Monday

Anything but a Gentleman by Elisa Braden

 August 31, 2020

At last! A good story….mostly!

Yes, finally Elisa Braden gave me a story I liked…a lot. Well she didn’t actually give it to me, I did buy it.

Anything but a Gentleman is the 8th book in the Rescued from Ruin series. If you’ve read any of the other books in the series, you should be familiar with the leads, Sebastian Reaver and Augusta Widmore. Both of these characters were eye-catching secondary characters in those stories, and I will be honest, this was one of those times I had high expectations for these two characters when they had their own story. I was happy that Ms. Braden didn’t disappoint.

Sebastian is a Romanceland gambling establishment owner. Hence he’s rough around the edges, and at first glance, he seems to be pretty menacing. He is also someone it is never wise to cross. But, he is about to meet someone who doesn’t abide by his rules…Augusta Widmore.

Alert! Augusta is one of those Romanceland women. You know the ones I’m talking about! Those red-headed females with long legs! Oh no, not long legs!!! Not vibrant red-hair! Of course, she doesn’t know what a beauty she is, but I liked her too much to care. Was she a perfect heroine? Of course not. She had a number of qualities which I didn’t care for, the most important of these not being able to listen to her sister. But, I forgave her, eventually. It seems that her younger sister, Phoebe, is pregnant, and not married. The man responsible for is a cad, a real bounder, and he’s also a gambler. And, not a good gambler. He has left a lot of “markers” at Sebastian Reaver’s gambling establishment. Augusta has a plan! I’m sorry, my little Petunias, but heroine think up Romanceland plans too. Yes, she has a Romanceland plan, and it’s a doozy. She means to get those markers from Reever…somehow. She hasn’t really thought out the how. Anyway, once she has the markers, she plans on forcing the “cad” to marry her sister. There is so much wrong with this plan, I don’t even know what to say. But I will go ahead anyway.

One of the things I disliked about Augusta was her mind-set on forcing her beloved sister, Phoebe, into wedlock with the “cad/bounder/worthless creep.” Augusta is rather strong-willed, as Sebastian finds out. She needs to talk to him, he refuses. Ok, he refuses to talk to her, so she will find ways to get into his establishment, and force him to pay attention. She keeps breaking into his gambling house. He keeps kicking her out. At one point, even throwing her over his shoulders and tossing her out. Augusta does not give up.  Eventually, he comes up with a plan. His plan is to scare her into running away. He offers to give Augusta the markers if she will become his mistress. And, he waits for her to turn tail and run. He waits, and waits. Much to his surprise, she accepts.

Now, we get to watch the menacing Sebastian turn into a cuddly bear. I enjoyed the relationship between Sebastian and Augusta. There were misunderstandings, snappy dialogue, and an occasional chuckle. The only fly in the ointment was the sister, Phoebe and the secondary romance she becomes involved in.

I found the secondary romance between the weaker Phoebe and Sebastian’s partner Adam Shaw a distraction. I was never fond of Phoebe. She waited too long to find her voice. Adam Shaw was an incredible scene stealer and deserved a book of his own, and a heroine who wasn’t so wishy-washy. The secondary romance didn’t add anything to the overall voice of the book.

In conclusion. So far, this has been my favorite book in the Rescued from Ruin series. I thought Sebastian and Augusta made quite a delightful couple. I would have given this book a higher rating if not for the secondary romance. It was a bit of a distraction, and Adam deserved his own book. The other issue which bothered me was Augusta’s stubbornness in insisting her sister marry such a blackguard. She should have talked things over with Phoebe. Her assertion that she had all the answers was frustrating. Also, Phoebe could have grown a backbone sooner. But I do recommend this book.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Tons

 

Holy Spaghetti and Meatballs!! Upcoming Historical Romance!!! September 15 to October 14, 2020!!!

August 24, 2020
 
Authors with an asterisk*, I'm picking up! Release dates mostly between September 15, 2020 and October 14, 2020. For more Upcoming Releases that aren't historical see HEY DELIA!! **Book by an author who is either new to me or has fallen off of my list and I might read.

Series indicates a series, spin-off, sequel, trilogy, brother/sister, secret society/spies, good friends who attended Oxford/Eton, vampire/werewolf - anything that has something continuing - even if written 20 years ago. Anthology/novella/short stories could be an anthology or a bunch of books in one print or novella - one tiny book or an anthology with a bunch of novellas - could be a short stories by one author, could be short stories by multiple authors - could be - I'm getting a headache. Ebook, only sold electronically for now. Debut - congratulations!

By the way, it is not my fault if a publisher changes the release dates - just so you know, they do not consult me. Let me also add this warning - since I am now using different sources, I am finding that one person's genre isn't necessarily another persons - sorry if your book is in the wrong genre. 
 
By the way - not toooo fond of the Blogger upgrade.
 
Historical Romance
A.S. Fenichel**
http://asfenichel.com
Misleading a Duke
The Wallflowers of West End
September 29
Adele Clee
http://www.adeleclee.com/
Raven, ebook
Gentlemen of the Order series
October 7
Amy Jarecki
https://amyjarecki.com/
The Highland Laird     
Lords of the Highland series
October 13
Anabelle Bryant
http://www.anabellebryant.com/
London's Most Elusive Earl, ebook
Midnights Secret series
October 13

Annabelle Greene
https://annabellegreene.com/
The Vicar and the Rake, debut, ebook
Society of Beasts series
October 12

Bethany Bennett
https://www.bethanybennett
Any Rogue Will Do      
Misfits of Mayfair series
October 13


Blythe Gifford*
http://blythegifford.com
Jenni Fletcher
http://jennifletcher.com
Amanda McCabe
http://ammandamccabe.com/
Tudor Christmas Tidings
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 1 - ebook

Bronwyn Scott
http://bronwynswriting.blogspot.com/
The Confessions of the Duke of Newlyn
Cornish Dukes series
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 1 - ebook

Bronwyn Stuart
http://www.bronwynstuart.com/
The Slide into Ruin, ebook
Daughters of Disgrace series
September 15

Christi Caldwell
http://www.christicaldwellauthor.com
A Winter Wish, ebook
The Reed Family
September 27

Christina McKnight
http://www.christinamcknight.com
A Lord of Her Own
September 15

Courtney Milan*
https://www.courtneymilan.com/
The Duke Who Didn’t
The Wedgewood Trials
September 22 -
Yes, she's still writing

Diana Quincy
http://www.dianaquincy.com/
Her Night with the Duke
Clandestine Affairs
September 29

Grace Burrowes
http://www.graceburrowes.com/
My Heart's True Delight, ebook
True Gentlemen, series
September 22
Greta Gilbert
The Roman Lady's Illicit Affair     
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 1 - ebook
Helen Dickson
Wedded for His Secret Child
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 1 - ebook
Jenna Jaxon
http://jennajaxon.wordpress.com
The Widow's Christmas Surprise
The Widow’s Club series
September 29

Joanna Johnson
A Mistletoe Vow to Lord Lovell
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 1 - ebook
Julie London
http://www.julialondon.com/
A Princess by Christmas
A Royal Wedding series
October 13
Kerrigan Byrne
http://www.kerriganbyrne.com
All Scot and Bothered
Devil You Know series
September 29
Larissa Lyons
http://LarissaLyons.com
Daring Declaration
Mistress in the Making series
September 22

Lorraine Heath*
http://www.lesliedicken.com
Beauty Tempts the Beast
Sins for All Seasons series
September 29
Madeline Martin
http://www.MadelineMartin.com
Kinsey's Defiance, ebook
Borderland Rebels series
September 15
Meriel Fuller
Protected by the Knight’s Proposal
Sept 29 – paperback, Oct 2 - ebook
Merry Farmer
http://merryfarmer.net
The Road to Scandal is Paved with Wicked Intentions, ebook
The May Flowers
September 25
Sandra Sookoo
http://www.sandrasookoo.com
Trimmed in Blue, ebook
Colors of Scandal series
September 15
Sasha Cottman
http://www.sashacottman.com
Devoted to the Spanish Duke
London Lords series
October 1
Stacy Reid
http://www.stacyreid.com
A Rogue in the Making, ebook
Forever Yours series
October 12

