I really didn't expect much from this book. Based on the ratings and the fact that this was Marsha's first book. I loved it though! I ended up staying up until the wee hours of dawn to finish it.
March 12, 2016
3,5 ⭐ had a really good time reading this one :) mystery, love and a strong heroine.
March 20, 2021
China Grant is just two weeks away from her wedding to Sir Ranulf Cross, a betrothal arranged by her late father. She knows he doesn't love her and she barely likes him. He's cold, condescending, judgmental...the complete opposite to his younger brother, Justin.
It's obvious this was Canham's first book and she was still finding her footing. While the premise itself was promising, the delivery disappointed.
The book could've benefited from an expanded page count; there was just too much crammed into to tight a space. It had all the requisite elements of a bodice reaper—double identities, brotherly rivalry and hatred, a dashing rogue of a hero, an annoying damsel of a heroine, villains galore, blackmail schemes, mysterious nightly visitors, secret passageways, murderous plots, traitorous mysteries etc., but it seldom felt like everything was connected. I felt like she wanted to explore everything at once and just kept heaping twists and turns on top of each other.
There also seemed to be a few scenes missing, misedited or misplaced. But maybe that's just me. Sometimes one scene following another seemed simply out of place.
While one of the villains was rather easily detected, the main architect came out of the left field, with liberal amounts of expositions thrown in at the end to explain his motives and multiple misdeeds, while there was nary a mention of any of it in the story itself.
And the romance was the most bodice-riper-y element of them all, since it wasn't really a romance. I have no idea when or how the two fell for one another, when they were barely in a scene together before they were lustily romping in the sheets. Hence the feeling some scenes were missing.
What could've been an enjoyable read with an intriguing plot turned out to be a rather forgettable mixture of requisite elements of historical romances of old.
It's obvious this was Canham's first book and she was still finding her footing. While the premise itself was promising, the delivery disappointed.
The book could've benefited from an expanded page count; there was just too much crammed into to tight a space. It had all the requisite elements of a bodice reaper—double identities, brotherly rivalry and hatred, a dashing rogue of a hero, an annoying damsel of a heroine, villains galore, blackmail schemes, mysterious nightly visitors, secret passageways, murderous plots, traitorous mysteries etc., but it seldom felt like everything was connected. I felt like she wanted to explore everything at once and just kept heaping twists and turns on top of each other.
There also seemed to be a few scenes missing, misedited or misplaced. But maybe that's just me. Sometimes one scene following another seemed simply out of place.
While one of the villains was rather easily detected, the main architect came out of the left field, with liberal amounts of expositions thrown in at the end to explain his motives and multiple misdeeds, while there was nary a mention of any of it in the story itself.
And the romance was the most bodice-riper-y element of them all, since it wasn't really a romance. I have no idea when or how the two fell for one another, when they were barely in a scene together before they were lustily romping in the sheets. Hence the feeling some scenes were missing.
What could've been an enjoyable read with an intriguing plot turned out to be a rather forgettable mixture of requisite elements of historical romances of old.
April 10, 2011
Here is another story from Marsha that was rated low and I found it extremely enjoyable. Very entertaining and if I am not mistaken her first book and while I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites of hers it was still one that demonstrates her keen ability to create strong characters and twisting plots with tangible chemistry with the characters. China is sweet and naive and the dutiful daughter of the era. She falls into the epitome of a dysfunctional family and watches the drama unfold between the brothers and becomes the focal point of all of it before she knows it. The Cross brothers personalities and characters are revealed in small portions throughout the story so you almost think you know which is the good one and which is the bad one but then something is thrown in the mix to make you rethink your opinion. It was a fast read and never really had a dull moment. It definitely has the earmarks of a swashbuckler but slightly lacked the intensity of her later stories yet still kept me flipping pages and rethinking my predictions a time or two. I enjoyed it and would recommend.
