I was really disapointed in this book. The writing was good, and BTB's characters are always multi faceted, but I could tell when she got tired of writing this story! It wrapped up and ended so fast, and should have taken time to explain a few more things.

Although I finished reading this book, I'm indifferent to its story. From other books, even though there isn't a main overall moral to every book, there is atleast an appealing love story a family story, a mystery to be solved, or something that just keeps you reading wanting to know more.
This story started out well, Edward Deravenel, the heir to the family fortune has to take control after his father and brother are killed a mysterious incident. He is an exceptionally good looking, charming, intelligent person who has an affinitiy for older women, rather, older married women.
But after the beginning of the story, there were some places where the story moved at the fast pace, however for most of the story, the plot dragged. I kept waiting for some more mystery, or something but at a point, there was nothing.
Also, the character of Neville, it could easily be pulled on to make him an enemy or after the company himself. But the second he was made a threat / no longer a friend... he was killed off.

As such, the story just had sudden surprises and sudden bursts of plotline whereas majority was just a drag.

Just my opinion.

Worst of all Edward himself, I thought he would change in the course of the book, but he is still shown to be the womanizing, overly attractive, overly trusting person and overall it wasn't a well rounded main character. He wasn't a person who you would love, or love to hate.
However, I did finish the book so I guess that calls for some props. Lol

Classic British aristocracy tale. 1900-1918.
Father dies, son takes over business. Son has quite active sex life with older widows!
Redundency about who should be in control of the business...stolen 60 years ago by other side of family.

I was disappointed in this book. At times, it seemed to jump from place to place and time to time with little reason or warning. The ending was abrupt. I was looking for something like her book A Woman of Substance and did not find it at all in this one. I did enjoy parts of the book and thought the characters were well developed.

While this is enjoyable, it is not A Woman of Substance to which I compaare all of BTB's work. This is about a man who when 18 must take over the running of the family business and actually get it back from those who stole it 60 years before.

The Deravenel Family trilogy by Barbara Taylor Bradford begins with the book The Ravenscar Dynasty. This series also focuses on a young woman’s battle to maintain control over a business empire (also like the Tea Rose series).

This is a historical fiction in which the time era was changed from the Edwardian rule in England to that of a industry leader in very early 1900's, his name was Edward too. Life as strange as any fiction.

I wanted to like this book. I kept reading, hoping it got better. The storyline seemed like it should be interesting... but it just dragged out endlessly. I forced myself to hang in on it, but I finally threw in the towel at 79% and sent it back.

I love romances and love historical romanced but this book was a bore. Everyone was impossibly pretty and all challanged (even those heavily foreshadowed) were solved with very little effort by the hero. It is clear the author loves her characters and that might be the root of the problem.

I wasn't expecting great literature, and I normally enjoy family sagas and historical novels set in the Edwardian period. I'm a sucker for Downton Abbey, Upstairs, Downstairs, and The Forsyte Saga. I've read and enjoyed other books by this author, too,.so I was expecting an enjoyable read. But honestly, this wasn't it.
It's loosely based on the War of the Roses, but set in Edwardian times with business tycoon rival cousins instead of royal ones. The allusions are somewhat heavy-handed: the Yorkshire cousins, the Deravenals, use a white rose as a symbol, and Edward has a secret marriage to Elizabeth, a widow with two young sons. (I was waiting for the two boys to disappear into the Tower or its equivalent! Maybe in the next volume of this series, but I'm not reading any more books of this series!)
I was completely annoyed by the writing, and the deadly slow pace of the story. The author described Edward's handsome manliness, his business acumen, and his expertise in seducing older women repeatedly and ad nauseum. I got SO tired of reading how passersby heads turned every time he appeared in public. He is SO tall. He is SO blond. His eyes are SO blue. Etc.,etc. For the first third of the novel nothing happened except for these descriptions and oh, yes, his plans to avenge the murder of his family members - by taking over the company that was "stolen" by his grandfather 's brother 60 years earlier and which he sees as his rightful place, along with some almost as handsome relatives. There are several mistresses, a younger brother, but why go on? It took more than twice as many pages as needed to tell this tedious story. Oh, there are several gratuitous sex scenes that add nothing to the story.
This book is a clunker. Don't bother.

A sweeping saga that had a lot of potential. I think too much was stuffed in and the jumps in time made it very hard to get into things. Not bad but less enjoyable than I'd hoped.

Jammer dat de beoordelingen juist waren..to easy story! Heb al beter gelezen...