http://www.cathymaxwell.com/ Cathy Maxwell is a one of my auto buy authors who also happens to be a hit and miss authors. I wasn't really too fond of her last book The Earl Claims His Wife, however, with The Marriage Ring, Ms. Maxwell redeemed herself and this book turned out to be on the hit list. This is the third book in her Scandals and Seduction series and I think it might be the best one in that series.
This has some of my favorite story elements in it, it has a priggish, uptight, hero, Richard. Richard is also described a number of times as big, almost touching the ceilings. When that happened my inner mind wondered just how freakish he was, but he was the hero so he couldn't be too bizarre looking...could he? He had a rough childhood and over the years he has grown into a very somber fellow. He's rather a gloomy Gus and he's even celibate! On the other hand, we have the feisty stubborn heroine, Grace. However, she isn't the type of feisty that a lot of romance readers hate, she's a well-written feisty. She is also blackmailing Richards father and uncle in a misguided attempt to clear her father's name.
This story is also a road trip story and in more than one way. Grace and Richard team up and journey from London to Inverness and have an adventure along the way. But we also get to see the internal journey they both make as they fall in love. And I have to say there are some really touching moments as they both suffer disappointment, especially with the people that they are trying to earn respect from.
If I had any quibble with this one it would be that I felt the ending was just a little rushed, as did some of the loose end tying. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of Grace and Richard after the HEA.
So, all you people with soft hearts this one is for you.
Time Place: Regency England and Scotland
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Warm
4 comments:
Great review! It made me laugh when you said he was touching the ceilings he was so tall. Maybe they just had really low ceilings back then? lol Either that or...well - it would explain why he was celibate. :)
Glad you enjoyed the review. The first time Ms. Maxwell mentioned the head/ceiling combo, I was immediately sidetracked. So, every time it was mentioned and it was mentioned more than once I had visions of this tall guy, really tall Lurch-like guy. There is probably a thin line that authors need to watch when describing their heroes.
yeah, I always have moments of unstoppable eye-rolling when some authors overdo the whole descriptive simile concept. Did the head/ceiling combo come with a side of "crick in her neck from trying to look him in the eye"?
You know, I didn't think about the neck crick. That's a good visual. The ceiling toucher and the the neck cricker.
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