Wild Bells to the Wild Sky
Grade : B-

It’s been a long time since I’ve read any romances published in the 1980s. The purple prose that seems to have been so abundant in 80s historicals gets on my ever-loving last nerve. Luckily for me, Wild Bells to the Wild Sky is definitely not a bodice-ripper, nor is it like your typical 80s romance. Instead, I just finished a richly described historical with realistic characters, a storyline that takes a decade, and a romantic couple that, while I’m not in love with them, intrigues me.

Lily Christian, her mother Magdalena, and family friend Basil Whitelaw were stranded on a deserted island after their ship, captained by Lily’s father, was brutally attacked by a fleet of Spanish ships. After seven years, the birth of her younger brother Tristram, and her half-sister Dulcie, followed by the tragic deaths of their mother and Basil, have left Lily in charge of their little family. When a ship appears, captained by Basil’s brother, Valentine Whitelaw, her first reaction is to hide, but that only works for so long. Taken back to England by Valentine, Lily quickly falls for the handsome man, even if he only sees her as a child.

But then, as Lily grows up, the secret behind the Spanish attack comes to light, and there’s treason and espionage afoot. Lily, with Valentine’s help, must unravel secrets from a children’s story, locate an old journal on the long-left island, and bring the real traitors to light.

First of all, the spy game in this was top-notch. Scholarly Basil is asked by Queen Elizabeth herself to pay attention when he travels with his good friends, the Christians, to the Caribbean to visit Magdalena’s family. What he discovers leads to the attack on their ship, and decade-long consequences. The premise and much of the story is surprisingly dark (being hunted across the country for murder and witchcraft, for example), but told in a way that feels more like a fairy tale.

I love the whole lost-at-sea premise (I basically grew up watching and re-watching Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson), and Wild Bells combines all the best things of the Robinsons with a hint of The Blue Lagoon (just without, you know, the incest). It’s unsurprising but still sweet when Lily falls in love with Valentine when he arrives, rescuing her and her siblings.

I loved child-Lily, and respected island-Lily, though adult-Lily was a little...passive? Sweet? Something, for my personal taste. She turns from a rambunctious young girl into a woman who takes the blame and the guilt for everything, and sees only the good in people. It’s as if feisty Elizabeth Bennet suddenly turns into sweet-as-sugar Jane Bennet after meeting Mr. Darcy. Maybe my issue with this has more to do with the romantic lead, but it still really threw me off.

The thing is, I’m just not a fan of Valentine. Throughout most of the book, he comes across as, well, kinda smarmy. He seems to be led around by a combination of adventure and revenge, both in the bed and out. At the point where Lily and Valentine finally meet again, with Lily as a grown woman, he first doesn’t recognize her, and then basically insists she join him in bed - he refuses to take no for an answer. Maybe that’s where the 80s were hiding in this story, in the hero, but it’s definitely not a character type that does it for me.

The only other issue I had was that the majority of the story takes place with our romantic couple apart. Lily needs time to grow up, and Valentine has other things to do, I’m sure, but I felt that as a result, it was less of a romance novel, and more a historical fiction about the conflict with Catholics in the Elizabethan era, or even a coming of age for Lily, growing up both within and without society. And once Valentine and Lily are together again, the storyline is more about the long-game of spies and treason than their romance. It felt like that part of the story took a back seat to the rest of the plot. The end result was interesting, but not entirely romantic.

Reviewed by Melanie Bopp
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 15, 2016

Publication Date: 2016/03

Review Tags: 1500s Elizabethan

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Melanie Bopp

New Orleans native living in Boston. Yeah, it's a bit cold. Hello, winter.
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