Category Archives: book reviews

Bound By Your Touch by Meredith Duran

book review June 19, 2014 Comments: 2

This book is great. You should read it. Details below.

Featuring a delicious rake who needs to get his act together and a bright spinster who needs to set herself free, Meredith Duran’s Bound by Your Touch is a Victorian romance with an Egyptology maguffin and themes of disentangling oneself from unhealthy relationships and a thinking person’s feminism which emphasizes the importance of giving women responsibility for their choices as a component of true equality. All of this is supported by clever writing, appealing leads, and a believable romance.

Lydia Boyce is her family’s designated grown up. She has two sisters, one of whom is an endless pill, and an absentee father. Devoted to his pursuits in archeology, he has convinced Lydia that her role as his representative and protector is more important than her own personal and emotional interests. When a counterfeit item ostensibly from her father is delivered to the rake in question, Viscount Sanborne, hijinks ensue that lead to many interesting places in terms of both story and for the characters’ emotional growth.

Romance novels are full of constrained and plain women who are overlooked by those around them. What I liked about Lydia is that although she is aware of her so-called failings when compared to her more demure and pretty counterparts, she nonetheless does not try to change herself into something she is not. Moreover, and I loved this detail, what Lydia does not and cannot know is that she is sexually attractive to the men around her. It is not a woman’s responsibility to be appealing, but it is nice to have a fiercely intelligent heroine who is unaware of the effect she has on men.

Sanborne is likewise complicated. He is a charming and gorgeous, but also a drifting, gormless scapegrace who has been coasting along with a very fast set buoyed by his own unassailability and enmity for his father. He needs to grow up and find a way to deal with his demons. Lydia is a seemingly odd match for him, but like most people, Sanborne has unsuspected depths he finally allows himself to look into as he becomes the partner she needs.

Meredith Duran is a fantastic writer who successfully balances entertaining, sincere romance with genuine and complicated characters. Her books are great. You should read them.

Also by Meredith Duran:

Rules for Reckless Series (not entirely interconnected, more of a theme)
That Scandalous Summer – very good
Your Wicked Heart – delightful novella
Fool Me Twice – excellent
Lady Be Good – nothing special
Luck Be a Lady

Not Rules for the Reckless Series
Bound by Your Touch – excellent
Written on Your Skin – not my style, but very good

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

A Princess in Hiding Series: How to School Your Scoundrel by Juliana Gray

book review June 19, 2014 Leave a comment

The last novel in Juliana Gray’s “A Princess in Hiding” Victorian romance series, How to School Your Scoundrel features a challenging hero and a remarkably self-possessed and capable heroine. Luisa is the eldest and last hidden princess. Like her sisters Emilie and Stefanie, she fled her country after her father, the Crown Prince, was murdered in a coup. Luisa’s husband was killed as well. Secreted away by a first-rate manipulator and conniving bastard, their uncle, the sisters were trained to masquerade as men and then sent to work in disguise for conveniently marriageable protectors. Particularly deft with plotting, Juliana Gray has cleverly intersected and overlapped Emile, Stefanie, and Luisa’s stories. With her sisters safe, it is time to learn how Luisa will be returned to power in her homeland and just happen to find a suitable Consort along the way. Her position as the secretary for the Earl of Somerton is a good start. The villain of book two in Gray’s  “Affairs by Moonlight” series, A Gentleman Never Tells, Somerton is an almost entirely irredeemable character. To become a decent human being, Somerton’s heart will need to grow three sizes and the leaden lump of his soul be alchemized into gold. Gray manages two sizes and some silver.

The challenge of Somerton’s redemption is that so much of his behaviour is that of a classic bully. Profoundly resentful of his wife Elizabeth’s lack of affection for him and the serene mien she is able to nonetheless affect, he is torn between seeking to control her and not knowing how to let go. Elizabeth’s side of the marriage was shown in A Gentleman Never Tells. It was compelling and heartbreaking. The reader may be seeing the other side of the coin in How to School Your Scoundrel, but Somerton is still a jealous, manipulative, overbearing son of a bitch. The suggestion that he would change in a new relationship was not enough for me. There is a moment late in the book when Luisa and Elizabeth are alone and Luisa tells her that she never gave Somerton a fair shake: “Yes, he can be brutal. But he also has the capacity for great devotion. And you never knew. You never gave him a chance, did you? You never opened your heart to him.” I see, so the stalking and paranoia are his wife’s fault, are they? If it was just that Somerton was heartbroken at his wife’s lack of feeling for him, it would be sympathetic; however, he is jealous and obsessed with her imagined infidelity. He has her followed, investigated, and isolated. He rejects their child. Elizabeth did her best to live honourably in an untenable situation while her husband hounded her by day and whored by night. Part of the point of marrying into ruling a country is that he will be strong and betimes ruthless which he certainly is, but the novel did not have time to transform him into a reasonable human being as well.

