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Untie My Heart
Stuart Aysgarth, the new Viscount Mount Villiars, doesn't know he's playing with fire when he inadvertently runs afoul of Emma Hotchkiss. True, the exquisite Yorkshire lady is a mere sheep farmer, but she also guards a most colorful past that makes her only more appealing to the handsome, haunted lord. Emma has come to him seeking justice -- and Stuart is determined that she will not leave until she has shared her secrets ... and his bed. Her clever revenge scheme must fail in the face of his soft words and tender caress -- and then he turns the tables on his bewitching adversary, seducing her into a daring deception of his own ...
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
50 people are currently reading
1809 people want to read
About the author
Judith Ivory
17 books350 followersJudith Ivory "accidentally" acquired two degrees in mathematics, then sold her first novel in 1987 and closed up the math books for good. She lives in Miami Florida, with her two children, two cats and a dog.
"Judith Ivory" is the pseudonym of author Judy Cuevas (real name).
The pseudonym was first used by her after publication of her last book as "Judy Cuevas," in 1996 - Dance. Her first book, Starlit Surrender, which was published under her real name of Cuevas, was re-released under her pseudonym of "Ivory" in 2006 under the title, Angel in a Red Dress.
"Judith Ivory" is the pseudonym of author Judy Cuevas (real name).
The pseudonym was first used by her after publication of her last book as "Judy Cuevas," in 1996 - Dance. Her first book, Starlit Surrender, which was published under her real name of Cuevas, was re-released under her pseudonym of "Ivory" in 2006 under the title, Angel in a Red Dress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
February 16, 2017
Untie my heart. I will never be right without you.
Judith Ivory managed again to create unique story in a genre that is full of formula and hackneyed story lines. Reading it felt like looking deep into the lake when conditions are windy. Everything is distorted, strange, even uncomfortable and then the wind dies down, the waves subside leaving an unobstructed clear view of amazing depth, multilayered sediment and beautiful sandy formations.Stuart Aysgarth, the new Viscount Mount Villiars, returned home from a self-imposed exile in Russia after his estranged father's death in an effort to keep his inheritance from being usurped by his uncle. When his carriage accidently ran over Emma Hotchkiss's prize ram, the widow demands economic compensation. Rebuffed in the most arrogant manner, Emma is set for revenge. She hadn't always been a sheep farmer. There once was a time when Emma and her late husband had run a few confidence scams in London. Stifling her conscience and determined to get what is rightly hers, Emma decides to use her nefarious "talents" to get the money. When the viscount discovers Mrs. Hotchkiss's larcenous actions, he decides to use her services to get back at his uncle. Caught between blackmail and an undeniable attraction, the viscount and the con artist begin a scam. And the stage is set for a complicated battle of wills and one-upmanship that kept interesting and delightful at every turn.
The plot unfolds slowly making room for development of a deeper relationship between Stuart and Emma. The pace prompts to saver every nuance, every turn of events.
The characters are so delightfully different from your normal leads in a romance novel. Stuart is deeply flawed but intelligent, creative, shameless, very complex and quite the accomplished bully. Oh - and he really likes to play games. And what a wooing he gives the very self-possessed, independent, crafty Emma! I never get tired of Emma's combination of smart mouth brassiness and vulnerability.
I loved that Emma and Stuart do not wallow in their past misfortunes. They are clearly survivors, not victims trapped by the mental hooks of the past.
Their chemistry is palpable at times playful and at times thoughtful, as they forced to deal with immediate physical attraction and a more slowly developing love. The romance is ambiguous, nuanced, and complicated. The author excels in setting the scenes with "luminous sights, resounding sounds, redolent smells and shivering touches".
This was a very good read!
September 13, 2019
This is like a 3.8, but is it a 3.8 because I've read Bliss & dance? I don't know. I think, maybe, so it's kinda a 5er considering that and have I mentioned how star ratings feel stupid bc as I'm demonstrating now I'm a capricious reader and I don't have, like, a system, except I would probably read this again so it's most definitely a 4, and I'd reread it again bc Judith Ivory, but also I keep thinking about Nardi and his dirty pictures of Hannah...
Hope you've all enjoyed the ride in my thoughts. I want to see this book as a movie. Because chair sex. Do I need another reason? Because it would be a fun one. That's my other reason. I don't need any more. It's my review. And I'm done now.
Hope you've all enjoyed the ride in my thoughts. I want to see this book as a movie. Because chair sex. Do I need another reason? Because it would be a fun one. That's my other reason. I don't need any more. It's my review. And I'm done now.
April 27, 2020
In Yorkshire, where lambing is life, Emma cooks Stuarts' books -- just a little -- because his crazed stallion killed her prize ram and — adding insult to injury — when she complained, he made light of it. She only wants fair recompense, and hates every high-brow hair on his head when he withholds. The smug miserly monster.
However, Stuart — that villainous viscount —has proof positive of her fraudulence. So, the blackguard blackmails her: Go to prison or run one of your clever confidence tricks against my thieving uncle.
Emma, tied to a chair, upside down, bloomers exposed, tries to meet his demands before he sends for the sheriff:
"We could do, I suppose, a poke with a send."
This is a VERY clever story, written in 3rd person POV from hero and heroine -- and that's all, thank you very much -- with plenty of tension around trust and sexual control (slight flavor of BDSM). The dialogue is entertaining, witty, and includes heated double entendres. Some internal dialogue, but not too much thinking, and not repetitive (I wish all authors were as restrained.) There are varied references to the past -- his miserable childhood, her unhappy marriage -- but these reflections and discussions actually feel integral to the story, and never become maudlin. Emma and Stuart do not wallow in their past misfortunes. They are clearly survivors, not victims trapped by the mental hooks of the past.
Great suspense plot. Engrossing, watching to see how the hustle played out exactly, and if nasty Uncle Leonard would fall for the "poke and send" confidence trick. It felt so real. Vivid. Credible.
Fun, seeing how Stuart fell headlong for Emma Hotchkiss. Or Hotch Kiss, as he once said. Did I mention his stutter? Loved his response when Emma complimented him on how his speech flows with a certain cadence.
It's also sizzling smoking hot at times. On the roof. In the chair. On the rug. They're pretty much magnets, even though she resists mightily.
It's abundantly obvious that Judith Ivory did her research. The narrative includes fairly extensive details on lambing in Yorkshire and common confidence games used by swindlers in 1890's London. However, these details do not overwhelm the story.
Quibbles? Just minor ones. Ivory described the hero's eyes as "round" several times, which kinda bugged me out. Also, a peer of the realm wedding a country widow of no pedigree? Nah. Well, okay. After all, he is eccentric, and after his childhood he deserves happiness.
Very minor quibble: This book did invoke more emotional involvement than many other romances. However, for some reason, I didn't get fully absorbed in their developing relationship. Maybe I was too involved in the actual heist.
Contents: Several explicit sex scenes, minimal cussing, minimal violence, a few typos.
Other 4-5 star books by this author: The Proposition and The Indiscretion. I loved them both. Her alternative pen-name is Judy Cuevas. Under that title, she wrote Bliss, among other things.
However, Stuart — that villainous viscount —has proof positive of her fraudulence. So, the blackguard blackmails her: Go to prison or run one of your clever confidence tricks against my thieving uncle.
Emma, tied to a chair, upside down, bloomers exposed, tries to meet his demands before he sends for the sheriff:
"We could do, I suppose, a poke with a send."