Suzan Tisdale
http://www.suzantisdale.com
Lachlan's Heart, ebook
The MacCulloughs
September 25
Tammy Andresen
http://tammyandresen.com/
Who Wants a Brawling Baron, ebook
Romancing a Rake series
October 6
 
Tanya Anne Crosby
http://www.tanyaannecrosby.com
Lord of Shadows, historical/fantasy
Daughters of Avalon series
September 24
Vivienne Lorret**
http://www.vivlorret.net
My Kind of Earl
Mating Habits of Scoundrels series
September 29
Historical Fiction
Beatrice Colin
http://www.beatricecolin.com
The Glass House
September 15
Carol Bruneau
http://carolbruneau.com/
Brighten the Corner Where You Are
September 30
Clare McHugh
A Most English Princess
September 22

Ken Follett
https://ken-follett.com/
The Evening and the Morning
prequel to Pillars of the Earth
Sept 15 – ebook, Oct 28 - paperback
Signe Pike
https://www.signepike.com/
The Forgotten Kingdom
The Lost Queen
 

Confessions of a Dangerous Lord by Elisa Braden

August 24, 2020

Watch out for the red herrings!

https://www.elisabraden.com/
Confessions of a Dangerous Lord is a spy, thriller story – sort of. It’s supposed to be a romance, but the intrigue takes over the story. Remember Henry, the fop, from previous books? He is every ones favorite jovial friend, always witty, always up for a good laugh. He dresses in foppish clothes and likes to hunt. But, there is more to Henry, Earl of Dunston, than our little eyes can see. He is out to catch the villain who murdered his father. Also, along for the ride is our heroine Maureen Huxley, yes part of that Huxley family who have shown up in a few of the earlier books. Well, it seems that Maureen and Henry fell in love with each other years ago at her sister’s wedding. Ever since then Maureen has been trying to get Henry to confess his love for her, and propose marriage. And, Henry – well Henry has been running away. He wants nothing to do with her. He has a reason, or at least he has a hero-reason. A hero-reason is similar to a hero-plan in that it doesn’t necessarily make sense, and it could change at any time.

Maureen’s life-long dream is to be married and have babies. She longs for Henry, but she’s feeling blue because he keeps rejecting her. She decides, ok enough is enough, I’ll find someone else. And she tries. She is popular with the other men in her world; she has a number of suitors. Most of them meet her requirements, which in this case is to have a Timothy Toad. Anyway, something odd keeps happening; her suitors just keep changing their mind. She just is not able to understand it. She checks her underarms for any smells. Unbeknownst to her, Henry has been scaring her suitors away. He cannot have her, and he makes sure that no one else will have her either. It does not sound very sporting to me. I believe this puts him in the running for bonehead hero.

Eventually, Maureen lands a suitor who is not intimidated by Henry: Phineas Brand, Lord Holstoke. Holstoke happens to be a secondary character who steals scenes. He’s a handsome, self-composed, cool customer. That’s a good thing, because he gets his own book. He’s also a nice guy, and very likeable. He is actually more likeable than Henry, the bonehead Maureen is mooning over.

The presence of Holstoke panics Henry, and Henry marries Maureen. The end. Not really. You see there is a problem, the reason Henry maintained a distance from Maureen. The villain of the book.

The villain of the piece is well written, and pretty much hidden. When the villain made their first appearance on the pages, my little gray cells started to stir. But then the author threw some wonderful red-herrings into the batch, and I was distracted away from the true villain. For the most part, I thought the villain was pretty creepy, the only small problem I had was the “this-is-why-I-did-it” explanation when the villain is caught. There must be a better way to find out why villains do what they do than to do a three-page dissertation. Regardless, the villain was delightfully evil.

So, what does the villain have to do with Henry being a bonehead. Well the villain is murdering people who are close to Henry. Henry thinks if he ignores the woman he loves, the villain will leave her alone. Then he panics and marries her, so all those years of ignoring her are totally wasted.

