Remembrance

I have never felt so emotionally drained after reading a book before. My heart was ripped to shreds reading this book. This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever read. Hayden sets out to change the past so that she can find love in her lifetime. What a journey! She goes back to where it all starts, to Cassie and Talis and the blessing, or curse, that starts it all. Born at the same time right next to each other, a birthing mother on her death bed chants "two halves of one whole" about the two. From that time on, raised togther by a loving couple with no children of their own, they comfort each other and feel each others tears, play together, and love each other. Until they discover who their parents are. From that time on, people do nothing but try to destroy their lives and love, no matter how hard they try to hold on. In anger and hate (the other side of love), they curse each other to only love each other, but not to be able to have each other. This carries on through lifetimes full of frustration, and Hayden has to find a way to reverse the curse so love can lead to happiness in her lifetime. This is a story I will read over and over and over again, and will never forget. Amazing. I believe in soulmates now.

*Remembrance*
A tale of two people and how special they were and are to each other.
*Remembrance*
A love so deep that even time cannot make them forget.
*Remembrance*
A story that tells us that each of us is only half of what we should be, and that we still have the other half to search for.
*Remembrance*
A book with hardly any love-making scenes, but pages filled with love. This is a geniuine love story, naught less.
*Remembrance*
A deep sense of love, lost and happiness after reading this book is what you will feel. This will definitely make you cry, laugh, love and ache with want of the other half that you will name every guy you meet Talis and you yourself as Callasandra.
*Remembrance*
A story that will have you walking on clouds for months. (Believe me, I read it ages ago and I still name every cute guy I meet Talis). This is my second review for this book. My first review did this book no justice.
*Remembrance*
A book to be read on Sunday to chase away the Monday blues!

This book explores the possibility of past lives and soulmates. It does so by exploring two of the past lives of Hayden Lane, a successful yet lonely romance writer. Her personality is charming. The irony when she talks about romance writers, readers, and critics is enough to make you laugh out loud. Ms. Deveraux used this character to get her punches in!
When Hayden Lane is hypnotized, she goes back in time and inhabits the bodies of two of her past selves. The actions of these two women, the circumstances of their failed love is why she is so unhappy in her present day self. Can changing the past change her luck in the future?
A beautiful and moving tearjerker of a novel explores that possibility.
The novel is wonderfully written. The soulmate principle is written with care, and the characters are thoroughly explored. However, don't be surprised. A majority of the novel is spent with the main character as a young girl growing up in Elizabethan England. This book centers on romantic notions, not much romance.

Remembrance is the first book I've read written by Jude Deveraux. At first, the book didn't interest me that much. The first part of the book is so boring. It was mostly like an opinionated book that I thought of putting it down. But when I reached the second part, gosh! it was so engaging! I couldn't even put it down. I read it until the wee hours of the morning just to finish it. Callie and Talis' story is so different from the others I've read. They captures the "essence" of what I think true love is in that kind of setting. They are so great. The ending of that part is so heartbreaking, it made me cry and unknowingly managed to soak my pillow with tears. Even now, it seems that there is a part in my heart that goes out to them. Thinking of what happened to those two lovers gives me an unexplained pain in my heart. I could not forget it. Even their end is greatly engraved in my mind and heart. Anyway, the dialogue may not be that excellent but the humor is so contagious. After reading this book, I can't wait to read the others!!!

Callie and Talis' love story is like a modern version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. [But then, I like the ending of this story better(he, he, he)]. The way they had to give up each other's life for true love's sake seemed unavoidable yet tragically right in a way.
The ending was also fantastic because it did not leave one hanging and made one believe that love can really transcend the boundaries of time. The way "Remembrance" used the idea of past lives and how it affected the present and the future was very intriguing. However, I found the beginning of the book quite boring, though some parts were quite important to understand the book better. This was the reason why I gave this book a nine. As a whole, I had a good time reading it and I congratulate Ms. Deveraux for a job well done and may she write more books that would continue touch people's hearts worldwide.

This book came highly recommended on several Listmania romance lists, so I thought I'd give it a try. I must say that I'm glad I got the book from the library as it wasn't a book I'd have been happy about purchasing. After a rather tedious start- at least three or four chapters of the protagonist rambling in first-person, the plot started to 'move' with Hayden's regression to Edwardian times. Just when things were starting to get interesting, I felt that I was hijacked to the very lengthy story of the main characters' past lives in Elizabethan times- this included lots of small details of them as children (boring!). The writing became repetitive and the characters became rather unlikable- their obsessive attachment to each other was so intense that it crossed the line into abnormal. The ending was predictable and welcome, since I just wanted to get it over with!

