emilyhei's review against another edition
4.0
Lady Mary Campbell is not your ordinary lady coming out into society, she is intelligent and can match any mans wits, has a will of her own and if she had her way would do away with her introduction to the season. With her first entrance she makes heads turns and quickly becomes known as outspoken and untameable, it does not however stop the single gentlemen from taking notice of the beauty she bestows and the desire to get to know her closer.
Hugh Redgrave, the Marquess of Ormond, had been warned but the man also secretly known as the "Nighthawk" had to see for himself if Lady Mary was as intriguing as she sounded. With an unsettling first meeting with the minx, Hugh finds himself wary of meeting her again, after all he does not want to get married anytime soon and when he is in her company, he finds himself thinking along that line. When Lady Mary becomes embroiled in discovering a double agent working both sides of the war, Hugh ends up not only trying to protect her but trying to keep her far away from her other suitors.
Thoroughly enjoyable story, Racing With The Wind had a spark of humor, bit of intrigue, and a sensuous cat and mouse dance between the notorious rake, Hugh and the alluring but determined Lady Mary. I enjoyed that Mary does not expect more from Hugh than who she knows he is, it really set the tone and left her character completely believable as a bluestocking hellion. Loved it, would definitely reread and pick up the next in what I hope is a new series
Review on blog
http://musingsfromanaddictedreader.blogspot.com/2012/09/racing-with-wind-by-regan-walker-blog.html
Hugh Redgrave, the Marquess of Ormond, had been warned but the man also secretly known as the "Nighthawk" had to see for himself if Lady Mary was as intriguing as she sounded. With an unsettling first meeting with the minx, Hugh finds himself wary of meeting her again, after all he does not want to get married anytime soon and when he is in her company, he finds himself thinking along that line. When Lady Mary becomes embroiled in discovering a double agent working both sides of the war, Hugh ends up not only trying to protect her but trying to keep her far away from her other suitors.
Thoroughly enjoyable story, Racing With The Wind had a spark of humor, bit of intrigue, and a sensuous cat and mouse dance between the notorious rake, Hugh and the alluring but determined Lady Mary. I enjoyed that Mary does not expect more from Hugh than who she knows he is, it really set the tone and left her character completely believable as a bluestocking hellion. Loved it, would definitely reread and pick up the next in what I hope is a new series
Review on blog
http://musingsfromanaddictedreader.blogspot.com/2012/09/racing-with-wind-by-regan-walker-blog.html
silvercal's review
4.0
Lady Mary Campbell has no desire to have a coming out but knows she must finally do so after delaying it for a few years to please her mother. At the ball, no one really captures her attention, as her attention is drawn to more un-ladylike pursuits, riding astride, helping her uncle with spy work and the like. She has no interest in marrying and having a chance at losing the one she loves, as she lost her father so many years ago. Yet one man manages to grab her attention with his dashing good looks and they share a smoldering kiss. Hugh Redgrave, Marquess of Ormond, knows his mother wants him to settle down and marry but he has no desire to do that after suffering a traumatic loss as a child. Once he sees the lovely Mary flying on her beloved black stallion, he thoughts adjust and as they spend more and more time together, he starts to think that Mary could be the one to finally make him want to settle down. However, her love for adventure, and in the process-danger, sets him on edge especially with his work work as an undercover agent. Can this headstrong, bold woman and this dashing rogue bent on protection find a way to compromise their interests to discover a deep, lasting love?
