Status Updates From Forget the Glory

"I came back to tell you I was wrong. I thought I must and could live without you. My days in Sebastopol showed me the truth. I love you, little Mary Clarke, in a way I've loved no other woman in the world. I
will not let you go again—ever."

The storm at sea, the maddened horses, Crimean misery, the "vivandiere," the fall of Sebastopol... So much excitement! And the final scene is so satisfying too.

There's something about those sandstorms in the desert that always affects an English Raj officer and a girl, I vow and swear...

*pleased grin*

"I will not tolerate your making a disgusting public exhibition of yourself! You hoodwinked me into believing you wanted to learn, to climb from that pit of ignorance and squalor into which you were born. But it is damnably obvious you will never be more than a trooper's woman!"

All that harshness because she danced and men admired her? Way to fight your verboten feelings, Rowan.

The ladies of the station could not give him a medal, but did the next best thing. In the following weeks the officers' section of the hospital began to resemble a garden as posy after posy arrived for the patient.

A fine mess Rowan got himself into for having the hots for an unsuitable butterfly. I like Mary much better; she's lovable, and I deplore the way DeMayne treats her as if she were furniture.

This is so far the book that's captured my interest the most; I love how much of a fighter the heroine is and how much she wants to improve her lowly lot in life. The hero looks a bit of a typical rake for now.

Quite a page-turner :) I can't say I think much of Rowan--he has some seriously warped values and is so cruel and unthinking.

Mary is a wonderful character. What a tough life these women lived!

He walked slowly over grass thick with larkspur and forget-me-nots that grew in a riot of shot and shell that lay there still, even pushing their way through skulls and partial skeletons scattered in that evocative place.....

Cholera!

"Gladness! At going to war?...but what is to become of me?" she cried. He laughed exultantly. "You, my dearest, will come with me, naturally." "Come with you?...to war?" her voice had grown thin. "Whatever are you saying?" "You are now a military wife, Lydia. War is part of a soldier's life."

And that was the Political Officer's way of asking Rowan if he was prepared to undertake a dangerous solo journey on a broken-down mule miles from the help of his countrymen, playing the part of a simple pedlar and knowing discovery of his true identity would mean hideous torture and death.

I am reading this book quite slowly. I keep stopping to look up historical references. I am learning a lot about this era and enjoying the story as well! lol

Reading slowly on this book....I keep stopping to look up historical references: Crimean War, women British regiments into war, cholera...and the list goes on! lol Not only is this a good story line, but it makes me want to learn more of that ere!

"What had it all been for, they asked themselves. Why had thousands died by sword, sickness and extremes of weather? For what reason had boys agonized and been sundered only yesterday?...There was no victory, no glory in this! Why had they come?"

"It was time for the 43rd Light Dragoons to forget the glory and count the cost of their journey to war."

Can Mary and Rowan survive the sandstorm?