If His Kiss is Wicked by Jo Goodman

March 17, 2016
So many authors, so little time.
http://www.jogoodman.com/
Once again I'm being sucked into reading an author which I for some reason have ignored. This is the third book of Jo Goodman's I've read and I have to say this one pulls out all the stops. Oh sure, I knew Jo Goodman was out there but as I said in one of my earlier reviews I thought she did only westerns and I'm not a big fan of those. But I have checked out her backlist and found many many many books which fall neatly into my little reading niche. If His Kiss Is Wicked is the third in the Grantham series and was published in 2007. This is the story of Emma Hathaway and Restell Gardner, the step-brother to the Earl of Ferrin (One Forbidden Evening.)

Editorial comment: Restell - yum. What an incredible hero! He was handsome - ignore the mustache and beard on the front cover, once again the description in the book doesn't match the cover. Although if you look closely at the hair you will see that it is blonde. Whine, whine, whine. Enough about covers - back to our wonderful hero. As I said before, he was so handsome, in fact I'm guessing he was intimidatingly handsomeeeey - those good looking guys make me stutter. Restell is intelligent, can read people like a super hero, is kind, and most importantly he has a wonderful sense of humor, a lot of which he aims at himself. I loved this guy and I especially loved his interaction with our heroine, Emma. The dialogue between those two was so much fun to read. But the story isn't all about having a laugh a minute; it's no screwball comedy. There is also some very complex character building going on. And, not only in the two main people. There is a lot of subtle characterization going on, especially in the secondary character of Marisol. More on her later.

Emma. If there was any weakness in this book, I would have to say it was with Emma. I loved Emma. I loved how Ms. Goodman wrote her. The pain she goes through after she is attacked and beaten is so very realistic. Her reaction to her fear, and her impatience with that fear was another piece of great writing. She is a strong woman, she is complex and she is a fighter. But I had just a minor quibble with her. She was portrayed as a scrapper and as someone who was very perceptive - so why did she put up with her cousin Marisol for so long?  I wanted Emma to stand up to the sly Marisol lonnnng before she did. I don't believe it's written anywhere that one must love one's cousin just because they are one's cousin.

Marisol. It took be a while to decide whether I liked Marisol or not. One minute she's a flitty-flappy beautiful woman who everyone admires and the next minute she saying something snide, something so subtle that one doesn't know whether one has been insulted or not. Ms. Goodman did a magnificent job of writing Marisol. I was never sure with her what was going on. Spoiler. She is actually quite creepy.

Red-herrings. Once again there are numerous red herrings in this story. We are led down a lot of paths on our way to solving a rather complicated mystery. But I say - if you go with your gut reaction you will know right away who the villain is. You just won't know why.

Overall, I loved almost every nuance of this story. I thought Restell and Emma were a wonderful couple. They brought out the best in each other. By the way - Restell's marriage proposal was a big sigh moment. This is/was some great storytelling, wonderful words, fine characters and the only complaint I had was Emma's blind-spot when it came to Marisol. High recommendation.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot

One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman

March 10, 2015
Libraries! What would we do without a convenient library in our romance?

Yes, in One Forbidden Evening we have a heroine who must go to the library. Of course our hero is there slouched in a chair. All heroes slouch in the library chairs which have been

placed in the dark corner of a library. How they can read a book in the dark baffles me.  When Cybelline meandered into the library I found my mind wandering. You know heroines wander into dark secluded libraries a lot? In fact I bet libraries might be at the very top of the list of trysting places in romance books, (if there were such a list). I wonder just how many books have a library scene in them. A gazillion? I'm thinking that would make some meticulous person (not me) a wonderful project in their spare time. All one needs do is start going through romance books and record all the library scenes. Once the number is tabulated one could even make a list (we all love lists) of their favorite library scene, their most romantic library scene, their most erotic library scene, etc.  I'm not saying the use of a library is a bad thing; actually I think it's one of the better plot devices used to maneuver our couple into each other’s arms. I vaguely remember a library scene in which the heroine was angry with the hero and she rearranged all of his books by subject matter. I don't remember what book it was from, but I remember thinking it was funny. I’m done wandering now.