Another issue I had with the story was whether or not I wanted to read a book about a dictator, whatever the suggestion of benevolence in counterpoint to the dastardly revolutionaries, being returned to power, especially when the novels are set in 1889 and said autocrats are leaders of a German principality. I err on the side of democracy and just because the country was being turned into a different kind of dictatorship did not suggest to me that what the citizens needed was a return to the status quo.

How to School Your Scoundrel was well-written and Gray almost pulled off a huge character transformation. I’m sure Somerton’s brute with a heart of gold will appeal to some readers, but I am not one of them. Still, you should give Gray a try. She has six books out and this is the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I particularly liked Stefanie’s book, How to Master Your Marquis from this series and  A Duke Never Yields from the “Affairs by Moonlight” trilogy which has a lighter tone over all.

Also by Juliana Gray:

The Affairs by Moonlight Trilogy
A Lady Never Lies
A Gentleman Never Tells
A Duke Never Yields – most recommended of the three

A Princess in Hiding Series
How to Tame Your Duke
How to Master Your Marquis – most recommended of the three
How to School Your Scoundrel – see above
The Duke of Olympia Meets His Match (novella)

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

London’s Greatest Lovers Series: Passions of a Wicked Earl by Lorraine Heath

book review June 16, 2014 Leave a comment

Spoiler: The dog dies.

It sets a certain tone when a historical romance opens with the hero going at it with his mistress. The series is called “London’s Greatest Lovers”, after all. Like the heroes of the other two books in the trilogy, Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman and Waking Up with the Duke, as well as a couple of other Lorraine Heath heroes, the gentleman in question has an enchanted phallus and hard-earned prowess in slipping it to women. The kind of mad skillz that render the heroine’s shyness and inexperience moot and has prostitutes refusing payment. Lorraine Heath is old school.

In the biggest of Big Misunderstandings, the Earl of Westcliffe separated from his wife, Claire, on their wedding night when he discovered her in bed with his brother, Stephen. NOTHING HAPPENED! and it was a ruse to delay the consummation devoutly to be avoided, but Westcliffe took it very, very badly, beat the stuffing out of his brother, and exiled his wife.

Claire had just turned 17 and Westcliffe was 25 when they married. I don’t think delaying to relationship for a few years was a consideration in de-squicking the plot, but I am grateful for it nonetheless. Claire and Westcliffe had been contractually betrothed to each other virtually since her birth. Westcliffe really needed Claire’s dowry and her abusive father wanted her out of the house ASAP. The groom is an intense and overbearing man who made no effort to get to know his (child) bride. Claire was terrified, but the wedding night bait and switch was all Stephen’s idea. Close friends from childhood, he and Claire were young, drunk, and stupid. Getting caught in bed together was the best delaying tactic the champagne could come up with.

Three years later, Claire has decided it’s time to be married in truth as well as in exile. She has been living in isolation at Westcliffe’s familial seat lovingly restoring and running the place, because if there is one thing sheltered and inexperienced 17 year olds are good at, it’s interior design and/or estate management. Claire shows up on Westcliffe’s doorstep, he treats her in a humiliating fashion that nonetheless arouses her, and she makes her case. Claire would like to give her sister a London Season to save her from marrying an old coot. Westcliffe consents. Helped significantly by the aforementioned canine demise, their marriage of convenience transforms into one of genuine affection. A bunch of unnecessary machinations and a head-shaving interrupt the merry denouement, but the happily ever after is eventually achieved.

I have one more Lorraine Heath novel on hold through my library and then I will have read a large portion of her catalogue. Her writing is entertaining and she can give good smolder, but there is nothing that elevates her books from the B-list to the A-list; moreover, she often has elements that are too much of a throwback for books published within the last ten years and they disrupt my really very willing suspension of disbelief.