As in the other books in this series, there was an overload of sex scenes. For the most part, they serve no purpose, and they happen at odd points in the narrative. The mystery overwhelmed the romance in this story, and that’s too bad because Henry and Maureen could have been a great couple. They were just hidden behind the suspense, the villain and Lord Holstoke. I sort of recommend this book, it’s not going to be something you will remember as one of the bestest romance stories ever written, but it’s a good way to while away a pandemic day.
 
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Same as others

Twelve Nights His Mistress by Elisa Braden

August 24, 2020

Ahhhhh. A short story.
Twelve Nights His Mistress is the sixth story in the Rescue from Ruin series by Elisa Braden. It is obvious that it was a holiday release. As with most short stories, it was not fully developed, but it was ok.

This one is about Charles Bainbridge, the Marquess of Wallingham and Julia Willoughby, a widow. A widow with a guilty conscience. Guilt is actually what part of the plot revolves around, and by the way, Julia has a secret.

Why the guilt? Well it seems that when Julia was married to a really nice guy. Then one day Charles showed up at their home to talk to her husband. When the husband left the room for some reason, all of a sudden sparks started to fly between Charles and Julia. They were silent sparks. Neither one of them acted upon the attraction, the husband reentered the room, everything went on as before. Except that neither Charles nor Julia ever forgot that moment. Years pass, Julia becomes a widow, and Charles starts to pursue her. She has never been able to get past the guilt, and the feeling that she betrayed her husband in some way. She loves Charles, but she has a secret which prevents her from becoming his wife. However, it does not prevent her from forgetting her morals and becoming his mistress.

Then the novel switches to pages and pages of sex, then Julia tells Charles her secret and that is the end. Short story with a rushed ending, and no character development. It was just ok.
 
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Seemed longer than twelve days

Wednesday

Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel by Elisa Braden

August 19, 2020
 
Scoundrel is a rather tame word.
For anyone who was waiting for Colin’s story, Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel is it. In the two previous books, Colin is a piece of work. He is a drunk, a wastrel, a gambler. He is a seducer of young women. He is responsible for the death of two people. The author has given us a character who is not redeemable. There is not anything about this bonehead we the reader can like. There are waaayyyy toooo many negative things for Colin to overcome. Maybe if he had one or two issues, he might have been redeemable. Colin had tons of them. Moreover, they were not small, my-father-hated-me-when-I-was-two-years-old, issues. He treated a young woman as a throwaway object. He was responsible for her death. He was responsible for his brother dueling. I could go on. Bottom-line, I think this author gave Colin too many destructive character flaws. Besides that, some of the things he did were more than just character flaws.
 
We have a pretty bland heroine by the name of Sarah, and she does some TSTL things. Once again, there is the manly, macho hero to rescue her from her bad choices. In addition, once again we have insta-lust, although in Colin’s case I am not sure how this differs from his earlier jaunts.

I will make this review short. Ms. Braden took the character of Colin too far down the unconscionable path. Sarah deserved better. She deserved an honorable man, even if she was TSTL. This was not a good book for me. I despised Colin; he was an incredibly horrible person. How many adjectives can I come up with for despicable? Even though this is part of a series, I do not recommend this book. It will add nothing to the overall experience of this series.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Disturbingly Monotonous

Tuesday

The Truth About Cads and Dukes by Elisa Braden

August 18, 2020

"Love one another, but make not a bond of Love:
 Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give One another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone."  Kahlil Gilbran

Not: Mine! Mine! Mine!

You know how it is when you glom some authors. You start to see patterns forming, a certain sameness in all the books. Well, that eventually started to happen for me with Elisa Braden’s series, Rescue from Ruin. I noticed it by the sixth book, which was really the third book I read, but decided to talk about it with this one. Are you confused? Regardless of the order in which I read these books, take my word for it; there is a pattern. In fact, there are a number of patterns. All of her books have insta-lust. Notice I didn’t say insta-love. Because all of the attraction happens right away, way before they talk to each other, I would not classify the feelings happening as love. In every case, all of that lust progresses into possessiveness rather rapidly. Then that possessiveness progresses into ownership. She is his, and he is hers. They are mine, mine, mine. I am not sure you really should “own” someone. In all healthy relationships there has to be a little individualism. If not, someone suffocates, or loses their own identify.  Every single book in this series has that “owning” relationship thing going on, and there does not seem to be too much respect for the person they supposedly love.