On to One Forbidden Evening, 2006. This is the second in Jo Goodman's Grantham series and yes it was published in 2006. I loved the first book so much I decided to check out the others in this series and I may take a look at her other historicals. Another author to read in between waiting for new books!

There was a lot to like about One Forbidden Evening. First of all, the witty dialogue between almost all of the characters in this book made me smile. Ms. Goodman seems to know her way around a word or two. She has also managed to take a plot device I don't particularly care for and make it into something that didn't irritate me. That would be the disguise plot line, in fact this book has two people pretending to be someone else. Our heroine pretends to be someone else in the very beginning of the book and our hero pretends to be his best friend in the rest of the book. But that's ok, because the people who really count know the truth of the identities – those people would be Cybelline (heroine) and Ferrin (hero). 

When the story begins, a recently widowed Cybelline is having a pretty hot dream about a man (we assume it's her husband). This dream is too much for her and she decides she must scratch that itch, with a little encouragement from her aunt and maid she does. She shows up at a costume party dressed as Boudicca – dyed red hair, spear and everything. She also has someone in mind to scratch that itch. Unknown to our hero Christopher Hollins, the Earl of Ferrin, Cybelline has been watching him for a while. She's heard of his reputation and believes he would be easy to seduce, plus she believes he wouldn't be interested in pursuing her once they've had their encounter. Oh silly girl, this is a romance. But even if it weren’t taking place in Romanceland, I would think that most men would not easily forget a woman who is the aggressor - at least not for a while. So after some really hot whankee-roo on the stairs (ouchy) she departs leaving Ferrin determined to find her. But, Cybelline has left more than just the party, she's fled into the countryside with her daughter.

It does not take our hero long to figure out who she is and where she has raced off to. He follows her. Now here is where the book took a nose dive for me. There is another reason he's off to the country - helping his friend Wellsley improve his reputation. You see, Wellsley's grandmother is concerned about Wellsley's reputation. She thinks the only way to improve that reputation is for him to marry. But Wellsley doesn’t want to be forced into a marriage of his grandmother’s choosing. Thrown into this is the fact that Wellsley is in love with Ferrin's sister, but Wellsley thinks Ferrin's parents don't like him because of his reputation - so for some reason the solution to all of this is for Ferrin to pretend to be Wellsley and go off to the country and do good things - I guess. This whole Wellsley/Ferrin pretend disguise thing was very silly, didn't make too much sense and was distracting to the rest of the story. I didn't get it.

Anyway, Ferrin is in the countryside pretending to be Wellsley. Cybelline is there and of course she knows he’s not Wellsley and he knows she’s Boudicca. But before they confess to each other that they know who is who, they do some circling and baiting. There is also a little bit of a mystery plot going on. After Cybelline’s husband committed suicide, she started receiving threatening letters from his lover. A lover she had no idea existed and one who blames her for her husband’s death. Also included with these threatening letters are correspondence which her husband (Nicholas) sent his lover. Not only is she frightened, she is also hurt by Nicholas’ betrayal. As the story progresses, the threats start to include Cybelline’s daughter. Phewwww, there's a lot going on in this book. The mystery surrounding Cybelline's marriage/husband was a nice bit of discovery. There are clues all over the place but you have to read carefully to catch them because Ms. Goodman tries to lead you down the wrong path. Don’t follow the Red Herrings. And, that's all the hint I am going to provide.

This book also contained a rather silly villain resolution, but I wasn't as irritated with that as I was with Ferrin’s strong-arm techniques in the bedroom. I found myself becoming rather annoyed with Ferrin's compulsion to have Cybelline plead for her pleasure. I'm not sure why he felt the need to do that over and over again. Cybelline has let Ferrin read some of the letters, so he knows what a jerk-face Nicholas was, how Nicholas used her but still Ferrin insists upon Cybelline’s begging. I found Ferrin's demands of Cybelline not only disturbing but degrading - especially since he was supposedly falling in love with her.

Overall, I found most of the book a pleasant read. I was enchanted with Ms. Goodman's use of "the Word". The dialogue was fun, the characters were well-rounded. I would have given this a much higher rating but for a few things: I didn't buy into the Wellsley/Ferrin switch reasoning and Ferrin's bedroom antics were unsettling.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot

The Knave of Hearts by Elizabeth Boyle

February 29, 2016
"That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet" - unless you add an S.
 
http://www.elizabethboyle.com/
The Knave of Hearts is the fifth offering in the Rhymes with Love series. Lavinia Tempest
is the heroine of this book; you may remember her twin sister Louisa from The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane. Our hero is Alaster Rowland who has the unfortunate nickname of "Tuck.”

Authors, if you are listening/reading/whatever. Granted I am not published and you are, but gee willikers puleese check the pharmacy shelves before anointing your characters with nicknames. I had a hard time with the regrettable nickname of Tuck. Sure, it’s missing that last little letter S, but every time his name was mentioned all I could see was a round white product dipped in witch-hazel which is shelved right next to Preparation H. I digress.

Hopefully, you have your thinking cap on because the timeline of this book runs simultaneously with the previous book, and that book was published in 2014. I did not have my cap on, so I had a hard time remembering what was going on with the sister whenever she was mentioned in this book. Even though I have a somewhat faulty memory, and even though I liked this book, I think I prefer The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane to this one. Oh sure, this one had an adorable couple but the story was missing some of the sparkle of the other book. However, all is not lost. There is still some strong writing from the talented pen of Ms. Boyle - enough that everyone should be happy.

I liked the lead-in to this story. The fact that the heroine is sort of narrating her tale is a fun piece of inspiration and a bit misleading, which is also fun. I also enjoyed the banter between Louisa and Lavinia. I liked Tuck (that name!) and Lavinia's time together. I didn't find Tuck to be as knavish as he's supposed to be. Sure, he has a bit of a drinking problem, but after everything is explained away that seems to be his only problem. It is his alcohol consumption which causes a rather amusing dance floor pile-up. This pile-up creates an enormous scandal for an already tainted Lavina. Our poor sot Tuck is oblivious to the wreck his bumbling initiated. When he is awakened the next day to the fiasco he caused, he embarks on a hair-brained plan to restore Lavinia's standing in society. While I found his alcohol stumbling amusing, I did wonder at the end of the story if he had conquered this problem. I enjoyed the antics of almost all of the characters in this book. There were just a couple of things that prevented me from giving this story a higher rating.

I didn't buy into the villain’s motivation. I didn't understand it. I felt as if I was missing something. The villain just didn't work for me. So you see, my little Petunias, it's not just the heroine and hero who make a story work, but also the villain. I was also disappointed in the explanation given for the abandonment of Lavinia and Louisa by their mother. When I finished reading the The Viscount Who Lived Down the Lane I was hoping that the loose ends would be tied up. I wanted to have a better understanding into why this woman would leave her children and a husband who adored her. It could be that the scene of Lavinia standing at a window watching her mother leave was drawn so vividly for me I just could not forgive the mother. I’m not sure, in the end there was just not enough of an answer; I was not allowed any kind of a forgivable closure and that was what I was looking for.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book and I do recommend it - just not as much as the one with Louisa as the heroine. 

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot

Holy Cannoli! Upcoming Historical Releases!

Authors with an asterisk*, I'm picking up! For more Upcoming Releases that aren't historical see Hey Delia!!!  March 15, 2016 to April 14, 2016. By the way, it is not my fault if a publisher changes the release dates - just so you know, they do not consult me.

