Roland Colton

I enjoyed Forever Gentleman.I enjoyed the the writing mirroring the era of Jane Austen and her ilk. At times I felt the main character's goals or thoughts about his life were repeated unnecessarily. I felt I got to know the characters even though there were some mysteries to be discovered by the reader. The twist and turns, interesting characters kept me engaged to the end.

Book Description
Intrigue, Romantic Rivalries and Mistaken Identities Abound in This Engrossing Victorian Drama.

In a style reminiscent of nineteenth-century authors, "Forever Gentleman" is a sweeping saga of suspense, romance, mystery, and music. Travel back in time and experience Victorian London at its best and worst-a city of beauty and brilliance, and a city steeped in filth and despair. Meet Nathan Sinclair, a struggling young architect and gifted pianist who lives in the two vastly show more different worlds, mingling in high society while dwelling in suffocating debt and poverty. While performing at a gathering of London's elite, Nathan meets Jocelyn Charlesworth, a breathtakingly beautiful but temperamental celebrity heiress. Although smitten, she publicly humiliates him; their paths will intersect again in a most shocking manner. Meanwhile, Nathan makes the acquaintance of Regina Lancaster, a woman of remarkable inner beauty, despite her pedestrian appearance. He must decide whether to follow his heart and pursue Regina, or flee England altogether to avoid imprisonment from a miserly creditor. In his darkest hour, Nathan is offered a tantalizing proposition that might change everything, but that comes at considerable risk. Nathan must play his role perfectly, or he may lose his reputation, livelihood, and very life to the powerful echelons of Victorian society. Full of unexpected twists and turns, the book races towards a thrilling climax that will determine Nathan's ultimate destiny.

My Review
I love the Victorian period of London history and Forever Gentleman had plenty of details from that era. I especially enjoyed the character of Nathan Sinclair who seemed to be a down-to-earth talented classical pianist. The author allows us to feel everything Nathan is going through as he experiences the life of high society while living in debt and poverty. The book is also very rich in historical detail of architecture and classical musical. The story had many twists and turns and held my interest until the very end where we learn what will become of Nathan. I look forward to reading another book from this very talented author and I would highly recommend this book to those who like historical romance novels mixed with mystery. show less

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Forever Gentleman had a lot going for it in the first half and I had high expectations. The author does a marvelous job describing everything and really getting you absorbed in the time period. At the start I couldn't put it down. The book has a natural steady rhythm that felt easily connected and enjoyable...until the points of view start rapidly changing to characters most readers rather don't care about and the book goes from show more an interesting read to a "please let it just end already".

The flow was still natural, but I felt like my pleasant train ride was about to wreck nearly every turn after the love triangle sets in. In fact, the entire love triangle felt unnecessary in most places. While I understand the two girls represent many things individually, it was still overall frustrating and it could have been better executed.

By the last third of the book I was forcing myself to read it. Every time you think the book has a good point to wrap up, something else just has to pop up to keep it dragging. The last handful of chapters was hard to swallow. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on the reader's taste. In my case, it was a bad thing. After going through over 70 chapters, I was hoping for a more satisfying ending, but I was let down. Again I feel this has to do with me personally.

In the words of my boyfriend who I was talking to about the book as I was reading, "It became a more soap opera-y archie comic that keeps going and going...and I'm not so sure how good that is."

I can see some people enjoying it from cover to cover and it does have a lot of positives, but in the end it ended up just slowly falling apart and losing a lot of the magic for me. show less

I received this book as an Early Reviewer. Since others have given a good synopsis of what the book is about, I will just describe my impressions of the book. Going in, I was expecting something along the lines of a Jane Austen novel. And while there are indeed some echoes of Austen in the lively bantering between the characters, I felt the book resembled Dickens even more, in scope and plot. The main character, Nathan Sinclair, is a typical Dickens' nearly perfect hero, along the lines of show more Nicholas Nickleby. Regina Lancaster is likewise an almost perfect love interest in the Dickens tradition. Like many of Dickens' works, the book felt as if it could have been serialized, with many cliff-hangers along the way. Some parts, especially the first third of the book felt too long and drawn-out to me. The French dialogue, when used, was frustrating for me as I don't know French and the translations weren't accessible until the end of the chapter. But the author obviously did his homework. His descriptions of the London of that time, the architecture and music were detailed and felt authentic. I felt like I knew and cared about the main characters and couldn't wait to find out how the the book would end. So overall, I say kudos to the author! Well done! show less