August 5, 2012
I found this to be an entertaining book, but not Canham's best. One thing that set this apart from your average bodice-ripping romance with a generic plot was the interactions between this wolf-pack of brothers, quite an interesting family. I found the suspense of the story to be better than the romance, probably because I found the heroine lacking--she needed more work. I did like that the romance developed slowly--lust, but not love, at first sight--and the roguish hero really was a rogue, a scoundrel, and a user during most of the book. When the heroine couldn't bring herself to trust him, it was with good reason, not just hokey, contrived misunderstandings.
November 13, 2018
This is a thoroughly enjoyable and very well crafted standalone novel from one of my favourite all time author’s earliest works. Ignore the harsh ratings if you enjoy fast paced, intrigue, historical romance, rogues and as always a dash of Marsha’s good humour.
A story of a an innocent young women caught between the searing vengeance of three somewhat dysfunctional brothers, the heroine promised to only one, that will keep you guessing until the very end.
A story of a an innocent young women caught between the searing vengeance of three somewhat dysfunctional brothers, the heroine promised to only one, that will keep you guessing until the very end.
June 14, 2020
Another good story by Marsha Canham and since it is her first book, it is no wonder she is so accomplished now with experience. I found the story to be original and a bit of a wild ride. It lost a star for me only because I like the romance to be a little more at the forefront of the story. Loved the happy ending though.
September 3, 2023
Twists and turns
Marsha Canham is a master storyteller who uses the twists and turns of her plot much like the hidden passages assist her hero and heroine to circumvent their enemies. China Rose holds many wonderful surprises for her readers. Enjoy but expect to find this story just as hard to put down as the rest of her novelsare.
Marsha Canham is a master storyteller who uses the twists and turns of her plot much like the hidden passages assist her hero and heroine to circumvent their enemies. China Rose holds many wonderful surprises for her readers. Enjoy but expect to find this story just as hard to put down as the rest of her novelsare.
February 27, 2015
For MCs first book, this was good. Not nearly as good as the trilogies, but a good effort nonetheless and I enjoyed the read. It had some flaws and I got lost a few times. She may have tried to add too many villains and intrigue. BUT MC really has a way of drawing the reader in. Her characters are so three dimensional that you feel like you could be in the room with them. You feel their humor, tension, villainy, heroics, fear and love. They spring off the page and become real. I love how there is so much action and adventure. Justin and China are not my favorite characters that she's created. I do love that Justin isn't some super hero pirate that has all types of skills. He actually has weaknesses. China was a little immature for my tastes but for a first book, I'm giving MC kudos. I'm never bored. I truly hate that she has so few books and that she has lost her passion for writing. I only have four left to read and I feel like I shall mourn when I'm done with all of them.
Want to read
February 15, 2016China Rose is a story of intrigue and betrayal, a tale of deceit and treachery between three brothers vying for the same woman. When China Grant arrives in Portsmouth, her wedding to Sir Ranulf Cross is two weeks away. The first night there her life is threatened, and as the days unfold, threads from a decade-old mystery on the high seas begin unravelling faster than her wits can keep apace. Soon China is forced to choose between a promise made to her dying father...and the reckless desire to follow her heart's destiny.
July 26, 2013
3.5 starsAn early work of Marsha Canham's and while not as good as some of her other books it was still entertaining and quite enjoyable. It is a story of 3 brothers and a young woman who is caught in the middle of their family feud.
May 14, 2011
4.5 Really liked this one too.
July 7, 2012
Freebie today on Amazon.com (I'm not sure how she's edited the bodice rippery).
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Want to read
April 22, 2012Free on Amazon 04/21/2012.
March 25, 2017
Dull
This book is not even close to the skill Marsha Canham is capable of as a writer. I've read several of her books and think very highly of her as an author, but this book is below average. I'm disappointed. The typos are numerous and the plot confusing and boring.
This book is not even close to the skill Marsha Canham is capable of as a writer. I've read several of her books and think very highly of her as an author, but this book is below average. I'm disappointed. The typos are numerous and the plot confusing and boring.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews