Harlequin Historical * 167 * 4/93

Fair Game. A swirl of petticoats disappearing up a tree had been James Stewart's first sight of the impetuous Miss Shaw. And though he wondered even more what she looked like without all that lace to hide behind.

The impertinent soldier Stewart had an uncanny knack for turning up at the most inopportune times, usually when Jane was half-dressed. And if the truth of her activities became as hard to hide from him as her womanly charms were proving to be, her secret cause was surely lost!

from back cover

I enjoyed this book. I bought it when it first came out and have kept it. I re-read it periodically. The book takes place in the early 1700s, during the early years of the reign of George I. This setting is a little unusual for the basic romance novel, but I appreciate Ms. Tetel's desire to do something different. The historical details capture the flavor of this period and, as far as I can tell, are accurate.

The plot revolves around a murder and is a little thin in places. However, the relationship of the two main characters, Caroline Hutton and Colonel Richard Worth, is the main focus of the story and is told really well. These characters are not the stereotypical romance couple. Ms. Tetel has paid attention to character development.

The secondary characters are drawn equally as well.

Helen, left impoverished after her father's death, is on her way to her very first position as a governess. Her journey goes smoothly until she accidently takes the wrong luggage off the public conveyance. She is nabbed by a strange man and taken to the infamous gambler Mr. Darcy, who presents her with a shocking tale of blackmail and false identities. It seems that Mr. Darcy has followed a man from Italy to England, in pursuit of the luggage Helen now posseses because he believes certain documents are concealed within in it. He asks Helen to pose as his wife until he can locate the documents. It's the strangest thing she has ever heard in her life, but Helen accepts.

And thus Helen is swept up in an adventure that proves both dangerous and exhilerating. But she can't help but wonder...who exactly is Mr. Darcy? And how can Helen bare to part ways with him when the mystery is solved? The gambler seems to have won her heart.

The Blue Hour is an unusual and engrossing story. Modern-day lovers discover they have lived their relationship before -- with a tragic ending. This time, they are determined to get it right. The story line is complex and the details are richly presented. A worthwhile read for those who like intricate romance.

You will tell everyone about this book after you read it!

I was immediately taken away by the author's talent in situational description. All five of my senses were constantly being teased. I could see the settings and the look in the characters' eyes. I could smell the various aromas described; the cake, the lab, the hospital, the dance hall, the various characters and their living quarters. I could hear their heartbeats as they embraced, the music in both times, the puttering in the kitchen. I could almost taste the cake and was surprised to feel a different taste in the different times. I felt danger, adventure, romance, empathy, excitement, suspense, and surprise. I was so in touch with the characters that I found myself wanting to scream at them when they were in certain situations.

As an avid reader, I am grateful to the author for opening up a new world to me. After years of Clancy, Ludlum, Grisham, King and others, I am excited to explore the world of romantic adventure!

This is the greatest book I have ever read. No one should be without it.

While the plot is a fairly typical romance, aspects of the novel are top-notch. Obviously the author did a lot of research as it provides an accurate and detailed picture of customs, dress and lifestyles of the time. Often romances written in the 80s would have rape scenes in them, thankfully this does not. In fact, the heroine is quite strong and intelligent (which I thoroughly appreciated), and the circumstances of her marriage to the hero are not contrived in any way. And even though she has many 13th century sensibilities, I could completely identify with her. I enjoyed the book very much, and would recommend it.

I read this book when it was first published in the mid 80s. I then passed along my copy. It made enough of an impression on me that I recently used Amazon's used book service to obtain another copy. I enjoyed re-reading it.

The novel is written as a first-person narrative, a difficult trick to do well when writing the bedroom encounters. However, Tetel manages to do this extremely well.

Use of the first-person narrative has side effects, one of which is that you only see Roland (aka Guy) through the heroine's eyes. This might irritate some readers, who would like to know what he's thinking, but I appreciated the fact that like the herione, we can only know him through his actions and words. Roland is also a bit too omniscient and autocratic, but - hey- it's the Middle Ages.

This book just didn't maintain my attention. It's a simple book that can be read in a day or two, but it just didn't keep me long enough to do that. Instead it took me almost a week to finish, because I just didn't care if I read it or not. Unfortunately, I have to finish a book that I start... whether I like it or not... so in this case it was difficult.

The storyline is pretty good, however, just a little too detailed at times about thoughts and surroundings... just became a little too much. I couldn't really care about the characters much, because although I knew all their thoughts and feelings, I never really understood their motivations for some of their actions.

The characters continuously contradicted themselves... which isn't a big issue, since real life people act that way many times while they are undergoing change - which these characters were. There were too many details left unanswered or unresolved by the end of the story, and it seemed there should have been one more chapter to at least throw it all together.

The author constantly went back and forth with the hero and heroine's point-of-view so that the reader relived some events and moments repeatedly... becoming a bit too much.

This wasn't really awful, but I just didn't feel much for the characters or feel that I had to finish quickly to find out what's going to happen. There were some moments that I found quite charming, but not enough to recommend or carry this book. The moment when Sarah Ross Harris confronts Wesley Powell's father is almost ridiculous and quite impossible to believe that one could pull off such a scheme. I'm not looking for reality in these books, but sometimes they do get a little to far out there... such as this one.

The first half of the book was purely inane drivel which really drove me nuts (I planned to give this only one star for that)! Cathy sure sounded like a meddling, bossy 'mothering' spinster (not my idea of a heroine). The only highlight of this book was solving those cryptic letters Old Hitch left regarding his will (& his funny/ornery remarks about everyone). The latter half of the book was more interesting, but I had to skim a lot just to finish the whole story.