Beyond Tempatation, Sinful Pleasures, The Templar's Seduction by Mary Reed McCall - Project A-Team

March 9, 2015
Ivanhoe chose the wrong woman.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Reed-McCall-Author/180541880768
When I decided to reread books that I gave high marks to, I didn't take into consideration that they might have been part of a series. Surprise - surprise - in the case of The Templar's Seduction (2007), it turns out that it was a part of the Templar Knights series. The other two in this series are Beyond Temptation (2005) and Sinful Pleasures (2006). So, I thought - hey, I haven't read those two and because I loved The Templar's Seduction so much I bet I'll love the other two just as much. Sigh. Well, as it turns out I didn't love the other two as much.

I'll be honest, I've never been fond of Templar stories nor some of the romantic tales that have spread surrounding them. Somehow the nobility of the order portrayed in literature doesn't quite match history. If you put finance, nobles, warriors, tax exempt status, and vows of poverty all together there just has to have been some corrupt things going on. We are talking about a group of men who owned the entire island of Cyprus at one time for Pete's sake! And, unlike the noble warriors portrayed in Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade, they didn't live for thousands of years.  From the fictional book Ivanhoe to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, the Templars have been widely romanticized. And, while much of the history mentioned in these books about King Philip IV of France and his grudge against the Templars is true, when it comes to making someone into a hero we don't always make the right decision. For me, they were a group of soldiers/nobles who had the backing of the pope, and for a while they were the flavor of the month. And then they weren't.  Hey, by the way Sir Walter Scott, Rebecca was the better choice for Ivanhoe.

Now on to Beyond Seduction, the first book in the series. The very first chapter in this story introduces us to the hero of the book and the heroes of the future books. There are four knights on the run from the French Inquisition: Sir Richard de Cantor, Sir John de Clifton, Sir Damien de Ashby and his wild brother Sir Alex de Ashby. Wait a minute, you say, there are four guys and only three stories - what the hey! Well, I'm not sure but poor ol' John seems to be around just to create problems for other people. As far as I know he never earned his own book. Anyway, it is decided in the beginning of the book that the four knights will split up and in so doing will have a better chance of escaping the inquisition guys.  Beyond Seduction is the story of Sir Richard de Cantor and Lady Margaret.  Sir Richard's problem that he's running from is his insane wife, Eleanor. You see, he fell in love with her and then after a while discovered that she was some kind of psychopath (along the lines of the wife in Jane Eyre.) Except in this book they don't lock her in the attic, although they do lock her up. There also seems to have been a child who died and Richard feels the guilty because of that. So, he feels guilty because of his child, and he doesn't seem to be very supportive of his maniac wife. He runs off to do penitence with the Templars. So, he's contrite, he's anguished, he's remorseful - he's sorry and he's headed back home to Eleanor.

Well, Eleanor's in a bad way. Not only is she still a tad berserk, she's also dying. But hark, her cousin Margaret, aka Meg, is there to take care of her. Meg also has made friends with all of the people in Richard's castle, even the birds. Also, she blames Richard for Eleanor's condition and honestly I sort of agreed with her on that score. But Meg is also guarding a dark secret - she isn't innocent, no sir. She once loved a man, Alexander, who left her broken hearted and went off to fight with the Templars and was killed. She had a child of that union, who also died.

There's plenty of angst all over the place - all that guilt, all that doom and gloom and just waiting for the wife to die so our hero and heroine can fall in love. The problem with this book was that even with all the miserable back stories going on I couldn't connect with any of the characters. They were all cardboard people just moving through the books narration. You would think with alllll of the torment coming off of the pages, there would also be some kind of emotion along with it, but there wasn't. In the end, I just couldn't care about anyone in this story.

Time/Place: 1307 England
Sensuality:Warm/Hot

Now, on to Sinful Pleasures. It is Damien de Ashby's time to be angst-filled. Damien is being tortured; however, if he agrees to a proxy marriage he can be released. Ok. Well, who is the wife? Lady Alissende de Montague. Here's the thing - it seems that at one time Damien and Alissende were lovers...really hot lovers! But because Damien didn't have any land Alissende turned her back on him at a tournament and broke his heart, so like all men with broken hearts he joined the Templars. Now, in order to save his skin, he must marry the woman who spurned him all those years ago.

