My Love (The Westmoreland Dynasty Saga), Whitney

This was a fun, witty love story. The characters are full of spunk and come straight to life. She has a way with words and story telling to suck you right in. You feel the emotions right along with the characters. It does have some adult scenes and language.

judith mcnaught is one of my all time favorite writers, if not my favorite. she grabs you by the thoat and drags you into the story to the point that is very hard to put down. whitney, my love is second only to "Perfect" , another novel she wrote. actually i can think of another.."almost heaven" that was nearly as good as whitney.... i can not believe the one star reviews i read. Clayton was a wonderful character, as was Whitney. neither was perfect, because no one is, especially in real life. but you could feel, really FEEL the love they had growing for each other. much of the troubles they had came from misunderstandings .. nothing more. all i can say for the one's that did not like this book, is.. they must have a pretty black and white perception of the world, making no room for the grey areas...or reasons why things happen. i have always had the belief that if a person throws a chair across the room and breaks your very valuable Ming vase.... its better to ask why they felt the need to throw the chair in the first place, instead of worrying about your damn vase.. yes, i know someone out there is going to bring up things like jeffery dalmer.... im not talking about the insane, or mentally disturbed out there. this book is so very good. i hope the one star people dont sway anyone from reading this very talented writers book. it would be a shame to pass this one up.

So glad that this book is finally on kindle. When I first got a kindle, it was one of the first books I looked for. I thank all that made this possible for this book to be made as an ebook. Especially thanking Judith McNaught for writing it.

2 STARS
I absolutely love Judith McNaught! I do. Inspite this very long novel!

Whitney, My Love- is about a stubborn rebellious girl by the name of Whitney Stone who grew up to be a very alluringly beautiful woman with every hot blooded male panting for her, including the Duke of Claymore, Clayton Westmoreland. Whitney was sent to Paris with her aunt and uncle because her father decided that he's had enough of her unladylike, outragious behavior, and the fact that she's always making a fool of herself over her infatuation with her handsome neighbor Paul. In Paris, she was molded to be a perfect lady before her coming out to society. After 3 successful seasons and lots of offer for Whitney's hand, which she all declined (because she was saving herself for Paul), her father abruptly sent for her to come back to England. Unbeknownst to Whitney, the reason for her father's summon is because he had already accepted a proposal from Clayton Westmoreland whom had been watching, nay lusting for her from afar for the 3 years she was in Paris. Clayton decided to pursue Whitney incognito and request that the betrothal be kept a secret from her until he wins her heart. Unfortunately, for the Duke, while he was trying to win Whitney's heart (in a despicable, pervy manner in my opinion), she was trying to win Paul's! And...

I've read all 708 pages of this book because I am a glutton for punishment. Or an optimist (and the fact that Ms McNaught's style of story telling flows easily). But the story itself is infuriating! The feeling that envokes strongly when one reads this novel is absolute sheer frustration. And I would not have minded so much if there were equally poignant moments, but alas...not. For two people to have supposedly been in love with one another, instead of giving eachother the benefit of a doubt, would rather think the worse of eachother at any given opportunity! Then make excuses after excuses for their irrational and on Clayton's part, unforgivable acts of betrayal. Even I felt betrayed by the end of this novel. Clayton was a hero I tried to like but couldn't. He absolutely did not deserve Whitney. He was cruel and deliberately hurtful, and upon realizing his mistakes, there were no deep remorse and shame on his part. Oh, he's sorry alright but not so profoundly that at a drop of a hat, he'll think the worse of her yet again and treat her like something to be scraped off the bottom of his shiny boots! Whitney, also adds to the frustration of the story, although her antics even if annoying, were quite forgivable and she yielded fully to Clayton even at his cruelest treatment of her.

Now, the story might have been saved for me if the author had just ended it at around page 588, the wedding night. But noooooooooooooo, it had to go further, and that was when I decided that Clayton needed to be emasculated. I should have stopped reading the book after page 588, for I knew that something was going to make me groan in agony (and did!) since there were 120 more pages to go. But silly me, had to continue and thus deserved the disappointment. Clayton Westmoreland is no Royce Westmoreland, his ancestor(A Kingdom of Dreams which I gave 5 stars).

I give credit to Judith Mcnaught for bringing out such emotions in me in her style of writing, however, frustration and disappointment were not what I had in mind.

I first read this book probably 20 years ago. It is my favorite historical romance ever! I have read it 3 times. I love to read and I rarely read a book twice. I just love the characters in this book. Great writing. No silly nonsense.