Also by Lorraine Heath:

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Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon

book review June 13, 2014 Leave a comment

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, book eight in Diana Gabaldon historical epic Outlander series,  picks up exactly where the last book, An Echo in the Bone, left off. It could be read as a standalone novel, but why would you want to do that? Gabaldon belongs to that rarefied group of authors who create an entire world and tell a story that takes thousands of pages to unfold. Such authors’ works need to be devoured and savoured in their entirety to achieve their full effect.

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood  was a particularly enjoyable entry in the series and (mostly) moved along quickly. The story is rich in detail and often harrowing. I made many interesting happy and unhappy noises while reading. If you are already reading the novels, you won’t need a plot summary, although Gabaldon is remarkably adept at thumbnail sketches of where things stand, and if you haven’t read the books, you really should go back and start at book one. You will either love it or give up quickly. Despite my disclaimer, here is a brief recap of Written in My Own Heart’s Blood: Claire and Jamie Fraser and their extended family are living in Philadelphia at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. They are drawn into the fight and participate in historical events. In Scotland, their daughter and son-in-law, Bree and Roger, are dealing with complications in their own lives.

The Outlander books are wonderfully entertaining and fascinating works of historical fiction. Gabaldon excels at drawing vivid characters and at incorporating what must be years of research into her characters’ lives. I revel in all of the historical details, including the genuine political events of the time, and, particularly, the practical considerations of their daily existences and Claire’s work as a physician. There is so much I love about this series, not least of which is that, by this point, the main character is a 60 year old woman. There may be eight point of view characters, but these books are Claire’s story and I love every kind, no-nonsense, resolute inch of her character. Her husband, Jamie, who will “ruin you for all other fictional men”, is by her side and an ideal partner for Claire.

Series book lists after the jump:

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London’s Greatest Lovers Series: Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman by Lorraine Heath

book review May 27, 2014 Leave a comment

It’s 1858, Mercy Dawson and her bastard son have been brought to the family home of Stephen Lyons. Appalled by her conduct, her father abandons her there. Thinking Stephen dead, Mercy is hoping that in bringing his son to his aristocratic family, they will let her stay on as nanny. She just wants to be with her child, but quickly learns that Stephen is very much alive and in rough shape. Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman follows the development of their relationship and the marriage of convenience that ensues. Everyone is lying, so it’s a little complicated.

Stephen and Mercy each spent two years in the Crimean War. He was a commissioned officer and she was a nurse. They first met when he was wounded early in his tour and they formed a friendship. Wounded again, Stephen returned to the ward, but this time when he woke up his memory was blank. He has blocked out every second of his wartime experience. It is a blessing and a curse. Mercy remembers everything about her time struggling against horrifying conditions and despair, including the woman who had Stephen’s child and abandoned him to her. It’s a lovely plot and character detail that she remembers too much, he remembers too little, and they are both traumatized.

I enjoyed a great deal of this historical romance. Mercy’s strength and profound love for her adopted child make her instantly likeable. Stephen was a rake of the “I love’em and leave’em, but they know the rules going in” type before the war. He joined the army to give himself a purpose in life and acquitted himself honourably, but is still lost because of his memory issues.  Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman kept me interested and entertained, but it did start to drag in the last third. Like all of Lorraine Heath’s romances, most of it was a better than average and the relationship felt sincere. Heath is still on my B-list and I doubt that will change; however, I wanted to address this:

“There was the true tragedy of his affliction. On the street, he might run into someone who had saved his life — and Stephen would ignore him because he wouldn’t recognize him. He should buy him a drink. Hell, he should buy him a woman. And instead, he would casually stroll by as though the man were nothing.”

“HE SHOULD BUY HIM A WOMAN”?

Ms. Heath, you have got to be joking. In a book written by a woman for women, historical romance or not, you insult your readership by writing about them as something that should be bought as a thank you gesture. “I can’t think what to give him as a present. Should it be a shot of whiskey, perhaps funds for his family, or maybe a person he can exploit to satisfy his urges? Oh, that’s perfect. I’ll buy him a woman!” Jesus H. Christ, I found that offensive. The romance genre is about a woman’s right to self-determination, except, apparently, for those ones over there who are just whores. How is that different from the men who attacked Mercy when she was working as a nurse? Especially after the narrative repeatedly mentions that Stephen loves and respects women.  Is it different because of financially motivated consent? Women who are “no better than they should be” really bother me in these books. Even in a wish-fulfillment genre, I reject the happy hooker trope. I can live with the mistresses, but I really don’t want to encounter the male fantasy of prostitutes eager for sex or as inconsequential receptacles in fiction for women.

Also by Lorraine Heath:

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The Scoundrels of St. James Series: In Bed with the Devil, Between the Devil and Desire, Surrender to the Devil, Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel, and The Last Wicked Scoundrel by Lorraine Heath

book review May 27, 2014 Leave a comment

Every romance author has a through line to her work and Lorraine Heath’s is damaged people finding strength in each other and themselves to persevere and succeed. The Scoundrels of St. James series has this through line, as well an homage to Oliver Twist. There is an Oliver, a Feagan, a Dodger, a Sykes, and a Nancy. A group of four friends – don’t worry, Sykes isn’t one of them – have survived and escaped Victorian London’s rookeries and built better lives for themselves; in fact, owing to an aristocratic kinship of one of their circle and the enterprise of another, they now rub shoulders with the wealthiest and most powerful people in England. Oh, these are romance novels all right.

Plot Summary (All): A plucky and determined urchin has built a safe, good life. Enter an aristocrat who is both attractive and makes the urchin leery. The aristocrat has secrets, too. They become lovers. A complication arises. The urchin and the aristocrat triumph together with the help of the other urchins.

The St. James men are dangerous and stalwart, the women are gentle and kind. The characterizations are not as strong as they could be and veer towards stereotype. Each book has sweet moments and they are entertaining enough to pass the time, but none of them are keepers, although I did actually buy Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel out of impatience with my library, and because I felt I owed Heath money for a least one of the dozen or so of her books that I have read this year.

The Scoundrels of St. James Series:

In Bed With the Devil – Luke and Catherine

Lucian Langdon, Earl of Claybourne, is the reason that all of the urchins were given the chance to make good. Identified by his grandfather as his long-lost grandson, Luke was brought into the family fold; his friends came with him and were given opportunities for education and advancement they would not otherwise have had. Luke does not believe himself to be the rightful heir, but as he was about to be hanged for murder, he thought it best to play along with “the old gent”. Luke has no memories of his life before the rookery and is beset by the kind of headaches repressed memories cause in fiction. He can’t prove to himself that he is the heir, but he’s not about to give up his wealth and privilege either.

Did I mention that the man Luke was accused of killing was his uncle and “the old gent’s” heir at the time? The bastard had it coming, but the juxtaposition of Earl and alleged murderer has given Luke a dangerous reputation and limited his social cachet. Since an assassin is what Catherine, Lady Mabry requires, she has not hesitation about approaching Luke to kill someone on her behalf. They make a deal: Luke wants Catherine to train his almost fiancee Frannie (Surrender to the Devil) in the ways of the aristocracy and, when that is done, Luke will carry out Catherine’s requested killing. That bastard has it coming, too. Luke and Catherine fall in love, events crescendo, justice is served, and the happy couple get married.

Luke was an enjoyable character, but Catherine was wonderful. She is bright and determined, cowed by nothing, and has ovaries of steel. Everyone should have a friend like her.

Side note: Luke has trouble sleeping and drinks to help soothe himself to sleep. This is kind of habit is a common trope, but the amount Luke drinks, dear Lord, the amount he drinks! In one scene, it says he has consumed three bottles of whiskey and that a fourth should do it. Unless he saved them from a minibar, I cannot conceive of anyone being able to drink that many bottles without either becoming a severe alcoholic, coming close to death, or sweating alcohol from every pore instead of the pleasant sandalwood cologne Catherine notices.

Between the Devil and Desire – Jack and Olivia

An up-from-the-gutter-street-urchin-making-good-with-a-gambling-establishment is a standard historical romance trope. Youthful participation in organized crime leads to an honest and lucrative pursuit in which the urchin can rub shoulders with the so-called elite and make an obscene amount of money. Heath did it better in Lord of Wicked Intentions, but the ultimate novel of this ilk is the Lisa Kleypas classic Dreaming of You which features the supreme squalor born hero, Derek Craven. It is a fantastic book and one that comes up again and again on “best” lists. Between the Devil and Desire suffered by similarity for me. I didn’t mean to compare, but I’ve read Dreaming of You many times. Derek is all that is good and yummy about Kleypas heroes and his heroine, Sara, is an excellent character who balances brains and ability with inexperience. Where was I?

