Unveiled

When I first picked up Unveiled, I thought I knew what I was getting into. Disguises, an unexpected ascendancy to a dukedom, star-crossed lovers... there's a certain cadence to these things. However, with Milan, every new chapter brought a surprise. That was the joy of her book: never knowing what was going to happen next.

Other things I loved were the symbolism, the pacing, the characterizations of the Dalrymple family. Margaret was fascinating and watching her growth from a spoiled princess to a depressed and discarded bastard to a loving and selfless woman was very rewarding. Her family also avoided being stereotypical. They alternated between loving and mercenary while maintaining their individuality. Even though I didn't like them, show more I felt bad for them, and that's infinitely more important.

The one thing I didn't care for was the hero. I know I know. How can I dislike someone as selfless and rich and handsome as Ash who clearly worships the ground Margaret walks on? The reason is simple: he didn't feel human. No matter what Margaret did or said, he was never mad at her. He always did as she asked, what everyone asked, and while he did have his faults, they were framed in a way that he felt he wasn't perfect enough. So he had to keep doing things to be accepted, especially with his brothers. Ash's relationship with his brothers often over-shadowed the love story, and it just didn't feel romantic.

If you're looking for a unique romance with great characters, I highly recommend this. It's well worth a read, despite my reservations. show less

The hero of "Unveiled", Ash Turner, is a perfectly imperfect functioning dyslexic. Not only has he managed to hide his learning disability from the world at large, he has triumphed in the business world. He is charming, stubborn, devoted to his family, single-minded, and the owner of a huge, vulnerable heart. He meets his match in Margaret Dalrymple, a caregiver who has not received enough care in her own life. Complicating matters is the fact that Margaret is the daughter of the man on whom Ash has reeked vengeance, revealing the man to be a bigamist and making bastards of Margaret and her brothers. Ash has done all this to claim the dukedom of Margaret's father, a self-serving lout who is a distant relative of Ash and his two show more brothers. Ash is devoted to his brothers and has lived his life in order to protect and provide for them, although his singular intent sometimes blinds him to the truth around him. Margaret and Ash are both wounded creatures, and their vulnerabilities become each other's strength. The romance is lovely, and Ash is a refreshing change from the smugly sensational heroes of many romantic reads--Ash makes it all worthwhile!

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This book is simply amazing.

I've been reading HR since I was 13 years old, and this genre has its own the good, the bad and the ugly. Emphasis on the last two. But there are rare gems which destroy all the usual cliche and rise above it all. Unveiled is a book like that.

First of all, Courtney Milan doesn't play by the rules.

I was reading the book and unwillingly drew parallels with Amanda Quick's Scandal. Both men are ruthless businessmen absolutely bent on revenge, however Amanda's Blade gets the woman and then softens and changes because she believes in him; Milan's Ash wants the woman and because she can't accept him the way he is, he changes first - there is a huge huge difference between them.

Ash is fascinating. He grew up show more literally on the streets and left the country at 14 to make a fortune and provide for his brothers. He is a severe dyslexic to the point of not being able to read at all, but he managed to build an empire because he can read people and judge their abilities really well.

Margaret is not your usual simpering miss, she's got balls of steel, but she doesn't know her own strength until Ash tells her that she matters, she is important. Everything he says to her is empowering her and sets her free, and it's really really wonderful...

“You’ve tugged on your bonnet strings five times in this conversation already. Why wear one, if it’s so uncomfortable? Have you any reason for it, other than that it is what everyone else does?”
“I brown terribly in the sunlight. I’ll develop freckles.”
“Oh, no. That sounds awful.” He spoke with exaggerated solicitude, but he leaned down from his horse until his nose was a bare foot from hers. “Freckles. And what do those dastardly spots portend? Are freckled people thrown in prison? Pilloried? Covered in tar and sprinkled with tiny little down feathers?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
He moved his hand in a lazy circle, ending with it stretched towards her, palm out. As if to say, explain why.
“Pale skin—a white complexion—is superior,” Margaret said. “I don’t know why I am defending a proposition everyone knows to be true.”
“Because I don’t know it.” Mr. Turner slid his finger under her chin. “Yet another reason why I am glad I am not a gentleman. Do you know why my peers want their brides to have pale skin?”
She was all too aware of the golden glow of vitality emanating from him. She could feel the warmth in his finger. She shouldn’t encourage him. Still, the word slipped out. “Why?”
“They want a woman who is a canvas, white and empty. Standing still, existing for no other purpose than to serve as a mute object onto which they can paint their own hopes and desires. They want their brides veiled. They want a demure, blank space they can fill with whatever they desire.”
.....
“Miss Lowell, you magnificent creature, I want you to paint your own canvas. I want you to unveil yourself.”

