The Heiress in His Bed by Tamara Lejeune

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I was disappointed in Tamara Lejeune's latest, The Heiress in His Bed. For those of you who are not familiar with the writing of Ms. Lejeune's, her books are what I would call screwball comedy. Sort of like the screwball comedies (movies) from the 40's and it takes a talented hand to write them, in fact I think comedy writing is probably one of the hardest to write. And, that's why I'm disappointed with this book. I liked her previous writings and found that her debut novel was hysterical, but this one just doesn't go there. Plus, it has one of my pet peeves, ye' olde mistaken identity. I realize that mistaken identity happens a lot in screwball comedy, but in this case it wasn't funny.

The reason this book doesn't get an F, is that the first half of the book is pretty good, but then Viola runs away to the country and all of these characters show up for what is supposed to be farce. But, it was just too forced. And, I thought Julian (the hero) was mean or stupid and not funny.

Can't recommend this one, if you want to read a screwball comedy, read her first book Simply Scandalous or better yet watch my all time favorite screwball movie "My Man Godfrey" with Carole Lombard.

Time Period: Regency, I think
Place: England
Rating:
Sensuality: Hot

Bound By Your Touch by Meredith Duran

http://www.meredithduran.com/
Last year Meredith Durah debuted with the novel The Duke of Shadows, which I loved. This year she has two, Bound By Your Touch and next month Written on Your Skin. I gotta tell you, she is rapidly climbing as one of my favorite authors. Bound By Your Touch is a joy to read!

This seems to be a familiar plot, the bluestocking spinster and the ne'er-do-well rake. However, it's not. There is a real development of the relationship between Lydia and James; their conversations are often humorous, often moving and filled with intelligence. They both have well-written problems with there fathers and their sisters. And, Lydia isn't a doormat, although at times she does come close, but she has something a lot of doormat heroines don't have and that is anger. I also found her reaction to the possibility of her father's villainy to be real, I think that I would react the same way. The family relationships in this book were really quite interesting.

There is also a secondary character named Elizabeth, who is James childhood friend. Very interesting character, and I hope there is a story about her or more later about her. She's a drunk and not at all discreet about her lovers, and very complex. In fact, there are a number of complex secondary characters in this book and the loose strings are not tied at the end.

I'm really looking forward to the next book.

PS ignore the jankey cover. And, I only knew the time period because of a rather amusing bustle scene.

Time period: 1880's
Place: England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot

Four Dukes and a Devil, an anthology

http://www.elainefox.com/
http://www.cathymaxwell.com/
http://www.tracyannewarren.com/
http://www.sophianash.com/books/main.htm
http://www.jeanienefrost.com/
Oh the novella or anthology or whatever. Why do I try? This one, Four Dukes and a Devil had five short stories by Cathy Maxwell, Elaine Fox, Jeanene Frost, Sophia Nash and Tracy Anne Warren. Cathy Maxwell, Sophia Nash and Tracy Anne Warren I'm familiar with and my favorite author out the group is Cathy Maxwell.

True to form, the Cathy Maxwell story The Irish Duke was my least favorite of the group, it just had the short choppy feel to it. The Irish Duke, didn't like

The Duke that Came to Dinner by Elaine Fox, this was a contemporary and as we all know I don't read contemporary. However, this one I liked and I thought it had some really cute funny things going on in it. So for those of you who read contemporary, maybe you should give Elaine Fox a try.

Devil to Play by Jeaniene Frost: the paranormal in the group. This was a DNF for me, it seem connected to other books and was way too involved in paranormal/demon worlds for me. Didn't like.

Catch of the Century by Sophia Nash: This one was my favorite, the characters were funny and the story was well written for a short story. And , characters from other books showed up. Good story!

Charmed by Her Smile by Tracy Anne Warren: I enjoyed this story also, although the bad guy was a silly plot and I it would had been a whole lot better if the characters were allowed more space. Should have been a full novel, it would have been so much better.

I'd like to say this is my last anthology, but I know it won't be. Overall there were three out of five that I liked and one was a contemporary. Who'd of thunk it!.

Time period: Various
Place: Various
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

http://lorettachase.com/about.html

Warning: Feisty Heroine alert!

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase was an interesting read for me. Interesting because Ms. Chase has the dubious honor of writing one of my all time favorite books, Lord of Scoundrels. So, I always have high expectations when one of her books is released. When I started reading this book, I thought, Oh Boy, another witty, funny, play on word romp. But somewhere along the line, it turned into a darker story and was a little disjointed.