This is a VERY clever story, written in 3rd person POV from hero and heroine -- and that's all, thank you very much -- with plenty of tension around trust and sexual control (slight flavor of BDSM). The dialogue is entertaining, witty, and includes heated double entendres. Some internal dialogue, but not too much thinking, and not repetitive (I wish all authors were as restrained.) There are varied references to the past -- his miserable childhood, her unhappy marriage -- but these reflections and discussions actually feel integral to the story, and never become maudlin. Emma and Stuart do not wallow in their past misfortunes. They are clearly survivors, not victims trapped by the mental hooks of the past.
Great suspense plot. Engrossing, watching to see how the hustle played out exactly, and if nasty Uncle Leonard would fall for the "poke and send" confidence trick. It felt so real. Vivid. Credible.
Fun, seeing how Stuart fell headlong for Emma Hotchkiss. Or Hotch Kiss, as he once said. Did I mention his stutter? Loved his response when Emma complimented him on how his speech flows with a certain cadence.
It's also sizzling smoking hot at times. On the roof. In the chair. On the rug. They're pretty much magnets, even though she resists mightily.
It's abundantly obvious that Judith Ivory did her research. The narrative includes fairly extensive details on lambing in Yorkshire and common confidence games used by swindlers in 1890's London. However, these details do not overwhelm the story.
Quibbles? Just minor ones. Ivory described the hero's eyes as "round" several times, which kinda bugged me out. Also, a peer of the realm wedding a country widow of no pedigree? Nah. Well, okay. After all, he is eccentric, and after his childhood he deserves happiness.
Very minor quibble: This book did invoke more emotional involvement than many other romances. However, for some reason, I didn't get fully absorbed in their developing relationship. Maybe I was too involved in the actual heist.
Contents: Several explicit sex scenes, minimal cussing, minimal violence, a few typos.
Other 4-5 star books by this author: The Proposition and The Indiscretion. I loved them both. Her alternative pen-name is Judy Cuevas. Under that title, she wrote Bliss, among other things.
June 7, 2009
I had a very hard time finishing this one. I like the concept of the book: con artist heroine has to help hero regain personal property, but it was not executed well.
Emma Hotchkiss is a vicar's widow, a sheep farmer, and a reformed confidence girl. She and her now-deceased husband once ran con games in London, until a close-call made them rethink their ways and retire to the country. In the intervening years, Emma's husband Zach began to embrace a gin bottle more than her, and she began to resent the loss of their free former lifestyle. When he passes on, she takes to tending sheep and caring for her neighbors. It is one of these sheep that brings her into acquaintance with Stuart Aysgarth, Viscount Mount Villiers.
Stuart has just returned home from decades abroad after his evil father's death, only to find that his uncle has declared him dead and assumed the title of Viscount Mount Villiers. In the midst of his legal battle to resume his rightful title, he is beset upon by a crazy woman sheep-farmer who claims he owes her 50 pounds for a sheep he may - or may not -have killed. He refuses to pay such an amount, and that leads Emma to step back into the role she left behind and try to fleece (pun intended) it out of him. When he catches her, he makes her a bargain: she can keep the 50 pounds and he won't turn her in, if she helps him regain a statue and some earrings that his uncle stole.
There were lots of things that bothered me about this novel. Stuart is very impulsive, very demanding, and he comes off as more of a spoiled child than a grown man capaple of assuming the title of Viscount Mount Villiers. He uses his strength and sexual wiles to twist Emma to his will. Most of the sex scenes between the two left me feeling pretty uncomfortable, as Stuart pushes Emma into places that she's uncertain about, all the while telling her she likes it, so that she starts to wonder if she does. I was kind of shocked at bondage-dominance-lite aspect of Stuart's sexual proclivities, when his father was known around the ton as someone who could only get off when he was hurting women. One would think that fact plus Stuart's hatred of his father, would temper some of these aspects of his personality, but it seemed to push him the other way.
Emma was an okay character. She wasn't as steadfast as I would think someone who has been in the con game would be, she gives in to Stuart pretty easily. And she's constantly thinking about her dead husband, Zach, and talking about him, and she didn't even really love him, so it's confusing why a dead husband is brought up so often.
This one IMO was not worth the time, I much prefer the other Ivory title I've read, The Proposition to this one. C-
Emma Hotchkiss is a vicar's widow, a sheep farmer, and a reformed confidence girl. She and her now-deceased husband once ran con games in London, until a close-call made them rethink their ways and retire to the country. In the intervening years, Emma's husband Zach began to embrace a gin bottle more than her, and she began to resent the loss of their free former lifestyle. When he passes on, she takes to tending sheep and caring for her neighbors. It is one of these sheep that brings her into acquaintance with Stuart Aysgarth, Viscount Mount Villiers.
Stuart has just returned home from decades abroad after his evil father's death, only to find that his uncle has declared him dead and assumed the title of Viscount Mount Villiers. In the midst of his legal battle to resume his rightful title, he is beset upon by a crazy woman sheep-farmer who claims he owes her 50 pounds for a sheep he may - or may not -have killed. He refuses to pay such an amount, and that leads Emma to step back into the role she left behind and try to fleece (pun intended) it out of him. When he catches her, he makes her a bargain: she can keep the 50 pounds and he won't turn her in, if she helps him regain a statue and some earrings that his uncle stole.
There were lots of things that bothered me about this novel. Stuart is very impulsive, very demanding, and he comes off as more of a spoiled child than a grown man capaple of assuming the title of Viscount Mount Villiers. He uses his strength and sexual wiles to twist Emma to his will. Most of the sex scenes between the two left me feeling pretty uncomfortable, as Stuart pushes Emma into places that she's uncertain about, all the while telling her she likes it, so that she starts to wonder if she does. I was kind of shocked at bondage-dominance-lite aspect of Stuart's sexual proclivities, when his father was known around the ton as someone who could only get off when he was hurting women. One would think that fact plus Stuart's hatred of his father, would temper some of these aspects of his personality, but it seemed to push him the other way.
Emma was an okay character. She wasn't as steadfast as I would think someone who has been in the con game would be, she gives in to Stuart pretty easily. And she's constantly thinking about her dead husband, Zach, and talking about him, and she didn't even really love him, so it's confusing why a dead husband is brought up so often.
This one IMO was not worth the time, I much prefer the other Ivory title I've read, The Proposition to this one. C-
February 14, 2015
Stuart Aysgarth, the new Viscount Mount Villiars, doesn't know he's playing with fire when he inadvertently runs afoul of Emma Hotchkiss. True, the exquisite Yorkshire lady is a mere sheep farmer, but she also guards a most colorful past that makes her only more appealing to the handsome, haunted lord. Emma has come to him seeking justice -- and Stuart is determined that she will not leave until she has shared her secrets ... and his bed.
She was shorter than he'd remembered. A plump, pretty little bumpkin. That was what he so liked: sweet, naive. Simple.
You got a land me boyo, as Emma was far from simple.
This one started off a bit slow and I stopped for a while but I am determined to finish books I start (if I can).
She caught a glimpse of his neck and upper chest - a remarkably muscular chest with a hint of fine black hair down the centre ...
Emma was no shrinking violet. I loved that she wasn't some beautiful, tall, willowy woman. She was normal.
"You keep me at arm's length, but the keeping me away is pulling me in."
"Englishwomen are so strange."
This one was between 3 and 4 stars for me.
"I will never be right without you."
May 8, 2012
Here's what I wrote in April, 2011 after finishing this book:
3.5?? 4??? I'm stuck. Liked the story, liked the ending (another big AWWWW one) but I didn't really connect with either the H/h.
Like I'm finding with lots of books Iinhaled read last year, it has definitely benefited from a re-read. Judith Ivory's writing is beautiful; her prose is so descriptive, her phrasing so witty and her grasp of the period - especially in terms of the vernacular - so precise, it's difficult to come away from one of her books without feeling as though you've been in a time machine.
I found myself laughing out loud from time to time at the interplay between the H/h, especially Stuart's advice as to where Emma could stuff his bank note after she writes to him demanding repayment for a lamb run over by his carriage.
And it just got better after that.
Stuart was earthy, a bit bawdy, and a complete charmer under a somewhat imposing exterior. I was completely enraptured this time around. I had a bit more trouble connecting with Emma, but in the end the decisions she made were in keeping with her character. And did I mention Stuart? ;D
Oh yeah - and this is the book with the "chair scene". Whew!
3.5?? 4??? I'm stuck. Liked the story, liked the ending (another big AWWWW one) but I didn't really connect with either the H/h.
Like I'm finding with lots of books I
I found myself laughing out loud from time to time at the interplay between the H/h, especially Stuart's advice as to where Emma could stuff his bank note after she writes to him demanding repayment for a lamb run over by his carriage.
And it just got better after that.
Stuart was earthy, a bit bawdy, and a complete charmer under a somewhat imposing exterior. I was completely enraptured this time around. I had a bit more trouble connecting with Emma, but in the end the decisions she made were in keeping with her character. And did I mention Stuart? ;D
Oh yeah - and this is the book with the "chair scene". Whew!
February 14, 2021
How to describe why I love reading Judith Ivory.
Everything is exciting when reading her books. It’s like seeing the world through technicolor and also looking through kaleidoscope that keeps changing. Kaleidoscope because the artwork is revealed piece by piece.
Stuart (I wasn’t sure about his name but I got to like it) what a dashing, elegant, exotic, smart, adventurous yet slightly childish character. Just the way I like them.
There is a scene with horses that doesn’t have much to do with the plot but it reveals a great deal about our characters. And I read it glued to the pages because I knew it will tell me more about Stuart.
I could read the most boring scene with such a deep characters.
And what a woman Emma is, you just have to read the book. Smart, straightforward and not afraid to express that she would like to be married to our main character. I was cheering fully when that happened. So many times heroine hold back for all kinds reasons always waiting for proposals. Drives me nuts. So thank you Judith Ivory for portraying a strong woman who is also has some weight on her.
I’m not sure if I enticed you to read this book. It is an unusual romance book. A book that strives to be more, maybe an exploration into sexuality and surrender, trust, confidence and freedom.
You will also learn a lot about con-men and the games they play.
As I said, it is exciting.
Everything is exciting when reading her books. It’s like seeing the world through technicolor and also looking through kaleidoscope that keeps changing. Kaleidoscope because the artwork is revealed piece by piece.
Stuart (I wasn’t sure about his name but I got to like it) what a dashing, elegant, exotic, smart, adventurous yet slightly childish character. Just the way I like them.
There is a scene with horses that doesn’t have much to do with the plot but it reveals a great deal about our characters. And I read it glued to the pages because I knew it will tell me more about Stuart.
I could read the most boring scene with such a deep characters.
“Perhaps you should announce we are lovers in the House of Lords.”
“Fine with me.” He smiled. It was. He’d be happy to tell every man there how he did it. He was damned amazed that he’d managed it on a chair. He half wanted to grab strangers by their shirtfronts on the street and tell them, You wouldn’t believe what happened to me. And with such a fine woman, too.“
And what a woman Emma is, you just have to read the book. Smart, straightforward and not afraid to express that she would like to be married to our main character. I was cheering fully when that happened. So many times heroine hold back for all kinds reasons always waiting for proposals. Drives me nuts. So thank you Judith Ivory for portraying a strong woman who is also has some weight on her.
“So watch yourself. I’d like to hold you to the bed and do things to you, kiss you, bite you ever so leaving little marks where my mouth has been, before I take you while you’re helpless. I love that, the power in it, the pretense of being a god. And I like other games, some I daresay I haven’t even invented yet. When it comes to sexuality, I’m perfectly adolescent about it. No,” he recanted, "more like an eight-year-old. I play. I have no shame. Only imagination.” He laughed again, a cynical staccato this time.
I’m not sure if I enticed you to read this book. It is an unusual romance book. A book that strives to be more, maybe an exploration into sexuality and surrender, trust, confidence and freedom.
You will also learn a lot about con-men and the games they play.
As I said, it is exciting.
August 24, 2024
Okay, ranking purely on vibes and did I enjoy the reading experience? Five stars, great prose! The sentences! Exquisite!
The romance though, wow that was a flop for me. Also the sex scenes were truly not sexy, beyond the dub-con of it all.
Loved loved loved the heroine Emma, or Miss Muffin, or one of her other great aliases. She's a former con-woman, she's run lots of games, she is pissed off that her male lamb was killed in a carriage accident (by the hero's carriage!!) and the path to her getting what's her due from that was exhilarating and hilarious.
but whew, the hero was a huge man baby, and he reminded me of a proto-kylo, and while he was super out there and extra I didn't find the power imbalance was addressed well in the romance at all.
His last speech/grovel was pretty okay though, so okay sure then!
CW: dub con, death of spouse (in the past), child abuse, implied domestic abuse and rape (in the past, hero's mother), animal death (lamb, on-page, grisly), gun violence, gun shot wound (in the past), racial slurs
The romance though, wow that was a flop for me. Also the sex scenes were truly not sexy, beyond the dub-con of it all.
Loved loved loved the heroine Emma, or Miss Muffin, or one of her other great aliases. She's a former con-woman, she's run lots of games, she is pissed off that her male lamb was killed in a carriage accident (by the hero's carriage!!) and the path to her getting what's her due from that was exhilarating and hilarious.
but whew, the hero was a huge man baby, and he reminded me of a proto-kylo, and while he was super out there and extra I didn't find the power imbalance was addressed well in the romance at all.
His last speech/grovel was pretty okay though, so okay sure then!
CW: dub con, death of spouse (in the past), child abuse, implied domestic abuse and rape (in the past, hero's mother), animal death (lamb, on-page, grisly), gun violence, gun shot wound (in the past), racial slurs
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July 5, 2023"We're already connected in a way that feels rare, a confiding, murmuring intimacy between us that, frankly, leaves me a little surprised and circumspect - I don't understand it.
If someone said that to me I would simply perish. END SCENE.
This book has everything that I love about Judith Ivory - and a handful of things that I don't. She's an absolute master at building unlikely intimacy in a way that feels raw and almost feral. Emma Hotchkiss, a con artist turned sheep farmer, and Stuart Aysgarth, a viscount with too many names, were absolutely delightful together. Ivory doesn't give us a heroine and tell us she's clever, she has the heroine running circles around us.
It's not perfect-- Stuart's background is underbaked and I think Ivory dropped in a few elements to exoticize him (he lived in Russia!) that were confusing and unnecessary. Emma is an absolute gem, and I would die for her. Stuart would too.
March 22, 2023
I liked the novel, even though stories about confidence tricksters aren't usually a favourite of mine. But it was done pretty well, and I was carried along by the story. The lush writing style and intriguing characters are different from the typical HR.
Stuart's background and experiences living in various countries, including, most recently, Russia, were conveyed well. He had led an interesting life, and was a very different kind of HR hero. Emma was a Yorkshire sheep farmer, who also had an interesting background, although very different from Stuart's. I always enjoy the complexity of Ivory's characters.
I imagine this book was pretty spicy for a HR when it was released in 2002. It's still pretty saucy today. The mutual attraction between Emma and Stuart did feel real, and I enjoyed their eventful journey towards their HEA. Not my fav book by Ms Ivory (due to the confidence trickster theme), but still well worth a read.
Stuart's background and experiences living in various countries, including, most recently, Russia, were conveyed well. He had led an interesting life, and was a very different kind of HR hero. Emma was a Yorkshire sheep farmer, who also had an interesting background, although very different from Stuart's. I always enjoy the complexity of Ivory's characters.
I imagine this book was pretty spicy for a HR when it was released in 2002. It's still pretty saucy today. The mutual attraction between Emma and Stuart did feel real, and I enjoyed their eventful journey towards their HEA. Not my fav book by Ms Ivory (due to the confidence trickster theme), but still well worth a read.
February 18, 2024
Meet Stuart, a Brit living in Russia who must race back to England after his father dies and after his uncle, Leonard, tries to claim Stuart is dead and therefore Leo is the heir (in one of the most brilliantly fast-paced and funny histrom openers I have read).
Meet Emma, a recently widowed Yorkshire sheep farmer who lives at the foot of the estate that is now Stuart's. She is outraged when a carriage pulled by eight glossy black horses runs over her only male lamb, and she vows to have reparations from the person who did it: Stuart.
She writes to him and asks for payment, a request that is refused multiple times. She then takes him to court. When that hits a dead end, she decides to use her own methods—and it transpires that she and her dead husband, Zach, were part of an accomplished gang of London fraudsters. So, she decides to scam Stuart to get back what she believes she is owed.
The friction between them arises for a number of reasons, the most thematic being that his station, wealth, gender and sheer force of personality allow him to have the upper hand, at least initially—which she chafes against, given her autonomous way of life, formidable intelligence and street smarts. It's a battle for control that lasts all the way to the end, even as they fall for each other.
This review is a little lame, because it's very hard to sum up the rest of this book. It's hard to do justice to any Judy Cuevas/Judith Ivory book, to be honest. But here are some random thoughts:
- Emma is wonderful. I mean, when her father tried to betroth her to a gross man at only 13, she not only ran away to London; she stayed for four years and came back married to someone else. "Emma loved her autonomy," Ivory writes. "She loved it the way most women craved security."
- Stuart! Stuart. What a guy. He wears a flamboyant greatcoat, has a large ego and does everything with great drama. He's also something of a golden retriever, charmingly enthusiastic about many things, particularly lovemaking and Emma.
- There is an incredibly hot scene involving a chair (IYKYK) that borders on forced seduction... but I loved it.
- Cuevas' writing is excellent as always. Peerless. There are a few scenes that will stick in my mind for a long time: their meeting in the bank, when he cuts down a tree, the roof scene, Stuart's memory of his mother in the last chapter.
- The last lines are stunningly beautiful.
I'm giving this four stars within the Judith Ivory Ratings Scale—this is more like five stars when compared with non-Judy four-star reads—but I didn't love it as much as I loved Black Silk or Beast. There were many lines, and moments, and scenes that I loved, and I loved both Stuart and Emma, but I only LIKED them together. Splitting hairs, but hey.
I think I'll need to reread this one. I think there will be a lot more to discover and enjoy the second time around. Plus, more time spent luxuriating in Cuevas' prose is never wasted.
Meet Emma, a recently widowed Yorkshire sheep farmer who lives at the foot of the estate that is now Stuart's. She is outraged when a carriage pulled by eight glossy black horses runs over her only male lamb, and she vows to have reparations from the person who did it: Stuart.
She writes to him and asks for payment, a request that is refused multiple times. She then takes him to court. When that hits a dead end, she decides to use her own methods—and it transpires that she and her dead husband, Zach, were part of an accomplished gang of London fraudsters. So, she decides to scam Stuart to get back what she believes she is owed.
The friction between them arises for a number of reasons, the most thematic being that his station, wealth, gender and sheer force of personality allow him to have the upper hand, at least initially—which she chafes against, given her autonomous way of life, formidable intelligence and street smarts. It's a battle for control that lasts all the way to the end, even as they fall for each other.
This review is a little lame, because it's very hard to sum up the rest of this book. It's hard to do justice to any Judy Cuevas/Judith Ivory book, to be honest. But here are some random thoughts:
- Emma is wonderful. I mean, when her father tried to betroth her to a gross man at only 13, she not only ran away to London; she stayed for four years and came back married to someone else. "Emma loved her autonomy," Ivory writes. "She loved it the way most women craved security."
- Stuart! Stuart. What a guy. He wears a flamboyant greatcoat, has a large ego and does everything with great drama. He's also something of a golden retriever, charmingly enthusiastic about many things, particularly lovemaking and Emma.
- There is an incredibly hot scene involving a chair (IYKYK) that borders on forced seduction... but I loved it.
- Cuevas' writing is excellent as always. Peerless. There are a few scenes that will stick in my mind for a long time: their meeting in the bank, when he cuts down a tree, the roof scene, Stuart's memory of his mother in the last chapter.
- The last lines are stunningly beautiful.
I'm giving this four stars within the Judith Ivory Ratings Scale—this is more like five stars when compared with non-Judy four-star reads—but I didn't love it as much as I loved Black Silk or Beast. There were many lines, and moments, and scenes that I loved, and I loved both Stuart and Emma, but I only LIKED them together. Splitting hairs, but hey.
I think I'll need to reread this one. I think there will be a lot more to discover and enjoy the second time around. Plus, more time spent luxuriating in Cuevas' prose is never wasted.
August 9, 2017
I had high hopes for this one - that it might be as good as The Proposition. It wasn't quite. One thing Ivory does very well is detail every nuance of interaction between two people. Their voice, intonation, accent, movement of hair, posture, scent, the way their clothing lays etc. She really does that well. She can elaborate on an interaction or conversation that lasts just minutes and go on for pages and it is not tedious! Still, the overall story just lagged in spots for me. I was expecting the art swindle to be more elaborate but I will say it was really clever to have the heroine's claim to fame be as a con artist in the art world of forgeries and other confidence games. All the characters are quite good. A fun read.
April 24, 2012
4.5/5 stars
April has been my month to read humorous books that cause me little or no stress - and Untie My Heart was a perfect match! I absolutely love the way Judith Ivory writes - she won me over with the Proposition - and this was almost as good (I hate to compare but I always do, can't help it). She has such a wonderful sense of humor and had me cracking up many, many times. She also has a way of writing the heroes in such a way that we really get to know them - somehow with other authors it always seems tipped in favor of the heroine, but I want to know more about what's going on in the guy's head. Well, Stuart is a great guy, loved him! Slightly odd, with a mild speech impediment, and a lot of "dark" thoughts (Wow, what a chair scene). Emma, Em or M also d/b/a Ms. Muffin - HA! - was a riot and had great spunk, was savvy and smart, while at the same time she had a very soft side too. She's a widow, her husband, Zack, died 10 months ago. She lives on a farm and has animals she cares for and bakes for the village. Zack was 20 years older than her and got her into various scams and hijinks. She met him in London when she ran away from home as a teen.
One day while on the roadside, a team of eight beautiful horses race by and run over Emma's prize ram. Of course she's upset, especially because the horses and their leader were reckless. She knows it's the viscount's team and she pursues him, trying to get remuneration for her loss. She's going to battle him for her money and is not taking no for an answer. Meanwhile, Stuart, the viscount, is just back from Russia. His father recently died and his uncle is trying to take everything that is due him - thinking he died while abroad. He was merely hiding from his tyrannical father. His uncle, Leo, is a huge jerk and has major part in the book.
The only problem with this book was how the couple kept vacillating back and forth with their feelings. Stuart was pretty consistent in his desire to be with Emma, but without any commitment. Emma was unsure of what she wanted.
I enjoyed watching them get to know each other and love one another. It was very believable. A tiny bit of angst toward the end, but nothing to put me into a tizzy. What a beautiful chance at happiness for two people who were denied it their entire lives - and they really made each other happy and laugh, the perfect recipe for a good marriage:)
April has been my month to read humorous books that cause me little or no stress - and Untie My Heart was a perfect match! I absolutely love the way Judith Ivory writes - she won me over with the Proposition - and this was almost as good (I hate to compare but I always do, can't help it). She has such a wonderful sense of humor and had me cracking up many, many times. She also has a way of writing the heroes in such a way that we really get to know them - somehow with other authors it always seems tipped in favor of the heroine, but I want to know more about what's going on in the guy's head. Well, Stuart is a great guy, loved him! Slightly odd, with a mild speech impediment, and a lot of "dark" thoughts (Wow, what a chair scene). Emma, Em or M also d/b/a Ms. Muffin - HA! - was a riot and had great spunk, was savvy and smart, while at the same time she had a very soft side too. She's a widow, her husband, Zack, died 10 months ago. She lives on a farm and has animals she cares for and bakes for the village. Zack was 20 years older than her and got her into various scams and hijinks. She met him in London when she ran away from home as a teen.
One day while on the roadside, a team of eight beautiful horses race by and run over Emma's prize ram. Of course she's upset, especially because the horses and their leader were reckless. She knows it's the viscount's team and she pursues him, trying to get remuneration for her loss. She's going to battle him for her money and is not taking no for an answer. Meanwhile, Stuart, the viscount, is just back from Russia. His father recently died and his uncle is trying to take everything that is due him - thinking he died while abroad. He was merely hiding from his tyrannical father. His uncle, Leo, is a huge jerk and has major part in the book.
The only problem with this book was how the couple kept vacillating back and forth with their feelings. Stuart was pretty consistent in his desire to be with Emma, but without any commitment. Emma was unsure of what she wanted.
I enjoyed watching them get to know each other and love one another. It was very believable. A tiny bit of angst toward the end, but nothing to put me into a tizzy. What a beautiful chance at happiness for two people who were denied it their entire lives - and they really made each other happy and laugh, the perfect recipe for a good marriage:)
August 31, 2017
Clearly this author's later works, work better for me and are to my tastes.
March 12, 2025
I love the plucky heroine, with her audacious past and unique skill-set. I love the hero, with his unexpected weaknesses and deliberate speech. A favorite quote:
"A bit odd, are you?" She was being sarcastic, trying to taunt him into a sense of guilt. While perhaps bursting any bubble in herself of misguided, soft-hearted concern for a man with sad eyes and complicated wealth.
Though his sexual inclinations were perhaps not the wisest of barbs to do either. he looked down at her, speculative. "Difficult to say." He actually answered the question seriously. "Legally? Decidedly. But then British laws on the subject are so guilt-ridden I'm surprised we've propagated as a race." He made a small, grim smile. "How delightful we're having this conversation. And what is it you like?"
Re-read #1 (4/4/14): Recommending this book to a friend prompted me to pick it back up myself. I had also recommended a number of Jennifer Crusie books to her, so imagine my pleasure to find at book's end Judith Ivory's thanks to her friend, Jennifer Crusie, for sharing her conman research. It looks like two of my favorite books, UNTIE MY HEART and WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, share some DNA across time and space.
"A bit odd, are you?" She was being sarcastic, trying to taunt him into a sense of guilt. While perhaps bursting any bubble in herself of misguided, soft-hearted concern for a man with sad eyes and complicated wealth.
Though his sexual inclinations were perhaps not the wisest of barbs to do either. he looked down at her, speculative. "Difficult to say." He actually answered the question seriously. "Legally? Decidedly. But then British laws on the subject are so guilt-ridden I'm surprised we've propagated as a race." He made a small, grim smile. "How delightful we're having this conversation. And what is it you like?"
Re-read #1 (4/4/14): Recommending this book to a friend prompted me to pick it back up myself. I had also recommended a number of Jennifer Crusie books to her, so imagine my pleasure to find at book's end Judith Ivory's thanks to her friend, Jennifer Crusie, for sharing her conman research. It looks like two of my favorite books, UNTIE MY HEART and WELCOME TO TEMPTATION, share some DNA across time and space.
Read
December 8, 2014Okay, since I may not finish, I just want to note for myself what's derailed me. The premise, so far, rests on the idea that the heroine has used past skills as con artist to gain just compensation for a lamb killed by the Viscount hero's coach while barreling through Yorkshire. Though anxious to remain law-abiding, she faces a man who has used the legal system to avoid fair compensation and her frustration drives her to seek redress by scamming his bank, forging checks and collecting the exact sum owed her, not a pence more, and it's cleverly done indeed.
She has no idea the viscount himself is neck deep in financial and legal quagmires that have left him cash-strapped and scrambling to recover what his unscrupulous uncle has stolen while the title was at issue before he returned to England to claim it.
The viscount is quickly onto her, sets a trap, captures her, and exponentially increases her petty swindle into grand larceny by using her fake account to obtain some of his own tied-up funds. So both are formidable adversaries and she's in deep. Then the viscount extorts her to scam his rotten uncle to get back two things of great importance to him. So she faces either immediate arrest or a return to her prior, dangerous, illegal way of life as the viscount's tool.
(I love J. Ivory's way of telling a story, it's real, the characters are so vivid in my mind, I can feel what they feel, almost. I love that. Of the H/h in this tale, I like her much better than him but both are well-defined and real to me.)
But then things went bad for me. She stopped being who she had been (smart, calculating, cool-headed) at precisely the moment I would've expected her to come about somehow and put up a fight...SPOILER AHEAD:
While tied to a chair, he rapes her and she caves in to his demands rather than face incarceration. (Is it rape? Well, she didn't consent to it, though she did suck his finger sort of voluntarily. It's not depicted as a seduction but a power play. He tells her he will show her just how violated he's been feeling...so I call it rape, others might not.)
Here's what I don't buy and it's a big disappointment: he threatens her with arrest but he needs her expertise to accomplish what he wants, to regain lost property with a minimum of public scandal. Why not call his bluff and tell him to go to the sheriff? She knows if she's in jail, he's out of luck with his uncle unless he can find another clever, experienced flim-flam artist pronto. But does she challenge him to see what he'll do or what she can negotiate? Nope. She's cowed. This is as far as I got and she may have something up her sleeve but I'm not much tempted to find out by reading more, I'm afraid.
For such a clever woman -- and I loved this about her -- she also ignores an obvious risk: Who's to say he won't betray her once she's helped him? He's made it clear he's capable of any 'violation.' Why doesn't she tell him she assumes she'll end up in jail sooner or later, so why should she go to all the trouble of putting her neck in another kind of noose beforehand? Why doesn't she pretend she'd feel safer behind bars than as a helpless pawn in his hands? She's such a cool customer during the entire bank scam, calculating her odds, judging risks, but now? She crumbles after less than two minutes. Where the hell did her gumption go???
What I loved about Judith Ivory's book, The Proposition, was that the two opponents H/h had strengths and vulnerabilities yet stood their ground, even when at a disadvantage, so that the way forward was earned through challenge and clever compromise. I respected each for their positions and loved how they evolved from them. Here, she knuckled under, even though he's made clear she has much to fear from him -- and no guarantee that he can be trusted. Sex made her stupid?
I love that the author did not repeat herself, these two characters are new, very different from those in The Proposition; however, I'm liking/respecting Emma less and less the more time she spends in the viscount's company, not a good omen. Nor does he strike me as any kind of prize male. He's bound her to a chair and is good for less than 120 seconds. Huh.
She has no idea the viscount himself is neck deep in financial and legal quagmires that have left him cash-strapped and scrambling to recover what his unscrupulous uncle has stolen while the title was at issue before he returned to England to claim it.
