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Read Beauvallet (2006)

Beauvallet (2006)

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Rating
3.58 of 5 Votes: 2
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ISBN
0099490935 (ISBN13: 9780099490937)
Language
English
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Beauvallet (2006) - Plot & Excerpts

On the high Seas no man is more feared and loathed then the notorious Sir Nicholas Beauvallet, a Englishman with a reputation for taking over Spanish ships for queen and country, but never did Nicholas think that the next vessel he over took would hold a treasure far beyond anything he could have imagined, one that would capture his heart and him willing to risk his life for Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva. Dominica will be no one’s captive, and she fights El Beauvallet at every turn, but with his carefree laughter and amused blue eyes slowly win over her heart, Dominica knows they can never be together once she reaches Spain, only she never counted on Nicholas keeping his promise to go into Spain and whisk her away to marry her! Beauvallet brought back so many fond memories of my love for those old swashbuckling black and white movies where the man without guns or CG would fight with swords and wit in order to win his lady love and defeat the villain(s). The pace would be fast and before you knew it across the screen would be the words The End. Georgette Heyer’s Beauvallet does that, transporting you into a world with her vivid details and dashing hero and spitfire heroine as they meet on the high seas and later dash across England, France and Spain in order to be with one another again. Set in a time where Spain and England were at war, many spanish vessels were taken by English privateer, one such vessels carries Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva, and her father. After the captain of their ship foolishly challenges El Beauvallet and loses, Dominica fights back when the crew comes upon her and her sick father. Fight back and even standing up with a dragger in hand to the amused El Beauvallet, Dominica is surprised when Beauvallet offers to take them back to Spain himself. Thinking him a thief and a liar, Dominica goes along knowing she has no real choice with her father ill and their ship in tatters. The more she comes to learn about Beauvallet the more she sees him of a man of his word, of true honor with a ready smile on his face, and whom she starts to fall in love with deeply. By the time they reach Spain with a promise from Beauvallet that he would come for her soon, leaves Dominica scared for him life, but as she faces her own villains in the form of her cousin and aunt whom want to marry her off for her money, Dominica still keeps her head and wit about her in order to be with Beauvallet again. Dominica is a feisty heroine whose smart and keeps her wit about her, with her deep love and passion for Mad Beauvallet! The true star of the book was of course Sir Nicholas Beauvallet who was the one who truly drew you in, with his way with words, smiling in the face of death itself and hero one would swoon over if met face to face with. Instead of heroes of today whom curse and shoot anything that moves, Nick uses his wits and charm, drawing out quick plans in his mind on how to go about something. His amused eyes dancing even when everyone thinks he’s trap, Nick is already ten steps on front of you and already on his way. Even with this Nick still comes across in vivid detail as just a man, whom even under the more dire of circumstances, still knows when to fight, and when to flee, one who uses his mind more then his sword. At times he came across as a man without a care in the world, but willing to do anything for love, as he travels from England, to France and into Spain that wants his head. When captured, Nick keeps his head knowing he must get out of the cage he’s in order to be with Dominica. Nick maybe larger then life, but you couldn’t help but be in awed of him, knowing he smile at you and drag you into the fray laughing the whole way. Anytime I pick up a Georgette Heyer book, I know for a fact am in for a rare treat, of wit, charm and history as she paints her book into a romantic adventure that will keep you page turning and leaving you wanting more. The way she writes makes you feel like your right there with the characters, as they speak the words you read on the page. But what draws me in always in her detail to the same thing, from the places to the dresses and outfits wore at the time, with some authors I tend to skip the finer details wanting to get back to the action and meat of the book but with Heyer it adds to the overall charm to her book and makes the book that even more richer in the story. Beauvallet shows this in flying colors from the period of time to of course Nick (who I feel in love with if you can’t tell from this review ;D )Overall: Looking for a high seas romantic adventure with a strong heroine and a charismatic hero? Look no farther then Beauvallet!

What absolute trash!If you liked the book, you might not want to read on...The plot is ridiculous - not as in satirical and funny, but as in cringingly awkward. In fact, it would be more apt to say there is no plot - the whole book is a trope. In order to insert the chosen clichés, various emotions and actions are forced upon cardboard characters. They have no real personalities - they aren't anything like real people.Beauvallet is (supposedly) reckless, clever, infuriating, charming, and just generally a dashing, wonderful hero. So we are told. In actual fact, he gallivants around the seas killing people and stealing their belongings ('oh, but it's gallant, after all they're from another country *gasp*)He meets a random Spanish woman and promises her that within a year he'll find her and 'turn her into an English woman'. Gosh, how charming.From this moment on, he's apparently madly in love with her. Before long, she jumps on the bandwagon and is waiting anxiously for her true love to return.At one point in the story, Beauvallet and his servant stay at an inn (our wonderful hero treats his servant, jokingly mind, like lowly scum and several time threatens violence, again as a 'joke'). At the inn, a French man tries to steal their horses. So what does our dashing hero do?Beauvallet attacks, murders and buries him (naturally not till after the 'fair fight'). Charming.But don't worry, his conscience isn't stricken. Apparently, 'he tried to kill [Beauvallet] first'. Well no, he didn't actually, all he did was try to steal his horses. I don't think stealing is right, but that still gives Beauvallet absolutely no right to kill the man!I could go on, but there are too many things that bothered me. Basically, I think the book is a lot of hot air.

What do You think about Beauvallet (2006)?

I've been a fan of Heyer's historical romances since I first read my mum's old copy of Beauvallet when I was a teenager. If you've never read one you don't know what you're missing! My edition is very old, actually it's the First Australian Edition from 1948, it has no dust jacket, and the pages are brown and brittle. I have 39 of her romances (she also wrote about eight detective books with the help of her detective husband, but I've not read any of them); there are about three or four I don't have, though I've read almost all of them.It is 1586 and Dona Dominica and her father, the late governor of the island of Santiago, are returning to Spain by ship when their vessel is captured by a British pirate - by the infamous Sir Nicholas Beauvallet, no less! Dubbed "Mad Nick", he is a dashing figure, tall and dark with a "neat" head of curly black hair, bright, mocking blue eyes and a pointy beard as was the fashion, friend of Sir Francis Drake and pet of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. He's a bit of a devil and laughs at everything. Finding the beautiful Dominica on board the Spanish galleon is a surprise, but Beauvallet commits himself to taking them safely to a Spanish port despite how incredibly dangerous and reckless it is. He's fallen in love with the spirited Spanish woman, and pledges to come back for her within a year and "make an Englishwoman of her". Dominica doesn't believe him, but despite everything finds herself wishing it were true. Once Beauvallet decides on a thing, he doesn't waste much time, but getting into Spain isn't an easy matter for any Englishman, let alone an infamous pirate whom the Spanish believe has witchcraft on his side. Circumstances see him and his valet, the finicky, chatty Joshua, enter Spain from France with a Frenchman's papers, and the disguise is a tenuous one. He has to fool the king of Spain, the French Ambassador, and the many Spanish nobles while locating Dominica and planning how to bring her out.Tense with looming danger, Beauvallet is a rollicking ride of romance, sword fights, mad dashes across country, midnight escapes, scheming aunts, dastardly cousins and one very engaging, lovable hero. Dominica is spirited, fiesty and intelligent, quick-witted and interesting - it is not hard to see why Beauvallet would fall for her so quickly.One of the most remarkable things about Heyer's work, of which most are set in Regency London, is the historical accuracy with which she writes. You could learn more from reading one of her books than from one written in the time it was set! From the details of the clothing, to the etiquette and social graces, types of equipage, dances, food, liqueur, sentiments, current affairs and manner of speech - Heyer has it all nailed down, and with effortless ease. Her prose is never stiff or self-conscious, but full of wicked humour and confidence. Her skill as a writer is especially manifest in her ability to write dialogue, which I've always wished to emulate, and her great cast of supporting characters. Reading Beauvallet is a bit like watching Blackadder the Second for me, from references to men's plate-sized ruffs to sneaky asides about Raleigh and here and there a "beshrew me!", making it one of the most comforting, familiar books for me to read in a day :)
—Shannon (Giraffe Days)

This is quite different from Heyer's other books that I've read. It's set in Elizabethan times rather than around the Regency or Georgian eras, and involves England's conflict with Spain. Beauvallet is an English captain feared by the Spanish as a devil-worshiping pirate, although he is of course an honorable pirate who attacks Spanish ships in the name of the Queen and relies on luck, skill, daring, and a sense of humor. I found that it had a really slow start - about 30 percent to set up the situation before any adventuring happened. This was necessary to provide a reason for Beauvallet to travel into Spain, where certain death awaited him if discovered. The reason is that he fell in love with a Spanish woman and would risk his life to carry her off. The romance was unfortunately sudden and not developed well enough for my liking. The first part of the book could have been used much better for this instead of being boring. But, once Beauvallet actually headed into Spain, it picked up, and daring escapes ensued.
—Allison

When Dona Dominica sets sail on the Santa Maria, she wonders if she will ever meet the infamous El Beauvallet, the English pirate with a reputation of being able to do anything because of witchcraft. But she does not expect her ship to be taken by him, Nor does she expect to be kidnapped by him and taken abord his ship the Venture. Sir Nicholas Beauvallet captures Dominica and her father and proclaims that he will take them home to Spain, as Dominica has demanded. But falling head over heels in love with her was never part of his plan. In order to please her, he agrees to returning her to her country, but also announces that he will wed her before the year is up. How is Sir Nicholas supposed to come back to Spain to claim fair lady as his bride if all of Spain wants his head? The answer is easily—because Beauvallet can do anything, of course.This was such a sweet story! I cannot think of words enough to describe how much I adored Beauvallet. The romance was fast-paced, the adventure was exciting, and the language was eloquent. I absolutely loved it. It was a pretty fast read and I read it in a few days. Georgette has many little surprises spread all through the story and tells amazing creative adventures of Beauvallet’s wits, fights, and escapes. It was a perfect blend of a sweeping romance and a gripping adventure. The story is told in third-person omniscient, so you don’t always have all the details. It was a little hard to get inside the character’s heads at first, but once I learned who they were It was very easy to relate to them.A wonderful thing about Beauvallet is that when El Beauvallet falls in love with Dominica, he does not claim her as his “love” or as his “mistress” or, in our culture, his “girlfriend,” he claims her as his bride. Which is really the most romantic aspect of it all. The end was so sweet I won’t tell what happened but rest assured it was wonderful.I loved this story so much! I have already run out to pick up more books by Georgette Heyer, I am officially a new fan! I cannot wait to read other books by her. Content: Gloriously clean: no language, no sex. Recommendation: Boys and girls (it’s such an adventure that boys would like it too!) Ages 13-Adult. It’s not aimed specifically to teens or young people, and would be perfect for an adult as well.(Beauvallet was first published first in 1929. Reprint copyright to Sourcebooks: 2010)~Haleyknitz
—Haley Mathiot

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