Another pattern I noticed is that none of the women seems to be able to extricate themselves out of the dangerous situations in which they land. They were all “Nell Fenwick” waiting for Dudley Do-Right to come along. Then the biiigggg pattern is allll the page after page of sex. The variations seem to be out of some textbook…it is mind numbing, and after a while monotonous.

When this story began, I thought for sure I was going to like it. It opened with our heroine, Jane Huxley, climbing in through a window. She is slightly over-weight, wears glasses, and is described has having a plain face…over, and over, and over again. I get it, only someone really, really, really in love with her would consider her attractive. Anyway, she is attempting to crawl through a window. You may wonder why she is doing that. Jane is what some people would call a soft touch. She believes what people say. She is on a mission to retrieve something for Lord Colin Lacey. You remember him.  He is the cad who impregnated Atherbourne’s sister. Well, he is still up to his old tricks. Oh, he did not seduce Jane; he did something just as bad. He led her to believe he was her friend. After she manages to crawl in through the window into a darkened room, she hears what she thinks are giggles…manly giggles. When the lights come on, she is embarrassed to find herself in a room full of ne’er -do-wells, Colin included. How humiliating for her. It seems it was all a lark. There was a bet between the men in the room. Jane becomes a laughing stock, her reputation destroyed. Up to this point, I was having fun reading the book, and then it all quickly became depressing. However, I still had hopes for Jane’s character. After all, she is paired with one of my favorite types of heroes, a stuffed-shirt-clock-watcher, Harrison Lacey, Colin’s older brother.

Confronted with another woman ruined by his turd brother, Harrison faces the music. He believes that Colin would never make any woman a good husband, so he steps in and marries Jane. I love stuffed shirts when Cupid lets loose his arrow. However, Harrison is zinged fast. His Mr. Toad gives him trouble immediately. He has no control. He was obsessed with Jane, and I am not sure why. I thought she was funny when she was climbing in through the window. She only exhibited her fun self to her family, so I was not quite sure what Harrison saw in her. I think Ms. Braden needs to give us more of the male POV in her novels, because usually we have to guess at what is going on in their minds. Unless, of course, they are thinking about humping. Anyway, for me, the story started to lose its charming momentum.  

I was disappointed that Harrison and Jane were never fully developed. They could have been so much more. They had the set-up to be a very memorable couple. She was so shy, and he was so uptight. This is not the first time for this plotline. Other authors before have done it, and it has worked. I wish it had worked this time. Pages of obsessive whankee-roo smother us, and the characters get lost in all that excess moisture. I was sorry that there was a lost opportunity to make this into a wonderful book. As it is, it is just ok.
 
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Bfffffft
 

Monday

The Madness of Viscount Atherbourn by Elisa Braden

August 17, 2020

And so it begins
Nothing says romance better than an abusive relationship.

The Madness of Viscount Atherourne is the first in Elisa Braden’s, Rescued from Ruin series. Of course, I have read them out of order, starting with number four and progressing from there to here. It was interesting placing everything in order. When I got to this book, the first thing that popped into my little gray cells after reading was, “Man it’s a good thing I didn’t read this one first. If I had I would not have read the others.” Why is that? Well I shall tell you in one word: revenge.

I hatessssss revenge plots. In my opinion, it is very rare that an author can pull these stories off, and this story is no exception to the rule. The revenge plan has been thought up by none other than our “hero” Lucien, Viscount Atherbourne. Notice I put hero in quotes. Anyway, Lucien is seeking revenge on Harrison, Duke of Blackmore. Now, don’t get me wrong. Lucien has a valid reason to hate Harrison…or at least he thinks he does. You see Harrison killed Lucien’s brother, Gregory, in a duel. So, that’s one reason to be mad. If that was not bad enough, there is the reason for the duel. It seems that Harrison seduced Gregory and Lucien’s teenage sister, and then abandoned her. She was with child, emotionally unstable, and ended up taking her own life. As you can tell, Lucien has a strong axe to grind. However, his revenge plan pretty much sucks.

