Reviews for Ravishing in Red

The average rating for Ravishing in Red based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-03 00:00:00 Michael J. Chapinski It's been a few years since I read Madeline Hunter. But, I didn't forget how good her writing is. Her style has an authentic feel that I love to read in historical romances. I like her choice of words and her use of subtle wit. This story wasn't particularly steamy, and at first, I was disappointed at how mild the love scenes were. But, as I continued to read, I came to realize that they fit this story. I love books in which the couple marries early, and the progression of the book shows how they come to know each other and fall in love as husband and wife. This book is no different. Sebastian and Audrianna had a very inauspicious start to their courtship, but it was deemed by fate, on many levels. I liked and respected both Audrianna and Sebastian. I think Sebastian turned out to be a wonderful husband, even though he doubted that he would be. He was raised in the shadow of a big brother who was the perfect gentleman, and his harridan of a mother never let him forget that. When Morgan, the Marquess of Wittonbury, was wounded in the war, and paralyzed, he stepped in to attend to Morgan's duties as the Marquess. Sebastian felt like his identity had been absorbed into that of his brother, and that he would never live up to him. He married Audrianna mostly out of duty, although there was not a little bit of desire there, as well. His brother immediately liked Audrianna, which spurred him to offer for her when her reputation is ruined. Although it's perfectly innocent, it doesn't look like it; as they are caught together in an inn room where they both go to meet the man who might have information about the adulterated gunpowder that lead to soldiers' deaths, and ruined Audrianna's father's reputation. Despite the reason for marrying Audrianna, he treated her with kindness and respect, and listened to her, meeting her needs. Soonafter, he gave his heart to her fully. Audrianna rejected Sebastian's marriage proposal twice, and finally agreed, having doubts as to the success of her union. She resigned herself to a ton marriage in which a husband's unfaithfulness was a forgone conclusion. She had no idea how she had stolen her husband's heart. This is a very strong, good read. It falls short of five star for me, because the passion seemed a bit muted, and it lacked a certain intensity that I like in a good historical. However, it's a very well-executed love story, with a captivating cast of secondary characters. I think it's also very successful as a historical; one in which I never felt like I was reading a modern book with window-dressing. This is one of those books I want to read when I yearn for a good historical, and I'm glad that Ms. Hunter delivered that reading experience to me. I must say that Sebastian makes a very polite jealous/possessive hero, with some good quotes that show he won't be a man to be cuckolded: "You will have to forgive me, Major Woodruffe. I am new to marriage, and perhaps more given to jealousy than some of the more experienced husbands that you know. It is possible that you seek only friendship with my wife. If, however, you entertain any other--" -Sebastian to Woodruffe (Audrianna's ex-fiance who comes sniffing around her now that she's safely married to a man of influence) "I assure you that such a thing is the furthest thing from my mind." -Woodruffe to Sebastian "Come now, Major. We are both men. Such ideas are never far from our minds at all. But if you do anything that causes me to think that your mind dwells long on that particular idea, I will thrash you, I will ruin you, and I will probably kill you." -Sebastian to Woodruffe "I did indeed say you could have lovers. But I never promised that I would not kill them. -Sebastian to Audrianna Those moments gave me some glee, as I do love my jealous/possessive heroes. I was glad that he intended to do his best to be faithful. I admired that he said he would do his best. Since he is not a man to lie or to shirk his responsibilites, and he is very much in love with his wife, I have no doubts that he will be faithful to her for the duration of his marriage. Before, Sebastian seemed to be rootless, but he found his home in his wife. I don't expect him to return to his wandering, rakish former ways. If you want to read a good, entertaining, historical romance that reads like a historical, I'd recommend Ravishing in Red. Ms. Hunter writes so beautifully, I feel you'll enjoy this novel.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-01-05 00:00:00 Max Bart This is the first by this author that I've read so it was something of a gamble for me; one that paid off, obviously, given my rating. It's a Regency era romance, but it has something of a different flavor than I'm used to and it took me a bit to decide whether I was in favor of it or not. In the end, I decided that I at least don't mind and the surrounding story was so engaging that I'd have probably continued reading even if I had found it off-putting. I've been trying to pin down how it differs from other Regency romances and I'll do my best to explain. I think at heart it is a kind of unabashed embrace of sentimentality that only works because it is completely sincere. In this book, Audrianna is pursuing information about the scandal that pushed her father into suicide. In doing so, she takes risks that appeared at first to indicate that Hunter didn't much care for actual Regency norms'like traveling on her own, renting a room in a hotel and meeting a stranger there. These are things that no Regency woman would even consider, or at least, be so concerned by the impropriety that she'd put her chances of achieving her aim at functionally zero. But Audrianna is committed to exonerating her father and her heart is engaged to an extent that is beyond simply extraordinary. Which is to say it's ramped beyond human norms and thus unrealistic. The thing is, if you can go along with this (and no, I couldn't really rewrite it in my head because there were too many other dependencies), then the story unfolds beautifully and delivers very poignant vignettes of uncertainty, trust, love, friendship, honor, and forgiveness. Vignettes that it absolutely earns, even if you take the background of unabashed sentimentality into account. The thing is, the sentimentality isn't static, nor is it limited to just Audrianna. It kind of permeates the story in a way that serves to highlight and underline other themes and motifs of the plot and characters. By dialing that aspect up, it highlights and brings forward the emotional aspects of the story in ways that would otherwise have been more subtle. And the weird thing is that even though I'm usually a big fan of subtle, I really enjoyed seeing the emotional dynamic play out center stage, here. So it turns out I have an unexplored sentimental streak (note, I don't say unknown, as anyone who knows me well will probably give me a big "duh" on that one). Which makes me wonder if the rest of Hunter's novels have that same background assumption or if this is an aspect of Audrianna's character. I kind of hope it's universal in her work as I look forward to exploring more of it. Of course, it also wouldn't have worked if the characters hadn't been engaging and the story interesting and the pacing excellent. Hunter also pulls off another amazing feat in making a plot about wartime materiel fraud work. It's a topic that's dry as old bones on its own, but investing it with the human interest of lies, betrayal, manipulation, and death made it as engaging as a plot of spy/counter-spy. It also gave a perfect backdrop for Sebastian to truly shine as the man of honor and determination who would fully earn Audrianna's love in the end'even though they start off absolutely opposed as he is the investigator who first shone the spotlight on her father. I loved that emotional arc and how they couldn't help developing a mutual respect despite being so fundamentally opposed in motive. Anyway, the ending was so powerful that I'm tempted to ramp this to five stars. I may decide to change it later, but I need time to digest that unabashed sentimentality and decide what I think about it. It could be problematic and your enjoyment of the story is going to depend heavily on if you can accept that strong background element. A note about Steamy: There are three or four explicit sex scenes in the story and that would normally pop this in the upper end of my middle range. But these scenes served so well to outline the growing trust and love between Sebastian and Audrianna that it really didn't rise that high. Really, really well done.