2 STARS
I absolutely love Judith McNaught! I do. Inspite this very long novel!

Whitney, My Love- is about a stubborn rebellious girl by the name of Whitney Stone who grew up to be a very alluringly beautiful woman with every hot blooded male panting for her, including the Duke of Claymore, Clayton Westmoreland. Whitney was sent to Paris with her aunt and uncle because her father decided that he's had enough of her unladylike, outragious behavior, and the fact that she's always making a fool of herself over her infatuation with her handsome neighbor Paul. In Paris, she was molded to be a perfect lady before her coming out to society. After 3 successful seasons and lots of offer for Whitney's hand, which she all declined (because she was saving herself for Paul), her father abruptly sent for her to come back to England. Unbeknownst to Whitney, the reason for her father's summon is because he had already accepted a proposal from Clayton Westmoreland whom had been watching, nay lusting for her from afar for the 3 years she was in Paris. Clayton decided to pursue Whitney incognito and request that the betrothal be kept a secret from her until he wins her heart. Unfortunately, for the Duke, while he was trying to win Whitney's heart (in a despicable, pervy manner in my opinion), she was trying to win Paul's! And...

I've read all 708 pages of this book because I am a glutton for punishment. Or an optimist (and the fact that Ms McNaught's style of story telling flows easily). But the story itself is infuriating! The feeling that envokes strongly when one reads this novel is absolute sheer frustration. And I would not have minded so much if there were equally poignant moments, but alas...not. For two people to have supposedly been in love with one another, instead of giving eachother the benefit of a doubt, would rather think the worse of eachother at any given opportunity! Then make excuses after excuses for their irrational and on Clayton's part, unforgivable acts of betrayal. Even I felt betrayed by the end of this novel. Clayton was a hero I tried to like but couldn't. He absolutely did not deserve Whitney. He was cruel and deliberately hurtful, and upon realizing his mistakes, there were no deep remorse and shame on his part. Oh, he's sorry alright but not so profoundly that at a drop of a hat, he'll think the worse of her yet again and treat her like something to be scraped off the bottom of his shiny boots! Whitney, also adds to the frustration of the story, although her antics even if annoying, were quite forgivable and she yielded fully to Clayton even at his cruelest treatment of her.

Now, the story might have been saved for me if the author had just ended it at around page 588, the wedding night. But noooooooooooooo, it had to go further, and that was when I decided that Clayton needed to be emasculated. I should have stopped reading the book after page 588, for I knew that something was going to make me groan in agony (and did!) since there were 120 more pages to go. But silly me, had to continue and thus deserved the disappointment. Clayton Westmoreland is no Royce Westmoreland, his ancestor(A Kingdom of Dreams which I gave 5 stars).

I give credit to Judith Mcnaught for bringing out such emotions in me in her style of writing, however, frustration and disappointment were not what I had in mind.

I first read this book probably 20 years ago. It is my favorite historical romance ever! I have read it 3 times. I love to read and I rarely read a book twice. I just love the characters in this book. Great writing. No silly nonsense.

On top of my all time favorite in historical romance genre .... 1 of My go to book when I have long days of vacation & I need good reading materials. 1 of my most read paperback copy on my shelves ( I have a lot).
I have waited a long time for Judith McNaught novels to be on ebook & finally it's here!!!! She's an amazing writer , read all her books.... Have all of them on paper copy & still willing to buy them all on ebook for convenience but please do some editing before releasing electronically, There's a lot of typos....

The story is both heartwarming and heart breaking. The love story is grand but having a strong stubborn heroine makes it very enduring. I wish more of Judith Mcnaughts work was available on my kindle.

As an avid reader since first grade, this is truly one of the best books I have ever read! I have it on Kindle and in hardcover. Have recommended this book to many, many readers. And yes, I have re-read, re-read, and re-read this book. Plan to read it again.

This was my second reading of Whitney, My Love. I originally read it when it first printed. It was just as good as the first time. I had forgotten some of the subplots so it still held some surprises. If you haven't read the book that made McNaught so popular, this is worth the time.

My co-worker introduced me to Judith McNaught books and I'm glad she did. She loaned me Once and Always and I enjoyed throughly. So I decided to purchase another of Ms. McNaught's books and chose Whitney, My Love. Don't regret it at all!! A must read.

The story is definitely a favorite of mine. I have waited for what seems like years for a Judith McNaught book to be released. I was ecstatic for it to be released. Now that I have left you in no doubt that the story itself is great let me tell you what totally makes me want to say words that are not so nice under my breath. Whoever decided to edit this book must be having a very bad week because the editing is deplorable, pathetic, and barely readable due to the mistakes scattered throughout the book. For a person who has waited years for this book to be released the poor editing has greatly stolen my joyful reading experience due to lousy editing!!!! Whoever the company is that has this book made in a kindle edition if you need to charge more money to get a better editor than do so. Customers will pay the money for a better copy. I feel better now that I spoke my peace but I am very suspicious of other Judith McNaught's books to be released because I would be devastated to relive the same rotten reading experience!!

