Promise Me Heaven Paperback – February 1, 1994

This book started out so hilarious! The dry humor of Thomas Montrose, the hero, towards the heroine Catherine "Cat" Sinclair was absolutely witty. I had many laugh out loud moments! Her regard for him as a somewhat aging, bulky, and outdated former rake is hilarious. The only reason I didn't give this story 5 stars is that Thomas realized he loved Cat within the first quarter of the book; which is way too soon in my opinion. Cat's realization came soon after. That leaves 3 quarters of the book where the hero and heroine pretend indifference, jealousy, misunderstandings, pain, martyrdom, etc. I get that this is a template to the romance novel. I just wish more time was given with the banter.

I read this book because it was a prequel novel to a November 2013 Kindle First book. I actually read the series in the opposite order...Book 3, Bk 2, Bk 1. I loved them all, and I normally don't choose historical romances. I found the main characters to be interesting and the heroines were strong women with engaging personalities.I enjoyed the give-and-take dialogue between Cat and Thomas. It is probably best to read the series in the correct order, as the minor characters in preceding books become the lead characters in subsequent books.

Lady Cat Sinclair comes to famous reformed rake Thomas Montrose for lessons on how to seduce the man she wants to marry her. Her family needs her to make a wealthy marriage, and she thinks Thomas can make the difference. You can see where this is going, right?I'm somewhat hit or miss with Ms. Brockway's books, and this one was a miss for me. The setup was too unrealistic - actually, the whole plot was kind of silly. I'm sure others will enjoy it, just not for me.

I loved this book. Catherine has picked out the husband she wants but hasn't had any luck bringing him up to scratch, proposing,. She decides to ask her cousin Thomas, who is several years older than she is and a well known rake, to advice her on the art of seduction. She meets him for the first time as she is arriving at his country estate. He is rescuing a sheep from a hedgerow. She mistakes him for a servant. That is when the tension between the two of them begins. He agrees to instruct her. As time goes by they both begin to have feeling for each other but neither knows how the other feels. There are several twists and turns in the plot which makes for a very interesting book. Connie Brockway is one of the best authors in this genre.

Humor, depth, teasing, sensual. The hero has a past he is ashamed of (he acknowledges his luck in avoiding catching any STD's which is refreshing in a historical romance). The heroine wants to use his past to learn how to catch a husband. Both characters were well written, the plot moved smoothly, the dialogue excellent, witty and smart.

This is a treasure of a book full of a fine mix of humour, tension and a wide range of human traits. This is a book to keep for many repeat readings. The author captures the dynamics of the era both in England and the time around Waterloo. I have several of her other books but I like this one the best.

If you have not read this book, give it a try, it is the best of Connie's books as far as I am concerned. The second book, All Through The Night is great also. Read some of the reviews and you will get an overview of these stories. Delve into them yourself and you will not be disappointed. All Through The Night tells the story of the two associates of the hero in Promise Me Heaven. The book, My Dearest Enemy is not actually a third book, the property in contention in My Dearest Enemy and the Hero(a descendent of the H/H of Promise Me Heaven) tie in with PMH.

Enjoyed the humour of this re-issue, although I can't believe it was Brockway's first book, because I'm sure I read a story that culminated in Cat's mother's wedding to the H's step-brother, which preceded this story by two years.And I remember that book as having a similarblend of quirky humour and angst.Although the story line for PMH is downright implausible, this isn't a bad book. The humour of te opening scene is delightful, even though it doesn't show the h, Cat, in a very good light.The theme of a love affair between a reformed rake and sweet virgin is hackneyed, but saved from being tedious by the tenderness and admiration of the H and the enthusiastic, pragmatic, imperious intelligent feisty and loving nature of the h.There is one weakness of the story which reduces the rating - I just couldn't understand why Brockway used a real person, the Earl of Barrymore (Hellgate Barrymore) as one of her significant characters when he died in the early 1790s, twenty years before the setting of this story. Couldn't understand it and couldn't stop being irritated by it. There was no need for the villain to be anything other than a fictional character, which makes the inclusion of Hellgate even more weird,

I found this a riveting read. It is up there with 'All Through the Night' and 'My Dearest Enemy' (although I had been disappointed by recently read 'Highlander Undone').The relationship between Thomas and Cat was fascinating, and the story line is, as usual with Connie Brockway, a little different. I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy good and literate writing. My only irritation is with titles. The 'boss' in Whitehall is referred to as Sir Knowlton (although one time it is Lord Knowlton!). Sir NEVER takes the surname. It is always Sir John Knowlton, or just Sir John if one is being informal). This is very irritating!I had not realised that the 'hero' of All Through the Night first appeared in this book, and I now realise that another character from Promise Me Heaven has his own book, and I will be looking out for that.

I'm a big Brockway fan, but this didn't work for me.It was supposed to be set in Devon, but it didn't seem like Devon at all. More like Texas. For the first few chapters I thought that it was a Western.And that was just the beginning of things that were just not very English historical. It takes them only a few hours to get from Devon to Brighton (it takes that long now!!). There is a surreal lack of historical type propriety (no one seems to be concerned for the heroine's reputation). It squicks me rather that the hero 'pretends' to be the heroine's uncle... (ewww...) Gowns that sound skimpy even by today's standards (really?). Random jealousy and misunderstandings. Meh.I guess that it is a book that would be considered a 'romp'. But I just didn't get it.

I have given this book 5 stars because it was such a good story. It was well written and I just loved the characters and the storyline. This is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who loves historical novels.

A very good light read for holiday time. Kept you reading. Not very much " history" involved. Kindle edition had many typos.

Enjoyed this and like the writers style want to see what others she has written. I. Actually liked the couple in this too