Sunrise with a Notorious Lord

Sunrise with a Notorious Lord by Alexandra Hawkins 112

Isabel Thorne has no complaints about her quiet existence in the country with her family but she knows that her sister, Delia, has higher hopes so when Lady Nethersley proposes a little escapade to help "push" her son towards marriage, she agrees to go along with it. Christopher Courtland, the Earl of Vanewright, known as Vain, is intrigued by Isabel and as he has just broken it off with his mistress decides that his time would be well spent pursuing her. Isabel mistakenly believes that Delia is the one for Vain and her sister agrees that no one of his rank would want a blue stocking spinster. Vain sets about seducing Isabel and while she finds him attractive and enjoys his company, she knows that his reputation makes it highly unlikely that he has noble intentions towards her. Christopher, of course, has no intention of marrying as he enjoys his debauched lifestyle with his equally debauched friends, and he has no intention of following his mother's plan for him. When he discovers that his mother is behind Isabel's actions he is horrified and his wonders if anything he had with Isabel was real. They will have to work together to overcome their pasts and their fears and find love.

This is a truncated review because I read this book about a month ago and I do not remember very many of the details, but I do remember that I swore off this entire series at the end because once again I could not get over how much of a man-hoe yet another Hawkins hero was. I am sick of illusions to group sex and orgies and exhibitionist displays with all of the Lords of Vice and heroes who do not successfully overcome or atone for their past behavior. Christian was only special in how slutty he was and there was nothing else about him that stuck out to me. Isabel was a bookworm who secretly wanted the dangerous bad boy but her self-sacrificing meekness when it came to her sister irritated me. There was a lot of lust between them but not very much sex and I really did not find it all that hot and thought it was a huge disappointment because Isabel and Christian had nothing else going for them. I also thought that there were far too many appearances of past couples, especially since I didn't really like their stories when I was reading them. The saving grace of this book was that it was fast paced, had some funny moments, and was incredibly short.

Rating: A fast-paced book that had it's moments but I was uninspired by the characters and thought that there was really nothing there to hold my interest.

After Dark with a Scoundrel

After Dark with a Scoundrel by Alexandra Hawkins 209

Regan Bishop, sister to the Earl of Chillingsworth, Frost, grew up running around her brother's club and making friends with the other Lord of Vice. Soon Lord Hugh Modare, Dare, realizes that Regan is growing up and after a mishap at the club Frost catches the two of them kissing. Frost knows it is beyond time for Regan to become a proper lady and he sends her to finishing school under the care of a distant cousin. For years he refuses to allow her back to London, but she maneuvers her way back to town and he has no choice but to allow her to stay, but only after making it clear to Dare that she is off limits. Despite the warning Dare has a hard time maintaining his cool with Regan around and flirting with other gentleman. Unfortunately he has family problems of his own as his brother is carousing around town and impregnating women willy nilly. There is also his sister-in-law Allegra, whom Dare had fallen madly in love with as a boy before she betrayed him and left him unable to love again. Despite her marriage, Allegra continues to meddle in Dare's life, taunting and teasing him, even while her inability to produce an heir causes problems in the Modare household.

Spending time with Dare and the other Lords of Vice has made it clear to Regan that she is not cut out to be a typical society miss. She wants to sword fight, she wants adventure, and she especially wants a passionate love affair with Dare. Even though he had recently been looking at another lady of the ton, Regan's appearance captures Dare's complete attention, but he does not want to risk anything that could hurt his friendship with Frost or bring the attention of his sister-in-law. But Dare's good intentions are no match for Regan's innocent seduction and the two succumb to their desires. When Frost finds out Dare is forced to admit he has no intention of marrying Regan and she is crushed, thinking that he is still in love with Allegra. Things get worse when Dare is attacked in the street, the lady he had been after before Regan winds up dead, and Regan is pushed into the street in front of carriage. The events force Dare realizes that all of the problems the two are facing are not worth making Regan unhappy and he proposes. The two marry in a quick and very private ceremony, heedless of how upset Frost will be.