	Alexandra Hawkins You Can't Always Get the Marquess You Want Masters of Seduction series April 5
	Amanda Quick   Til Death Do Us Part April 19
	Amy Sandas Luck is No Lady Fallen Ladies series April 5
	Caroline Linden* Six Degrees of Scandal Scandalous series March 29
	Diane Gaston Bound by One Scandalous Night The Scandalous Summerfields series March 22, April 1 ebook
	Ella Quinn Three Weeks to Wed The Worthingtons series March 29
	Jane Goodger How To Please a Lady March 29
	Jo Beverley The Viscount Needs a Wife Company of Rogues series April 5
	Julia Justiss Forbidden Nights With the Viscount Hadley’s Hellions series March 22 paperback, April 1 ebook
	Julia Quinn* Because of Miss Bridgerton Rokesbys and Bridgerton series March 29
	Kasey Michaels* A Scandalous Proposal The Little Season series March 29
	Kate McMurray Ten Days in August March 29
	Lynna Banning Kathryn Albright Lauri Robinson Western Spring Weddings March 22, paperback, April 1 ebook
	Manda Collins Good Dukes Wear Black Lords of Anarchy series April 5
	Marguerite Kaye The Widow and the Sheikh Hot Arabian Nights series March 22 paperback, April 1 ebook
	Patricia Rice Magic in the Stars Unexpected Magic series (Malcolm/Ives) March 29, ebook
	Terri Meeker Dancing with Billy the Kid In Time series April 5
	Theresa Romain Favors the Wicked Royal Rewards series March 29

My American Duchess by Eliosa James

February 19, 2016

What did women do before AZO?
http://www.eloisajames.com/
Yes, while reading Eloisa James' latest book, My American Duchess, my mind did wander down ye ol' bladder infection trail - I blame Eloisa. After all, I've learned a ton of stuff about history from romance books. What did women do without AZO or antibiotics?

Spoilers Ahead.

Regardless of me wandering down a medical history path, I loved My American Duchess and I highly recommend it. It seemed to me the book was written in two sections: before and after the wedding.  I have heard others talking about how much they enjoy the before the wedding portion, but I found the after the wedding part of this book totally amazing. Ms. James has given us a wonderful view of a romance which continues after they walk down the aisle. Watching this couple as they sort through their feelings and journey over some bumps was awesome.

Our heroine, Merry Pelford, has been engaged before. In fact when this story begins she is in the act of accepting her third proposal. She thinks she is in love. But, Merry is rather young and falls in love rather easily. It is only after she becomes better acquainted with her fiancés that she becomes disenchanted with them. It’s understandable that this should happen before the wedding. One would not want to be stuck with someone incompatible forever – would one?  Anyway, because she has broken off a number of engagements she has earned the rather scandalous reputation of being a jilt. So now she has arrived in England hoping her luck will change and she will find a man who will love her for herself and not just her vast wealth. She thinks she has found him in the person of Lord Cedric. He is a prince charming. When this story begins Cedric is in the process of proposing to Merry. However, it isn't long after Merry's acceptance of Cedric's proposal that Cedric is off to the card room, leaving Merry behind - alone.  Well Merry wanders out onto the balcony to ponder her feelings and stumbles across a stranger. A handsome stranger. Merry and this stranger embark on a slight bout of flirtation. They banter, they laugh, and they charm each other. Merry is disturbed by her reaction to the stranger, especially since she thinks she is in love with Cedric. Merry isn’t the only one affected by this encounter; the stranger is enchanted with Merry. Well, the stranger turns out to be Octavius Mortimer John Allardyce, the sixth Duke of Trent and also the twin brother of - ta ta ta dah: Cedric. Oh dear, what a conundrum.

The only reason Trent is at the party is because he is chasing after his brother Cedric. You see, Cedric as absconded with the family heirloom ring which is to be passed down from one Duchess to the next. That means it should go to Trent's bride not Cedric. Cedric has only done the stealing to irritate Trent. For some reason Trent and Cedric have a rather contentious relationship. More on that later.