Jack Dodger has been summoned to the home of the recently deceased Duke of Lovingdon. It seems the Duke has left his entailed estate to his son Henry, an annual stipend to his lovely young widow, Olivia, and everything else, every coal-scuttle, pickle fork, and shred of clothing, including Olivia’s, to Jack. The catch is that Jack must agree to become Henry’s guardian. Jack is a grasping sort of fellow, so he accepts. What follows is a fun love/hate relationship between Jack and Olivia. Henry is won over in short order. Olivia takes longer. There is a lot of bluffing and posturing going on between the hero and heroine, even though they are obviously well matched. Olivia has spent her life devoted to duty, Jack shows her freedom.

In addition to my unintentional Kleypas comparison, Between the Devil and Desire was also undercut by the profoundly annoying, but unfortunately historically accurate, lack of power Olivia has in her son’s life. Her husband left everything, including their son, in the hands of a covetous stranger. While upset, she is not the seething mass of indignation one would expect. There should have been considerably more “THIS IS AN OUTRAGE UP WITH WHICH I SHALL NOT PUT!” and emphatic flinging of objets d’art.

Surrender to the Devil – Sterling and Frannie

This was my least favourite of the group. It never really captured my interest although it passed the time adequately. Frannie Darling, who might be Feagan’s daughter, works at Jack’s club as a book-keeper and is opening a home for orphans in her spare time. She is gentle and kind and good and smart and devoted. Whatever. At her friend Luke’s wedding, she spots Sterling, Duke of Somethingfancy. They spark instantly. He is going blind (not a spoiler) which he considers a huge personal failing as opposed to a sad reality. For her part, Frannie is distrustful of the aristocracy and does not want to become part of it. Given conditions for the poor in Victorian England, one can hardly blame her. Bad things disrupt their relationship, said issues get resolved. Frannie becomes a duchess.

Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel – James and Eleanor

Eleanor Watkins wants revenge. Her twin sister, Elisabeth, killed herself after returning from her Season in London. The traumatic information she recorded in her journal has led Eleanor to Lord Rockberry and a public London park late at night. What she does not know, but what comes in handy very quickly, is that she is being followed by James Swindler of Scotland Yard.

James is the urchin of this duo. Like his friends, his name has been changed to reflect the skills he used in the rookeries to get by. His work as a child transformed into legitimate police work when he became gentrified. He’d had a special bond with Surrender to the Devil‘s Frannie, but Eleanor rattles him in an entirely new way. James is a giant hulk of a man*. Eleanor is petite and feminine enough to have blue birds on her shoulder. She also has tremendous moxie and is as strong and determined as James is to find justice. James is charged with keeping Eleanor away from Rockberry and appears to be doing an excellent job, but when the lord is found murdered things take a sharp left turn.

I really enjoyed Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel and am glad that it was the novel I paid for. Major subplots frequently make me whine, but the story in this one really worked for me. It had twists and turns to keep things interesting and the couple’s relationship was believable.

The Last Wicked Scoundrel (novella) – William and Winnie

The last of the urchins gets a novella for his own happily ever after and final visits with the couples from the previous books. William Graves is the doctor who has been called to bedsides throughout the series and his beloved’s is no exception. Winnie, widowed Duchess of Avendale, was savagely abused by her terrifying bastard of a husband and William helped to nurse her back to health. Winnie is now re-entering the world after the polite period of public mourning. She wants to repay William’s kindness by raising money for a hospital. He’s all for it and anything else Winnie might have in mind. He is secretly in love with her and she with him. They get it together and it on before things go completely awry and then are resolved.

 

*Pet Peeve: Swindler’s interior monologue reveals that so magical are his loverman skills that prostitutes have refused payment. Even if historically accurate, I do not want to hear about the novel’s hero sleeping with prostitutes. More importantly, that is not how prostitution works. Declining payment from a sexual virtuoso client is akin to the porn star party line, “I was really horny, so I thought I may as well get paid for it.” Prostitutes are trying to make money the only way they know how, or, often, under duress. I find it extremely challenging to believe that one was impressed by his skills, or how long he can last (I would think the less time the better), or that she would refuse her payment. This strikes me as entirely a male fantasy.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Also by Lorraine Heath:

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The Lost Lords of Pembroke Series: Deck the Halls with Love by Lorraine Heath

book review May 24, 2014 Leave a comment

I continue to work my way through Lorraine Heath’s catalogue filling my time with b-list historical romance. This novella belongs to the Lost Lords of Pembrook series which includes:

