One Night is Never Enough by Anne Mallory

March 17, 2011

"Master, what is going on? "
"Patience, Grasshopper, all will be revealed in the end..."
"Ha, Master Po, a lot you know!"

ttp://www.annemallory.com/
Where to begin...where to begin. Let's begin here, I read a glowing review on this book and boy was I excited, especially after Ms. Long's book. I thought, who'd have thunk it, two great books in a roll. Well, here's the deal, I had to struggle with this book and as I was struggling I read another review that said this book was for intelligent people. Well, G-O-L-L-Y, guess who didn't get it? I remember with Ms. Mallory's last book I wore a frowny face through most of it, and I had one again.

It's not that I didn't understand what was going on, it's just that the hero, Roman, was such a mysterious, enigmatic guy; always doing something in the background of the story that I'm never let in on. He's supposed to be playing games, but I never really found out what those games were, however, the heroine must have been one of those intelligent people, 'cause she figured it out. I think she was probably psychic. Roman's POV is hardly ever presented, and that's ok, as long as there is some clearing up of the fog that surrounds the story. I wish I had been invited into more of Roman's world, the glimpse I was given of it was quite engrossing! By the way, he has an equally mysterious brother who's story is next.

Now, to the heroine, Charlotte. Charlotte has a horrible father by the way. She also has chains, she wants to be free, she wants to fly away, break those chains, escape her cage...Roman wants her to be free, he wants her to break those chains...what are those chains? She's perfect! She's beautiful! Those are the chains? That's the cage she's in? She must be free! She must fly away! OMG! Somebody give this girl a pair of wings! You may have guessed, I found this oft repeated freedom flying to be a tad bit annoying.

So, what do I think about this book? A number of things. First of all, Ms. Mallory is a fine writer, she has an almost lyrical way of putting words together. However, for me, I needed to see more of what was going on behind the scene and especially behind Roman's mind. The card game toward the end of the book and it's aftermath were great!!! Roman could have been a really fantastic hero, if only I had been allowed to see what makes him tick. Oh sure, enigmatic hero's are wonderful...but I need to be let in on the secrets, 'cause shazam I am one of those dense readers. This is also going to be one of those books that you are either going to be in the love fest camp or the disappointed camp.

Even with all the struggles I had with this story, I do intend to read the next book in the series. I'm hoping all will be made clear, but I suspect I'll probably be frowning again.

Time/Place: Back streets of Regency England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot