 | Related to Home and Garden | |
|
|
| |
| Everything and the Moon (Lyndon Family Saga) | 
 enlarge | List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.21
You Save: £4.78 (68%)
Buy New/Used from £2.21
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6818
Category: Book
Author: Julia Quinn
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Studio: Piatkus Books
Manufacturer: Piatkus Books
Label: Piatkus Books
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown)
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0749908955
EAN: 9780749908959
ASIN: 0749908955
Publication Date: December 4, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
Not quite the moon... maybe a sprinkling of moon dust May 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Whether you believe in love at first sight or not, there is something magical about the idea, something whimsical and inherently young about it. Robert Kemble, Earl of Macclesfield, wasn't a believer until he stumbled across Victoria Lyndon one summer's day, and lost his heart. In a swift courtship over a halcyon summer, the pair fall head over heels and make plans to elope. However, the intervention of both disapproving fathers leads to disappointment, disillusionment and heartbreak.
Seven years later, while attending a house party, Robert discovers the family governess lost in the maze. It's her! And he's so furious he doesn't know whether to kiss or kill her. For Victoria it's just another cruel twist to an extrememly bad day, and his refusal to leave her alone only makes things worse.
No matter what he feels for her, Robert knows he can't live without her, but when she refuses to be his mistress, he feels as lost and heartbroken as he had seven years earlier. A trip home soon sets him straight about outside interference, but when he seeks out Victoria to beg her forgiveness, he finds her gone. She could be anywhere, but he has to find her. He can't lose her again...
For Robert this is a tale about love and trust, of finding that one special person and moving heaven and earth to make sure he never lets her go. But for Victoria it's something different. When she first falls for Robert she is young, naive and easily influenced. She believes that love is everything, and that's all they need.
Seven years of hard, thankless work make her bitter, insecure and uncertain of her life. After the second time of Robert breaking her heart though, she finds an independent place, which finally allows her to feel secure and be herself. When Robert shows up again she doesn't want to give that up, not for him, nor everything he offers - not even the moon.
For all the love between these two it takes a lot of time for them to actually understand each other, and what they want from life. Their bitterness makes it difficult for them to trust, but in the end this is a lovestory, and it finally conquers all. (Including Robert's annoying controlfreak streak.)
Bittersweet at times, but mostly charming, it's a wistful tale showing the development of JQ towards the master of her genre that she is today.
(Oh, and Ellie, Victoria's enterprising younger sister, goes on to much greater things in 'Brighter than the Sun'.)
 "The Big Misunderstanding" after love at first sight March 29, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Do you believe in love at first sight? Julia Quinn states in her introduction that she doesn't think that she does but she decided to write a book about it. Obviously this would be a very short book if hero and heroine fell in love at first sight and then lived happily ever after so in order to produce some more pages it couldn't go that smoothly; thus the "Big Misunderstanding".
Regency novels these days seem to fall into two groups - the "Big Misunderstanding" group or the "Pride & Prejudice" group (where the hero and heroine dislike each other at the start and have to slowly change their opinions). Generally I prefer the latter sort of book as there tends to be more character growth and variety whereas the former type can often get annoying in the lengths the author has to go to in order to keep the protagonists apart with the misunderstanding when one quick clear conversation would sort it out.
And that's my problem with "Brighter than the moon". Hero and heroine were about to elope but it was prevented and both then went through the next seven years assuming the other had been at fault and didn't really care about them. When they meet again, with Victoria working as a governess and Robert, the Earl of Macclesfield, living the life of a rake, they talk (or argue) at length about what separated them but neither explains their side of what happened. If they had done then the Big Misunderstanding would be over, as would the story. Eventually Robert finds out some of it from Victoria's sister but even when that is sorted he has rubbed her up the wrong way enough for her not to fall into his arms. Most of this book they spend bickering - Victoria in a decidedly unladylike way - and Robert also seems to spend a lot of his time stalking her and generally hassling her.
For me this book didn't really work. Aside from the historicity (Regency English people speaking modern-day American, Victoria's behaviour being completely inappropriate for her station, role, era, you name it) I found that I couldn't get into the story enough to really like the characters. By the end I was a bit bored with them both and it got monstrously soppy by the end - too cheesy for this English reader. There's a token baddie in the story who features in about four pages, various other minor characters who come and go, but most of it is about Victoria and Robert and for me there wasn't enough to their story.
 Disappointing July 4, 2000
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I've read several of Julia Quinn's novels and thoroughly enjoyed them but I was disappointed in 'Everything and the Moon'. I thought the beginning of the relationship was forced and not really credible and I found the story line rather disjointed.
 I didn't have a choice.. I had to finish it in one sitting! July 6, 1999
23 out of 26 found this review helpful
I started reading this book this morning on my way to work (I am a LIRR commuter) and I could not put the book down. Thankfully since I was able to finish my work in record time I was able to finish Everything and the Moon before lunch! I couldn't stop, I tried to slow down my reading (I tend to read really fast, only leaving myself to re-read the book after I've finished to learn of the things I might of missed) I even tried closing the book and waiting until my trip home, but I just couldn't. I loved Robert and I loved Torie (not to mention that I happen to love that nickname for a woman) and I especially loved the mention of the Duke of Ashbourne, which only served to remind me of Splendid (another one of Ms. Quinn's treasures)! This book, along with all of her other books, are delightful! Filled with love and laughter, wit and charm. If you do not read anything for the rest of this century, read her books. SPLENDID, DANCING AT MIDNIGHT and MINX, then EVERYTHING AND THE MOON and BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN, and finally TO CATCH AN HEIRESS and HOW TO MARRY A MARQUIS! You won't be sorry!
One of the best I've read May 20, 1999
3 out of 11 found this review helpful
I've been reading romances for years, and I think this is one of he best.
|
|
|
In association with Rustic Stone House Signs & House Plaques | | |
