How to Lose a Bride in One Night

How to Lose a Bride in One Night by Sophie Jordan

Annalise Hadley lived in relative obscurity until her father, Jack Hadley, appeared out of nowhere and decided to invest part of his vast fortune toward marrying her, and her numerous half-sisters, off to members of the aristocracy. Annalise knows she is not beautiful and she has suffered a limp since a childhood accident, but she is hard working and kind. She is shocked and flattered when the Duke of Bloodsworth, the most eligible bachelor of the ton, picks her to be his bride but it turns out he only wanted her for her money- a fact she discovers when he tries to smother her and throws her overboard their wedding barge. Owen Crawford, Earl of MacDowell, is stunned to find a half-dead woman floating in the river and immediately takes her to the nearest shelter he can find even if it is a gypsy caravan. Owen has given up on ever being a normal human after living for years as an asassin in India and lives on the outskirts of his own family but something about this young woman draws him in.

When she awakes Annalise claims to have amnesia to avoid Owen bringing her back to Bloodworth and she wants to be up and out of bed as soon as possible as she hates feeling helpless. Owen is determined that she heal properly and appoints himself her nursemaid, even while rejecting the Gypsy's claim that she belongs to him now that he has saved her life. When it is finally time to leave the caravan he takes Annalise to his estate, planning to send her away once she is fully recovered. But when she asks him to teach her how to defend herself he can't help but wonder what secrets she is hiding and finds that he wants to know more about her. Annalise is falling for the handsome man who rescued her and who makes her feel safe for the first time in a long time. With Annalise's help Owen rediscovers the man he used to be and reunites with his family and with Owen's help, Annalise finally finds herself able to confront her past. Together, they know they are safe and can handle anything the world throws at them.

This installment in the Forgotten Princesses series featuring the illegitimate daughters of the wealthy Jack Hadley, neatly avoided falling into the series trap of focusing too much on past characters which I really admired. Sophie writes fun and very readable books that are quickly devoured and her written style is easy and flows nicely. Annalise was a wonderful character; strong and scared, caring and determined. I loved how Jordan portrayed Annalise as a victim of domestic violence who went from fear of the world to a determination to better herself and prevent it from ever happening again. Owen is a tortured hero with a buried past and a problem with connecting with other people. His past is certainly sufficient to creating such a character and I enjoyed reading about him overcoming his own fears and learning to accept himself and his past and looking toward the future. I liked that Owen helped Annalise overcome her fears and she helped him overcome his own, more buried, fears.

I could feel the heat between these two from the beginning, fairly scorching the pages, but unfortunately it ended up being a huge let down and they did not burn up the sheets anywhere near often enough.  I was frustrated towards the end when Annalise naively gave into blackmail from Bloodsworth just because he threatened Owen when she should have known perfectly well that Owen could take care of himself. She'd seen him fight people! It brought my opinion of Annalise down quite a few notches and came across like an attempt to create a big dramatic confrontational ending. The ending was of course everything it should have been and neatly wrapped everything up with a big bow, but I didn't feel like it was completely predictable because there were some added plot twists.

Rating: An enjoyable book that had much promise, but a generic ending and the letdown of going from such scorching flirting to one mild mannered bedding brought this book down.

The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton

The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton by Miranda Neville 730

Celia Seaton finds herself locked in an attic in nothing but her night shift after being kidnapped by a man in a cart. She manages to find her way down out of her prison only to come face to face with her enemy, Tarquin Compton, who had humiliated her in front of the ton. Celia is by no means wealthy, but was presented with a brief opportunity to come out in the ton, but it was brutally ended when Tarquin, the arbiter of ton fashion, compared her to a cauliflower. She had taken up employment as a governess before becoming engaged to the master of the household who had kicked her out when a strange man was found breaking into her room. Tarquin had been hit over the head by her own kidnapper and when he regains consciousness he has severe memory loss and, hoping to get a bit of revenge and hoping he will help her, she tells him his name is Terrance Fish and that the two of them are engaged. They begin a journey hiding from the man chasing him, sleeping outside in the air, fishing barehanded in streams, and Celia falls in love with this new man.

Only after they have seduced each other does Tarquin remember who, and what, he is and he escorts Celia to his estate in Yorkshire where his dragon of an aunt finds her announces an engagement between them. Tarquin is furious to have been tricked, but he cannot get Celia out of his mind, even as he recognizes that she is completely wrong for him. With the help of his close friends, the Iverleys, he devises a plan to keep Celia safe from those who kidnapped her and it is only a coincidence if it means that she spends more time in his company. She is hidden away at a house party that his friends invite him too, where it is more apparent than ever that Celia will not fit into his world. But when her room is again invaded, Tarquin is there to rescue her and they must work together to figure out who is after her and what they want. Secrets about Celia's past are revealed and she fears more than ever that she will lose Tarquin, but pretending to be Terrance Fish has changed him and he has learned that he wants different things in his life, especially the beautiful and unconventional woman he loves.

This book started in an awkward manner because I felt like I had missed a first chapter because it was the middle of a kidnapping and it took awhile for all of the characters' backstories to be explained. It was an interesting, and new, approach for me, as I feel many authors really start with an explanation and since I'm used to that it just sat oddly with me. Celia's background was intriguing and I really liked the brief glimpses into her past that we got and, although I wish we had gotten more, I really felt like it contributed to making her the person she was. I especially liked how accepted Tarquin was of it and how he encouraged her to be more open with herself about how important her past was. I love that she had a sense of humor about her situation and looked out for her best interests, while still caring about other people. I'm used to reading about maids or titled ladies, so I was also intrigued that she was somewhere in between, but I never completely got into her character and it might come back, again, to the fact that I felt like I missed the beginning of the story that wasn't written.

Tarquin really surprised me because most romance novels heroes make fun of the dandies, but he was actually a dandy himself! However, I guess because Neville didn't want to offend the readers sense of masculinity, he was a dandy who apparently only dressed in black and white. Make of that what you will. I will admit his obsession with fashion was a turn off for me, say what you will, even though it was explained during the course of the book as his reaction to being a lost little boy. It took him a long time to "grow up" and realize what he wanted in his life and came across as rather immature. The kidnapping and side plot took up a large part of this book and, although it did not overwhelm the plot, I still felt like it was too much. I did not really get into it but I will admit that there were some interesting twists and turns that I was definitely not expecting. I also enjoyed the brief glimpses we got of Sebastian and Diana, from one of my favorite romance novels, The Dangerous Viscount, which were fun and totally in keeping with both of their characters.

Rating: A fun little book, with a heroine I came to find interesting, but far from Neville's best work with some plot problems that I didn't really like.

Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman

Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman by Lorraine Heath 1212

Mercy Dawson arrives at the Duke of Ainsley's residence to tell the Duke and his family that Stephen Lyons, the Duke's brother, had had a child before he passed away. She is already in love with the baby boy and she tells them she is his mother so that they will keep her on as a nanny. She is shocked to discover that Stephen's death was a misprint and worries that he will reveal that there is no way she can be the baby's mother because their relationship never progressed to sexual intimacy. Stephen does not remember Mercy, in fact he does not remember anything that happened during his two years fighting in the Crimea, but he does not want to insult Mercy by telling her he does not remember her, so he claims the baby as his. His family immediately accept Mercy as one of them and it is not long before his mother is hinting that he should marry Mercy.

Stephen has always been a ladies man and has quite the reputation, but he has never contemplated marriage. Seeing Mercy with John, knowing how caring she was as a nurse serving in the war and hoping that she can make him remember what he can't and that she can make his life better, he decides that marriage to Mercy could be wonderful. She has always been in love with him, jealous of all the other women he showered attention on, and she agrees to marry him and can only hope that he will never discover the truth about John's birth. For a few months both are blissfully happy, even while Mercy is hoping that Stephen's attempts to remember what happened will come to nothing. But when they make an appearance in the ton Mercy is confronted by John's birth money who threatens to ruin their happiness. Mercy knows she must hide the truth from Stephen, but it cannot be hidden for long and Stephen feels betrayed and kicks Mercy out of the house and out of John's life. However, he cannot deny that they both made mistakes and that he needs Mercy in his life.

The first thing I noticed in this book was how very much Mercy idolized Stephen and how her feelings for this seemed to be set and unmoving even before the book started. She loved him enough to risk being ostracized, rejecting by her family, and ending up alone all because she was in love with him enough to take in his son. I don't criticize her taking John in, it was written as the only reason she was involved with him was because he was Stephen's son and a connection to Stephen that she so desperately wanted. Aside from her unbelievable feelings for Stephen, Mercy was a great character and her independence and confidence, she did go all the way to Crimea and serve as a nurse in a time of war, made her unwavering faith in Stephen all the more confusing. In everything else in her life she was strong and reasonable. Stephen was a great side character in the previous book, but I did not feel as though he really pulled off being a hero in his own right. He had his memory loss and he had his actions in the war, of course he's a great hero who put his men's needs above his own, but as a hero he didn't do it for me.

I cannot really put my finger on what it was about him that just feel flat with me, but I can say that I enjoyed the scenes where he was with John and learning how to be a father. Toward the middle, when he and Mercy were doing well, he was fun and interesting to read about and I liked reading about them getting along as their happiness made getting over the tragedy of finding out the truth more realistic. Him kicking her out when the truth was revealed was heartbreaking and cruel on his part, but I like that she was not able to wallow in misery for long and that people were rooting for her all along. There was some decent, but not really that hot sex between them that I almost skimmed over really. I like secret baby plots and the twist of having Mercy not be the mother added a great element to the story. I especially like the way it was accepted by everyone that Mercy was John's mother even though she did not give birth to him.

Rating: The book was decent and there were definitely elements I enjoyed. I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm giving it three because I didn't necessarily dislike it. A low 3.