I have found Hawkins other books mildly enjoyable, but nothing special and this one fell into the same category. The writing is oddly emotionless as far as the romance went, with no real discussion whatsoever about either of them being in love and the characters were also lacking in that arena. I could not get a read on either of them or figure out why they loved each other or why I should like them. Regan seems to like being reckless and drawing attention to herself, but she doesn't actually enjoy it; she doesn't get any pleasure from anything she does. She has been in love with Dare for years because he treated her well and taught her how to act like one of the guys, but I could not see why that love continued to burn so hotly years later. They had very little quality time alone together and none of the relationship building time where I like to get a feel for how they are falling in love. Dare was slightly better than Regan because he had the great family history and the anger still burning from his brother marrying the love of his life. But, there were no examples really of how this affected his emotional state, just lots of talk that it did affect him.

There was plenty of sex between Regan and Dare, especially for a book of only 290 pages, and it was pretty hot but nothing spectacular. Perhaps I didn't enjoy it so much because I was hoping to finally get some emotion from these two and I did not. There was a great little mystery about who could possibly want Dare hurt, his almost lover dead, and Regan injured and I was completely left guessing until the end. This plot was well integrated into the story for the most part and it was certainly a welcome addition as the book would have been quite short without it, but it did not at all make up for the lack of romance in the book. I also rather liked reading about Dare's relationships with the various members of his family, but found them a really bad excuse for his refusing to marry Regan when they were first found together. The other Lord of Vice make infrequent appearances in this book, less so than in her previous books, and while I like that their happiness is not shoved in our face, I would have liked more from the unmarried men because I began to have a very hard time telling them apart. Indeed, I am beginning to sense that the Lords of Vice are all going to be remarkably too similar to each other, which rather makes me wonder if I will continue to read them.

Rating: I found the lack of emotions in this book to be an unforgivable fault that just made the book impossible to truly enjoy, even while I could admit that it was mildly entertaining at times.

Till Dawn with the Devil

Till Dawn with the Devil by Alexandra Hawkins 925

Lady Sophia's brothers are reluctant to bring their sister out into society, both because they fear for her safety and because they see as little more than a nuisance. A blow suffered to her head as a child has left her with poor eyesight and she relies on her friends to escort her around town. At her first ball she is confronted by Gabriel Houseley, the Earl of Raincourt who is attracted to her and furious that she is flirting with Mr. Enright. Reign is haunted by rumors that he murdered his first wife, Beatrice, whose death was ruled an accident and after that disastrous marriage he has promised never to fall in love or marry every again. After an evening spent in Sophia's company is coming to enjoy her and she likes that he does not treat her like a child because of her eyesight. However he is horrified to learn about her family as the Raincourt and Ravenshaw families are enemies every since his father murdered hers.

When Sophia's brother gets in too deep at the gambling table he makes an arrangement for her to marry to get him out of debt. Reign has always disliked Sophia's brothers for being bullies and reminding him of his father but this is taking it one step too far. With the help of his friends, the Lord of Vice, he rescues Sophia and marries her within a day so that her brother an have no hold over her. He tries to maintain distance between them but it is difficult the more he spends time with her, especially the more time he spends in bed with her. When her brothers threaten to take her away he goes to confront them but at the same time someone that they had both thought long dead resurfaces and threatens their happiness. Reign has to rush to rescue the woman he has come to love and finally put their families' tragic pasts to rest.

First I would have to say that I really liked having a heroine with an exceptionality and it took a lot of courage for a writer to create a heroine who had bad eyesight. A lot of times in romances in taken up with descriptions of clothing and decorations and because of her eyesight Hawkins had to work extra hard to give the reader enough descriptions to feel what was going on but still maintain a taste of what it would be like to have poor eyesight. Sometimes it got confusing about how much she could see as she could read somewhat and she was certainly able to see his body, but other times everything was blurry. Really other than that she did not have much going for her as she was a little bland and did not seem to do much. I really liked Reign as the dark and very passionate alpha hero, who was wrestling with his new feelings and his very violent past.