Well, of course Damien is holding a grudge against this woman.  He's never ever going to touch her again and that lasts about one tenth of a second. His Mr. Toad is constantly on alert in this story. In fact, Mr. Toad was rather irritating. All I can say is that Alissende must have had some pretty strong mojo going because there were all kinds of lances, shafts and spears in this story and not just at the tournaments. By the way, I'm not a big fan of jousting, fencing and sword-fights in books - I fast forward through those parts in movies and that's visual, so you know I skip them in books. Anyway, Damien just cannot control his magic wand and you would think with all the years of celibacy he would have learned how to control it.

It doesn't take too long in this book for Damien to forgive Alissende and for them to take care of Damien's control problem. There is also the over the top scene in the King's court toward the end of the book. The resolution in this story was highly unlikely, and I found the treatment of KIng Edward II in both books interesting. In Beyond Temptation, Edward seems to have a gentle yet wise persona. In this one he is more of an egotistical dictator. I thought it would have been nice if the gentle persona had been carried over to this book. By the way there was a court appearance at the end of Beyond Temptation which was just as highly implausible as this one.

Sinful Pleasures was better than Beyond Temptation. The characters were not as wooden, but it was still just an ok read.

Time/Place: 1307s England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot




Then there was The Templar's Seduction, one I recall giving a really high mark to and one that now I opened with trepidation. Remember dead Alexander from Beyond Seduction, the one who seduced Meg, fathered a child and ran off to die with the Templars - well, guess who isn't dead? Guess who is the hero of his own book? Yep, here he is Sir Alex de Ashby, brother to Damien and he is about to be hanged. But wait, some bad guys have stepped and noticed that he bears a striking resemblance to one Robert, the late Earl of Marsten, whose wife Beth is holding on to a castle that everyone in England wants. So, here's the plan: Alex is going to go to the castle and pretend to be Robert and if he doesn't the bad guys are going to murder Sir John de Clifton, who seems to be in the books to be held as ransom.

What we have is a Return of Martin Guerre/Sommersby tale, except it's not the shoes that aren't the same size in this book but Mr. Toad. Beth is suspicious almost immediately that this man isn't her husband, especially when she see how big he is. But then she shakes that off, thinking it's her faulty memory or something. However, she continues to have nagging thoughts all through the book. Regardless of those unrelenting voices in her head she falls hard for Alex/Robert. While I like Beth a lot, it is Alex/Robert who is the most fascinating character.

Alex/Robert continually struggles with himself throughout the book. He must save his friend by using Beth, but at the same time he is falling deeper and deeper in love with Beth. This is where honor walks into the book. In the previous books and in the beginning of this one, I was less than enthused about Alex's sense of honor. He's a user of women and he left one after seducing her to go off and fight. You would think that his deception in this book would make me dislike him even more. However, Ms. McCall allows him to at last have true honor by showing us how much his falsehoods are costing him. Alex was a very compelling character and Beth forgives him really really quickly.

There is also another court scene to pull all the impossible pieces together, only this one is in front of Robert the Bruce. As with the others, this scene was over the top dramatic and really not plausible at all. For me the author created too much of a problem for our couple and the resolution was highly unsatisfactory. However, having said that I will say that I still like this story, although I can't give it the high marks I did the last time I read it. Even with the dynamic hero, the quick acceptance of the heroine and the overwrought ending dampened my enthusiasm.

Time/Place: 1307s England/Scotland
Sensuality: Warm/Hot

Farewell Bertrice

Bertrice Small
December 9, 1937-February 24, 2015. One of the grand ladies of romance has died at the age of 77. She created one of romance most memorable characters in the form of Skye O'Malley and was the author of over 50 romances.

If the Viscount Falls by Sabrina Jeffries

February 25, 2015
“Where are the clowns?
Send in the clowns.”  - Stephen Sondheim
Bring on the clown car!  

http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/
Its road trip time! Yes, If the Viscount Falls has a road trip, and not just any road trip. It’s a crowded road trip. This story is the fourth in The Duke's Men series by Sabrina Jeffries and I have to say, I haven’t been all that impressed with them. And this one is no exception.