She Tempts the Duke – tortured hero, kind and loving heroine
Lord of Temptation – so much meh
Lord of Wicked Intentions – really good, great heroine

Deck the Halls with Love was a quick read even for a novella. Lord Chetwyn was jilted by Anne, the heroine of Lord of Temptation. Specifically, he consented to withdraw from their betrothal when it became clear that she was in love with someone else, establishing his nice guy bona fides. Their engagement was the result of honour and duty as Anne had been engaged to Chetwyn’s brother and said brother’s dying wish was for Chetwyn to look after Anne. With the broken betrothal behind him, Chetwyn now realises that he could likely have found other ways to have a care where Anne was concerned. So amicable was their parting that Chetwyn is at Anne’s in-laws for one of those Yuletide house parties people in historical romances love to hold. He is also anticipating a certain guest. While his sense of duty is a nice thing, Chetwyn had thrown over his own lady to become involved with Anne. Meredith, referred to as Merry in a nice Noel-y touch, was in love with Chetwyn and did not understand why she went from being almost affianced to alone on the dance floor. Merry will be at the party, but she is not free. Caught in the least compromising possible of compromising positions, she is engaged to a seemingly nice man with a bit of a gambling issue. Chetwyn is determined to win Merry back over the course of the Christmas fete. Anne helps. It doesn’t take long to establish that Chetwyn and Merry are compatible and need to force a break in her engagement to be together. The weather cooperates, honour prevails, and some expeditious shenanigans put them on track for scandal, but one they will endure while sharing a home.

Lorraine Heath is a successful author with a formula that works well for her. She is a cut above the workaday writers in the genre and a cut below the ones I normally recommend. I have read a large number of her books, but I have only ever paid for one. Deck the Halls with Love passed the time, but I will not delay returning it to the library in favour of more time with the characters, despite the fact that she managed to make them very likeable in very short order.

Also by Lorraine Heath:
As the Earl Desires

The Scoundrels of St. James Series:
In Bed with the Devil
Between the Devil and Desire
Surrender to the Devil
Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel
The Last Wicked Scoundrel

London’s Greatest Lovers Series (snort):
Passions of a Wicked Earl
Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman
Waking Up with the Duke

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

As an Earl Desires by Lorraine Heath

book review May 6, 2014 Leave a comment

Armed with my library card, I have been working my way through Lorraine Heath’s back catalogue. She is a B-list author for me: I don’t buy her books, but I will pick them up, if they are close to hand. Reading the older novels, I find I like her better. I’m going to keep going until my library’s supply is exhausted.

As an Earl Desires is the story of the Dowager Countess of Sachse and the new Earl, a man who has risen in life from teacher to aristocrat by virtue of the vagaries of primogeniture and despite being named Archibald. He is referred to as Arch or Archie. Good call.

Arch came into the title when the former Earl, a complete bastard (figuratively speaking) by all accounts  and the necessities of the plot, died without issue. The Bastard Earl’s young widow, Camilla, has taken it upon herself to train and educate Arch in his new life. There is just one tiny problem. Arch has fallen madly in love with her.  Actually, there are other not so tiny problems. Camilla has secrets she feels with ruin her if discovered. She was born into abject poverty and very early on it is revealed the Camilla is illiterate. She is both desperately ashamed and terrified people will learn of this. All Arch knows is that he wants to both jump her bones and stay for breakfast. To add further plot complications, Camilla is barren and while Arch doesn’t care about continuing the Sachse line, she does. He needs an heir, she wants a Duke to secure her future.

A sweet story, As an Earl Desires, moved along quickly and entertainingly. It was nice to read a romance with a kind and gentle hero. Not that most heroes are violent and rough, but they are often very self-possessed and, for want of a less modern term, cool. Arch made for a nice change. Camilla is the self-contained one and her gradual surrender of her fears in favour of a better life was nicely done.