The whole book is like that, - a very easy, insightful and bittersweet read. If you want to try HR, go for Courtney Milan or Sherry Thomas - both go against stereotypes and both a sheer delight to read! show less

My first book by this author and nominated for the RITA, I had to see what it was all about. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm the odd one out in regard to it. I just didn't feel the love for Unveiled that everyone else has. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of revenge themes nor of self-sacrificing types who are much too saintly - this book had both. I grew tired of it early on. Maybe it's me, but the lengthy deception of Margaret's, disguised as a nurse instead of the daughter of the dying duke seemed interminable. Ash's instant attraction to her was just so unbelievable and boring for me, despite the fact he is her adversary. Yes, yes there was a lot of inner turmoil and self-analysis and ultimate realization that "Gee, I guess I show more really don't have to be a martyr to find fulfillment!" But by that point, at the end I'd already grown bored with it all, for it was all too obvious what needed to be done on their parts. I just wanted the book to end already and have them admit their love and to hell with their family obligations! I found it more frustrating than anything else, although I liked Ash's brothers and am looking forward to their books. show less

Ash is the eldest of the Turner brothers. He has done everything in his power to see to it that his brothers have everything after a heartbreaking childhood after their sister died, because she wasn’t given the medical help she needed due to their mentally unfit Mother. So he went abroad to amass his fortune. But to do that he had to leave his brothers behind in the care of his mother. When Ash returns from abroad, he finds out his brothers, Mark and Smite, had been on the streets of London for two years. And whatever atrocities that happened to them in those two years, they won’t speak of it to Ash. He feels extreme guilt for leaving them, but he also has overwhelming anger and hatred for his distant cousin, the Duke of Parford, show more who turned Ash away when he asked for help for his sister.

In the present, Ash finds out that the Duke of Parford is a bigamist, and that his children from his second marriage can’t legally inherit the dukedom. So Ash goes to Parliament to spill the beans (so to speak) on the Duke of Parford. Now Ash is in line to inherit as the Duke is dying — which for Ash is the perfect revenge for his family.

But Ash didn’t take into account what would happen to the Duke’s children, and one person in particular, Lady Margaret Parford. Through no fault of her own, Margaret has lost everything in her life, and she had to watch her mother die through all this heartbreak. So when Ash moves into the Duke’s estate, Margaret’s family instruct her to stay behind to spy on Ash whilst in disguise of a nurse to tend to her dying father.

I loved that Unveiled didn’t tick the usual settings when it came to a revenge plot. It was turned upside down, and the behaviour of the protagonists really showed a maturity rather than the usual, ‘I hate you, and I’ll never EVA forgive you’ and all the fighting back and forth which if not done well can come off as irritating.

Margaret has lost everything, so at first, it’s not hard for her keep up the charade of spying on Ash. She also has a deep pain inside of her for what the scandal did to her Mother, and there’s a heartbreaking scene where Ash notices her pain, and leaves her to her grief. But when she gets to know him (Ash gives her no choice :D ) and sees the goodness inside of him, I was glad to see the conflict inside of her when she realises he’s not a bad person. Margaret came off as brave and honorable when it came to her family which is exactly the same that Ash does for his. I didn’t feel as if Margaret had the upper hand over Ash with her disguise.

Ash was a great hero. He was approachable and he was genuinely nice, and to give up his childhood for his brothers, well, it showed what a true character he was. Sure, he was ruthless bastard when it came to revenge against the Duke, but to have that love and loyalty for his brothers was wonderful. Too often in historicals you have the high and mighty Duke whose has a veneer of ice in his approach due to his station. I want to see more historicals featuring characters such as Ash who are not part of the ton. To see him treat servants like they really mattered just endeared me more towards him.

The interactions between Ash and Margaret were the highlights for me. Despite being on the opposing end, Margaret didn’t try and hurt Ash on purpose. There wasn’t any forced antagonism. When Ash sees Margaret for the first time, he doesn’t think that she’s beneath him. He’s instantly attracted to her, but he treats her with respect. Margaret finds out just how much of a decent person Ash is which makes it so much harder for her to keep up the charade. She soon starts defending Ash and gives a bollocking to Mark and Smite for excluding Ash. She sees that Ash is vulnerable when it comes to his brothers, and this is where I find that Courtney excels at because she makes her characters human, and she makes them have heart.

I also loved the tension and dynamics she created between the Turner brothers. I really liked Mark, and I can’t wait for his book. I loved the contrast between them, and where Ash would tease Mark about his chastity. It will be mighty interesting to read Mark’s story and see how the heroine will pop his cherry :D . I do wish that there was more of Smite though. He seemed to pop up in the book, and then disappear again, and I didn’t get a feel for his personality. Then you have Ash who shows this confidence and brilliant mind for business, yet inside he feels inadequate to his brothers because of their intelligence, and harbours a secret that causes tension between him and Mark.

