TITLE: The Veil of the NightAUTHOR: Lydia Joyce
STARTED: July 17, 2009
FINISHED: July 28, 2009
PAGES: 320
GENRE: Romance
FIRST SENTENCE: Graceless and sprawling, Raeburn Court was a pile of mottled limestone atop the bald hill.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Byron Stratford, Duke of Raeburn, walks in shadow. Spoken of only in whispers, he lives alone in his crumbling manor, a cold, enigmatic recluse. Rarely appearing by the light of day, he moves as a wraith in the night, answering to no man. He cares little for those who dwell outside -- and does not abide the intrusion of others, lest they discover his secret shame... This is the sinister man Lady Victoria Wakefield must confront if she is to save herself from her family's ruin. Little does she suspect that she will emerge from her journey into that night as his shining sun— or that the passion that radiates between them will be their only defense against the true darkness threatening to destroy them both.
THOUGHTS: This book is more erotica than romance. While Joyce does a superb job of capturing the mood of a Gothic romance, I felt the characters lacking. The characters were mysterious... in the sense that they had no emotional connection together. The dialog came across as trite and over written. I know that purple prose is pervasive in romance, but this was just too much. The book, for all its great setting, felt like a really bad daytime soap opera.
While the romance scenes were rather steamy and well written, those alone were not enough to save this book. The author can keep the setting and description, but needs characters I can actually see together.
RATING: 3/10 [Poor, Lost Interest]
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