Also by Lorraine Heath:

Lord of Wicked Intentions – her best so far
Deck the Halls with Love

London’s Greatest Lovers Series:
Passions of a Wicked Earl
Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman
Waking Up with the Duke

The Scoundrels of St. James Series:
In Bed with the Devil
Between the Devil and Desire
Surrender to the Devil
Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel
The Last Wicked Scoundrel

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

It Takes a Scandal by Caroline Linden

book review May 6, 2014 Leave a comment

The first chapter of the historical romance It Takes a Scandal is akin to seminar on how to successfully create a sympathetic hero. Sebastian Vane has been stripped of everything he held dear and that will help him make his way in the world. Seriously injured fighting Napoleon (not personally), his mentally ill father is sinking daily into greater and more unmanageable derangement, but not before selling portions of the family estate for a pittance. Sebastian loses everything except his dignity and even that he holds onto by self-exile. There is no self-pity, just a man quietly retreating into himself and building a life as best he can from the remaining tatters.

Strong, kind, and generously be-dowered Abigail Weston moves into the house next to Sebastian. The Weston family has new money, pots of it, but no titles.  I enjoy the old versus new money elements in historical romance because as a modern North American I respect and admire people who have built a better lives for themselves through hard work. At the time considered boorish upstarts, they had the advantage of not being shackled to limitations and demands of primogeniture. The Weston are self-made and even more unusual in romance, happy. They have their foibles and squabbles, but they love and protect each other. It’s a nice change, but back to the lovebirds…

Sebastian Vane is a tortured hero. Abigail Weston is the bright and curious heroine who brings him out of his shell. They meet accidentally and are immediately drawn to each other. Events conspire for and then against them before they come together. The plotting is logical and convincing*. The machinations reasonable for the genre. It Takes a Scandal is well-written and enjoyable, but it hit on a personal bone of contention as, frankly, I think I prefer a little more mileage on my heroines. Sebastian is darling and Abigail is lovely, but I’m not sure I want to read about her. She was a little too untried by life for my tastes.

Also from Caroline Linden’s Scandals series: Love and Other Scandals

Recommended Caroline Linden which I will get around to reviewing:

What Happens in London
Blame It on Bath

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

*Captious Aside: Linden’s Scandals series has a running joke about an erotic publication that all of the young women are trying to get their hands on. It’s a monthly pamphlet they must scour the bookstores for and not get caught. Did such a thing really exist? I find it hard to believe and, while I appreciate the effort to bring greater sexual awareness to the inexperienced heroines, ready access to erotica seems extraordinarily unlikely.

Rules for the Reckless Series: Your Wicked Heart by Meredith Duran

book review April 29, 2014 Leave a comment

Amanda Thomas was stood up at her wedding. Now, having gone to her fiance’s hotel to find out what the hell happened, she encounters a man who says her beloved is an imposter.  Everyone agrees with him, bowing and scraping in a way that strongly suggests he may very well be the real Viscount Ripton. Here we are just one chapter into the Victorian romance Your Wicked Heart and our heroine is alone, penniless, unemployed, confused, jilted, stranded, and still wearing her very uncomfortable wedding dress. To add insult to injury, the man claiming to be the real Viscount Ripton accuses Amanda of being a swindler and insists that she travel with him on his quest to find the truth. Sure, he’s gorgeous, but that doesn’t make up for the scorn and accusations. Ripton, for his part, will not be distracted by Amanda’s Bo Peep prettiness and latches on to her as the best hope of finding the cousin masquerading under his name.  Hijinks ensue. Fun, frolicsome ones because this is a road trip novella and hijinks love taking it on the lam.

As I have opinions about historical romance that I feel compelled to share, I must say that I always feel the road trip is the romance plot which requires the most violent willing suspension of disbelief.  The couple is thrown together intimately and in defiance of even more societal conventions than usual. Your Wicked Heart  also follows that pattern, but I didn’t mind. A romp was not what I expected from Meredith Duran, or for just 99 cents on Amazon, but a lighthearted adventure is what the story provides. Amanda is plucky and determined. Ripton is dutiful and single-minded. Worn down by Ripton’s intensity and sense of duty, Amanda’s natural charm has the same effect on Ripton. Because Duran’s greatest strength is character development, the more serious personal elements are what help balance the novella’s playful aspects. Your Wicked Heart is a fun quick read with a small twist at the end that makes everything feel a little more gravitas-y.

Also by Meredith Duran:

Rules for Reckless Series (not entirely interconnected, more of a theme)
That Scandalous Summer – very good
Your Wicked Heart – delightful novella
Fool Me Twice – excellent
Lady Be Good – nothing special
Luck Be a Lady

Not Rules for the Reckless Series
Bound by Your Touch – excellent
Written on Your Skin – not my style, but very good

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.