Remembrance

I read A Knight in Shining Armor a couple of months ago and it became one of my all-time favorite time-travel stories and one of the most memorable romance novels ever. I laughed, felt the protagonists' frustrations and cried like a baby at the end. The novel is one that pulled my heart strings as I read it. And so, I couldn't wait to give Remembrance a whirl. It is another time-travel romance by Jude Deveraux. Remembrance has some elements that are similar to AKISA, namely the elements that were underdeveloped in the aforementioned novel. Even though I had a hard time getting into this one at first and the ending isn't as good as the one in AKISA, it is nevertheless breathtaking and beautiful and it brought me to tears. Thirty-nine-year-old bestselling romance author Hayden Lane is obsessed with her latest book hero, Jamie Tavistock. She thinks about him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. She writes about him constantly. The problem is that she has concocted the hero without a plot or heroine to go with said character. Her obsession is so bad that her fiance dumps her. Hayden knows she has a problem and goes to therapists to figure out what's wrong. When all fails, she visits a clairvoyant who tells her that Jamie is her soulmate from a past life, and that said past life has left them both cursed for lifetimes to come. Hayden decides to visit a hypnotist to go back in time and meet the object of her obsession, but something goes wrong and she is left in the body of her former life, an Edwardian English woman named Lady de Grey. There she meets Tavey, the love of her life, and discovers what their problem is, and then she is mistakenly sent to where it all begins, to Elizabethan England. Will she be able to erase the curse that plagues them and change the course of history? Will she be able to meet her soulmate in this lifetime? There are many twists throughout the novel... The topic of past lives and soulmates is interesting and I wanted to learn more about this storyline that was somewhat underdeveloped in AKISA. In AKISA, I was left wondering *why* Nicholas sensed what Dougless felt and knew when she needed him. It was obvious that they were soulmates, but the overall theme wasn't explored enough in that novel. It was explored here aplenty though. In fact, this novel has a lot of paranormal in it -- from curses to telepathy to hypnotism to spells to time transporting. The plot is quite intricate and it could get confusing if you don't follow well enough. Remembrance uses three different time frames: Elizabethan, Edwardian England and the present time. The heroine visits two of her past lives in order to find answers and solutions to her present problems. The Edwardian part is quite interesting and that is when you meet the hero for the first time. His name is Tavey in the Edwardian time. He is JD's typical brooding alpha male during that stage. However, when the story moves on to the Elizabethan era, you get a clearer picture of who

I am still in the process of reading this book the second time. the first time i read it years back i do remember i stayed awake a whole night to read it, just couldn't put it down. That's why i decided to read it again and it's just as good the second time. The beginning is very slow. it takes you a while to get into the story and you don't get to meet the hero for first 80 pages. But Jude keeps you entertained with her insightful comments about life of a writer( more specifically, life of a romance writer) and her self depreciating humour makes you laugh so many times. it's almost like she is writing about all that she has learned from life and what it feels like to be a writer of romance novels and how other people look upon them especailly critics. She has poured down all her complaints from the litrary world who look down upon a romance novel writer and readers in this book. Being a die hard romance fan i agreed with her completely. And then the story started about past life trangression. It was so intriguing, i just kept wondering whole time what is keeping them apart in all their past lives... Talis and callie's story was mindblowing. It was about love, hatred, jealousy, revenge, obssession and that otherworldy connection between 2 children who are 2 bodies but 1 spirit.God at times it gave me goosebumps! I am still reading their story. I don't remember the end, so i am getting back to reading the book again. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants something more than just a simple romance in their romance novel.

Anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to know for sure that there is someone else in the world completely meant for them can appreciate Jude Deveraux's _Remembrance_. _Remembrance_ is the story of romance writer Hayden Lane's quest to find her soul mate. In her present life, she is unable to wholly love another man because there is this void and ache for someone else and something more. Her fiancé breaks off their engagement when she becomes obsessed with one of her characters. She doesn't understand her obsession but doesn't want to be rid of it either, so she goes to a psychic to get help. Nora, the psychic, tells her the reason she's obsessed with this make-believe man is because she and her soul mate cursed each other in a past life. Although this novel is classified as a romance, it could be a science fiction and adventure novel as well. Hayden travels back in time, by way of a hypnotist's spell, to become her former self, Lady de Grey. As Lady de Gray, she travels back again in time to her first life. It is there that she and we, the reader, discover the truth behind Lane's inability to love. The beautiful love that transpires between her first self and true love, Callasandra and Talis, is the primary focus of the novel. It is what made me read the book three times and cry for hours every time I reached the end. What really caught my attention about this novel is the way the story is written not just from the female perspective. The focus of the story is on the TWO characters: Callie and Talis, not just the heroine and the man she's pursuing, which is typical of modern romances. It seems to me that they pursue each other together. Also, it seems the reader learns everything about Hayden's past lives as she learns about them. It is an experience that reader and writer live through together, which makes the novel all the more touching. I gave _Remembrance_ five stars because it gives me hope in believing that somewhere, somehow, whether we know it or understand it, there is someone for all of us. I like believing in the impossible; this book more than embraces the impossible, it winks at the unthinkable and then follows it.

This is probably my favorite Jude Deveraux masterpiece so far. Filled with real and true romance and some of the most touching scenes I've ever read in a book, this one is a sure keeper. A tale about past lives, true love and lies, jealousy and the determination to keep soulmates apart forever. Tragedy and everlasting love make this one a classic masterpiece to read over and over. A little remenicent of Shakespear's 'Romeo and Juliet'.Bestselling romance author Hayden Lane is completely and utterly obessed with her new hero and she doesn't know why. She is so obessed that she barely notices when her fiance walks out and her friends stop calling.Determined to find out why she is so obsessed, she goes to a psychic(she is convinced this guy has to be real in some way) who informs her that she has a past life that originates in Edwardian England. She was also a woman named Lady de Grey. The psychic isn't sure which timeline is which since her soul seems to be so dramatic and lost.Fascinated, Hayden begins researching Lady de Grey extensively, what she leanrs shocks her...apparently she was very, very promiscuous and mysteriously disappeared one night and her ghost is said to haunt her husband's home.The psychic warns her to investigate no more. But Hayden being curious, does just that and more. She goes to a hypnotist at a friend's dinner party, but the trick goes horribly wrong, instead of remembering her past lives or seeing Lady de Grey, she actually becomes her past body as Lady de Grey!More turmoil abounds and Hayden is tossed back farther to the beginning of her 'soul's birth', Edwardian times...during King Edward's reign, 1200's.What she finds is so far from what she's read about Lady de Grey and alot of history in fact that she is determined to change it. But can she? Is the past predetermined? Is the man she finds merely brooding because he is as cruel as he seems to be or has something or someone caused it? Is this her hero from her book? True love cannot be detroyed, only twisted into something resembling hate. Hayden must open her heart to a love so great it will bring tears to your eyes...Tracy Talley~@

I've never read any time travel-type books, but this one is really amazing. It's also my first Jude Deveraux, and I'll definitely be looking for more of both this author and this genre. This story is so unique, and so heartwarming, that it's hard to imagine that someone could even make this stuff up... what an imagination!!! It was a little difficult to follow at times, when the time travel switched back and forth... but even though it took me awhile to finish this book... it was well worth it. This isn't the kind of book that you can rush through... each word takes you on a unique and welcome adventure. Jude Deveraux did an amazing job with this book!