Black Rainbow

Barbara Michaels usually writes wonderful Gothic romances with great plot twists, wonderful characters and witty dialogue. You won't find any of that here. I had to force myself to finish this dreadful book.

The "heroine" is actually the plain-looking and plain-spoken sister Jane. The governess who you think will be the heroine is a pretty idiot who can't see the obvious flaws in the man she works so hard to entrap. Except for Jane and a few workmen, every character in this book is so boorish, selfish or sociopathic that you don't care what happens to them.

Forget this book. Read instead Michaels' clever Stitches in Time or her even better Wait for What Will Come. They're both so excellent you'll mourn when you come to the last page.

Black Rainbow is a prequel to Someone in the House. If you read it in publication order, then you will watch the foreordained dance and have additional layers of enjoyment. If not, you still have a rather nice piece of historical fiction. Note that the novel is not romantic suspense or gothic romance as usually Barbara Michaels writes, but is well written and thought provoking. One character lets us see the time through a more modern glass, but it doesn't feel too out of place. Still the bit of "preachiness" about the upper class and women during the time moved it down a notch to 4.5 stars.

If you are looking for romantic suspense or a gothic, don't pick this book as you will not enjoy it. If you are willing to let it stand on its own show more merits as historical fiction, then give it a whirl. show less

I agree with the previous reviewer--not bad, not good, just middling. The romance was very off stage, so much so that I ended up feeling confused how the heroine went from "I don't think you're worthy of notice" to running off. Also the dual POV was a bit choppy, and at the end I was frustrated that the shallow heroine ended up finding love, and the stronger heroine was completely embittered towards men.

I really can't say I liked this one much. It just. . .seemed to lack. It started out strong, kept me interested until it changed point of view, but then it sort of lost momentum. The story started to drag. It also lacked the 'suspense' I was hoping for in this style of novel. The romance was. . .pretty absent. Hinted at, but you don't get to follow it. I also found the main character (Megan) a bit empty-headed. She wasn't *bad*, just. . .seemed kind of shallow. Particularly after the change in POV. Jane was better but her parts dragged far more. I found the plot was also stretched over too much time. There was too much 'summary' of things developing over several years, which did not help with the suspense. The end. . .well, what can I show more say? It worked. The innocent characters are left to go on. But there was no 'satisfaction' really for the reader. It was not a 'happily ever after', it was not a 'it all works out'. It was more. . .twisted, really. All in all. . .I did NOT care for this one show less