From Product Description:

Title from container.

Performed by Anne Flosnik.

In container (17 cm.)

Compact disc.

From the cozy confines of a tiny seaside village to the glittering crush of a fashionable London soiree comes an enthralling tale of a thoroughly mismatched couple poised to discover the rapture of love.

Normally, I can finish off a 300 page book in a day and once I'm about 50 pages in, I can't put it down. It took me four days to try and get through this book and I still couldn't bring myself to finish it. I finally stopped somewhere around page 200 and moved to another book. It was simply too much. I kept telling myself it would get really good in the next few pages and it just ... didn't. No matter how hard I tried to like it, I couldn't. It was a major disappointment because I was really looking forward it based on the description and reviews. <br /> <br />Harriet ran the gamut of being highly annoying, ridiculously insightful, dreadfully dull to unbelievably naïve. The book spent way too much time emphasizing her fascination with fossils and not enough time on anything else about her. We are to believe that she was the only person insightful enough in Upper Biddington to put together that Gideon's previous fiancée was, in fact, pregnant by another man and that's why he dumped her. <br /> <br />Gideon was a more likable character but the book did not spend enough time on him and to be honest, I couldn't grasp his motivations for doing anything. A good deal of his behavior was a mystery. More time was spent on Harriet digging around for fossils than on Gideon. It was a waste. <br /> <br />As for the a majority of the circumstances in the book, most of them were horribly contrived and not at all believable. Gideon's father, the earl, also had a love of fossils? Not at all probable. Harriet gets into a coach with her friends to go visit someone who has a tooth and gets herself kidnapped and just waits for Gideon to come rescue her? Then convinces Gideon not to duel and yet she knows how important his honor is to him? Harriet has the rudest servant known to man and yet hasn't fired her? Even after repeatedly correcting her? Harriet is warned repeatedly not to go down to the caves once Gideon starts his investigation and yet she does which results in Gideon and Harriet being trapped together? Uh huh. Once inside the cave they get carried away? Yet they hardly know each other? Please. <br /> <br />I didn't feel any romance but then I only made it to page 200 before I gave up. I got tired of the fossils and teeth and not really understanding why anyone was doing anything.

I *loved* this book. The writing was not perfect, but the storyline and characterizations more than made up for that! <br /> <br />The best part of this book for me was the way it avoided all those tired old romance cliches -- most particularly the one where if the hero and heroine would just talk to each other the central conflict would be solved in 5 pages. Gideon and Harriet just plain *don't* have misunderstandings. They each have their own internal conflicts, and they have believable conflict in their relationship, and there is of course outside conflict, but none of this is ever the result of assumptions or stupid misunderstandings. <br /> <br />Just one example (spoiler, of course): <br /> <br />Harriet's friends kidnap her to Gretna Green to marry one of them, so that she won't "have to" marry Gideon. He considers for maybe *one second* that she might not want to marry him after all, basically shrugs and thinks "if she didn't want to marry me she'd have said so" and goes off to rescue her. When he finds her, she's not flustered or afraid that he'll be mad at her; she *knows* that he knows she wouldn't have gone off that way of her own accord. <br /> <br />They *trust* -- it's amazing. <br /> <br />Harriet is a fun, quirky heroine, and Gideon is the perfect tortured hero -- not *too* tortured, and not without reason. <br /> <br />What a great, great book! I couldn't recommend it more highly. I've told three people about it just today, and I only finished it last night! <br />

I feel guilty even attempting to write a review since I could not get past the first 4 chapters. The female lead, Harriet, was an idiot and I could not even tolerate her character. I finally put the book in the "garage sale" box and moved on... I hate giving up on a book but in this case I had no choice.

This was my first Amanda Quick book and I absolutely loved it. I have since read four more of her books and can see that there is a pattern here and quite a lot of repetition. I could barely make it through Seduction but absolutely loved Surrender. This is one of my favorites though and would highly recommend it.

Ravished is beloved my many readers and has been in my TBR pile for some time. After many disappointing reads lately, I was excited to get out of my slump by reading something that comes highly recommended by so many. I finally picked up Ravished. After a sluggish start I had some doubt, but KEEP GOING! The last half was priceless and I can honestly say that it lived up to all the hype! It's a keeper. <br /> <br />The CHARACTERS are what make this book special. There is a mystery within it's pages that's okay, and there is certainly a strong plot, but it's mainly Harriet and Gideon that make this book what it is. Very few authors have the talent to make me love their heroines more than their heroes. Garwood is the only other writer I can think of that consistently makes me love the lady more than the hunk:) Harriet is truly special and I loved her more and more as the book progressed. She is SMART (a paleontologist) , FUNNY (has consistent witty dialogue), LOYAL (believes in Gideon), and HONEST (readily communicates feelings). I adored her for all these reasons and find that these traits are often times missing in heroines from Romancelandia. <br /> <br />You may of read that this book has a beauty and the beast theme. It does in that Gideon has scarring on his face, but other than that, this hero has no imperfections. He had it all and I loved reading about his past and what makes him tick. Harriet is his perfect mate, and vice versa. This couple *sparkles* with chemistry and energy and I was flipping pages as fast as I could and laughing all the way. It is a treasure. Enjoy!