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The Captive Captive Hearts Book 1 edition by Grace Burrowes Literature Fiction eBooks

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The Captive Captive Hearts Book 1 edition by Grace Burrowes Literature Fiction eBooks

In the Captive, arguably the most powerful book Grace Burrowes has written to date, the heroine stole my heart. As much as I dislike the label of "strong heroine," which is overused in reviews and, as such has been nearly stripped of its meaning, I'm at a loss for a better description.

Gillian, the Countess of Greendale, epitomizes of strength in the face of adversity, though, adversity is too mild a word for the personal hell her life had been while her husband was alive. And she managed a narrow escape from his nefarious posthumous plans, bruised, but by no means broken, because her husband's torment had taught her to think out of the box and defy him without engaging in direct confrontation. In other words, her thoughts and actions fit with the time period, in which she lives. And her experiences molded her to become the female counterpart of the hero.

After Christian returns home to England, hurt physically, but unbroken psychologically - the parallels are obvious - Gillian takes over the running of his household, and in many ways of his life, on the condition that he returns to his country estate and spends time with his daughter. There, during hot summer months, sheltered from the eyes of society, two damaged people find that their cracked edges fit together and their friendship heals their scars. Their love story is as heartfelt as it is compelling, and, endless orange peeling and lemonade swilling aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.


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The Captive Captive Hearts Book 1 edition by Grace Burrowes Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, has emerged from captivity where he was tortured by the French. Upon his return, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, informs him of his daughter’s struggles and together they repair to his country seat to reconnect with his daughter and begin a long healing process for Christian and ultimately Gilly.

This story was captivating (excuse the pun on the title) and rich. Christian suffered terribly in captivity and really had what seemed liked PTSD. He was jumpy with loud sounds, couldn’t eat, drink or sleep, and Gilly was there to put him on track to recovery. It was interesting how Gilly jumped into the role of co-dependent caretaker and completely ignored (avoided) her own issues. It isn’t until much later in the book that the full extent of Gilly’s trauma is revealed and the reason for her inability to move on as much as she forces Christian to do so.

But what I liked the most was what turned out to be Christian’s sensitivity. He came across hard and closed off in the beginning, but then as he started to settle in the country, spend time with his daughter, share his experiences with Gilly, he became something more than he was before he went to war. He shared his view of his marriage and the reasons for leaving for the war and the reader experienced his recovery through his words which was lovely. Gilly was a great listener and promoter of Christian’s healing and enjoyed receiving his spontaneous kisses, however, she wasn’t up to sharing much of her story at all.

Their falling in love was sweet…so tender, slow, platonic until abruptly it wasn’t. This line really had my eyebrows raise

“Spread your legs, love. Make a place for me, or tell me to sleep on the balcony” – Christian

I thought that was quite abrupt given how they usually conversed, but it worked obviously for them.

Definitely a worthwhile read and will go on my to be read again shelf I’m sure.

Another thing to note, that is more of a personal thing I think for me, was how the story was written. It was written very eloquently and reminded me of reading Jane Austen. It was almost Old English. As I am not an English major and have been out of school for many years, there may be a term for this, but it occurred to me that I was reading this as if I was truly in this time period. The descriptions, the conversations, were written in this manner that made me think that everything else I read is somehow “dumbed down”. I think this is a nice distinction and quality of her writing and I will look to see if she carries this style to her other books as I read more.
This certainly began as a five star book for me. As the book progressed toward Christian and Gilly's relationship, it was a little slow but I realize from reading many of Ms. Burrowes' books, this is the way her stories play out. The characters are interesting enough and there is so much to their lives upon which light is shed ever so slowly - I was definitely intrigued and engaged for much of the book.

However, at some point - about 3/4th of the way through the book, I began to grow impatient with the same old routine of the H/h that nearly always accompanies this author's books - that would be the game of that goes like this The hero eventually realizes he loves his gal but she is resisting, even though she may have started it by kissing him a few times square dab on the mouth - apparently it was loneliness, the need for affection, curiosity, etc. But... oh no - not marriage - never that. Of course the reasons are never really justified as was the case in this book - at least not to this reader's mind.

Gillian did have her sorrows - dear me, this book was riddled with the recounting of two sorrowful lives. Both Christian and Gillian were horribly misused and abused and to Ms. Burrowes' credit, she doesn't go into all the horrid details that some writers might have done considering the subject of the storyline - torture at the hands of the French for Christian and a horrible life married to her elderly, miserly, devil of a husband for Gillian from the time she was 17 years old. Don't misunderstand, there are details aplenty and probably too many for some readers. All I'm saying is that the handling of the details might have been presented with less palpability making it more difficult for sensitive readers to digest the story - of which I consider myself one. Thankfully, Ms. Burrowes' gives us the hard facts and some details and leaves the rest to our imagination.

The fact that the H/h can come together for friendship, camaraderie, solace and eventually love might have been resolved a little earlier on and the reader could have basked in the sweetness of two minds wholeheartedly enjoying one another after all they had endured. But, no - Gillian's persona would not give up her whole heart until near the end of the story. Personally, I get very weary of this same old mentality which abounds in many of Ms. Burrowes' books. The old "I'm not good enough," or "You deserve someone better than me," or "I can't get married again and have another man be in control of my life" - whatever the reason - it never makes any sense because the storyline always includes two people who belong together and will do well together. This type of reasoning on the party who won't get with the program never makes sense to me and becomes plain old boring after awhile.

**Spoilers** Then the ending took the cake. I won't go into the details because to do so would give too much away but I did not care for the ending. Some people who should have paid dearly did not. So much philosophizing about what is/was just and how best to let the past be, etc. when someone - St. Just perhaps - might have lived up to his name and performed a bit of "justice" on behalf of the injured and take out the sucker. The ending was too contrived and too mealy mouthed by a long shot. For crying out loud, if you're going to give the readers agony about torture and mayhem for a good portion of the book, then at least, give us the satisfaction of seeing "all" the culprits in question come to a swift and righteous end. By the end, Christian's torturer was being presented as an "almost" hero? I didn't want to see him in that light - not at all.
In the Captive, arguably the most powerful book Grace Burrowes has written to date, the heroine stole my heart. As much as I dislike the label of "strong heroine," which is overused in reviews and, as such has been nearly stripped of its meaning, I'm at a loss for a better description.

Gillian, the Countess of Greendale, epitomizes of strength in the face of adversity, though, adversity is too mild a word for the personal hell her life had been while her husband was alive. And she managed a narrow escape from his nefarious posthumous plans, bruised, but by no means broken, because her husband's torment had taught her to think out of the box and defy him without engaging in direct confrontation. In other words, her thoughts and actions fit with the time period, in which she lives. And her experiences molded her to become the female counterpart of the hero.

After Christian returns home to England, hurt physically, but unbroken psychologically - the parallels are obvious - Gillian takes over the running of his household, and in many ways of his life, on the condition that he returns to his country estate and spends time with his daughter. There, during hot summer months, sheltered from the eyes of society, two damaged people find that their cracked edges fit together and their friendship heals their scars. Their love story is as heartfelt as it is compelling, and, endless orange peeling and lemonade swilling aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.