We have as our hero, Dom, the disinherited son of a Viscount (which, by the way, I’m not sure could have been legal) and our heroine, Jane. Twelve years before this story begins Jane and Dom were engaged; however, because Dom luvvvved Jane so much he decided that since he’d been disinherited he wasn’t good enough for Jane, so instead of telling her what was going on, he stages a fake seduction of her cousin Nancy. His thinking is if Jane sees him in the act of forcing himself on Nancy, she will break off the engagement and that will somehow make everything ok. I cringed at this silly convoluted thinking. How this plan could possibly work was beyond me, but it did and Jane broke the engagement. However, later in the book it is revealed that she was probably on to him from almost the beginning. But what made her mad was he was making the decision for her. She was peeved. How dare he be so controlling. Let me tell you, her “how dare he be so controlling” attitude became pretty irritating after it was mentioned for the zillionth time in this book. In fact, Jane was quite an annoying character throughout the entire story. If she wasn’t whining, she was haranguing Dom about his leaving her for twelve years, over and over and over and over.

Of course Dom wasn’t any less irritating; he was a controlling bonehead for most of the narration. How he and Jane would ever have a happy ending was beyond me. These were two of the most unlikeable characters I’ve encountered in a lonnnnng time. On top of that they were pretty immoral. She is engaged to a reasonably nice guy by the name of Edwin and Dom is trying to resist Jane’s “Oxytocin putter-outer.” But they fail miserably and embark on an over the top “purple” bump and grind scene – moisture, grunts, groans, spit, slick stuff, hard things all over the place. It was truly ick-worthy, and while I’m on the subject of ick let’s talk about siblings. I love my brother; we have what I can only assume is a pretty typical sibling relationship – we bicker, we tease, we talk. But I would be really uncomfortable if he started to talk about his sex life to me, which is what happens in this book. Dom’s sister Lisette doesn’t seem to have any problem revealing to her brothers what she and her husband do in the bedroom. And this is in the Regency times! I know this scene was supposed to be funny and was supposed to show that these particular siblings could banter, but it was icky.

There were also numerous anachronisms that jumped out at me and threw me out of the book. I’ve noticed in a lot of the historicals I’ve read lately that there seems to be an increase in modern language in historical books, and as I’ve said before if I like the book I can usually overlook them. However, it is starting to bother me all the time and it seems to me that the use of them is starting to increase with authors who have been around the block awhile and should know better.

Let’s talk about crowding. This book has an overabundance of characters… waaaay too many, and I got lost among the horde . I couldn’t keep track of who they were or what book they were from. There’s Lisette, Zoe, Edwin, George, Shaw, Tristan, Nancy, Max, Dr. Worth, Lord and Lady Ravenswood, Yvette, Ambrose, Claudine, Victor, Eugenie… a never-ending supply. While not all of these people show up for the road trip, most of them are there for the epilogue. By the way, the road trip is also crowded. After a few chapters of being alone together on the road, Jane and Dom are joined by Lisette and Max in one carriage and servants in another. It was a silly, over-the-top road trip.

I had a hard time finishing this book. There were numerous times I just wanted to close it and move on. As much as I am a supporter of romance novels and a great admirer of them, this one was tough to read. In the end I cannot recommend this book.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Purple

Catch a Falling Heiress by Laura Lee Guhrke

February 25, 2015
"Oooooh! You're despicable!" - Daffy Duck

http://lauraleeguhrke.com/
I’m a big fan of Laura Lee Guhrke, always have been. She can write strong female leads and hot, manly men. She has done it again with Catch a Falling Heiress. This is the third in the American Heiress series and one of the good things about this book is that it isn’t in the Regency time period. Lately I’ve seen on television and in books, a lot of American women going to England and catching an English lord – must be the influence of Downton Abbey. And, I suspect this time period will become overused, just as the Regency is. Anyway, in this one we have Jack Featherstone, who is just finishing up the revenge he embarked on for his friend Stuart. He seems to be a bit of a misunderstood hero, because just when he should be celebrating a revenge-gone-good, he becomes entangled with Linnet Holland, a very rich heiress.