If you want to read really well-written time travel romance, try Jude Deveraux's Knight in Shining Armor, any of Lynn Kurland's novels, or Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

The only reason why I gave this book three stars (I'm anguishing over whether or not to give it two instead) is because the story of Talis and Callie was actually pretty interesting. Thankfully, it took up most of the book. The rest of it was pretty annoying, though. In the beginning of the book, I got tired of the author using the book as a medium to poke fun at her critics. I would have preferred it if she'd have left that out... because it really served no purpose for the book itself and took away from the main character, in my opinion. It is akin to writing a rap song dissing another rapper - truly, no one else cares. Write for the readers, to hell with the critics.

There were also a few places in the book where the author seems to make mistakes. Forgive me for sounding cryptic (I don't want to spoil anything for anyone), but for example, she says that a certain character does not regret his/her actions because s/he did not mind sacrificing two for many... then turns around and says s/he knew all along what really happened. There were a couple other switcheroos like that, and it made the book seem unpolished.

But what really ruined the book for me was the lame, rushed, unbelievable ending. It felt like the author just got tired of writing or was almost at her deadline and rushed through it, hoping the reader wouldn't think those two characters were absolutely insane. She failed. lol. That scenario would never play out with two sane individuals. Reading the end is truly a WTF moment. It kind of made me regret reading the rest of the book. For that reason alone, I urge people to skip the whole thing, unless you just want to stick with reading Part Two (it can stand alone), and ignoring the rest of the book.

Wow, what can I say? I'm speechless. Rememberence was actually the first romance I have ever read, and I'm glad I did. I always thought that romances were corny and for women who can't get a guy and have to turn to books for their love fantasies, until my friend handed me the book and practically threatened me to read it. I was a little wary at first, but after the first couple chapters I was quickly drawn into the story and I couldn't put it down! Thus, changing my opinion of romances forevor! I actually read them now, and Jude is my favorite author. Anyway, read the book! Trust me, you won't regret it!

I have a confession...I love romance books! As much as I like to display the intellectual, logical, critical exterior of a woman who enjoys nothing but thought-provoking movies and symbollism-filled novels, in my heart I melt for rugged warriors falling madly in love with beautiful, courageous heroines. It's my Achilles Heel...:)
I'm more a fan of historical romances than contemporary, simply because I'm a student of history and I like to nick-pick at the anachronisms a lot of authors tend to overlook. But I read some reviews on Deveraux, she seemed to be a well-liked author, and I decided to try her time-travel books.
I wish I hadn't.
In Deveraux's time-travel novel, we witness a romance author, Hayden, unsatisfied with her love life consult a psychic to discover why she can't seem to settle down. Apparently, the pyschic tells her that she has been "cursed" to never love anyone but one person in her life, and that leads to Hayden going under hypnosis to discover just where things went wrong. She starts out in the body of Catherine, Lady De Grey in the early 20th century, who is on the brink of divorce with her husband, but then Hayden/Catherine goes under hynosis AGAIN and this time we're taken back to watch the development of two children, Callie and Talis, who seem to be the reason for Hayden's cursed love life.
As much as I attempt to subdue my pessimstic side and find a good thing about this book, I just can't. Wait, no, I DID like how the narrarator, Hayden, talked about the qualms of being an author of romance. Nice tongue-in-cheek effort by Deveraux. However, everything else was really unpleasent, and a pain to read. Hayden annoyed me to no extent. The story-within-a-story-within-a-story plot format left me confused and unsatisfied. This book is like three separate plots, the only thing holding them together is the very very thin thread of the narrator somehow being a re-incarnation of two past women, one from the early 20th century, the other from the era right before the Renaissance (late 15th century). But even that connection was on the brink of being frayed. It simply jumped around too much - one moment we're reading about Hayden's whining about lost love and her obsession with a character in her books, the next we're watching Hayden inhibit the body of Catherine, Lady de Grey, and then we're thrown into a huge section of the book regarding the romance and everlasting bond of two children, Callie and Talis, then thrown back to the early 20th Century with Catherine, then back to the present. We're ripped apart from characters and before we even get a chance to know them. There was no central "hero" with whom I could fall in love with...I certainly didn't find out enough about Catherine's husband, Adam, and Talis was mostly a child when we read about him.
I simply found myself more and more disgusted at the disjointed plot, the shallowness and unbelievable-ness of all the undeveloped characters, the simplistic, unimaginative dialouge, and the short, stupid ending.
Please try harder, Ms. Deveraux. I was sorely dissappointed.

