Reviews for After Innocence

The average rating for After Innocence based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-11-10 00:00:00 David Arnold [I initially felt for sorry Sofie who'd lived under the influence of a controlling and semi-crazy mother. Sofie also walked with a limp due to a childhood accident and was ostracized for being a cripple. The silver lining for Sofie was her art. She had resigned herself to a life without love, marriage and children. Then came Edward. . . . After seducing Edward during a brief friendship-turned-fling, Sofie rejected Edward's marriage proposal. (She had the guts to seduce him, but didn't have the balls to see out the consequences.) She loved him, but believed he didn't love her. This is where the story took a dive. The previously likable and relatively strong-minded Sofie turned into a whiny, cowardly ninny! She left New York without a word to Edward knowing she was pregnant. In the meantime he went to visit her, not knowing she'd left and was persuaded by her mother from acting further. Sofie finally wrote to Edward, telling him of the baby but was pissed when he didn't arrive in time for their daughter's birth. (Gee, maybe if she hadn't run in the first place and given him an actual opportunity to disappoint her first? I'd see a point in being so pissy then.) Once again, Edward asked Sofie to marry him but she ran away again without a word. Sofie never gave Edward a chance nor did she fight for him. She also never thought about her daughter's best interests, only her own. Her explanation later was because she was too scared. Bleh. Edward, too, transformed form hero-to-zero material in no time because he constantly made assumptions about Sofie without verifying any of them. He was initially sure that Sofie loved him: he could tell by her first painting of him, and the way she touched and looked at him. Edward also claimed to be experienced enough to know when a woman was in love with him, yet later he believed Sofie didn't love him because of her continual rejection of him. I get it. Yet Edward is convinced two years later that Sofie does love him because of the artwork she'd rendered of him while they were apart. So all it takes is artwork again?!!?! All right, then why didn't Edward just ask Sofie if she loved him or not? Communicate! Especially if he was so sure two years ago, because of the artwork! (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2012-02-24 00:00:00 Walt Kozlowsky Wonderful Turn of the Century Romance in the Art World, Joyce has a real winner in this one! Can you imagine what it would be like to have a disability such that you thought you'd never find love? And, wouldn't it be worse if your mother confirmed this fear by keeping you at home and sheltered? In this second in the 2-book Delanza series, we meet Sophie O'Neill, who is lame from having fallen down a flight of stairs as a child, but who is also a sensitive, gifted artist. Set in 1901 in New York and Paris (with a few scenes in Africa), the story begins in Newport Beach (think Atlantic Ocean) as houseguests of Susanne Ralston are gathering for a weekend party. Her daughter (by her first marriage), Sophie, a budding artist, is sketching on the beach when she sees a man she wants to paint. Unbeknownst to her, it is Edward Delanza, the wealthy diamond smuggler and rake who has just returned from Africa. As Sophie watches, the man makes love to a woman, right there on the sand. Sophie is unaware Edward has seen her. Fascinated by the girl he believes to be 18 (she is 20), Edward thinks to redeem himself by being kind to the young woman who has never come out of her shell. But he is more than fascinated and when she returns to New York City for her art classes, he follows her. Suzanne, Sophie's mother, is an interesting and dominating secondary character. She fears Edward is just like her first husband, that handsome rake Jake O'Neill whom she fell for at age 15, and so she tries very hard to keep them apart. It's a story within a story that you will find fascinating. I reviewed SECRETS, the first book in this 2-book series and only gave it 3 stars because it had story issues. I do think if you want to see more of Edward, you should read it first. But this book really outshines it. AFTER INNOCENCE is an intriguing, well-told love story set in the world of art at the turn of the century. Joyce describes the life of the artists in Paris, the Impressionists who are changing the face of art. It's also the coming of age of a young woman who has great depth of character. Joyce does unrequited love well and you will feel for Sophie as she makes the tough decision to deny the man she wants insisting on love. She confronts the trials of life and rises magnificently above all that she faces. In real life, Edward would never persist in his pursuit of her. Ah, but this is romance! We love it. I highly recommend this story. This is related to Joyce's Bragg Saga (see list below): Innocent Fire, June 1988 (Derek Bragg and Miranda) Firestorm, November (1988 Storm Bragg and Brett) Violet Fire, May 1989 (Rathe Bragg and Grace Dark Fires, June 1991 (Nicholas Bragg and Jane) The Fires of Paradise, April 1992 (Lucy Bragg and Shoz) Scandalous Love, November 1992 (Nicole Bragg Shelton and Hadrian) Secrets, April 1993, 7th in the Bragg saga and 1st in the 2-book Delanza Series, (Regina Bragg Shelton and Slade Delanza) After Innocence follows Secrets (Edward Delanza and Sophie)