Touch of a Scoundrel by Mia Marlowe...#2

August 13, 2012

Quick get me my umbrella!

http://www.miamarlowe.com/
Spoilers ahead.  I'm not sure what I think of this book.  There were portions that I found very entertaining and then there were parts that were eye-rolling moments. I didn't have any problems with the cover, loved it!  Even though the cover has headless people, the color is so wonderful and I loved the scroll work around the text.  Very eye catching!

Now, on to Touch of a Scoundrel.  Touch, in this case refers to the heroes (Devon) ability to "see" the future when he touches things.  Although, in true Romanceland "see/touch" fashion this ability wasn't always consistent.  However, that didn't really bother me.  Of course our heroine, Emma drops a pencil and we are presented with a very scorcher of a scene as Devon "sees" into the future.  Devon, tries to resist what he sees.  Silly boy, he obviously doesn't know the instant lust routine in romance books.  Even when the heroine is the almost-fiancee of his brother.  Even when he must fight his manly urges so he can have just a little bit of honor.  But, honor in this book seems to be an awfully pale shadow, because in the end, he does succumb to his cravings.

While we are talking about dim honor, let's talk about Emma.  Emma, along with her non-father are con artists.  And, they are out to flim-flam Teddy (Devon's brother) out of some money.  Now, they have a good reason, however, I'm not going to tell what that reason is, but I bought it. 

Let's talk about one of my problems with Touch of a Scoundrel.  Emma's soggy.  This woman really needs to see a doctor about her leaking woman-parts.  They cry you see.  They are dewy, wet, weepy, sometimes even torrential flood waters.  Every time this woman thought about Devon things got moist. I thought I might need a boat just to maneuver through the pages of scorching sex.  We almost had a tropical jungle thing going on in this book and, after awhile some eye-rolling on my part.  Often, I feared for our hero's life with all the drenching that was taking place.  Maybe heroes should be equipped with snorkels.

And, now on to the other thing that bothered me: the villain.  I'm not sure we really needed one.  The story was just fine without his continual dropping in.  To say nothing of the over the top kidnap/drug scene, which didn't work for me and created some really big eyebrow moments.

So, if you can get past the outrageous villain and the wet heroine, this book is pretty good.  I do recommend it, just be prepared for a little dew.

Time/Place: Late Victorian England

Sensuality: Scorching

Grade: B+