I have read quite a few debuts this year and each one has been a hit for me and I can add Racing with the Wind to that list now as well! I always enjoy stories where the heroine is a bit unique and in this case Mary is headstrong, outspoken, intelligent and determined with her desires to wear mens clothing to ride astride and desire to aid her uncle and country with undercover work. When Mary unknowingly stumbles into a dangerous mission in Paris, Hugh knows he must get her safely back to London. Convincing Mary to abandon her desires to aid her country almost prove deadly and she agrees to his plan. They travel from safe house to safe house and in the process, lose themselves in their passion. I really liked how Mary spoke her feelings, positive and negative, to Hugh as she felt them but Hugh was a bit closed off. It takes a dramatic ending for him to reveal his love and I wished he would have said them sooner, before the twists at the end. Hugh was strong, sensual and once he realized the depth of his feelings for Mary, nothing...and no one, including a vicomte or his own past, would stand in his way. Political intrigue is always hard for me as it just doesn't really interest me on a personal level but I did not feel overwhelmed at all in this story. There were wonderful tidbits of history sprinkled throughout and even some real life heros from the past make appearances and added to the story. I really enjoyed the attention to the fashion and felt like they were described in such a lovely manner, I could picture them in my mind. The attraction between Hugh and Mary is quick and the build up, with their sharp, quick dialogue and their hot kisses lead up to a beautiful, passionate relationship. This will surely please fans of action packed romances with a strong, determined couple not looking for love but when it finds them, they get swept off their feet. 4 stars
Review copy provided by the author, thank you!
I have read quite a few debuts this year and each one has been a hit for me and I can add Racing with the Wind to that list now as well! I always enjoy stories where the heroine is a bit unique and in this case Mary is headstrong, outspoken, intelligent and determined with her desires to wear mens clothing to ride astride and desire to aid her uncle and country with undercover work. When Mary unknowingly stumbles into a dangerous mission in Paris, Hugh knows he must get her safely back to London. Convincing Mary to abandon her desires to aid her country almost prove deadly and she agrees to his plan. They travel from safe house to safe house and in the process, lose themselves in their passion. I really liked how Mary spoke her feelings, positive and negative, to Hugh as she felt them but Hugh was a bit closed off. It takes a dramatic ending for him to reveal his love and I wished he would have said them sooner, before the twists at the end. Hugh was strong, sensual and once he realized the depth of his feelings for Mary, nothing...and no one, including a vicomte or his own past, would stand in his way. Political intrigue is always hard for me as it just doesn't really interest me on a personal level but I did not feel overwhelmed at all in this story. There were wonderful tidbits of history sprinkled throughout and even some real life heros from the past make appearances and added to the story. I really enjoyed the attention to the fashion and felt like they were described in such a lovely manner, I could picture them in my mind. The attraction between Hugh and Mary is quick and the build up, with their sharp, quick dialogue and their hot kisses lead up to a beautiful, passionate relationship. This will surely please fans of action packed romances with a strong, determined couple not looking for love but when it finds them, they get swept off their feet. 4 stars
Review copy provided by the author, thank you!
villanellesbian's review against another edition
2.0
Regan Walker is one of those writers who is so dedicated to her historical research (let me see your research archives!!!), and so adept at presenting ages past in a way that's accessible and immersive to her modern-day readers, that reading one of her novels is like stepping through a rose-colored glass and finding yourself transported to the 18th, 19th, or even 12th century - albeit, a slightly cleaner version of those periods, but her novels are romances and real life, especially when it comes to the past, is not romantic.
This dedication to historical detail and world-building is evident in RwtW, and while I may not have enjoyed myself particularly while reading this, nor felt transported seamlessly, I have to admit that she did a wonderful job bringing to life 1816 Paris and the few real-life historical figures she includes here. That being said, the colorful descriptions and the lively, if brief, portrayal of Madame de Staël are the only two aspects of this novel that didn't make me feel as though I were slowly dragging a cheese grater over my frontal lobe.
My biggest problems with this book, and great deterrents they are, are the heroine, Lady Mary Campbell, and the temporal and emotional pacing of this book.
I like bluestocking heroines, I love hellions who throw convention to the wind, and I especially love women who stand up for themselves in the face of injustice, whether or not it would have been socially acceptable at the time. Lady Mary tries to be all of these things, but falls horrendously short of the mark, straight into the territories of the Mary Sue and the Spoiled Brat.
