"Unraveled" release date

Nicole · Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:35 am Post subject:

Bought this last night and read it in one sitting. I was up till 3am, and now I have to go to work at 9am. Totally worth it though. Thanks for the post!
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She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. -Louisa May Alcott

Jill · Joined: 30 Dec 2010 Posts: 80

I also read Unraveled in one sitting but thankfully downloaded it 7.00am Saturday.
An excellent end to a brilliant series.

Yulie · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1053 Location: Elsewhere

With Unraveled now out, Milan has updated her website with information about her next book. It sounds quite promising!

http://www.courtneymilan.com/thegovernessaffair.php

merryweather · Joined: 27 May 2010 Posts: 531 Location: Encinitas, CA

Just finished it--LOVED it. Loved the whole series, but especially this one, and especially Smite. He actually reminds me in some ways of Ian MacKenzie--you just want to read more about him. I'm sad the series is over now because I would love another book with him in it.
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For the first time in her life, she saw exactly what she’d thrown away when she decided to have him by means fair or foul……that she’d not saved him but wronged him by consigning to him all the ability of a box turtle to make his own choices. ~Gigi

Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

Lynda X · Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1260

I finished this book yesterday, and I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! It is really too bad that it came out so late this year. It would have had an excellent shot at Best Romance of 2011, but it may go to Milan's "Unveiled," anyway.

So, what did I love the most?

1. It's not a Regency or a Victorian.
2. The main characters are ordinary people. The heroine lives in a dangerous slum and has survived by making a deal with the gangster-like overlord to keep herself and her adopted son safe. In return, she has to "do a favor" once a month for this unknown person, which is how she meets the hero, Smite, a judge.
3. The hero is an obsessively-concerned-with-justice judge, even continuing to live in a way to encourage his nightmares, so he will remember important his mission is. He reminded me a lot of the hero in "The Madness of Lord Ian." Like Ian, he thinks he is incapable of love, and is suffering greatly from PTSD.
4. The heroine generally behaves as a normal human being. Granted, she understands the hero almost supernaturally, able to interpret his silence and abrupt and sometimes dismissive statements correctly, but that comes with heroine territory, as you all know. Because she living in poverty in a dangerous slum, indentured to a entity whose demands may cause her to go to prison, when she has a excellent--but scandalous--financial offer, she takes it, as would most women in her situation. In short, she is not TSTL, nor is she "feisty."
5. This is the last in Milan's series about brothers who have been terribly affected by growing up in poverty with an insane, very dangerous mother. Each book can easily be read separately and in any order, but they are all fabulous, so if you haven't read them, boy, have you got a treat in store!

Writing this, makes me want to reread "Unraveled." Excuse me.

Outlandish · Joined: 22 Jul 2011 Posts: 68 Location: USA

sbmrb1 · Joined: 05 Feb 2010 Posts: 24

Purchased the book on Amazon - $3.99. That's a bargain price for me. I read it, I loved it. Very emotional feel to the book. I didn't read the middle book - but read the first one with Ash, and I think I may even like Smite's book more. Vaguely reminiscent of an Anne Mallory Secrets Series novel, of which I loved the whole series. Perhaps I should read the middle book about Mark?

Lynda X · Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1260

Yes, sbmrb1, you definitely should read the middle book, as well as all of Courtney Milan (except the one she tells you to avoid on Amazon). Her site has terrific short stories too.

hannahi · Joined: 28 May 2010 Posts: 65

I've borrowed Unraveled via lendle and have only a couple of weeks to read it. What I'd like to know is if Unraveled includes any major spoilers for Unclaimed, which I have yet to read.

aiven · Joined: 11 Nov 2009 Posts: 54

I'm over the moon with this book. Well-written, unusual setting, untitled H&H, interesting supporting and/or incidental characters, and fascinating historical details. I did have a small issue with the secrecy surrounding the identity of the villain--I think it was telegraphed quite early in the book, so the mystery was rather un-mysterious, at least to this reader. Forgivable because nothing really turned on this plot point--the romance didn't really require suspense, per se. And I loved Smite's dog.

Not Quite Nicole · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 143

JudyZ6666 · Joined: 07 Jul 2011 Posts: 192 Location: Connecticut, USA

Jill · Joined: 30 Dec 2010 Posts: 80

@ JudyZ6666

Imo you won't be lost. It can easily be read as a standalone even though there are a few references to characters from the previous book.

ChrisReader · Joined: 05 Sep 2009 Posts: 687

I'm definitely behind the times on this one but I just read Unraveled and loved it!

What a refreshing change of pace. I loved the hero and the heroine.

Smite was a fantastic hero, interesting, well thought out with a fascinating job we actually see him doing and a terrific back story of why it was so important to him.

This is one of those books where you know the author must have done a lot of research to get all the details right but you don't "feel" the research (ie: cramming descriptions or information in just for the sake of having learned it). I liked having Bristol as the setting and the realistic view of the poorer (but not absolutely starving) people as that was probably the majority of the country at that time.

Most of all I just liked the main couple. They were both intelligent and interesting and you really understood why they were attracted to each other. I also appreciated that every time I thought one of them was going to do a classically stupid "romance novel" thing- they actually thought it through instead and TALKED with each other! Fantastic!! Bravo!! What a refreshing change!

Their world was so interesting and fresh that when the "Duke" brother and his world was mentioned I actually groaned. I may be prejudiced but I am up to my ears with the Duke thing. Can't it be an Earl or a Marquess sometimes if it must be a title? (Anyone who has seen "Downton Abbey" or knows about Princess Diana's family knows even "just" an Earl lives pretty spectacularly!)

This was absolutely my favorite Milan book I have read. Although I have some quibbles over the "villain" part of it the romance was so strong it outweighed any minor nitpicks.

Can anyone who has read more of her works recommend another of her books similar to this one as I have only read a couple of hers.