The viscount is quickly onto her, sets a trap, captures her, and exponentially increases her petty swindle into grand larceny by using her fake account to obtain some of his own tied-up funds. So both are formidable adversaries and she's in deep. Then the viscount extorts her to scam his rotten uncle to get back two things of great importance to him. So she faces either immediate arrest or a return to her prior, dangerous, illegal way of life as the viscount's tool.
(I love J. Ivory's way of telling a story, it's real, the characters are so vivid in my mind, I can feel what they feel, almost. I love that. Of the H/h in this tale, I like her much better than him but both are well-defined and real to me.)
But then things went bad for me. She stopped being who she had been (smart, calculating, cool-headed) at precisely the moment I would've expected her to come about somehow and put up a fight...SPOILER AHEAD:
While tied to a chair, he rapes her and she caves in to his demands rather than face incarceration. (Is it rape? Well, she didn't consent to it, though she did suck his finger sort of voluntarily. It's not depicted as a seduction but a power play. He tells her he will show her just how violated he's been feeling...so I call it rape, others might not.)
Here's what I don't buy and it's a big disappointment: he threatens her with arrest but he needs her expertise to accomplish what he wants, to regain lost property with a minimum of public scandal. Why not call his bluff and tell him to go to the sheriff? She knows if she's in jail, he's out of luck with his uncle unless he can find another clever, experienced flim-flam artist pronto. But does she challenge him to see what he'll do or what she can negotiate? Nope. She's cowed. This is as far as I got and she may have something up her sleeve but I'm not much tempted to find out by reading more, I'm afraid.
For such a clever woman -- and I loved this about her -- she also ignores an obvious risk: Who's to say he won't betray her once she's helped him? He's made it clear he's capable of any 'violation.' Why doesn't she tell him she assumes she'll end up in jail sooner or later, so why should she go to all the trouble of putting her neck in another kind of noose beforehand? Why doesn't she pretend she'd feel safer behind bars than as a helpless pawn in his hands? She's such a cool customer during the entire bank scam, calculating her odds, judging risks, but now? She crumbles after less than two minutes. Where the hell did her gumption go???
What I loved about Judith Ivory's book, The Proposition, was that the two opponents H/h had strengths and vulnerabilities yet stood their ground, even when at a disadvantage, so that the way forward was earned through challenge and clever compromise. I respected each for their positions and loved how they evolved from them. Here, she knuckled under, even though he's made clear she has much to fear from him -- and no guarantee that he can be trusted. Sex made her stupid?
I love that the author did not repeat herself, these two characters are new, very different from those in The Proposition; however, I'm liking/respecting Emma less and less the more time she spends in the viscount's company, not a good omen. Nor does he strike me as any kind of prize male. He's bound her to a chair and is good for less than 120 seconds. Huh.
February 10, 2010
This was my second Judith Ivory book and man, does this author deliver. She can WRITE. There were scenes in this book, specifically some of the dialogue between the hero/heroine, that literally made my stomach drop, made me swoon like I'd just gone over a cliff. A feeling I can find only one word for and it's a frothy, romantic one at that: rapture. Reading this book filled me with a sense of rapture.
It's the way she writes her scenes - they can take dozens of pages - but you don't mind it because you're so fully embedded in the moment with the characters that you're grateful for every word. You want the moments to last forever.
Not only is her prose sensibly beautiful (and by that I mean noticeably good without being superfluous. She writes well without writing for writing's sake, if that makes sense.) But this was one of the most sensual and erotic books I've ever read - and it's not even erotica. She writes with texture; you can feel it. That's the only way I can think to describe it.
From the very beginning, I started highlighting passages, the first of which was this one, where the hero wishes he could retract a recently-sent telegram:
"Stuart traveled to London by train, clattering along to the rhythm of self-reproach." I know it doesn't seem like much of a sentence, but it says so much about him with so few words. He's odd, this arrogant viscount with his dose of self-doubt.
And then there was this bit from the heroine at the start of the first sex scene, a scene that takes place after the hero catches her stealing from him and uses his cravat to tie her to a chair. Literally. Her hands are tied behind her back and her feet are bound to the legs of the chair.
"A point? He was going to drive home a point? What point? Not the one in his trousers, she hoped."
And in spite of the fact that it's awkward and strange, I will never forget the first sex scene in this book. It was delightfully unusual. Wonderful.
Five stars, Judith Ivory, be still my heart. I'm off to devour your back list. Look for me in your fan mail.
It's the way she writes her scenes - they can take dozens of pages - but you don't mind it because you're so fully embedded in the moment with the characters that you're grateful for every word. You want the moments to last forever.
Not only is her prose sensibly beautiful (and by that I mean noticeably good without being superfluous. She writes well without writing for writing's sake, if that makes sense.) But this was one of the most sensual and erotic books I've ever read - and it's not even erotica. She writes with texture; you can feel it. That's the only way I can think to describe it.
From the very beginning, I started highlighting passages, the first of which was this one, where the hero wishes he could retract a recently-sent telegram:
"Stuart traveled to London by train, clattering along to the rhythm of self-reproach." I know it doesn't seem like much of a sentence, but it says so much about him with so few words. He's odd, this arrogant viscount with his dose of self-doubt.
And then there was this bit from the heroine at the start of the first sex scene, a scene that takes place after the hero catches her stealing from him and uses his cravat to tie her to a chair. Literally. Her hands are tied behind her back and her feet are bound to the legs of the chair.
"A point? He was going to drive home a point? What point? Not the one in his trousers, she hoped."
And in spite of the fact that it's awkward and strange, I will never forget the first sex scene in this book. It was delightfully unusual. Wonderful.
Five stars, Judith Ivory, be still my heart. I'm off to devour your back list. Look for me in your fan mail.
October 22, 2021
4.5 'I'm so glad books like this one exist' stars
It's hard to think of anything that hasn't already been said about this author's immense talent for storytelling. One of my favourite HR authors (Pam Rosenthal) once called Judith Ivory/Judy Cuevas the Elvis of this genre, which I find an incredibly apt description.
Ivory's novels have a way of turning the reader inside out and challenging the rules of romance but never fail to hit the mark.
'Untie My Heart' is the single most decadent historical romance I've ever read. Off to an alluring premise, the two MCs turn what could have a barely interesting plot (I don't find confidence games fascinating per se) into something unforgettable thanks to their sizzling chemistry and plain fascination with each other.
Both Emma and Stuart have a few skeletons in the closet and have lived complicated lives (gotta love romances featuring ADULTS): as they discover each other's secrets, they inevitably succumb to a connection that is "unexpected, inchoate" and "too stunningly strong to name."
They have wildly different expectations of their affair, but this doesn't result in a stalemate: they challenge, frustrate and make fun of each other while unknowingly falling even deeper in love. Theirs can't even be described as a push and pull dynamic since they can't resist the attraction between them for longer than a nanosecond.
The ending is my favourite because it's disarmingly simple in its romanticism, and in beautiful contrast to all the smokes and mirrors of their previous interactions.
It's hard to think of anything that hasn't already been said about this author's immense talent for storytelling. One of my favourite HR authors (Pam Rosenthal) once called Judith Ivory/Judy Cuevas the Elvis of this genre, which I find an incredibly apt description.
Ivory's novels have a way of turning the reader inside out and challenging the rules of romance but never fail to hit the mark.
'Untie My Heart' is the single most decadent historical romance I've ever read. Off to an alluring premise, the two MCs turn what could have a barely interesting plot (I don't find confidence games fascinating per se) into something unforgettable thanks to their sizzling chemistry and plain fascination with each other.
Both Emma and Stuart have a few skeletons in the closet and have lived complicated lives (gotta love romances featuring ADULTS): as they discover each other's secrets, they inevitably succumb to a connection that is "unexpected, inchoate" and "too stunningly strong to name."
