Five out of five quills A REVIEW Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt
There is nothing quite like reading a good, ole ‘bodice ripper’. 1741, London, a gorgeous hero who can’t speak (oh, were they all like that) and a noble, single mother who is reawakened by this handsome man. And this is another exceptional story from storyteller, Hoyt.
A MAN CONDEMNED . . .
Falsely accused of murder and mute from a near-fatal beating, Apollo Greaves, Viscount Kilbourne has escaped from Bedlam. With the Crown’s soldiers at his heels, he finds refuge in the ruins of a pleasure garden, toiling as a simple gardener. But when a vivacious young woman moves in, he’s quickly driven to distraction . . .
A DESPERATE WOMAN . . .
London’s premier actress, Lily Stump, is down on her luck when she’s forced to move into a scorched theatre with her maid and small son. But she and her tiny family aren’t the only inhabitants-a silent, hulking beast of a man also calls the charred ruins home. Yet when she catches him reading her plays, Lily realizes there’s more to this man than meets the eye.
I couldn’t find where Vauxhall Gardens ever burned down but I suspect Hoyt’s story is steeped in history. I did find this a glorious time and found the following fascinating. Elizabeth Hoyt pleased me again by time traveling me back to a time that I adore. I high recommend this book for old and new fans.
Vauxhall Gardens, until about the year 1730, must have resembled one of the tea-gardens of our own time, being “planted with trees and laid out into walks;” and it was not until the above date that it became exclusively a place of evening entertainment; for Addison refers to it as the “Spring Garden,” and speaks of “the choirs of birds that sang upon the trees.” A fuller account of the gardens is given in a letter professedly written by a foreigner to his friend at Paris, in 1742. The writer had previously visited Ranelagh, and in reference to that place says, “I was now (at Vauxhall) introduced to a place of a very different kind from that I had visited the night before—vistas, woods, tents, buildings, and company, I had a glimpse of, but could discover none of them distinctly, for which reason I began to repine that we had not arrived sooner, when all in a moment, as if by magic, every object was made visible—I should rather say, illustrious—by a thousand lights finely disposed, which were kindled at one and the same signal, and my ears and my eyes, head and heart, were captivated at once. Right before extended a long and regular vista.
On my right hand I stepped into a delightful grove, wild, as if planted by the hand of Nature, under the foliage of which, at equal distances, I found two similar tents, of such a contrivance and form as a painter of genius and judgment would choose to adorn his landscape with. Farther on, still on my right, through a noble triumphal arch with a grand curtain, still in the picturesque style, artificially thrown over it, an excellent statue of Handel (Roubiliac’s) appears in the action of playing upon the lyre, which is finely set off by various greens, which form in miniature a sort of woody theatre. “These entertainments, which begin in the month of May, are continued every night. They bring together persons of all ranks and conditions; and amongst these a considerable number of females, whose charms want only that cheerful air, which is the flower and quintessence of beauty. These places serve equally as a rendezvous either for business or intrigue. They form, as it were, private coteries; there you see fathers and mothers, with their children, enjoying domestic happiness in the midst of public diversions. The English assert that such entertainments as these can never subsist in France, on account of the levity of the people.” I highly recommend this book!
Goes on sale today! http://www.amazon.com/Darling-Beast-Elizabeth-Hoyt/dp/1478957425/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413225043&sr=1-2&keywords=elizabeth+hoyt+darling+beast
Don’t miss my INTERVIEW with this author on October 25th!
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