You see Harrison also has a sister, our heroine, Victoria. Lucien’s grand plan is to seduce Victoria, and in so doing, create a scandal. This scandal will ruin Victoria, and make Harrison sad. Or something like that. Or, maybe his plan revolves around creating the scandal, forcing Victoria to marry him, then denying Harrison any access to his beloved sister. That could be the plan! It must be the plan, because that is what eventually happens. As with most Romanceland plans, it was not thought out very well. Now, a question may have popped into your gray cells, as happened with me. It cannot be that easy to seduce a morally upright woman…can it? Ha, ha, ha…I laugh. Let me introduce you to Victoria.

Victoria is at a ball with her fiancé…yes, fiancé. She’s not especially fond of the guy, but she is engaged. And, then her eyes fall on a handsome stranger who just walked into the room. She gets hot. Different areas of her body are twitching. She is so warm; she must exit the room and go out on the balcony. Oh no, not the balcony!! Guess who shows up? The handsome stranger. It isn’t long before the handsome stranger has his hands up her dress, caressing her moist cavern walls. The stranger and Victoria seem to forget that there is a party going on in the next room. But, eventually the gossipy members of the party arrive on the scene, and Victoria and the stranger are caught. Oh what a scandal! Turns out the stranger is none other than Lucien. The revenge is in place.

Lucien shows up at Harrison’s doorstep the next day, and proposes marriage as a way to prevent scandal. Wait a minute! I thought that was the whole idea! I was very confused. But, Lucien’s plan is going down the other path now. His plan is to keep Harrison away from Victoria. That way he can rub his hands together in glee as he watches Harrison get sadder and sadder. He watches Victoria’s every move. He does not allow her to visit her brother. He does not allow her to go anywhere her brother might be. He intercepts correspondence between the two. He does not let her know that Harrison has tried to visit her. He is a real weasel.

During this time, does Victoria ever wonder why her brother is ignoring her? Nope. She’s too wrapped up in Lucien’s magic flute to bother. His Timothy Toad is a true wonder! It bewitches her. It is hers, hers, hers. But remember, she has the magical cavern, and that magical cavern is Lucien’s. There is moisture and heat all over the place, all the time, in every room, on every piece of furniture. Then one day Victoria finds out that Lucien has been keeping her from her brother. She is mad. Then she is not. It's the magic flute again.

Then Lucien discovers something. It was not Harrison who seduced Lucien’s sister! Did I forget to mention there was another brother in Victoria’s family: Colin.  Colin was a real piece of work. And, sad to say my little Petunia’s, a future hero. Anyway, Colin is a drunkard, a gambler, and a seducer of young girls, or at least one unstable one that we know of. Yes, he seduced Lucien’s sister, but he thought she understood the rules. He thought she would understand that he was not ready for any kind of commitment. However, she didn’t, she kept sending him letters of entreaty, which he ignored. He also was not aware she was with child, because he never opened up any of her letters. He never told anyone he was the one responsible for her fall from grace. He let his brother take the blame for the seduction; he did not attempt to stop the duel that killed Gregory. He just went on playing, drinking, and being a big old stinkbug.

Then everyone learns the truth. Harrison is sad, Victoria is sad, and Lucien is sad. Lucien is also a little red-faced. There is groveling (not enough).

This was a disturbing book. It has page after page of sex, and page after page filled with an abusive relationship. Remember abuse does not always take on a physical form. Victoria and Lucien’s relationship is not a healthy one. Lucien is a possessive abuser, and Victoria is a fool. The only character who was likeable in this book was Harrison.