They have wildly different expectations of their affair, but this doesn't result in a stalemate: they challenge, frustrate and make fun of each other while unknowingly falling even deeper in love. Theirs can't even be described as a push and pull dynamic since they can't resist the attraction between them for longer than a nanosecond.
The ending is my favourite because it's disarmingly simple in its romanticism, and in beautiful contrast to all the smokes and mirrors of their previous interactions.
January 17, 2012
At this point in my reading life, I am incredibly picky about romance novels. The list of what they can't be is long and exacting, and I can't tell you how many I've started just to put them down half way through with a sigh of, "I will never be able to finish this drivel."
Judith Ivory is one of the best romance novelists out there. I just re-read both Untie My Heart and Black Silk and was amazed - AMAZED - at the depth of character in each.
Her writing makes the people, and the places, simply lift off the page. It all feels so real>.
Untie My Heart is a delicious read. The romance pushes the boundaries of comfort at times, but the characters are into that sort of thing, so it didn't feel forced. Emma and Stuart have tons of chemistry, good charisma, and individual quirks that can be funny and touching.
I can't recommend Judith Ivory highly enough. My personal favorite of hers is The Proposition (a sort of reversed My Fair Lady), but Untie My Heart, Black Silk, and all the others are each exquisite reads in and of themselves.
My only complaint is that she seemed to stop writing about ten years ago. Come back Judith Ivory (or Judy Cuevas, whoever you really are!)
Judith Ivory is one of the best romance novelists out there. I just re-read both Untie My Heart and Black Silk and was amazed - AMAZED - at the depth of character in each.
Her writing makes the people, and the places, simply lift off the page. It all feels so real>.
Untie My Heart is a delicious read. The romance pushes the boundaries of comfort at times, but the characters are into that sort of thing, so it didn't feel forced. Emma and Stuart have tons of chemistry, good charisma, and individual quirks that can be funny and touching.
I can't recommend Judith Ivory highly enough. My personal favorite of hers is The Proposition (a sort of reversed My Fair Lady), but Untie My Heart, Black Silk, and all the others are each exquisite reads in and of themselves.
My only complaint is that she seemed to stop writing about ten years ago. Come back Judith Ivory (or Judy Cuevas, whoever you really are!)
February 14, 2012
People always ask what books would be part of your romance conversion kit: this one. This one for sure, because of the incredible hero, the poetry, the sensuousness of the writing ... I could go on. And a sheep-farming heroine. Yes, surely the only one in romantic literature. The plot is absorbing but it's Stuart and Emma's story, all the way.
January 28, 2010
Judith Ivory!!! Where have you been my whole life? This was fabulous. Just when I thought I couldn't truly enjoy romance novels anymore...I get to read something that tickles me through and through.
August 28, 2010
Beautifully written book. The chair scene was unforgettable. This is my first Judith Ivory that I finished and won't be my last.
December 26, 2016
You know its a good one when you want the Hero to be for real...
RTC
RTC
January 20, 2016
One of the things I enjoy about Judith Ivory’s books is that there’s nothing predictable or repetitive about them, at least as far as I can see yet. So far I’ve had the pleasure of reading about:
- A good-natured London rat catcher and the elocutionist spinster who coaches him in speech and deportment (The Proposition)
- A brooding, ether-addicted sculptor and the bubbly, budding art appraiser who inspires his life and art in Belle Epoque France (Bliss)
- A stiff, aristocratic businessman and a talented female film director during the earliest days of moviemaking (Dance)
And now, with Untie My Heart, a viscount in financial straits and a former con artist turned Yorkshire sheep farmer. I love the chances Ivory takes in her stories; she’s not an author who tells the same kind of story, set in the same period, with the same kind of characters every time.
Stuart Aysgarth has recently inherited the title of Viscount Mount Villiars from his cruel, abusive father. Stuart’s hatred of his father drove him away from England, and he’s spent the past several years living in exotic locales. When word gets to him that his father has died, he’s in Russia, and by then his greedy and ambitious uncle Leo has swept in and declared that Stuart is dead, and that he himself is the rightful viscount now. Stuart hightails it back to England to take on his new role, but not before Leo has stolen from him, and tied up his money so he’s virtually penniless while sorting everything out.
Widowed vicar’s wife Emma Hotchkiss owns a small farm in the village near Stuart’s estate in Yorkshire. When the viscount’s coach flies down the road pulled by eight wild horses, her baby ram and all her hopes for future breeding of her sheep are killed beneath its wheels. Emma goes back and forth with Stuart’s servants and lawyers for months, trying to get the money she deserves for the loss of her ram, eventually winding up in court. She loses, of course, up against a viscount and his battery of lawyers.
Infuriated, and completely unaware of Stuart’s financial problems, she reaches back into the bag of tricks she hung up years ago, employing forgery in order to take the money from Stuart’s bank. When Stuart figures out Emma has stolen from him, he blackmails her into using her skills to help pull a con on Leo, so he can get back some of the items his uncle has stolen. The attraction between the viscount and Emma, which was pretty much instantaneous when they met, continues to grow as they work together on their scheme to recover Stuart’s belongings.
Emma and Stuart are complicated people with sad backgrounds, and neither one of them are saints, but they’re also both likable and easy to root for in spite of their flaws. Stuart, especially, is fascinating from the moment we see him, sweeping into the bank on a frigid winter morning as Emma, who is posing as a stenographer as part of her plot to steal from Stuart, watches in awe. Ivory’s description of his entrance is one of my favorite passages in the novel. She has a way of describing things so that you can really feel, see, smell, and taste them. Her writing is full of gorgeous sensory detail that not only puts you in the time and place she’s describing, but also serves to illuminate something about the characters.
He strode beneath a long dark greatcoat that flapped close to the ground about his legs, trimmed at the hem, cuffs, and lapels in silver-gray fur as thick and dense as batting. Amazing fur; she’d never seen anything quite like it. It lay, silvery and smooth, against vast amounts of dark wool. A simple style, yet...more somehow than most Englishmen would wear. Likewise, the coat was longer, more tailored across the broad chest and wide shoulders, narrower to his waist than English tastes allowed, while being oceans more voluminous about his long-striding legs.
Clothes. He was all clothes, she realized. She couldn’t honestly see him. Still. She found herself turned in her chair, craning.
In that one description, we start to see Stuart and know him -- the otherness, the foreign tinge that sets him apart from others of his country and his class. The way he uses style and clothing to seem imposing and in command, and to hide the vulnerability beneath; vulnerability Emma will come to see during their time together. Such good stuff! Ivory is a perceptive writer and an excellent prose stylist. I enjoyed this book a lot.
- A good-natured London rat catcher and the elocutionist spinster who coaches him in speech and deportment (The Proposition)
- A brooding, ether-addicted sculptor and the bubbly, budding art appraiser who inspires his life and art in Belle Epoque France (Bliss)
- A stiff, aristocratic businessman and a talented female film director during the earliest days of moviemaking (Dance)
And now, with Untie My Heart, a viscount in financial straits and a former con artist turned Yorkshire sheep farmer. I love the chances Ivory takes in her stories; she’s not an author who tells the same kind of story, set in the same period, with the same kind of characters every time.
Stuart Aysgarth has recently inherited the title of Viscount Mount Villiars from his cruel, abusive father. Stuart’s hatred of his father drove him away from England, and he’s spent the past several years living in exotic locales. When word gets to him that his father has died, he’s in Russia, and by then his greedy and ambitious uncle Leo has swept in and declared that Stuart is dead, and that he himself is the rightful viscount now. Stuart hightails it back to England to take on his new role, but not before Leo has stolen from him, and tied up his money so he’s virtually penniless while sorting everything out.