Gush! Someone stop me from gushing! The more I write my thoughts down the happier I become with this book. All kinds of feel-good descriptive words come to the forefront: amazing, wonderful, fun, fascinating, and wonderful. I will be the first to admit, I usually am a little skeptical of glowing reviews. But I really do think this is a wonderful book with two delightful people finding their way to a HEA. Merry is a charming heroine. We get to see her grow and understand herself. She is such a natural woman, unassuming and really not made for a pretentious society. But in the end she finds her place. Trent on the other hand is one of those stuffy guys who is bowled over by the brightness of Merry, he just cannot resist her. It was wonderful watching his inner struggle with love - and boy did he resist. One of the things I liked about Ms. James' book was the pacing. Trent was befuddled for just the right amount of time before he was able to admit his love for Merry. He was such a stuffed shirt and Merry was just right for him. In fact Merry and Trent were a wonderful couple, they brought out the best in each other.

It was also during Trent and Merry’s married life that I wondered how women used to handle bladder infections. I was concerned for Merry’s health, because if anyone should have developed a bladder infection during the first few days of her marriage Merry should have. If you read this book, you will figure out what I’m talking about. I feel for you, Merry. Zowie!

How I wish that I could give this book a higher rating. I loved every minute of Trent and Merry’s scenes. The marriage portion of the book was an amazing piece of writing. But I had an issue with Cedric.

Cedric and Trent. I loved Trent. But, Cedric and Trent brought out the worst in each other. I found Cedric to be a very irritating character. At first I found his obnoxious behavior rather humorous, but then he became almost hateful. I believe he was deliberately written to be irritating. He found all kinds of things wrong with Merry. He was embarrassed by her lack of town bronze, he was embarrassed by her outspokenness, and he wanted her to change to fit into his lofty ideas of society. Cedric treated Merry atrociously and it didn't take Merry long to come to the conclusion that she had made a big mistake. This part was ok with me. I understand Ms. James writing of Cedric as a weasel. But somewhere between the middle of the book and the end Cedric had some kind of epiphany and turned into a fairy-godmother of sorts, working his magic to bring Merry and Trent together. We the reader are not party to any of Cedric's do-gooding, we just get to read a letter at the end where he refers to it. I would have liked to have been a party to Cedric's redemption. It would have been nice to see Trent and his brother arrive at some kind of understanding. As it was, I felt as if I was missing something. The book would have felt more complete if we had been allowed in to see the brothers arriving at some kind of sibling back-patting scene. An aw-shucks moment would have been appreciated. Maybe Ms. James plans to have this scene in another book, don't know. The problem with that is by the time the other books comes out, I will not remember what's going on.

Gush alert! For me, My American Duchess is one of Eloisa James' better books. While the writing in the beginning part of the book is wonderful, nothing can beat Ms. James’ take on Trent and Merry’s marriage. There is some superb writing in the marriage part!

Time/Place: Early 1800s
Sensuality: Hot!!

Lady Jenny's Christmas Portrait by Grace Burrowes

February 10, 2016

It's official! My brain is frozen!
http://graceburrowes.com/
I thought I could do it. I thought I would be able to wrap this series up before I started something new. But twas not to be. I started the last book in the Windham series, Lady Jenny's Christmas Portrait and I found myself skipping to the end. This was not a good sign. So, I decided to put the book aside and take a break from the Windham family. I will be returning to the book at a later date, but for now I want to be fair and judge it on it's own merits.

Now my brain must thaw.

Lady Eve's Seduction by Grace Burrowes

February 10, 2016

I'm having Burrowes Brain Freeze
http://graceburrowes.com/
Now it is time for the next to the youngest Windham daughter, Evie/Eve, to take center stage. As with all of the other Windham siblings, Evie doesn't want to get married. You know after reading seven books in this series in a row I have to confess I am puzzled. Yes puzzled. I don't understand why these children don't want to get married. In every book it is made abundantly clear that their parents Percy and Esther have a loving relationship. Furthermore they are great parents, even with all the schemes and butt-in times, they are still a great example of a family which is built on love. So, I have to ask why the children are so resistant to the idea of finding someone they could build a great relationship with. In fact, that could have been one of the tension building moments in the books - trying to find a mate who could live up to the standards set by their parents. But I am not the writer.

