Reviews for Spanish Serenade

The average rating for Spanish Serenade based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-03-20 00:00:00 Brian Conte 3.5-4-stars ***the heroine is blond, but has dark hair on the cover of the kindle edition. Yes, there are blondes in Spain, just as there are brunettes in Norway. This book is a part of Jennifer Blake's "Louisiana" collection. The previous books mostly focused on French Louisiana or at least Creole/French people if under Spanish Rule, but this book begins in Spain. The part of the book that takes place in Louisiana, is focused on the Spanish side of life in the colony. There is a lot of adventure and travel. There is a sea voyage from the old world to the new with stops in different locations and action in Louisiana and in Tejas, both under Spanish rule. Also, there are duels, attempted murder and murder, and a very evil villain. Sometimes (because I'm twisted ;-) like that) I enjoy the bad guy. This villain was not a "fun" bad guy. Completely ineligible for my "compelling" villian shelf. I've read several books in this series and Jennifer Blake has a way with dialog in some of these books in terms of enjoyable to read exchanges between the H and h. Her dialog here and in the other books of hers that I have read is far "above" the ubiquitous "witty or teasing banter" found in so many of more recent HR. There is serious stuff going on in this here book. The heroine, for me, merits a place on my "strong" heroine shelf. Though this heroine "only" has the "typical" convent education of a Spanish girl of her station in life, she does what she can to take charge of her life without bickering with men and tantrums when she is not getting her way. This may not be seen as taking charge of her life these days, though, because she calls in a man for help. The heroine, Pilar, is a woman of her times and Blake has refrained from giving her "modern" agency. Pilar knows what her limits are as a woman and results she'll get as a young un-married woman. So, she wisely enlists the aid of a man to help her to get out of an unbearable situation. Though the heroine doesn't have a "unconventional" interest or talent such as mathematics, swordplay or something," to make her palatable this girl has a native intelligence and ability to: ask reasonable, logical, rational questions that command deserved respect from the men around her and and from me as well. Brilliance in swordplay or geometry combined with irrationality pedaled as "independence" and spuriously attributed "common sense" are both dead in the water to me. Pilar is a woman of the time=period who has taken control of her destiny in a society where her evil stepfather legally has dominion over her, but in keeping with the times, she needs help from a man. A read with adventure and the added bonus of a sensible heroine. Here is an example of Jennifer Blake's writing (merits a place on my "romantic" hall-o-fame shelf on Goodreads!): Loc 5564 97% "No, my friend. Because of promises and pledges made in two hemispheres, unblessed but no less binding. Because of nights shared and dangers met and two minds that leap as one to a single conclusion. Because she is beauty and strength and truth, and I have need of them. Because she holds my soul in the hollow of her hand and keeps it secure when there is no other who will, or can. Because I must. Because she requires it."

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-09 00:00:00 Peter Seres Ooops, almost left this one unreviewed. It's been a week or more since I finished, so memory fails. But that's why we have book jackets to remind us :) 3.5 stars This is a bit different from Ms. Blake's usual southern romances, where most of them are French/Creole, our hero and heroine are Spanish and events in Louisiana and Tejas take place under Spanish rule. This book begins in Spain, with a heroine in peril due to her evil stepfather who has stolen what she should have inherited from her mother and he's going to lock her up in a nunnery. Elene enlists the help of a notorious bandit to steal the gold back and...well...you things don't always go according to plan and of course we need to keep the pair together so that they can fall in love (this being a romance and all). I won't go into details of the story itself, but our pair's adventure and takes them on the high seas, dodging robbers and Indians, snakes and plenty of heroic actions, sword fights and derring-do. I do like Blake a lot, and while this had plenty of action and surprises, for some reason I didn't warm up to this pair and their chemistry as much as I've done in her other books. For that reason and for the numerous typos I suspect came from converting the original to digital, I'm dropping the rating a half-star. I obtained my Kindle copy about two years ago, and perhaps those typos have been spotted and corrected.