Widowed vicar’s wife Emma Hotchkiss owns a small farm in the village near Stuart’s estate in Yorkshire. When the viscount’s coach flies down the road pulled by eight wild horses, her baby ram and all her hopes for future breeding of her sheep are killed beneath its wheels. Emma goes back and forth with Stuart’s servants and lawyers for months, trying to get the money she deserves for the loss of her ram, eventually winding up in court. She loses, of course, up against a viscount and his battery of lawyers.
Infuriated, and completely unaware of Stuart’s financial problems, she reaches back into the bag of tricks she hung up years ago, employing forgery in order to take the money from Stuart’s bank. When Stuart figures out Emma has stolen from him, he blackmails her into using her skills to help pull a con on Leo, so he can get back some of the items his uncle has stolen. The attraction between the viscount and Emma, which was pretty much instantaneous when they met, continues to grow as they work together on their scheme to recover Stuart’s belongings.
Emma and Stuart are complicated people with sad backgrounds, and neither one of them are saints, but they’re also both likable and easy to root for in spite of their flaws. Stuart, especially, is fascinating from the moment we see him, sweeping into the bank on a frigid winter morning as Emma, who is posing as a stenographer as part of her plot to steal from Stuart, watches in awe. Ivory’s description of his entrance is one of my favorite passages in the novel. She has a way of describing things so that you can really feel, see, smell, and taste them. Her writing is full of gorgeous sensory detail that not only puts you in the time and place she’s describing, but also serves to illuminate something about the characters.
He strode beneath a long dark greatcoat that flapped close to the ground about his legs, trimmed at the hem, cuffs, and lapels in silver-gray fur as thick and dense as batting. Amazing fur; she’d never seen anything quite like it. It lay, silvery and smooth, against vast amounts of dark wool. A simple style, yet...more somehow than most Englishmen would wear. Likewise, the coat was longer, more tailored across the broad chest and wide shoulders, narrower to his waist than English tastes allowed, while being oceans more voluminous about his long-striding legs.
Clothes. He was all clothes, she realized. She couldn’t honestly see him. Still. She found herself turned in her chair, craning.
In that one description, we start to see Stuart and know him -- the otherness, the foreign tinge that sets him apart from others of his country and his class. The way he uses style and clothing to seem imposing and in command, and to hide the vulnerability beneath; vulnerability Emma will come to see during their time together. Such good stuff! Ivory is a perceptive writer and an excellent prose stylist. I enjoyed this book a lot.
December 22, 2018
DNF
I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It's not often you find a historical romance where the heroine is a "confidence" woman. Among a field of shrinking violets this one stood out. This was also my first Judith Ivory book. So I eagerly started reading after I added it to my kindle.
It is with regret, and also dismay, that I closed the book barely an hour after I began. It started out well enough. I quite enjoyed the style and prose. The heroine was strong willed, she'd have to be. After all, she used to play confidence games. Both the hero and the heroines characters were sketched out but you learned more of them through their interactions. It was intriguing.
Then I came to the scene. After discovering the heroin had pulled a fast one on him the hero managed to capture her in a hotel room where he promptly tied her to a chair. In this scene our hero holds quite a large amount of power over the heroine. Not only is she tied up, but he knows how she has swindled him and says he will go to the police unless she agrees to help him. The heroine is terrified of jail. Her fear lept off the page at me. The hero was unmoving, unless she helped him he would report her. And to seal the bargain? A kiss... that turned into quite a lot more. I was very uncomfortable reading this scene. Due to the power our hero held over the heroine, her immense fear, her being held captive by him, the scene played out much more like rape than it should have. Despite her saying she was attracted to him, the hero held so much power over her, never truly asked for her consent and just took what he wanted. Perhaps if the author had stopped it at the stage of a kiss it would have been fine. But she did not.
I closed the book after this scene and sat for a while, a general feeling of discomfort about what I had just read. I didnt want to read any more. I was done. So I returned it. If you are sensitive to scenes that some may consider non-consensual, then be aware, this book will be triggering. I am unsure if I want to attempt a Judith Ivory novel again, maybe down the road. But if I do, it will be a different book.
I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It's not often you find a historical romance where the heroine is a "confidence" woman. Among a field of shrinking violets this one stood out. This was also my first Judith Ivory book. So I eagerly started reading after I added it to my kindle.
It is with regret, and also dismay, that I closed the book barely an hour after I began. It started out well enough. I quite enjoyed the style and prose. The heroine was strong willed, she'd have to be. After all, she used to play confidence games. Both the hero and the heroines characters were sketched out but you learned more of them through their interactions. It was intriguing.
Then I came to the scene. After discovering the heroin had pulled a fast one on him the hero managed to capture her in a hotel room where he promptly tied her to a chair. In this scene our hero holds quite a large amount of power over the heroine. Not only is she tied up, but he knows how she has swindled him and says he will go to the police unless she agrees to help him. The heroine is terrified of jail. Her fear lept off the page at me. The hero was unmoving, unless she helped him he would report her. And to seal the bargain? A kiss... that turned into quite a lot more. I was very uncomfortable reading this scene. Due to the power our hero held over the heroine, her immense fear, her being held captive by him, the scene played out much more like rape than it should have. Despite her saying she was attracted to him, the hero held so much power over her, never truly asked for her consent and just took what he wanted. Perhaps if the author had stopped it at the stage of a kiss it would have been fine. But she did not.
I closed the book after this scene and sat for a while, a general feeling of discomfort about what I had just read. I didnt want to read any more. I was done. So I returned it. If you are sensitive to scenes that some may consider non-consensual, then be aware, this book will be triggering. I am unsure if I want to attempt a Judith Ivory novel again, maybe down the road. But if I do, it will be a different book.
June 22, 2011
Oh, I liked this one a LOT. I'd have to say that Stuart (despite the terrible name) is one of my favorite leading male characters out there. Thanks to him, the sex is slightly kinky and hot - good stuff. And the interplay between the wills of the two characters is great fun to watch develop, there is a lot of ground covered in their relationship. I'd say this is my favorite novel by Judith Ivory.
I had to re-read this. Judith Ivory's language is so beautiful, it is impossible not to fall in love with these two very flawed and unusual characters. It makes me think of the Japanese word "wabi", which means "a celebration of irregularity, imperfection, incompleteness". Two more beautiful, imperfect characters I can't imagine.
I had to re-read this. Judith Ivory's language is so beautiful, it is impossible not to fall in love with these two very flawed and unusual characters. It makes me think of the Japanese word "wabi", which means "a celebration of irregularity, imperfection, incompleteness". Two more beautiful, imperfect characters I can't imagine.
January 27, 2015
I'm totally in love with this book and with “Stuart Winston Aysgarth, The Right Honourable Viscount Mount Villiars" He's the perfect book hero for me. A bit of an alpha male with a roguish sense of humor. He is unbelievably sexy and vulnerable...nursing a hurt so deep that dear courageous Emma can't help but fall in love with him! I would give this 10 stars if I could. This romantic book is definitely a keeper. I absolutely ADORE it!!!
February 6, 2010
Ivory pushes some boundaries here, experiments with defintions of consensual sex and other hot button topics. It should be no surprise that she pulls those scenes off beautifully. She has a masterful command of dialogue, and of her time period and setting, and she knows how to tell a story. Nothing boring here, or predictable.
May 30, 2018
What a fine book. A complicated and delightful plot. Enormously likeable heroine and hero. A whisper of sultry vicuna and a troika bell tinkling over lush British countryside. And it all starts with one small, sacrificial lamb. If you are a fan of good writing and excellent characterization you'll find that and more in Untie My Heart.
May 9, 2015
Did I mention the chair scene? Oh, man. The chair scene! This book would rate ten stars if the second half had been as fabulous as the chair scene.
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