Anyway, we have Evie/Eve. Evie has a secret (don't they all). This secret turns out to be quite a good secret as opposed to some of the silly secrets from the previous books. As with most of Ms. Burrowes books, if you read some of the fine print closely enough you will be able to decipher just what the secret is. We know in the beginning of the story that Evie was thrown from her horse a number of years prior to this story, we also know that she was terribly hurt and had problems walking. She also is a little leery of getting back onto a horse - but there is another darker secret, one that makes her feel unworthy of marriage. As the tale develops we find out that her eldest brother Bart knew the full extent of her disaster. Spoiler. We also find out later in the story that before Bart died, he imparted this information to his friend Lucas.

Lucas and Evie/Eve have been delightful secondary characters in the previous books. One could always count on there being some bickering, bantering and insults between these two when they were in a scene. Their chemistry worked really well in the other books, and I was looking forward to seeing it in this book. As often happens when interesting secondary characters get their own book, sometimes what made them so enjoyable is lost. Lucas and Evie both suffered in the move from secondary to main character. I didn't see as much bantering in this one as I expected, so I didn't enjoy Lady Eve's Seduction as much as I wanted to.

Lucas' blind spot. Lucas may be one of the slower heroes I've seen in a while. It was very obvious from the beginning of this story that his cousin Anthony was up to no good. Anthony used delaying tactics all the time when Lucas would ask for something. He was evasive in his answers. He said disparaging things about Evie. He also seemed to lead a rather rakish life with a boatload of illegitimate children. Lucas' attitude toward all of these illegitimate offspring was a little cavalier. Lucas didn't seem to care whether Anthony was spreading his joy all over, nor did he view this as morally corrupt. I expect at least a frowny face from my heroes when confronted with such behavior. Especially since Lucas' character wasn't written as a degenerate. There were warning bells all over the place that pointed to Anthony as the villain, but Lucas just never caught on. He believed everything Anthony told him. When the ending came I wondered why there was even a villain. There was no retribution, Anthony just disappeared off the pages and ended up on the Island of Misplaced Villains. 

On the other hand, I did like the way Ms. Burrowes handled Evie's big secret. Evie's emotional baggage was truly something which would scar a lot of women. Her struggles with this dark trauma were realistic and Lucas' handling of it was gentle and kind. In fact most of the book did an excellent job of painting Evie and Lucas as friends first, lovers second. When Evie and Lucas are the main focus this story really worked; where the story lost some of its momentum was with the secondary plots of taking the niece away from her father, Dolan, and Anthony's villainy. I didn't understand the necessity for either of these plot-lines and thought that they were a distraction from the main focus of the story, Evie and Lucas.

The horse race. Groan - not the good kind. I don't know if this ever happens to you, but sometimes I become embarrassed by things around me that don't have anything to do with me. Maybe there is a character in a book, in a play or a movie who does something silly - or should I say something is written for that character to do which is ridiculous. I have found myself embarrassed for that character. It's an odd feeling, being embarrassed for something which isn't real but there it is. Well, it happened in this story. This embarrassment surrounded a horse race. A horse race involving Lucas, Dolan, Anthony and Evie. I found the whole thing so idiotic I finally had to skip over it. That caused me to bypass a couple of chapters. I don't like to skim over parts of the book I'm reading, you just never know what you might miss. Anyway, the whole Dolan, Anthony, Lucas thing had me grinding my teeth every time they were in a scene together, then they are thrown together for a race/duel/bet with bad guys drugging horse jockey's and then Evie getting into the race. It was just really silly and I wish that there hadn't been any outside plot-line going on.

Overall, I think if I had allowed more time to pass between each book in the series I probably would have liked Lady Eve's Seduction better. As it is, one takes a chance when one gloms an author; not only does one spot patterns, one also sees a sameness in the characters. When characters become interchangeable they also become less exciting as a series progresses. That is/was what is/was happening for me with the Windham series. While I liked Lucas and Evie, I didn't care for the secondary sub plots. I also think in the case of the Windham's, there needs to be a little bit of a space between each book. While I may not recommend this book with a resounding wow, I give it a "decent" recommendation; I also recommend you not glom this series.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot