February 1, 2011Who says nice guys finish last?
http://www.lauraleeguhrke.com/index.htm
Aiden; what an honorable, trustworthy, nice guy and he's a hunk on top of that. Aiden's problem... he just can't find a fiancee who will stick around. He can't seem to hold on to them. His first one dumps him for her childhood sweetheart, and the second gets a tad bit upset when he's caught in bed with "that woman." And, it is "that woman" who is like a nettle under his skin, a ringing in his ears that he can't block. She's constantly irritating him, arousing him, making him forget who he is and what he owes to his family. That woman is Julia, a supposedly wild woman in a horrible marriage, which she is trying disparately to get out of. This is where Scandal of the Year begins - in divorce court. Aiden is named as the co-respondent in a messy divorce case brought on by Julia's husband. Truly a scandal!
And so begins a wonderful story of two mismatched, complex people on their journey to that HEA. First of all, let me say this: I liked this story a lot better than the first. I thought Aiden was a wonderful Romanceland hero; he had such a strong sense of what was right. I dare any of you not to love this man. He wasn't so much a stuffed shirt as he was concerned with doing the right thing and expecting everyone else to do the right thing. So, his perception of "that woman"... she smokes, she drives a car, plays risque songs, she has lovers... She is not to be tolerated and he tries to stay away from her, but he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. (Love that analogy.)
There are some flashbacks in this book. I'm not sure they were needed, but nevertheless they are there. There was also a fascinating look at what it must have been like to be a woman during that time period and how limited the choices were. I especially enjoyed Julia when she was trying to figure out how she was going to pay her debts.
Pet names in books! I'm not a big fan of pet names, in books or in real life, but in this one Julia calls Aiden "petal" He was irritated by it, but it was really charming. If I had one quibble with this book, it was Julia's resistance to being married to this wonderful guy. I think Ms. Guhrke has the beginnings of a really good series going and thanks to an incredible hero, I liked this story a lot. And, because of the hero, I was torn between the rating...so it has two.
Time/Place: Edwardian England
Rating:
to
Sensuality Rating: Sort of Hot
4 comments:
Great review! I picked this one up this weekend and am looking forward to reading it.
Sometimes pet names drive me nuts as well. I just read a book (was a DNF) where the guy started calling the girl petal after about 10 minutes of knowing her with no explanation as to why. Crazy. lol
I go either way about pet names. If it's something like "beautiful" or a play on the persons name, I like it, but it quickly wears on my nerves if it's anything sappy.
This book sounds very interesting- thanks for the great review!
Hey, just started snowing hard here...so I'm going home and becoming snowbound with a good book.
Tracy: Hope you like the book!
D.L. this pet name didn't get sappy.
I enjoyed this one. I found the intricacies of why Julia couldn't easily divorce her husband interesting since it told the story of the time period. I enjoyed the flashbacks because they tantalizes and the interaction between the characters was fun at times.
Post a Comment