She rides astride and in men's clothing, has a mind keen on politics and adventure, and is young, stubborn (and yes, stubborn is the word I'm using, not "dedicated"), and beautiful to boot. But her horsemanship is a limp, romantic lure more than it is a meaningful skill, her intelligence and capacity for logic are greatly overstated as evidenced by every single thing she does in this book and her interactions and reactions to every other character, especially the romantic hero, Lord Ormond, and while everyone falls in love with her there are no character foils to highlight her supposed virtues against. Lady Mary and Germaine de Staël are "smart" and "independent", and Mary's friend Elizabeth has some substance to her, but every other woman in this book is smoke on the wind. Her only romantic competition makes two one-line appearances early in the book and thenpops up at the end to drop an ill-timed bomb in our leading couple's lap . I didn't even remember that she was a part of the book until that happened, and by the time I had finished remembering so, she was gone again, relegated to very brief mentions and the problem is very suddenly and miraculously poofed away .
I can understand that there are going to be ends left loose or hastily tied together in a book that's only 314 pages long, but the amount of cast-off characters and shallow sub-plots only succeed at cheapening the whole of the story, instead of enriching it. A tapestry made of loose threads, hastily woven together is bound to fall apart, and that is what happens in RwtW.
Perhaps even more disappointing than Lady Mary's character is how badly this brevity and lack-of-depth affect the plotline and the romance, both of which have so much potential!
Had Regan Walker decided to stick to a wholly espionage-centered story, her strengths in historical accuracy and breathing life into long-dead historical figures would have flourished and created a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Or if she had perhaps not left the romance feeling secondary and abrupt - even though it was the central narrative - then perhaps it would have been a new favorite of mine. However, it seems as though she wrote half of each and tried to stick the two together, and ended up omitting the pieces of the puzzle that both mystery and romance readers truly love.
Sure, there are enough heady kisses and explicit scenes to satisfy a bored housewife, and the scenes involvingthe Prussian plot to oust Louis XVIII are exciting, but it still feels like everything has been left half-done. Take for instance the one dance our couple shares in the entire book; Ormond leads Mary out onto the floor, pulls her close for a waltz, and then suddenly the entire ball is over, we've changed perspectives, and all we're given is half a page of generic drivel about how romantic it was . Where is the actual romance? And why do I get the feeling that if Mary and Ormond weren't super hot for each other, there would be absolutely nothing between them besides an interest in horses? They want different things, they're terrible at communicating with each other, and neither of them is the kind to make concessions with regards to their future and relationship expectations. Because it's a romance novel, they get a happy ending, no spoiler there, but I honestly cannot see Lady Mary and Lord Ormond living happily ever after with each other - at least not for long.
So, while I am an overall fan of Regan Walker, I have to give Racing with the Wind two stars only, and I will gladly move on to the next book in the series, hoping that RwtW is an aberration, not the standard here.
This dedication to historical detail and world-building is evident in RwtW, and while I may not have enjoyed myself particularly while reading this, nor felt transported seamlessly, I have to admit that she did a wonderful job bringing to life 1816 Paris and the few real-life historical figures she includes here. That being said, the colorful descriptions and the lively, if brief, portrayal of Madame de Staël are the only two aspects of this novel that didn't make me feel as though I were slowly dragging a cheese grater over my frontal lobe.
My biggest problems with this book, and great deterrents they are, are the heroine, Lady Mary Campbell, and the temporal and emotional pacing of this book.
I like bluestocking heroines, I love hellions who throw convention to the wind, and I especially love women who stand up for themselves in the face of injustice, whether or not it would have been socially acceptable at the time. Lady Mary tries to be all of these things, but falls horrendously short of the mark, straight into the territories of the Mary Sue and the Spoiled Brat.
She rides astride and in men's clothing, has a mind keen on politics and adventure, and is young, stubborn (and yes, stubborn is the word I'm using, not "dedicated"), and beautiful to boot. But her horsemanship is a limp, romantic lure more than it is a meaningful skill, her intelligence and capacity for logic are greatly overstated as evidenced by every single thing she does in this book and her interactions and reactions to every other character, especially the romantic hero, Lord Ormond, and while everyone falls in love with her there are no character foils to highlight her supposed virtues against. Lady Mary and Germaine de Staël are "smart" and "independent", and Mary's friend Elizabeth has some substance to her, but every other woman in this book is smoke on the wind. Her only romantic competition makes two one-line appearances early in the book and then
I can understand that there are going to be ends left loose or hastily tied together in a book that's only 314 pages long, but the amount of cast-off characters and shallow sub-plots only succeed at cheapening the whole of the story, instead of enriching it. A tapestry made of loose threads, hastily woven together is bound to fall apart, and that is what happens in RwtW.
Perhaps even more disappointing than Lady Mary's character is how badly this brevity and lack-of-depth affect the plotline and the romance, both of which have so much potential!
Had Regan Walker decided to stick to a wholly espionage-centered story, her strengths in historical accuracy and breathing life into long-dead historical figures would have flourished and created a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Or if she had perhaps not left the romance feeling secondary and abrupt - even though it was the central narrative - then perhaps it would have been a new favorite of mine. However, it seems as though she wrote half of each and tried to stick the two together, and ended up omitting the pieces of the puzzle that both mystery and romance readers truly love.
Sure, there are enough heady kisses and explicit scenes to satisfy a bored housewife, and the scenes involving
So, while I am an overall fan of Regan Walker, I have to give Racing with the Wind two stars only, and I will gladly move on to the next book in the series, hoping that RwtW is an aberration, not the standard here.
villanellesbian's review
2.0
Regan Walker is one of those writers who is so dedicated to her historical research (let me see your research archives!!!), and so adept at presenting ages past in a way that's accessible and immersive to her modern-day readers, that reading one of her novels is like stepping through a rose-colored glass and finding yourself transported to the 18th, 19th, or even 12th century - albeit, a slightly cleaner version of those periods, but her novels are romances and real life, especially when it comes to the past, is not romantic.
This dedication to historical detail and world-building is evident in RwtW, and while I may not have enjoyed myself particularly while reading this, nor felt transported seamlessly, I have to admit that she did a wonderful job bringing to life 1816 Paris and the few real-life historical figures she includes here. That being said, the colorful descriptions and the lively, if brief, portrayal of Madame de Staël are the only two aspects of this novel that didn't make me feel as though I were slowly dragging a cheese grater over my frontal lobe.
My biggest problems with this book, and great deterrents they are, are the heroine, Lady Mary Campbell, and the temporal and emotional pacing of this book.
I like bluestocking heroines, I love hellions who throw convention to the wind, and I especially love women who stand up for themselves in the face of injustice, whether or not it would have been socially acceptable at the time. Lady Mary tries to be all of these things, but falls horrendously short of the mark, straight into the territories of the Mary Sue and the Spoiled Brat.
She rides astride and in men's clothing, has a mind keen on politics and adventure, and is young, stubborn (and yes, stubborn is the word I'm using, not "dedicated"), and beautiful to boot. But her horsemanship is a limp, romantic lure more than it is a meaningful skill, her intelligence and capacity for logic are greatly overstated as evidenced by every single thing she does in this book and her interactions and reactions to every other character, especially the romantic hero, Lord Ormond, and while everyone falls in love with her there are no character foils to highlight her supposed virtues against. Lady Mary and Germaine de Staël are "smart" and "independent", and Mary's friend Elizabeth has some substance to her, but every other woman in this book is smoke on the wind. Her only romantic competition makes two one-line appearances early in the book and thenpops up at the end to drop an ill-timed bomb in our leading couple's lap . I didn't even remember that she was a part of the book until that happened, and by the time I had finished remembering so, she was gone again, relegated to very brief mentions and the problem is very suddenly and miraculously poofed away .
I can understand that there are going to be ends left loose or hastily tied together in a book that's only 314 pages long, but the amount of cast-off characters and shallow sub-plots only succeed at cheapening the whole of the story, instead of enriching it. A tapestry made of loose threads, hastily woven together is bound to fall apart, and that is what happens in RwtW.
Perhaps even more disappointing than Lady Mary's character is how badly this brevity and lack-of-depth affect the plotline and the romance, both of which have so much potential!
Had Regan Walker decided to stick to a wholly espionage-centered story, her strengths in historical accuracy and breathing life into long-dead historical figures would have flourished and created a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Or if she had perhaps not left the romance feeling secondary and abrupt - even though it was the central narrative - then perhaps it would have been a new favorite of mine. However, it seems as though she wrote half of each and tried to stick the two together, and ended up omitting the pieces of the puzzle that both mystery and romance readers truly love.
