Hazel Statham - Dominic - Writer Of Historical Romantic Fiction

My Dearest Friend is a passionate tale of the great love and trust that Jane and Robert discover that will last a lifetime if they can endure the treachery of others. Hazel Statham will keep you turning page after page as your experience the heart felt journey and struggles these two lovers face in the endeavours to find true happiness.

My Dearest Friend is a very tender love story about two people who are dearest friends first before marriage. The characters are likeable and their expressions almost dance across the pages. The reader cannot help but be caught up in their life. Ms. Statham blends all the right elements that breathe life into this well-written classic that I recommend.

My Dearest Friend is a magnificently well-written story of love and the obstacles that can come between two people when they fall in love. As things from the past threaten to destroy their happiness, the couple will have to learn to let go and trust in the love they have for each other. Ms. Statham has truly given readers an enjoyable and relaxing read that will have you glued to the pages from the beginning until the end.


Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Sweet

My Dearest Friend gets its title from what Jane calls Robert. He is always her dear friend or her dearest friend Robert. The plot of the story is overcoming adversities such as grief and misunderstandings to find love. This is accomplished beautifully through this story. Hazel Statham does a wonderful job of showing how their relationship grows slowly from meeting to falling in love. The setting of the story is London in the year 1812. This is a time when men spend time at their clubs gambling with their friends. This is also a very passionate time when disagreements are settled in duels. The author does a wonderful job of showing what it was like for men and women during this era. The dialogue in the story is logical and easily followed. The characters are quite interesting. Robert is a man that takes everything quite personally. He is passionate in his love and in his beliefs. He is very protective of what he feels belongs to him. Jane is sweet and quiet. She is willing to help others when needed. She is also easy to get her feelings hurt. At times I wondered with their different personalities if they would ever be able to work out their misunderstandings. This is a sweet historical romance that I feel readers will enjoy.

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review

My Dearest Friend is an intricately woven tapestry of life and death and shows us the inner workings of the nobility. The story starts off well and continues to build momentum to the last page.

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MY DEAREST FRIEND REVIEW

5.0 out of 5 stars My Dearest Friend : June 3, 2009
By Susan Smith (A small rural village in the English Midlands) -
In this book we are introduced to Robert Blake, the Duke of Lear, son of Dominic from another of Hazel Statham's novels. This is a story of two halves and how the course of true love often does not run down the smoothest path.

When we meet Robert, he is alone, his parents apparently long dead and his beloved younger brother dead in Spain from battle wounds. His demise has left Robert utter devastated and so deep in grief that he seems utterly without emotion. Jane Chandler is a neighbour who comes to call at his door one day. Jane lives alone, the daughter of a deceased gambler, whose brother Harry is also a soldier and now lies gravely wounded following the siege at Badajoz. She is desperate to reach him and fetch him home and thus seeks Robert's advice on obtaining transport to Portugal and then Spain. Robert, now given something meaningful to do with his life, decides to accompany her in order to assist her in her quest and, without telling her in advance, appears on board the yacht he has loaned to her when they cast off from Portsmouth. Slightly improper to be sure as she is headstrong and has insisted on going to the peninsula alone and without a duenna of any sort. However, the first half of the book is about their journey to Elvas where Harry is billeted. They fall deeply in love - two lonely and emotionally vulnerable people who are, it would seem, made for each other. The description of them learning to know each other is lyrical - I felt so deeply empathetic to them. However, the first half of the book, though celebrating the renewing properties of a deep and mutual love, does have a dark undertone. You just feel an impending sense that something will go amiss and spoil such happiness.

Married whilst in Spain, they return to blissful life together in England with a recovering Harry. However, that sense of doom is now fully awakened for what happens in the second half of this lovely story is The Great Misunderstanding. Robert still has his vulnerabilities and Jane has enjoyed a degree of independence so does not react well to any criticism or inadvertent unreasonableness on the part of Robert. You want to shout at both of them to stop being so blind and stubborn but, of course, this is a romance, and despite his consuming jealousy and her refusal to listen to the man who truly adores her, they eventually reconcile.

Once again I have been delighted by the beautiful quality of the author's prose, particularly the very high quality of her narrative skills and her feel for the somewhat formal and stately language of the early 19th century. She has created a memorable H/H and an accompanying cast of wonderful supporting characters. I like the way the author gets inside the heads of her heroes and gives them faults that they must overcome. Her heroines are girls who stand up for themselves but are firmly planted in the regency soil. I am so pleased to find an author who is ticking my boxes and who seems determined to write in the style of the traditional regency so much loved by many of us and now so hard to find. Highly recommended; a keeper.

Hazels Book Reviews - My Dearest Friend