All through the book I had a great affection for Jack; I thought he was fun, intelligent and a bit misunderstood by our heroine.  At a party he tries to save Linnets reputation by kissing her and then proposing marriage. He is sure that she will be forced into marriage with him - after all, isn’t that what happens all the time when one is caught in an awkward situation? Well, Linnet isn’t having any of that. Even though her reputation will suffer mightily, she turns him down. After a row with her overbearing father, she high-tails it to England along with her mother. Unbeknownst to Linnet, her father makes a money deal with Jack if Jack succeeds in marrying Linnet. It is this deal that is the secret which hangs over Jack's head during his pursuit of Linnet, and is also the plotline that we the reader know will rear its ugly head just when Linnet decides that she loves Jack, which it does.

While I enjoyed this story, it wasn’t the best Guhrke book I’ve ever read. I must admit that while I loved Jack, he wasn’t enough to make this book more than just a pleasant read. I think if I had liked the heroine better, I would have been happier with this story. Linnet has an anger problem; she’s mad alllll the time and most of that anger is directed toward Jack.  Nothing he does seems to please her – she’s just angry, angry, angry. I found her anger very irritating, especially because Jack was such a charmer.

The other issue I had with this book was the epilogue, or lack thereof. I’m not sure why this story ended so abruptly, but it did. A couple of loose ends needed to be tied up and we the readers needed to see the hero and heroine having a picnic with their children and friends. The ending reminded me of some old-school romance when the stories ended with a marriage proposal and acceptance. I need more than that for an ending when I’m reading a romance book, especially with this couple; after all, she could change her mind.

Overall, this was a pleasant read with a charming hero. It’s a nice addition to the series; however the heroine was way too angry for way too long.
Time/Place: United States/England 1880s
Sensuality: Warm/Hot

Ta-dah! Upcoming Historical Releases!!!! March 15 to April 14, 2015!

February 24, 2015
Authors with an asterisk*, I'm picking up! For more Upcoming Releases that aren't historical see Hey Delia!!! For: March 15, 2015 to April 14, 2015. 

	Amanda Scott* Devil’s Moon Border Nights series March 31
	Bronwen Evans A Touch of Passion Disgraced Lords series March 24
	Candace Camp*, aka   Lisa Gregory, Sharon Stephens, Kristin James Pleasured Secrets of the Loch series March 24
	Cara Elliott* Scandalously Yours The Hellions of High Street series March 31
	Christine Merrill A Ring From a Marquess The de Bryun Sisters series March 17
	Diane Gaston Bound by Duty The Scandalous Summerfields series March 17
	Eloisa James* Four Nights with the Duke Desperate Duchesses series March 31
	Gina Conkle The Lady Meets Her Match Midnight Meetings series April 7
	Grace Burrowes The Duke’s Disaster April 7
	Jo Beverley Too Dangerous for a Lady Rogue series April 7
	Jo Goodman This Gun for Hire April 7
	Joanna Shupe The Courtesan Duchess Wicked Deceptions series March 31
	Julie Anne Long* Started With a Scandal Pennyroyal Green March 31
	Katy Madison Promised by Post Wild West Wedding series March 17
	Manda Collins* A Good Rake is Hard to Find Lords of Anarchy series March 31
	Patricia Rice Formidable Lord Quentin Rebellious Sons series Ebook – Amazon and Ibook have no time on other sources March 24
	Paula Quinn* The Scandalous Secret of Abigail MacGregor The MacGregors: Highland Heirs series March 31
	Sally Orr When a Rake Falls The Rake’s Handbook April 7
	Terri Brisbin Stolen by the Highlander Highland Feuding series March 17

Happy Birthday!!!!

This year we celebrate a milestone of sorts! In 1995 the wonderful Lord of Scoundrels was published. Thank you Loretta Chase for creating one of the best heroes ever and congratulations on 20 years.

Forbidden to Love the Duke by Jillian Hunter

February 17, 2015
"Sing Johnny One-Note,
Sing out with "gusto" and
Just overwhelm all the crowd
Ah!" - Rogers and Hart
 
http://www.jillianhunterauthor.com/
After I had finished reading this book, I had to sit back and ponder/contemplate/reflect on why this book was a failure for me.  Lately, Jillian Hunter has been hit or miss - I loved her early books, but her latest works have made me yearn for days gone by.

I will be blunt: this book was like watching a play with actors who are wandering all over the stage trying to find their marks. I had an issue with the narrative and numerous times found myself backtracking to see if I had missed something. Coupled with that was a bonehead hero who stepped on every single one of my nerves.

