Red Roses Mean Love

Not up to her usual standard. While the writing style was ok, the dialogue was trite and the plot formulaic. The heroine was supposed to be strong and independent, yet she came over as rather a pushover, while the ‘hero’ was just a self absorbed jerk.

Red Roses Mean Love delivers what every romance reader wants: a spirited love story filled with characters so rich, they live beyond the final page. Jacquie d'Alessandro, in this debut novel, has bested many romance veterans with her witty characters, vivid descriptions, and laugh-out-loud scenes. Like real women,Hayley is passionate about more than just a man. She adores her family, her vocation, even the scraggly mongrels desparately in need of a bath. Stephen Barrett doesn't stand a chance--and he's all the better for it! Home life is hilarious and the love scenes are sensual and honest. A delightful read that offers the very best of romantic fiction. I can't wait for the next book!

This book had everything....suspense....romance... I especially liked the tea parties...could picture grown men sitting in tiny chairs...drinking tea from miniscule cups...loved the pets also...loved the misplaced sailors filling in as housemen...the hero was great.,the heroine lovely...will save this book forever...and read it again ...

I really loved this book. The plot and the characterization were both outstanding (The secondary players were hysterical!), and Hayley was someone I could definitely relate to. Even though the book takes place in 1820, Hayley still had the same problems all women have--juggling home, kids, and career--and falling in love. And Stephen was just wonderful--aloof on the outside, but the poor guy WAS thrust into a completely foreign environment with Hayley and her unusual family. Not to mention that there was a killer after him! Seeing Stephen change from a cold, unloved man into the sort of man we all dream about through the warmth and love of Hayley's family is something I will never forget. I wish there were more like him around! Bravo Ms. D'Alessandro on a fabulous debut. You've made it onto my very select list of must-buy authors.

What a wonderful book this is! I was going to give my sister my copy to read, but after finishing Red Roses (I stayed up all night to finish it!), I told my sister she'd have to buy her own because my copy was going right onto my keeper shelf. The characters were REAL people. No cardboard people in THIS book. Hayley was a strong, loving heroine, and Stephen was marvelous. The poor man, in spite of having every material advantage, had never known love in his entire life--until Hayley and her family came along. I loved how the author took a sad, lonely, cynical man and let him grow into someone I fell in love with. He had his flaws, but the strength of this family's love showed him a new way. It was wonderful from the first page to the last. It made me feel so good, I'm still smiling! If I could give it FIFTY stars I would!!

Someone had hired thugs to assassinate Lord Stephen Barrett. The second attempt almost succeeded. Hayley Albright finds Stephen close to dead in the woods and takes him to her home to recover. Stephen pretends to be a tutor. With the help of his brother-in-law, Stephen decides to lay low at the Albright house for awhile and recover in hopes the culprit can be found. Hayley's parents were years dead. Her father had died without leaving the family with much funds. Hayley, being the oldest, took control. She had to take care of five siblings and a staff. As Stephen recovered, Hayley had unknowingly shown him all that was missing in his life. Hayley's love of her family showed in everything she did. The entire family treated Stephen as one of them, instead of as a stranger. But soon, Stephen would have to return to his own world and face a killer. Hayley had her own secret: how she paid the bills. ***Everyone simply HAS to read this one! I chuckled all the way through it! I laughed out loud several times and twice had to stop to wipe the tears out of my eyes from laughing so hard! This is Jacquie D'Alessandro's debut novel. Dell Publishing was wise enough to quickly snatch up the rights to this author's second novel. With this one book, she has hit my tiny list of authors which I automatically purchase without reading the back first. If it has the name Jacquie D'Alessandro on it, it's guaranteed to please!***