Sure, there are enough heady kisses and explicit scenes to satisfy a bored housewife, and the scenes involvingthe Prussian plot to oust Louis XVIII are exciting, but it still feels like everything has been left half-done. Take for instance the one dance our couple shares in the entire book; Ormond leads Mary out onto the floor, pulls her close for a waltz, and then suddenly the entire ball is over, we've changed perspectives, and all we're given is half a page of generic drivel about how romantic it was . Where is the actual romance? And why do I get the feeling that if Mary and Ormond weren't super hot for each other, there would be absolutely nothing between them besides an interest in horses? They want different things, they're terrible at communicating with each other, and neither of them is the kind to make concessions with regards to their future and relationship expectations. Because it's a romance novel, they get a happy ending, no spoiler there, but I honestly cannot see Lady Mary and Lord Ormond living happily ever after with each other - at least not for long.
So, while I am an overall fan of Regan Walker, I have to give Racing with the Wind two stars only, and I will gladly move on to the next book in the series, hoping that RwtW is an aberration, not the standard here.
This dedication to historical detail and world-building is evident in RwtW, and while I may not have enjoyed myself particularly while reading this, nor felt transported seamlessly, I have to admit that she did a wonderful job bringing to life 1816 Paris and the few real-life historical figures she includes here. That being said, the colorful descriptions and the lively, if brief, portrayal of Madame de Staël are the only two aspects of this novel that didn't make me feel as though I were slowly dragging a cheese grater over my frontal lobe.
My biggest problems with this book, and great deterrents they are, are the heroine, Lady Mary Campbell, and the temporal and emotional pacing of this book.
I like bluestocking heroines, I love hellions who throw convention to the wind, and I especially love women who stand up for themselves in the face of injustice, whether or not it would have been socially acceptable at the time. Lady Mary tries to be all of these things, but falls horrendously short of the mark, straight into the territories of the Mary Sue and the Spoiled Brat.
She rides astride and in men's clothing, has a mind keen on politics and adventure, and is young, stubborn (and yes, stubborn is the word I'm using, not "dedicated"), and beautiful to boot. But her horsemanship is a limp, romantic lure more than it is a meaningful skill, her intelligence and capacity for logic are greatly overstated as evidenced by every single thing she does in this book and her interactions and reactions to every other character, especially the romantic hero, Lord Ormond, and while everyone falls in love with her there are no character foils to highlight her supposed virtues against. Lady Mary and Germaine de Staël are "smart" and "independent", and Mary's friend Elizabeth has some substance to her, but every other woman in this book is smoke on the wind. Her only romantic competition makes two one-line appearances early in the book and then
I can understand that there are going to be ends left loose or hastily tied together in a book that's only 314 pages long, but the amount of cast-off characters and shallow sub-plots only succeed at cheapening the whole of the story, instead of enriching it. A tapestry made of loose threads, hastily woven together is bound to fall apart, and that is what happens in RwtW.
Perhaps even more disappointing than Lady Mary's character is how badly this brevity and lack-of-depth affect the plotline and the romance, both of which have so much potential!
Had Regan Walker decided to stick to a wholly espionage-centered story, her strengths in historical accuracy and breathing life into long-dead historical figures would have flourished and created a thoroughly enjoyable novel. Or if she had perhaps not left the romance feeling secondary and abrupt - even though it was the central narrative - then perhaps it would have been a new favorite of mine. However, it seems as though she wrote half of each and tried to stick the two together, and ended up omitting the pieces of the puzzle that both mystery and romance readers truly love.
Sure, there are enough heady kisses and explicit scenes to satisfy a bored housewife, and the scenes involving
So, while I am an overall fan of Regan Walker, I have to give Racing with the Wind two stars only, and I will gladly move on to the next book in the series, hoping that RwtW is an aberration, not the standard here.
bosullivan's review
4.0
For anyone interested in Madame deStael, who figures in this book, the Merriweather biography is very good.
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