Customer Reviews

Love Only Once

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First off, here is the series in sequence: 1. Love Only Once 2. Tender Rebel 3. Gentle Rogue 4. The Magic of You 5. Say You Love Me 6. The Present: The Malory Holiday Novel

Because this is the first book of the series,  naturally, it contains a lot of introductory descripstions of everyone in the Malory family especially those who will be the primary heroes on the next novel.  I'd like to add that this add ons didn't overshadow the love story of Regina & Nick.  In fact, the additional spice made this book even more intriguing.  I read this book in one sitting.  Every character that J. L created and described peaked my interest esp. Regina's uncles James & Anthony. 

I decided to finish reading the whole series before i write the reviews so i can compare it all.  This book and The gentle Rogue is my favorite of all 6 in the series.  Regina and Nick's love story is warm and touchy.  Regina is definitely my favorite of all Malory's.  She is not only soft hearted but smart, strong willed, care free & fun.  Nicholas Eden is mysterious, a total RAKE yet Gentle & loving deep down.  There are times, Nick's choices annoys me no matter what his hidden reasons or dark past was.... but this is also what makes this book so enthralling.  Different emotions all out in one.  A great introduction to the Malory Series.

This is a funny fast paced romance. Lots of laughs
and plenty excitement. Nick is manly and charming;
the yummy silent type. All JL's great characters are
so witty. This book is sure to please any romance fan.

The main reason I could not enjoy this book more is that I spent most of the time furious at the hero. He acts callously and selfishly, but above all foolishly, because his "reason" to act like that is stupid in the extreme.

Imagine this, Nicholas is crazy about Regina, but would not consider marriying her, even after taking her virginity. The fact that she could well be carrying his child doesn't even enter his mind (...)And his reason for resisting marriage is that he is illegitimate and does not want to pass the stigma of his birth to his wife, if this fact comes to be known, as his supossed mother threatens to do. He has to be forced by Regina's uncles to marry her, which he longs to do, but resistes with all his might for the reason I mentioned above.

Now, this could explain why he rejects the idea of marrying, but does not explain why, once he gives in and marries her he abandons her for almost a year instead of enjoying his wife and even trusting her with his secret. He should have known that she would not reject him after knowing he is illegitimate, since her favorite cousin (who, by the way, is his best friend) is also illegitimate and she loves and accepts him.

But this is not all, when he finally returns to his wife, he doubts he is the father of her child. Oh, at this point I was boiling with fury and anticipating the part when he would grovel for his wife forgiveness. But guess what? It never came. He never apologizes for his despicable behavior, and his only thoughts are how to get his wife into bed again. And even more infuriating, she forgets about all he has done and wants him back in her bed too! This unrealistic behavior pretty much ruined the book for me.

And what about all the mistakes with the forms of address? All the males in her family are called "Lord Malory", when the proper form of addres would be for Jason "Lord Haverston" since he is the Marquess of Haverston and for the other brothers "Lord Edward Malory", "Lord James Malory" and "Lord Anthony Malory". Derek could not be the heir to his father's title, since he is illegitimate. And how did the title fo Viscount of Ryding came to be held by James when he is the third son and everybody knows that all the titles are held by the firstborn? And why is Anthony called "Sir Anthony"? Does he have a knighthood? And how did Edward come to be an Earl? It is not a common occurrence for second, third and fourth sons to hold titles, so I think this deserves some kind of explanation.

All the books in the series are full of these kind of mistakes and this makes me lose respect for the writer. I think that a good writer should know the details about the society she is writting about, to avoid making these silly errors that only cheapen her work and prevent the readers from taking her seriously.

Other books of the series are amusing, in a light sort of way, but they are enternainning nonetheless. My favorites are "Tender Rebel", "Gentle Rogue" and "Say you love me".

I have read Gentle Rogue, Magic of You and Love Only Once, in that order...and the last time I'd written a review i've said that I liked Amy and Warren's story than Georgie' and James's...and now, I take all those back and admit that Love Only Once is now my favorite Malory Book...I dont know if it's a spruce of the moment(however the saying goes)...it just happened...
But as I think about it, I wasn't really captivated from the 1st half...I started to be hooked half way through the book. It doesn't have the humor in Gentle Rogue and Magic of you. What I like about this novel is that it invoked deeper emotions than a usual Malory novel. This is where the Malory brothers were united and I noticed that they were not as active on this one as they were on the coming novels, That's why the story is more centered on Regina and Nicky. There are a lot of holes and flaws within the plot of the story but I won't enumerate those all; OBVIOUSLY, that's not the reason I gave this a 5-star rating. I just felt good and satisfied after reading it, and I say, that's what really counts!

I am a HUGE fan og Lindsey and this book was her at her best. If you are looking to dive into a new author or justa new series, look nowhere else, what you need is right here!

This book is great!!! Of course it has to be, it is a Malory novel!! Unfortuantely, I had read Gentle Rogue and Tender Rebel before reading this so I already knew what happened! But, there is nothing like reading it first hand!! This is another great creation by JL.

Set in 1817 London. Lady Regina Ashton, known by her family as Reggie, is brought up by her four uncles, Edward, Jason, James and Anthony Malory. This is her second season of attending balls and functions with the aim of finding a husband. Easy it might seem for such an exquisite beauty but not so with her four scrutinizing uncles to please.

On her way to a masked ball, she is kidnapped by one Nicholas Eden, Viscount of Montieth and notorious rake with mysterious and shameful past. She is held captive in his bedchamber for a certain number of hours and upon her release vows to marry the handsome rogue who has ruined her reputation. Thus commences the wooing of the Viscount of Montieth.

This is the first part of Johanna Lindsey's much loved Malory series. I found this book to be a run of the mill regency romance and was rather disappointed that it did not live up to other JL books that I had previously read. However, it is a good introduction to the Malory family, whom you will no doubt meet again in the sequels. An enjoyable and easy read although not the best in the series.

Look out for Anthony's story in Tender Rebel, the next in the series.

Lealing

It's rare that one hero will stand out so strongly with so many books out there, but Nicholas certainly does. He shines, as does Regina. My only complaint is that Nicholas turns a little mean at times. If you can overlook that, you'll love this book. The plot's not the strongest ever written, but there's something special about this story. It's very endearing and the characters seem very much in love. The uncles are great!

I enjoyed this book..I felt that it started out strongly... but then, I found myself flying through parts simply because I was becoming irritated by the whole "uncle" thing....on the other hand...I didnt think that the characters really spent enough time together..and I found the whole sub plot with Nicholas' real mother's identity to be not only thin, but predictable...all in all...this was entertaining enough, but definitely not Lindsey's best...

This is the first Lindsey book I read. With a little bit of searching I now own every romance novel she's written. I can't say enough about this book, but if you read it, be prepared not to be able to put it down. The romance between Regina and Nicholas is bittersweet and her uncles will have you in stitches. This is just one many books Ms. Lindsey has written about the infamous Mallory clan.