We have our heroine, Ivy Fenwick, the eldest of the four Fenwick sisters and the Fenwick series starter. When Ivy was at her masked debut ball she was kissed by an obnoxious, "I want you, you want me" guy who was going to war the next day. Of course, he turns out to be our hero, James the Duke of Ellsworth. However, things happen to Ivy that night besides the kiss - her father is accused of cheating and is shot in a duel. This leaves the Fenwick sisters destitute and isolated in a rundown Tutor cottage until five years after the ball when our hero spies the cottage and wants it for his soon-to-be mistress. When he steps onto the Fenwick land, he is run off by the four sisters. So, he goes to his estate where he finds that his brother Curtis' children have been dumped there. Well, he's about to have a visit from his soon to be mistress, Elora, so he can't have kids getting underfoot. He puts an ad in the paper for a governess. Guess who needs the job/money? Yep, Ivy. Now, because James wants Ivy and he knows that Ivy wants him, he hires her... even though his mistress is on the way.

But before Ivy can start her duties, she must go to London to buy a proper governess dress. She takes her beauteous sister Rue with her. Ah, Rue with the dark sultry eyes and dark ink hair. Rue disappears down the hallway and then returns and is downcast and silent and never tells Ivy what happened. Ivy sells her mother's pearls at a pawn shop and meets Sir Oliver Lindon, a poet who allll the ladies are gaga over. Except Ivy, who doesn't seem to notice him, which triggers Oliver's interest. He must follow Ivy back to Fenwick. Besides, he may find buried treasure there.

The Dukes house. Ivy and James are now residing at the same place. They have a talk. James tells Ivy that he wants her and he can tell that she wants him because she has a heaving bosom.

Back at the Fenwicks. Lilac, the youngest sister, has a limp and is in love with their long-lost neighbor boy. She also likes Sir Oliver Lindon and thinks his poems are the cat’s meow. But, she can never luuuvvv another.

Back at the Duke's, Ivy teaches the cardboard children Mary and Walker. James talks to Ivy. He tells her he wants her and knows that she wants him. His neighbor friend Captain Alan Wendover comes over and he and James go fishing.

Over at the Fenwicks', Rosemary, the sister with the ink-stained hands, is struggling to write a book. She likes to read it out loud to everyone. Rue is walking around quietly.

Back at the estate, James' mistress, Elora, turns up. Low and behold, Elora is an old acquaintance of Ivy's. Elora questions James' honorable intentions toward Ivy and sulks because James is no longer interested in her. But that's ok because Elora's always been in love with James' brother Curtis, but because she couldn't have the man she loved she thought it would be kind of fun to go to bed with his brother. James and Ivy go for a walk. He tells her he wants her and he knows she wants him. Ivy gets a dry mouth.

Back at the Fenwicks', Sir Oliver is staying at the guest house or something and Rue has applied for a job as a companion to some Viscountess. Rue is pale and silent. Sir Oliver is searching for treasure and being annoyed by Rosemary.

Back at the estate, Captain Wendover is watching Ivy and James with a knowing eye, giving out sage advice whenever he's not fishing. James has almost broken down Ivy's resistance. He knows that she is almost ready for him because he sees her ripe breasts and has touched her copious moisture. It won't be too long now. If only Ivy knew that James' Mr. Toad had a knob on it, maybe she would have been less copious. You know when I look at the doorknobs in my home and think of James' knob the hair on the back of my neck just stands up on end. But then maybe James needs some kind of battering ram, because Ivy seems to be one of those Romanceland heroines who have a barrier all the way up to her diaphragm. He has to "drive" a long distance to get through.

Curtis comes home. He only has one eye. There's a party. Ivy and James get married. Curtis is struck dumb by the beauty of the Fenwick sisters, especially Rue. Rue brings her employer to the party. Oliver kills a man and stops looking for treasure. The end.

This story was sooooo convoluted. It had people coming and going all over the place. Plotlines for upcoming books were not just set up, but almost completed. There was just too much going on. The different characters' narratives were never seamlessly woven together. There was toooo much information given as to who does what to whom and when that the main romance in the book was overlooked in the shuffle. And James only played one note throughout the entire book which was "he wants Ivy and she wants him." James was a self-important know-it-all who thought only of himself allllll the way through this story. Even though Ivy was a cardboard character, I liked her more than I did our Bonehead hero, James.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Creepily Hot