The situation with the revenge between Ash and Margaret’s family was resolved in a way that once again shows how much of a decent person Ash is, and it shows how much he truly loves Margaret.

Whilst Trial by Desire is my favourite Courtney Milan book so far (mainly because of my soft spot for Ned), I think Courtney is going strength to strength in each new release. Unveiled is a wonderful story that showcases a romance between a hero and heroine who go on a discovery with one another that uncovers how far they’ll go in their quests for the ones they love.

I give Unveiled an A. show less

I usually wait a few days to review the book I’ve read. Sometimes I wait weeks. I always need time to process, to absorb the story. Weigh points that I liked against the ones I did not. Well, that was before I read this book. I was done with it two minutes ago, and I just had to sit and tell you how much I loved this story. I’m still in kind of euphoria, sort of high. I’m afraid I’m just going to start gushing and gushing over the Hero, Ash Turner. Ms. Milan has introduced to us a character that will live with us for some time. I recall only a handful of such Heroes that sort of steal themselves into our hearts, and stay there for decades. Such as Johanna Lindsey’s James Mallory, Diana Gabaldons’ James Frazer, and recently show more Judith James’ Gabriel St. Croix.

Ash Turner is a flawed man, a man’s man. He’s not a tortured hero, like some reviewers described him. No, he’s more of a man with a lot of regrets. They are the ones that keep him awake at night. He’s also a man who loves his brothers to death and is not ashamed to show it. There is nothing he would not do for them. At fourteen, as the oldest, he had to leave his siblings with their mother while he went to India to make his fortune. That is something he seems to regret, yet at the same time he knows that there was no other alternative. It’s just something he knows he has to live with, except it. It is hard to do that when you come back and find your family, your brothers on the streets. But, he’s Ash, charming Ladies as well as servants is very easy to him. There is nothing fake about him. What he feels, we’re made to feel. When he speaks, we listen, we absorb. We get him!

And then we have Margaret. What a wonderful, poised, sweet, loyal, strong woman she is. We are made to love her slowly and gradually. How refreshing it is to read a book where two mature adults fall in love and the conflict they find each other in, straightens that love, gives it wings. This story will surprise you and take you on an unexpected journey. Don’t hesitate to take it! We are made to fall in love with both of these people in such an easy way. As Ash shows Margaret that she matters, we as readers feel that Ms. Milan is giving us a gift of our own and is telling us that we matter.

This story had everything a romance novel should have. All the characters were very vivid, extremely well-developed. In one scene, almost at the end of the book, we meet this butler, and even though we never meet him again, we SEE him, we KNOW him, and we GET the picture in our head. I’m sorry, I’m ahead of myself, and the only excuse I have is that I want to let you know that you just CAN NOT pass this read.

Often times, we can tell much of the book by reading all those blurbs on the back of it. In this case, we get only a glimpse of the story. Ms. Milan has given us a conundrum by having Ash seek revenge, and by putting Margaret in such a place of choosing loyalty to her family, or loyalty to Ash?! What, how does one choose?! We are kept in suspense until the bitter end, and it is so good once you read that part!

I understand that Mark’s story “Unclaimed” is next, and I am itching for it! show less

Anne Margaret was a lady who effortlessly belonged to the upper crust of society--until Ash Turner, her third cousin, revealed that her parents' marriage was bigamous. Now known to be a bastard, she and her brothers are utterly disinherited, and their cantankerous father doesn't intend to help them. Their last chance at regaining their titles is to win a vote in the House of Lords, and to that end Margaret pretends to be a nurse in order to spy upon Ash Turner. She discovers a number of secrets that would win her family's case, but she also falls in love with him. Margaret is torn between loyalty toward her brothers and her knowledge that Ash would make a much better duke than they would.

I didn't care a jot for the romance between show more Margaret and Ash--in fact, I ended up skimming portions of it, because it was so by-the-numbers. I was surprised, however, by the energy and depth the author managed to give to two well-worn tropes: Ash helps Margaret to respect her own judgement above society's, and Margaret helps Ash come to terms with his learning disability. I've read these kinds of stories a dozen times before, but Milan managed to imbue them with far more emotion and tension than I've seen elsewhere. Too, the relationships between siblings engaged me. I look forward to reading about Ash's brothers, who already have a great deal of personality.

That said, I hate the cover and the title has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Someday romance novels will not have titles and cover art assigned to them at random, but that day is not yet come. show less