I realize this book is the first in a trilogy, so much remains to be resolved in the story and yet I am certain I will not continue the tale. I was very frustrated by this book - the basics of the plot are good, but I disliked nearly every character and not because they were bad people, but because they felt two dimensional and flimsy. The potential love interest of Charmaine is possibly the most interesting and likable character, and yet he seems prone to some incredibly creepy thoughts about what he'd like to do the woman he's interested in. The portrayal of several female characters annoyed me from the start: this is a novel with a very narrow view of how a "good" woman can be and the "bad" women aren't even provided motivations for their behavior. I'm not certain how I made it to the end of this one, but I am happy to put down this book and move on to something else. ( )

I picked this up not knowing in it #1 in a trilogy. I found out there is a book that holds all 3 and that is - Colette's Prayer (2005-
This is a wonderfully fast paced, enthralling story that centers around Charmaine, a governess. The cast of characters keep the reader guessing as everyone is seemingly out for themselves. Who is using who becomes the question. I shed tears and became angry at the ending as it just hangs in the wind! I didn't want the book to end, so I am happy there is more, I just wieh I had the next book to pick up right away.
Highly recommend this book to any Historical Fiction readers who enjoy the era including 1833. The book takes place mostly on an island between Richmond and England. ( )

While the story is very interesting, NOTHING gets resolved in this book. Nothing!! Apparently one is going to need to read all three books (with the third still to be released in late November 2009) before anything is settled. Frankly, the book and story is just not good enough to wait for that (or spend that kind of money), in my opinion.

The book is set in the 1830's, beginning in Richmond, Virginia with heroine Charmaine Ryan, an 18-year-old whose mother was recently beaten to death by her alcoholic father. Employed as a companion to kind empty-nester Loretta Harrington, the latter suggests a change of scenery - applying for a position as a governess on a Caribbean island owned by the wealthy Duvoisin family, for whom Loretta's brother-in-law is an overseer.

From that point on we have a number of the typical characters of a historical romance: the young second wife, the illegitimate son, the black sheep heir, and so on. Our heroine must prove her worthiness as governess, deal with squabbling members and a death in the family, and of course the lust of the two half-brothers.

I enjoyed the descriptions of settings (particularly on the islands of Les Charmantes, "the charming ones") and the character development, but the plot and its lack of any resolutions sucked. I can't recommend it for that reason. ( )

A disclaimer: I only read the first two chapters.

This book was very poorly written. First the sentence structure is awful. It is alright for some sentences to begin with a noun followed by a verb. However this book is full of all sorts of phrases beginning the sentence. Passive voice hurts the book as well.

The writer also summarizes major plot points that I thought should have been a scene in and of themselves. This is okay for a little while. I accepted it in the prologue. This got old really quickly.

The characters, especially the protagonist, felt very contrived. All the women so far obsess about finding a mate. I realize that in the 1830s it was important for a young woman to find a husband. However, all these women want to marry our protagonist to some eligible man. She thinks she wants none of that because her father drank and abused her mother. However then she sees a man, whom I assume is the hero, and she wonders how she would handle being alone with him. This man is also way over the top. This all set on a little island not terribly far from Richmond, VA. The whole island drools over this guy. I couldn't help of thinking about Gaston from Beauty and the Beast because all the unmarried women want him. He also has rippling muscles.

I couldn't read any further. ( )

A Silent Ocean Away is an absorbing read, written by sisters Debra and Valerie Gantt, and it doesn’t convey any impression of design by committee, except perhaps in the depth of detail given to peripheral characters. Of course, I may be totally mistaking who’s peripheral, since the book is part one of a trilogy, and much of the story’s still untold by the final page.

The tale is set on an exotic island in the 19th century. DeVa make their depiction of locale and time very enticing and convincing. I loved the simple touches, like a new Jane Austen novel being read, and the complex creation of a complete society, separate from but closely linked by trade to the rest of the world. I soon grew attached to the characters too, and appreciated the deft descriptions that made it easy to tell who was who as people vanished and reappeared.

The subtitle, Colette’s Dominion, left me waiting for a Colette while following the tribulations of Charmaine through the early chapters. The writers do an excellent job of throwing both character and reader into the deep end of the pool, stripping family, friends and home away, till the landing on Charmante, where Charmaine becomes governess to Colette’s three children.

The ocean of the title seemed to represent Charmaine’s anchorless existence at the start, and then the distance travelled to the island. But soon it came to symbolize the oceans of silence between secrets, each character revealing feelings to the reader that were never voiced to those who needed to hear them. Mysteries abound in this book, and by the end they are mostly unresolved. Indeed, that would be my biggest complaint, that the only “resolved” story-line seemed the least interesting when I suddenly found I’d turned the final page; I wish the trilogy had been published as a single volume.

The children, with their delightful foibles and wonderfully natural tricks, are growing now. The brothers, almost uncles, are at each others’ throats. The father rules and vanishes with perplexing twists and turns. And the authors’ insights at the back of the book lead to a chapter from Colette’s Legacy that at least convinces me there really will be more.

More than just a romance, this is a complicated, absorbing tale, marred only by its incompleteness. I’d certainly recommend it, as long as you don’t mind waiting in a roiling ocean as the waves turn to storm till the next book comes out. ( )