Like all of the other Jude Deveraux books, I love this one too, but not as much as "Knight in Shining Armor." Although, this book is right underneath it. At times I got either all teary-eyed, or a nice warm lovely felling, or laughed a lot, for this book has it all. I enjoyed reading about the characters and the lives they lived. I didn't give this book five stars becasue to me, the ending wasn't good enough. I loved the whole fact she found love, but then again, it seemed like Deveraux just jammed everything into the last two pages. But I still love this book! ^_~

Truly awesome....it is not often a romance novel moves me to tears....This is so well written and interesting that you can't put it down. It is a time travel involving an author who is obsessed with one of her characters. As we find out later, she is the reincarnated from the wife of that character. Hundreds of years ago, this man is estranged from her because of adultery. As it turns out, she is a virgin so we quickly become aware there is more of a problem here. This is a story about how sometimes we love too much and it can easily turn to hate. This book is awesome.

After reading "Legend", I searched for another time travel romance written by Deveraux. Although "Remembrance" wasn't quite the same, I still enjoyed the book. The concept of 'soulmates' has always intrigued me. Deveraux has the intelligence and the stanima to make even the weakest believer believe. This story of a modern woman trying to regain a love she has lost in a past life is touching. Some may say the ending, even the beginning, was weak, but I think it was just right. My hat's off to Deveraux who did a fine job, once again, with time travel. I would read anything she writes involving the subject!

From the beginning of the book, Jude has you hooked. I love her writing style and this book isn't the first I have read in her collection. It feels like she is talking to you as a friend, sister, confidant, whatever. I coudn't help loving the way the characters were portrayed. Even the evil mother that wanted to seperate those two was entertaining. The only part that I didn't like was when the heroin was obsessed with the fictitious hero she was writing a book about. I mean - Come on lady , snap out of it already. haha

This book completely rocked my boat! In a nutshell, it is a love story that occurs in the medieval ages in England, in the post victorian era in the US and ends in present day New York. The story is rife with conflict and danger and pent up romance, and has a very sweet ending. Deveraux captured my heart with a Night in Shining Armor, but with Remembrance she made a trully lasting impression.

I really liked the idea of the past life regressions in a love story, but of the 3 different lives explored in the book, only one is really told in depth. This idea could have been developed further and you are cut off short by the abrupt ending. Very clever ideas, but the chain of events will catch you off guard. Just when you think you are about to read a historical romance about Edwardian England, you find out you're not. Clever but not her best.

I agree with the reviewer who wrote "Broken Record". The "third" love story is truly the center of this novel, and is lovely and heartwrenching. For this alone, I would rate this novel a 5. Perhaps I prefer the writing in third person. However, I couldn't relate to the protagonist of the story in general--a self-oriented, not very romantic almost 40 yo who writes in first person. I should have ended the book at the end of the story about Talis and Callie. I had very little interest in whether the protagonist meets the love of her life. I think this novel may have been appealing to me if the hardened protagonist softened. She could have shown "indomitable will" but less selfish determination to "wait" for her man. And I just didn't find their finding each other that interesting either... If anyone could point out other Jude Devereux writing that is more similar to her writings of Callie and Talis, I would definitely read those. Her writing is lovely during that portion.

This book's premise, plot, and characters were all wonderfully thought out, and fascinating. I found the characters very endearing and believable -- real people with foibles that I could relate to! The jumps between time periods and the portrayal of the same essential characters with three different backgrounds and settings were intriguing, as were the insights from Ms. Deveraux on the lives and feelings of modern romance writers. However, I can't give the book that fifth star because parts of the book through the middle subplot, the telling of Talis's and Callie's childhood experiences, seemed too long-winded. I know that the background of the curses affecting their lives throughout time was necessary information, I just felt that this section of the book seemed repetitive and could have been condensed a bit more to keep the pace from dragging.

This book had so many (unnecessary) twists and turns that it kept confusing me. And so many of those twists were SO not interesting. A story about a great love, where those in love are ready to believe the worst of the other, where there's no trust, where... I don't know, it just didn't cut it. It took me ages to read this book. I'm just happy I got it from the library.

This book started out with a lot of potential for being as good as A Knight In Shining Armor until the part where she introduces us to Talis & Callie. It ended up being a good portion of the book, but yet they never really got anywhere in their relationship. I felt like I was running (or in this case, reading) in place. It might just be the control freak in me, but I wanted to see them get more out of their relationship. I can't say too much more without giving the book away. All in all, this book is ok, but not filled with fulfilled romance.

I cried. I cheered. I was frustrated. Reading the back cover for this novel was very misleading...the novel is a much more intense and lovely read than it is described. This is a masterpiece of character development and story progression. My only compliant was I wanted to read just a few more pages about the romance between the two at the end of the novel. I didn't want the story to end.