I will end with what I said in the beginning. If this had been the first book in the series that I read, I would not have continued with the rests. Even though this is part of a series, I cannot recommend this book. There is nothing romantic about the relationship between Lucien and Victoria…even when they get the HEA. In my opinion, there was just tooooo many damaging issues to overcome in the page numbers allotted for this book.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot

Wednesday

When a Girl Loves an Earl by Elisa Braden

August 5, 2020
Beauty is as beauty does.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, beauty is only skin deep, it was beauty that killed the beast, she got her looks from her father…he was a plastic surgeon, she walks in beauty like the night…beauty, blah, blah blah.

Welcome to the world of Viola Darling, a woman so beautiful she blinds mere mortal men. They surround her like flies on a rotten peach. Yes, Viola Darling is the heroine from Elisa Braden’s When a Girl Loves an Earl, the fifth book in the Rescued From Ruin series. Evidently, Viola is a combination Ava Gardner/Elizabeth Taylor…at least physically. She also has a tad bit of a stalker-chick thing going on. In my humble opinion the stalker thing makes her less beautiful. Well, who is she stalking, maybe he doesn’t really mind? Au contraire mon capitan. She is obsessed with James Kilbrennen, Earl of Tannenbrook. She has been obsessed with him for a number of books. Why? We are not sure; except she has an “inkling.” She gets a lot of inklings, hopefully they are not too painful. Anyway, this inkling has led her to follow him around, jump out at him at parties, sends him gifts he doesn’t want. She has been an all-around nuisance.  She is also very immature. She reminded me a lot of a junior high girl who writes those do-you-love-me-I-love-you-sign-here notes. I could not like her…more on that later.

On the other hand, I liked James. He was a standard bigger than life, bigggg, stoic Scottish hero. You know the type: big hands, big feet, big shoulders, big nose, big jaw…big! He is at least 8 feet tall, which means he probably has some other very big things hanging around. He also has another big problem, he’s one of those I’m not worthy guys. You see, at one time he was going to be the best blacksmith in the world, then someone died and he inherited the Earldom. He left his mother, sister and sweetheart behind. He also left a child behind, but he didn’t know about that until later. Now, he is not only “not worthy” he blames himself for the death of the child. I am not sure how his leaving had anything to do with the child’s death from fever, but oh well, mine is not to reason why. See, I can come up with a lot of sayings. Anyway, even with the “I’m-not-worthy-because-of-my-humble-beginnings,” and the guilt trip, I thought he had possibilities. Too bad he was sucked into Viola’s web.

Here’s the main issue I had with this story. Viola’s obsession. It doesn’t matter what James does or says, she will just take no for an answer. Her obsession with him is troubling. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be humorous, in another author’s hands it could have been. James has tried to tell her as gently as he can, that he wants no part of her, but she just does not let up. She is obsessed, and then hurt when her rejects her. She gives him a crappy homemade, embroidered handkerchief as a gift. He gives it back to her, and he makes sure she understands he doesn’t want it. She is surprised by his reaction to her gift. She is hurt in the process. What does she expect? He has avoided her at every turn. While others might think he was rude, I have to ask…just what do you expect him to do? He is dealing with someone who will not listen. If she had a normal brain, she would have understood the message long before the hanky incident. Then there is the “let’s make him jealous” routine. OMG! There is nothing more immature than deliberately trying to make someone jealous. Jealousy is not a pleasant feeling to deal with. There are so many issues when jealousy is involved in a relationship: trust, insecurity, truth. To deliberately try to make someone jealous so they will fall in love with you is juvenile. When this plot device appeared in the story, the book almost hit the wall. Nothing makes me groan more, then people playing hurtful games.

Then once Viola traps James into marriage, she starts to have second thoughts. I again groaned. What direction was the author leading us? Why did she now have a problem with her “inkling?” However, not to worry, there were tons of whankee-roo with oversized appendages….tons and tons.

Sorry to say, I could not like this book. I found the heroine incredibly immature. She was obsessed, she used tricks, and played games with the hero. She was only pretty on the outside, but her inner being was ugly. While James was a standard Romanceland big, strong brute of a hero, he deserved better. So far, for me this was the weakest in the series.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Numbing