Velvet Song

Since the first 2 books Raine has changed a lot due to the family tragedy and he is now "King" of the Outlaws living in a outlaw camp in the woods. Due to Alyx's own personal tragedies she has to be disguised as a boy and join the outlaws. Raine is a very prideful man and drove me a bit crazy at times but this was still a really great book. Alyx ends up having some crazy and dangerous adventures. Raine and Alyx and end quarreling a lot throughout the book and cause each other plenty of drama. But they fall very much in love with one another. There are a bunch of great side characters and we get to see previous Velvet Couples which is always great. The romance was steamy and the book kept me interested. A very good read.

Another step in the right direction for the Velvet series! This one takes the third brother, Raine Montgomery, and matches him with an extraordinary young singer named Alyx Blackett. The two of them face different challenges than the characters in the earlier two books; this one seems mostly to be a cautionary tale about not allowing one's pride to blind oneself to the ways other people are trying to help. It does contain the classic Deveraux "woman realizes she's wrong, wrong, wrong" scene, and I think that scene is unfair and unnecessary, but then I always do. I'd like to know who thinks those scenes are a good idea, frankly.

Maybe I'm getting burned out on this series, but each book has gone downhill for me. The constant bickering between the H/h for stupid reasons and the unlikeability of the heroine just made this book a drag. I wanted to see how the other Montgomerys were doing after the death of their sister, but this one was not for me.

Jude Deveraux is an author I first read many years ago and while some of her books definitely do not age well I do think the Velvet Montgomery Annuals Quadrilogy books do continue to be basically enjoyable to read. I have always enjoyed the interactions her characters have had and the places she sets the story. The plot can be a bit thin but overall I think it's a good beach read.

Alyx and Raine are both such lame characters, they deserve each other. This whole story was kind of awkward, with an unbelievable romance (not in the good sense) and an eye-roll worthy plot.

I love this actor. He has very good ideas about a honeymoon.

From BackCover:
They were both outcasts by a harsh decree, on the brink of a shared destiny of passion!

With her father murdered, her home burned, lovely Alyx Blackett fled to the woods -- and sanctuary in the camp of Raine Montgomery, a nobleman outlawed by the king's edict.

There she hid her beauty in the guise of a boy, and her sorrow in her work as Montgomery's squire.

But how long could such loveliness as hers be hidden? How long could such a gallant man's desires be blind? And soon -- even as a blood raged between the Montgomerys and the Chatworths, as angry swords clattered in the name of family honor -- one woman's love would make all the difference... one woman's love would inflame a hero's passion, touch a king's pity and raise show more a song of praise in every English heart. show less