I was recomended this book a thousand times over and finally sat down to read it. The first part made me laugh, the second part made me worry (in a delightful way!) and the middle part touched my heart! This wonderful book has something for everyone. I even recommended it to my mother who is not a big romance fan... She LOVED it! It has been a long time since I was so moved by such a beautiful story. This book will make you laugh and OH YES cry. A great read and one of my all time fav's!

This is my first Jude Deveraux book. I found myself "cringing" throughout at what I found to be its ridiculous predictability. I love the concept of time travel and that's why I bought the book. However, try as I might, I could not immerse myself in this story. Granted, I tend to read mysteries, thrillers & historical fiction and not romance novels, so perhaps that is why I found it so disappointing. Nothing about this book is intriguing or new, and you see what is coming next a mile away. Even as a romance novel, I think it would be disappointing because the love story is so sappy, juvenile and unrealistic that it's embarrassing....or so I thought!

This is a fantastic read. The blending of tales is poignant and touching, making the reader really consider the prospect of how they treat others in life, and the reality in 'what comes full circle'. Ms. Deveraux provides a wonderful first person and third person read to this enchanting story, which reads more like a fairytale of old

This is one of my all-time favorite books. Sure, it's low in the sex department, but with a plot like this, who needs it? Not often does a romance book touch into one of my hobbies - or addiction - of past lives and lost love, and this one takes the cake. I can read this one again and again and never get tired of it. Truly a romance to make you cry.

I think "Rememberance" has to be my all time favorite book by Ms. Jude Devereaux. Why? How can you not love a book that contains a fated love, curses, reincarnation and redemption? There are so many twists and turns and breaking from the usual formula I couldn't get enough of this book!

The beginning was yummy, the middle was way too long and the very end (present day) was absolutely laughable.
This would have been much better as a trilogy, instead of cramming everything into one book. Which is really unfortunate, because she had some really good ideas going, but got lost somewhere along the way.

I love past life books, so the premise hooked me. I enjoyed the first past life, but became lost when Callie and Talis were children. It went on and on and on. I found it unnecessary for so much to be made ado about that time. I would have enjoyed a longer drawn out ending. All in all, not a bad read though.

I love past life books, so the premise hooked me. I enjoyed the first past life, but became lost when Callie and Talis were children. It went on and on and on. I found it unnecessary for so much to be made ado about that time. I would have enjoyed a longer drawn out ending. All in all, not a bad read though.

The beginning got me intrigued, but when it came to the middle, the long story of Callie's and Talis' childhood was pretty boring, but it was all worth it by the time they were in their teens. When you reach the climax, you will definitely shred some tears, hoping that that wasn't the end. Fortunately for us readers :), Jude Deveraux had other things in mind. You'll just have to buy and read it to know! This book will definitely keep you hanging onto each word, worping you into their lives and into the past, and will definitely change your emotions throughout the book.

I truly enjoyed this story. It was almost a Romeo and Juliet type of story. I love time travel novels. This was so very touching and romantic. The Talis and Callie storyline was especially moving. It touched my heart. Love Jude Deveraux!!!

I loved this book. The beginning keeps you captured through the very end. You cant start it and expect to get anything done during the day. I was glued. A true love story. Love will find you. Wow, Jude Deveraux, you sure do know how to write a book. Thank you.

I Love Jude Devereauxs' books. I have read all of her books and Remembrance is in her top 5. I loved the heroine, Hayden, for her witty, humorous personality. She spans the centuries in search of her soul mate, putting things right where they went wrong in her past lives. This book has it all: reincarnation, karma,time travel. Every time I read this book I end up crying. It will make you believe in love and yearn for your own soul mate.

In the beginning, it didn't quite hold my interest. I kept telling myself if I kept on reading I would stumble across the really good part. I did, after a couple of chapters. Since Rememberance was my first Jude Deveraux book, I didn't know what to expect. But once I knew it was about timetravelling I really got into it. Those who plan to read this book keep on reading, and don't get put down because of the beginning of the book. It'll get more interesting when you pass the first few chapters.

No words can actually describe how deeply moved I am by the story. I've just finished reading the book and I truly loved the story of Talis and Callie for it was so heartwenchingly beautiful. And, high praise for Jude Deveraux! She really knew the words to touch her readers deeply. This book isn't really similar to A Knight In Shining Armor, for it has its own original style and plot. However, it does have the same concept of love across time and the idea of soulmates... definitely a keeper!!

Wow! This book is, hands down, my absolute favorite of Deveraux's. She is by far my favorite romance author, and I have read, and own, all of her books. If you are looking to get lost in a story that will truly make you feel, then this is it.
The story of Callie and Talis is absolutely gut-wrenching! I just love when Jude does that! The book starts out one way, and you think you know exactly how it's gonna be, then she completely surprises you!
Read this book!