Their relationship progressed a little fast but in such a short book (305 pages and fairly large type) I guess it had to. I felt like the met, were interested in each other, got married, and after a brief time together a family crisis brings forth lots of loving feelings. Just a little too rushed for me and I wish they had spend more time together doing romantic things and just having fun. Their was some decent sex between them, nothing special but it was interesting enough and there was a decent amount for such a short book.Their family connection really added something to the book as it was intriguing and led to some great tension between them. It also lead to a great little twist at the end that I would never have guessed. There was of course a lot of action involving the other Lords of Vice, from past novels to other members and she has her work cut out for her making these guys into romance novels heroes.

Rating: A decent book with a great hero and a new type of heroine, but the romance was a little lacking. I will definitely be waiting for the next addition in the series.

All Night with a Rogue

All Night with a Rogue by Alexandra Hawkins 509

The first meeting between Lady Juliana Ivers and Alexius, Lord Sinclair is not quite auspicious as Alexius is being fellated by a former mistress of his. Nevertheless he quite likes the wood sprite he finds hiding in the tree to escape an overzealous suitor and is quite disappointed when she runs away before introducing herself. Juliana is town with her two older sisters and her mother who is determined to see them all wed. Unfortunately the family is not in the best financial straights as the mother has a gambling problem and the family patriarch, a distant cousin, has finally had enough and has cut them off. Alexius is not all that surprised when his sister enlists his help and asks him to seduce and cast off a young woman she sees as competition for the affection of another man. He is quite excited when he discovers that the woman in question is Juliana and he sets out to allay her fears and convince her that an liaison between the two of them could be quite a good time. He is not wrong and the two enjoy each other's company immensely.

Things begin to go badly when her mother's gambling debts threaten to crush the family and she makes a deal to give her daughter to Lord Gomfrey in exchange for forgiving the debts. Juliana cannot reach Alexius in time to ask for his help or explain what is occurring and he is furious when he believes that Juliana is leaving him for another man. The confrontation is very public and very emotional as he sets out to hurt her and all the warm feelings she had begun to develop for him are crushed. But then it turns out that Juliana's mother had been expected Alexius to go after Juliana and save the entire family and had been manipulating the whole thing to get a marriage ring.To make matters even worse Juliana's very uptight cousin has decided that in order to save the family he will have to marry her and he has no problem forcing himself on her. It is up to Alexius to prove to Juliana that she really is special to him, that she is different than all the other women, and that he loves her and deserves her forgiveness.

Obviously Alexius is quite the bad boy- their first two meetings are with him and another woman so in my opinion this warrants that quite a bit of very obvious change needs to occur in order to make him a decent romance novel hero. I am not quite sure he completely does go through a change although he certainly runs around a lot trying to save her. Also I have to admit that I absolutely hate his name; several times as I was reading I read "anxious," and while it was self correcting it was still annoying. Juliana is a musician and while she is very talented, enough to warrant publishing, I like that the book did not make her skills magical and so amazing that it silences entire rooms of listeners. That happens in so many novels and is just ridiculous in my opinion. I wish that the two of them had spent more time together after they had made up and we could see them getting along together and not at each other's throats of thinking about other women. I will say that I really liked the writing in this story as a whole and I liked that it was very fast paced and kept me very interested.

The sex was quite hot and inventive, however the fact that during it the reader was well aware he had done it with other women (because we were reminded of it) was a turn off. There was one scene involving a pearl necklace that was quite intriguing, but it really ended up turning me off because there were so many mentions of how this was a notorious and well known game that he played with all the women he slept with. I would have appreciated a more tame and emotional sex scene after they had reconciled and they were in love to really bring it together. Her mother was an absolute awful character as she did basically gamble away her daughter, although I can tell that Hawkins was trying to make her a nuanced character by having it be just an effort on her part to manipulate Alexius into a marriage proposal, but the act itself was so unforgivable I just didn't get it... but kudos to her for making a very strong effort.

Rating: I quite liked this book and while there were things I would have changed or liked done better I definitely plan on reading more from this author in this series.