Judith McNaught is a talented storyteller, there's no denying that. Perhaps that is the reason that I was so disappointed by this book, for which I had such high hopes. There were many aspects of the book that I liked very much, but there were others that left me feeling very disturbed and unsatisfied.
The unusual breadth and depth of this book surprised me. The characters are very amiable, and I was gratified by the unique rendering of Whitney's character. Like many other heroines of romance novels, she is strong-willed and a little bit of an outcast. But she is not perfect in every way (at least not in the beginning) and those who she sets her heart upon do not always requite her emotions. The story-line was full of suspense, and I kept wondering how Whitney could possibly end up with Clayton, even though the synopsis makes the outcome very obvious. I admired the twisting plot McNaught used to deal with Whitney's conflicting feelings over her childhood crush on Paul versus her betrothal to Clayton, a situation that I found most unusual.
Although I found most of the story to be a refreshing change in a genre often typified by predictability, I had some rather significant qualms about the development (or lack thereof) of certain characters. One Example is Whitney's father: a central character both to the story and to Whitney's character, he virtually disappears after his purpose as a plot device to bring Clayton and Whitney together is served. He appears when it is convenient, but Whitney never really seems to dwell on him in her thoughts, even though many of her earlier actions in the book were highly influenced by her relationship with him. Likewise, the character of Nicki appears and then disappears with equal rapidity, an injustice to such well-drawn figure. These instances, however, are not nearly so grave as the flawed character of Clayton.
McNaught did a fabulous job of making the reader dislike Clayton. Unfortunately, her failure to win the reader over to his side in the latter part of the book is a major obstacle to the story's success. My bias most certainly comes from my views of his abuse of Whitney - not once in the book did he ever really confront what he had done. I realize the historical context in which the story is placed has some influence, but at the same time I couldn't help but doubt Whitney's character after the way she responded - she was far too easily won by his physical overtures, without promise of real reform. However, putting aside that rather distasteful incident, my real problem lies in the development of his character thereafter. Assuming that everyone makes mistakes and he was truly sorry, perhaps one could believe in Whitney's love for him to the extent that the reader could forgive him as she did. But Clayton never really undergoes any real penance for his crime, or any true reform in the end - rather, I was astonished to find that he was often depicted as the victim when the only real victim was Whitney, time after time. There lacks a balance of power between the two characters which would proclaim the partnership which Whitney declared early on would be the only kind of marriage in which she would participate, leaving only a relationship in which the male dominates the female. A far superior example of the convincing repentance of a man for a similar crime based upon lack of faith is depicted in Teresa Medeiros's Fairest of Them All. I was hugely disappointed at the end to see no real change in Clayton's conduct after his second incident of mistreating Whitney without evidence or explanation. How can a romance be all that good if I don't think Whitney should have ended up with Clayton? There are a few instances of Clayton's love for Whitney, but they seemed very few and far between. There was far too much violence displayed, and his tenderness always seemed to be calculated and manipulative. He treated her like a child, and I don't believe the he ever really stopped thinking of her as a possession to be flaunted rather than a person to respect.
Nicki was a very touching, lovable character. Even if the story-line between Whitney and Clayton proved to be far more interesting and tumultuous, I never stopped hoping for Nicki to be the victorious suitor. I commend McNaught on her ability to draw such emotional support for a minor character, and perhaps even on her wisdom for creating a character so likeable as to create a rival for Clayton in the reader's mind. But by the end, the reader should want Whitney to be with Clayton at least as much, if not more, than with Nicki - which was not the case. Whitney was a gem of a character and I never really felt that Clayton understood her worth or appreciated her as a person, which the only way that he could really love her.
There are extremes of conflicting opinions over this book. Overall, it is very well-written but is not something that I would probably read again. Its appeal is more for those with a traditional view of romance, which is often associated with violence. As a reader with more modern sensibilities, I believe that McNaught's greatest mistake was in placing an incident of rape in the story-line as if it were a crime of passion and excusable in the name of love. I found it horrifying and demeaning, and I believe that Whitney should never have forgiven him, no matter how much she loved him - especially if she loved him, in fact. If you have a similar opinion, then I would definitely recommend skipping this book.

Whitney My Love has me now hooked on Romance novels. I have read 4 other Judith McNaught books, but this one is by far my Favorite. I love her style of hard times, to bliss. Whitney is such a strong character, as is Clayton Westmoreland. Both of these characters are very misunderstood, until the end. It reminds me of Pride and Prejudice.

I've checked periodically since I got my very first Kindle device for this story to become available digitally.

It was worth the wait despite the numerous times I've read and re-read it over the years. I honestly believe there is no finer historical romance writer than the author and all of her female heroines manage to connect. We may not agree with their decisions but the relative ages of historical romance protagonists and antagonists should always be taken into consideration. I certainly don't remember making the most in-depth decisions when I was 19!

Whitney is glorious, vibrant, beautiful, quirky, Without going too deeply into her childhood, we still manage to become connected to her and to understand why she fixates on certain goals and accomplishments. We forgive those bad decisions. We understand them. And we love that she fascinates our Duke, too.

While a little too heavy-handed for me at times, he *is* a Duke and he goes to great lengths to secure this nobody and ensure she comes to him with at least some positive emotions. It's heart wrenching at times. I remember crying multiple times when first read and come close even in subsequent readings.