The plot of the story isn't complicated and there are two distinct parts. In the beginning we see Zoe re-enter London society after being locked up in a harem for twelve years, and Lucien's fight against his attraction for her. In the second part an attempt on Zoe's life is thrown in. I'm not sure why, because honestly I don't think that particular plot device was needed and it distracted from the development of the romance between Lucien and Zoe. And, believe me, these two really had some problems to overcome...her fear of confinement and his fear of loving someone. And, yes his fear of loving someone is a standard romance cliche, but in this case, we really feel the fear. And, that was some good writing. I think the problem I had with this book was that it should have been either a funny book or a dark book, but not a combination of the two.

So, my final thought is that this book is written really well, with Ms. Chase trademark repartee, I just wish there had been more of it. This is an entertaining book, but there are really no new surprises.

Oh, and even though I'm not a big feisty heroine fan, I didn't feel that Zoe was a stupid feisty heroine (except for one part..if your life is being threatened don't sulk,) so for the most part I could live with her being feisty.

Time Period: Regency
Place: England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot

The Vicar's Daughter by Deborah Simmons

http://www.deborahsimmons.com/
At last success!! After my disappointment with the Sandra Hill story, I was a filled with just a tad bit of trepidation when I decided to continue my project of rereading old books that I remember with fondness. Well, let me tell you Deborah Simmons The Vicar's Daughter, published in 1995) will stay on my list of 10 favorites.

Loved this story. There is nothing better than a stuffed-shirt hero meeting his downfall. I had forgotten just what a stuffed shirt he really was and how everything had to be on this really tight schedule, how tidy he was, how orderly he was. Of course, Charlotte turns his world upside down. This is a really great story and what I remembered as a food fight was instead a champagne fight. There are more books in this series, one of them Tempting Kate, which I reread as soon as I finished Vicar's Daughter...and it was also delightful. I'm now rereading the next one in the series The Last Rogue, this has been great fun. I think I can highly recommend these books.

This is not a complicated story, it's witty and fun watching another man sputter his way to love.

Time Period: Regency
Place: England
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot
Also: Tempting Kate,
published in 1997

Highland Scandal by Julia London

http://www.julialondon.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
This is the second in Julia London's "Scandal" series. Remember Jack from the other one, he's on the run from the Regent and he's running in Scotland. Och! Do'n ya know. There was almost too much Scottish twang in this one.

Highland Scandal was an interesting read for me because while I was reading it I was enjoying it, however when I would put it down, it would completely leave my mind.

I love the character of Jack Haines, and he really has a number of bad days in Scotland. The character of Lizzie I'm not really too sure of because she came awfully close to being one of those irritating feisty women who won't listen to reason. She was stubborn for way to long. There was a secondary romance between her crippled sister and her guard, however, there wasn't enough of the secondary story to suit me. There were some parts of the book that seemed a little choppy and Jack's sudden mood change toward the end of the story startled me. I had no idea why he was turned into a jerk for about 10 pages.

So, this book had parts that I enjoyed, but it also had parts that were a bit uneven and even unbelievable. I struggled with giving it a C but because I did like Jack's character I'm giving it a B-.

There is a third in the series, A Courtesan's Scandal coming out in October, so dinnae fash yerself.

Time Period: Regency
Place: Scotland/London
Rating
Sensuality Rating: Hot

Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride by Elizabeth Rolls

http://www.elizabethrolls.com/

Warning! There are no regency spies, pirates, secret brotherhoods, women disguised as men or kidnappings in this book!

However, there is the regulation cuddly kitty and rescued dog.

It's been awhile since I've read what I would call a traditional Regency, but that's what I'd call Lord Braybrook's Penniless Bride by Elizabeth Rolls. Now, Elizabeth Rolls has been around a long time, I've just never read her and since this book is the third in a series, I just might have to read the other two, even though this one stands on it's own.

There are a number of topics touched on in this story: illegitimacy, class division, moral standards. All of the characters reacted to the topic of illegitimacy according to the class they were in. This book created a atmosphere that was really true to the time period. If any of the characters were close to 21st century sensibilities it would be Christy. She is written as a very strong person and doesn't take too much crap from anyone, however she has a very sensitive side that get's hurt by those around her quite a lot. Julian is a man of his time, he's very autocratic and through the course of this book, he is the one that has to change the most and break almost every rule in his aristocratic world to arrive at his happy ending.

The book has some very funny moments and some very touching ones. This was a very nice love story and if you like traditional Regencies, I highly recommend this one. It's very good. And, I'll have to keep my eye on Elizabeth Rolls.

Time Period: Regency
Place: England
Rating: Strong
Sensuality Rating: Warm