Duchess by Chance

Duchess by Chance by Wendy Vella

When the Duke of Stratton finds himself deeply in debt at the gambling table to notorious cardsharp Spencer Winshcomb, he is desperate enough to wager his own son's hand in marriage to Spencer's entirely inappropriate daughter, Eva. Daniel finds out about his father's promise at the old Duke's deathbed and is none too pleased at this turn of events, but is determined to fulfill his duty and prove himself better than the old Duke. Berengina Winschomb finds herself very intimated by her new husband, but counts herself lucky to escape her abusive father and older brothers. Daniel knows better than to take his frustration out on his new, very young wife, but he can't help but make his displeasure known. Eva want to be a good wife to the Duke, but is not sure how to go about doing it, especially once he makes it clear they will not have a real marriage with children, even if he is required to consummate the marriage. But Daniel is not expecting his new wife to be so beautiful, or to find himself wanting to protect her from those who want to harm her, and make her happy by protecting those she loves.

Still determined to maintain his distance from his wife, he heads to London after their consummation, but finds that he misses her. When he finds that someone from her past has paid her an unwelcome visit, he rushes back to the country to encourage her to come to town with him. Eva is terrified of how she will be accepted in London society and wants to rusticate in the country, but she knows it is for the best and she owes Daniel after he rescues her younger brother from her father's clutches and sending Reggie to Edinburgh. Daniel is quickly proved right once they arrive in London as Eva becomes the toast of the season and finds herself making new friends easily. Unfortunately, her father has decided to use her new connections and wealth to benefit himself, and his friend has decided that Eva belongs to him. She will need to open up and trust her new husband so that they can work together to fix the mistakes of their past and face the future.

I'm always excited to try new authors, especially when amazon has nice sales on the Kindle versions. Eva was incredibly young and naive, and made decisions that were ludicrous at best and dangerous and stupid at second best. However, her dedication to her younger brother and the servants who worked for her, was admirable, even if it did, at times, seemed like a forced method for gaining the readers' respect. Her age was definitely a problem for me in this book, because at a very sheltered 18 I just couldn't see her holding her own with a duke, even if his age was never mentioned. Daniel was a confusing jumble of dichotomies. He hated his father, but had to follow through with his father's last wish. He didn't want to like his wife, but she was beautiful so he couldn't help himself. It definitely made him a more realistic person, and I really liked how he completely avoided hurting Eva and never blamed her for what happened between them. I also liked how he did work hard to keep those she loved safe.

Eva and Daniel spent a lot of time together, so I could sense a real relationship between them, but Eva just remained rather two dimensional to me. There was some sex between them, sporadic throughout the book, but it was usually very short and was darkened for me because of their odd relationship. What really bothered me about this book was Eva's unbelievably stupid decision not to tell Daniel about her father's blackmail and the threats against her. It started midway through the book and I couldn't help but roll my eyes and cringe at the blatant attempt to manufacture a problem between two people who were growing to love each other with no obstacles. The dialogue in this book was just ridiculous and completely unrealistic; things that no one would ever say. While I normally can overlook a few too flowery words, this book was just flowery nonsense from beginning to end and made me cringe. The distance of time has given me a better look at this story, but at the time the dialogue really drove me inane.

Rating: A wonderful first effort, but a better, more likable heroine and realistic dialogue will be what Vella needs to work on to continue righting great romance.

Ravishing the Heiress

Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

Millicent, Millie Graves, has known her entire life that she is destined for an arranged marriage and has trained for it and accepted her lot in life. As the only heir to a very wealthy tinned food company she is sold off to a much older Lord, whose desperation for funds has led him to contract the marriage. When he dies, his much younger cousin becomes Earl Fitzhugh and though Fitz is in love with his sweetheart, Isabelle, crushing debt and a crumbling estate necessitate a speedy influx of cash. It takes only one meeting for Millie to fall desperately in love with her future husband, but it does not take her long to realize his love is reserved for someone else so proposes that they postpone consummating the marriage for 8 years, during which they can lead their own lives. Fitz says goodbye to Isabella and embarks on his marriage with despair while Millie is equally depressed at the thought of spending the rest of her life in love with a man who loves another woman.

Eight years later Millie and Fitz have built a life for themselves together and have become fast friends, when Isabella strolls back into town, newly widowed and wanting to reconnect with Fitz. Millie has hidden her feelings all these years and has no intention now of embarrassing herself and being rejected but inside it crushes her that Fitz wants to start a new life with Isabella. He and Isabella try to pick up where they left off 8 years ago but there is no denying that things have changed for Millie and Fitz. They have common interests and goals after having worked together to build up their estate and bring the Graves tinned food industry to immense profitability. Not wanting to leave Millie alone he decides to spend six months more with Millie in the hopes of giving her in a child and Fitz begins to realize that there is so much more to their relationship than he had thought. Millie knows that now is the time to lay her heart on the line and hope that Fitz realizes that what he has with Millie is more important than a childhood infatuation.

Millie was an enjoyable and relatable character to read about because of her unrequited love for Fitz but she was a little too controlled and in charge of emotions and so good at hiding herself. She was a good person though and she was an amazing friend to Fritz, even when it broke her heart and I enjoyed when we finally did get to see some real emotion from her. Fritz was a deeply flawed person and his flaws made him so real to me. He obviously idealized his relationship with Isabelle and held onto his vision so tightly that he couldn't see what was right in front of him. While I admit this was frustrating because I did want him to see how amazing Millie was, I could definitely understand what he was feeling and thinking. Thomas did a great job telling the story from both of their perspectives which was very important in a book like this which was so emotional. Her stories tend to be very emotional and wrenching and this book was no exception and in this instance I really enjoyed it and felt it suited the story well.

This book switched back and forth between the present and important events in their past, such as their wedding, their honeymoon, and various specific times when something happened in their relationship that illustrated how close they were going. Each section was sustained enough that I did not feel like the book was jumping and I never got confused about what was happening and when. I also appreciated it because I was glad we got to see them growing together instead of just being told they were good friends/ in love. I really felt like they had a strong relationship and that I was truly there, experiencing with them, all the pleasure and pains of discovering love. There was a little bit of sex between them, it was squashed toward the end, and it was fairly uninspiring and fast. The book was very short and I thought the end came rather abruptly and, while not precisely sure what I believe should have happened, I felt like so much angst and love deserved more than a two page quick I love you happy ending.

Rating: A very emotional book with a premise that grabbed my attention and never let go. A great relationship between two well written characters with a strong relationship.

Annabelle, the American

Annabelle the American: The Real Duchesses of London by Lavinia Kent 1124

Annabelle married her husband Thomas knowing that he did not love her and knowing that many would think her unworthy of the honor since she was an untitled, but wealthy American, and he was heir to a dukedom. That does not stop that pain when a vicious cartoon is published that shows her husband with another, very young woman, and two children; insinuating that he married her for her money so he could support his other family. Thomas is horrified at the cartoons and knows he should have told his wife the truth before their marriage; the young woman and oldest child are his children from a previous marriage when he was very young and the baby is supposedly his grandchild. Thomas and Annabelle dance around the issues between them but the problem serves to bring them closer together as they get to know each other better, mostly in the bedroom, and bond over the experience of being gossiped about. Suddenly each of them discover feelings for the other and they both want more than the marriage of convenience they had entered into.

This was another short story but it certainly managed to pack a lot of emotions and problems into so short a space and while I enjoyed the angst and turmoil that accompanied the issues in the story I did feel like some back ground was sacrificed and I am not really a fan of books where the relationship picks up halfway through. I did not feel like Annabelle or Thomas was very developed, perhaps because they already knew each other and thus it was not as necessary. Annabelle was incredibly strong in the face of such a horrible experience and held her own against the gossips and her judgmental father-in-law. Thomas was more difficult to like because of the secrets he had been keeping- especially since it seemed so unnecessary for him to have kept them. The experience definitely brought them closer together and I could see how their former, rather distant relationship had stagnated, while this forced them to discover feelings they had for each other and fall in love. There was a lot of sex for so short a book and it was really hot and spread throughout the book.

Rating: An interesting short story that focused on the issues and problems between a couple that brought out some really nice angsty emotions. 

An Unwilling Bride

An Unwilling Bride by Jo Beverley 1105 

Beth Armitage grew up quietly, but happily, with her Aunt Emma and eventually became a satisfied school teacher for young ladies. The Duke of Belcraven originally accepted his wife's son, conceived with another man, as his own, but when his own two sons passed away he had difficulty being completely happy with the situation and it caused a rift between him and the Duchess. When he discovers that Beth is his own bastard child he decides that the perfect solution is for Beth to marry his heir, Lucien de Veux, the Marquess of Arden. Lucien is shocked to learn the truth of his parentage and feels adrift to no longer be a true de Veux, but he has no intention of following the Duke's orders until Belcraven threatens to leave all of his money elsewhere and leave Lucien with a bankrupt estate. Beth too is horrified by the proposal but the Duke once again resorts to blackmail to get the marriage he wants and Beth is moved to London where she tries to fit into London society and tries to get to know her future husband. 

Beth has always been a believer in equality for men and women and for the classes and it is not long before she and Lucien are exchanging quotations and philosophizing on the rights of men and women. They both enjoy the banter but Beth is not reconciled to her plight and she insinuates that she may not be a virgin. Despite not being a virgin himself, Lucien is horrified at the implication and her mistake colors every interaction they have as he cannot look at her the same way. She regrets her hasty words but the chasm between them only continues to grow as he starts to go out in the evenings. No matter how awkward the wedding must go on, but now she is terrified of consummating the marriage as the gulf between them continues to widen and they both wonder if anything will ever come of their marriage. There is also the matter of a man from Lucien's past who is threatening the happiness of one of Beth's former students and she is determined to help her friend. Lucien and Beth work together to help this girl and in the process discover that they are perfect for each other. 

I love that Beth had a career and a purpose in life and was so well educated she could hold her own with the most well to do men. She was shy and introverted and her reactions to being forced into marriage were very realistic because she recognized she had to succumb because of what the Duke was holding over her head, and yet her pride still compelled her to do all in her power to try to stop the wedding. She was insecure about herself and unsure of how she would fit with her very handsome husband and his glittering and well connected friends. Lucien overcame the truth of his parentage very quickly and he reacted fairly to what was happening to him and Beth as neither of them got very mad at each other and they recognized that they were both victims of this scheme. I felt like they were too controlled and were holding so much in and went about their interactions far too rationally. There was  a lot of talking, a lot of them sharing quotes to see who was the best at it, and it was jut not to my taste. Seriously? Taking turns quoting people? Completely ridiculous. 

Because of Beth's fear of intimacy there was basically no sex in the book and very little lust even though that very little was enough to make Beth's head spin and send her off into endless little mind tortures. This book has apparently gained some notoriety because Lucien backhands Beth when he believes she has had another man in her room. I obviously found it abhorrent but I was willing to be open minded given the right circumstances, but those never arrived. She just accepted that it would never happen again and that he was provoked (even though I did not feel like it was that big of a provocation) and he apologized and spent less than a page regretting what happened. I was also horrified by the fact that less than an hour after the slap Beth was sitting in Lucien's former mistresses house and they were becoming the best of friends. Ugh. The plot involving her former pupil became the entire focus of the last quarter of the book and overwhelmed what could have been them finally falling in love. The book also felt like an homage to Beverley's former books in the series and a setup for the next which I didn't like.

Rating: Two incredibly talkative people who did not behave normally around each other and actions I didn't like and a side plot that overwhelmed.

The Seduction of His Wife

The Seduction of His Wife by Tiffany Clare 922

Emma, Countess of Asbury, is forced to visit a high class brothel because the the Earl of Waverly is blackmailing her by threatening to expose her career as a painter of the nude female form. Waverly is in possession of a self-portrait that could ruin Emma's standing in society, but she never expected to run into her husband at the brothel. Richard and Emma had married young, at eighteen and fifteen respectively, and he had left the day after to start his own career and make his own fortune by trading in opium. It has been over ten years since they have seen each other and a lot has changed for both of them and while Richard finds the changes in Emma intriguing and makes him want to start a real life with her, Emma is not sure if she wants to give Richard another chance or if there is room in her life for him. There is someone after Richard as he and his partner, Dante, attempt to sell their opium business and so he decides to move Emma and her two sisters, the widowed Grace and the youngest Abby, to their country estate where he hopes to get closer to Emma and keep everyone safe.

Richard finds himself wondering his wife took lovers while they were separated and he especially dislikes her friendship with the Marquess of Vane, a notorious ladies man who spends too much time around his wife. He knows that if he can convince her to just give him a chance that he can make their relationship work, but there is still so much about her that he does not know. Emma  is still worried over Richard's reaction to her work and that he will become bored and leave her again, breaking her heart permanently and leaving her unable to pick herself up after his abandonment. Her sisters recognize that she is still repressed and dare her to indulge in some semi-scandalous activities that her husband always catchers her in and it brings them closer together, but they continue to hold something back from each other. When he discovers her paintings he is fearful of what will happen when her identity is discovered, but it is his own enemies that prove the real threat as his old business partner returns to wreak havoc and Richard must prove to Emma that he is there to stay and that their love will last.

Emma is a painter and I tend to have a difficult time relating to characters who are very into something that I honestly really do not like so I was immediately disinclined to like her. Her refusal to just admit the truth to her husband was really irritating to me because I felt it was made clear early on that Richard was determined to be her husband and he would be willing to help her out of difficult situations, even though his love was not present. I felt like this major difficulty could have been solved early on and a big obstacle to their relationship would have disappeared and I just don't like big problems, especially when they're big ridiculous problems. She was a boring character because she had nothing going for her except the paintings and my favorite part of her was the letters she apparently wrote to Richard after he left because they revealed real emotion and I admit I loved the scene where he discovered them. Richard was  a typical romance hero; gorgeous, sexually experienced, insanely possessive and jealous when it came to his woman, but I did like how when he decided to woo his wife he devoted himself entirely to her.

I had high hopes for their relationship because of their situation, thinking there would be lots of emotions and angst, but I did not really feel like they explored their issues. About 1/3 of the way through Richard and Emma had sex and from then on out the book bordered on erotica because they were going at it constantly. There was nothing particularly shocking about it, a lot of dirty talk and lots of hard pounding, but even I started to think there was just too much of it and that I wanted to see that the two of them had something in common other than a need for a good fuck. The daring adventures her sisters sent her on came across as rather pathetic to me and I know I was supposed to feel like her awakening coincided with the reappearance of her husband and see that this meant that he was the perfect counterpoint to her, but I did not see it. There was a decent side plot involving her sister Grace and Dante the business partner that was also very heavy on the sex and not so much on anything else. I had no interest in the blackmail plot, the weird thing with his enemy and especially none on her paintings.

Rating: Two pretty boring characters who had lots of sex and were surrounded by interests and problems that did not interest me.

Falling in Love Again

Falling in Love Again by Cathy Maxwell 619

Mallory Edwards married John Barron, a man she barely knew, in order to remain as mistress of Craig Castle, the estate that she has dedicated her life to but risked losing when her father died and the castle went to John's father. John has known all his life that he is actually a bastard, the product of his mother's affair, and he has worked hard to try to belong, but has never been accepted. The marriage had been forced on him but on their wedding night, when confronted by his very young and very innocent bride whose mother had drugged her to make things easier, he decides to make a life for himself. He spends the next several years in the army becoming a war hero and working his way through all the women on the continent. Back in London Mallory confronts him after debt collectors have taken Craig Castle away to pay off loans he has taken. On this very same night Bow Street comes after John for these unpaid debts and after the initial confusion, he realizes that his uncle, whom he had entrusted with his finances, has stolen from him.

He and Mallory are thrown into this crazy situation together and decide to "hide out" near London and wait for his uncle to reappear so they can confront him and make things better. They pretend to be Mr. and Mrs. Dawson and take a job as steward at one of his friend's estates near London. Mallory wants a divorce so she can marry a man local to Craig Castle, but John has no intention of letting her go now that he knows what he has missed all these years. Meanwhile both of them throw themselves wholeheartedly into their new roles; John meets the local folk and, with Mallory's farming knowledge, begins plans to harvest the field and throw a large harvest home festival for all the tenants. Mallory has trouble connecting with the locals and John helps her overcome her embarrassment and her inability to fit in. But just as John realizes that he is in love with her, she discovers that he has more secrets from her and decides that she can never trust him again. Louis shows up and the chance to fix everything arises and both of them realize that despite their problems they can work together and fall in love.

I was immediately struck by the similarities between this book and The Earl Claims His Wife because it featured a man who left his wife on their wedding night and years later she wants a divorce to marry another, but he decides that now is the time to court his wife and win her love. I have to admit it is not my favorite idea for a plot and I put off reading this because of it: even though Maxwell has done this plot successfully in the past, I was not looking forward to another jerk hero. John wasn't precisely a jerk and his motives for leaving her were reasonable, but the fact that he didn't even talk to her or attempt to communicate with her after he had left and his behavior (lots of mistresses) left me wondering if I could forgive him. I feel like she did do a good job of showing how he changed and came to appreciate his wife and was worthy of her love, but I still couldn't get over his shabby treatment of her. I wanted to like Mallory; she was smart she worked hard and cared so much and I loved her insecurity about other people, but it was her feelings about John that made it difficult to like her.

I hated that she had carried a torch for him all these years and I felt like she succumbed to him far too easily. He was definitely the hero who smiled and made all the bad things disappear and I wanted her to be stronger than that. It was even more frustrating because I thought her reaction to discovering her virginity was completely overdone; she had forgiven him for so much and this seemed like a small thing. I also did not like her ability to completely throw over this other man that he wanted to marry and I was horrified that one of her "excuses" was that he had two sickly sisters and she did not want her children to be sickly and was thankful that John was healthy. Seriously?! There was very little sex, it was not at all hot, and there were a lot of times when it was just alluded to and unfortunately I was okay with that because I really did just want to finish the book. I did enjoy the plot about John losing all of his money and how they were going to get it back, and while it was nice that it wasn't overwhelming I thought it odd that such an important part was dropped for a majority of the book.

Rating: The book was fun at times and certainly fast, but the relationship between John and Mallory left me fairly cold for the most part even while I did want to like Mallory.

Silver Nights

Silver Nights by Jane Feather 511

Count Adam Danievski has been sent by Catherine, Empress of Russia, to fetch Princess Sophia Alexeyevna who the empress plans to wed to a general in the army, General Paul Dmitriev, Sophia has grown up in the wilds of Russia with only her grandfather for company and she has enjoyed her freedom and having her own way often. She is unhappy about her planned marriage, but is eventually talked in to going to St. Petersburg where she will get to meet her husband and have final decision on the marriage. On the way she gets to know her escort very well and can't help but wish that Adam was the one that the Empress had picked out for her husband. Paul had originally planned to marry Sophia's mother and was furious when she had married another man, and he plans to exact his revenge by marrying Sophia. He puts on a happy and congenial face and Sophia decides that marriage to him is something she will just have to endure and hope for the best. Unfortunately once she marries him she is horrified to discover that it was all an act and that he has every intention of bringing Sophia into submission and engages in psychological torture in order to do so.

He begins by getting rid of all of her servants and replacing them with spies and keeping her from going out in public or riding her beloved her horse. Adam finds every opportunity to visit Sophia in her new home and he realizes that something is not right, but there is very little that he can do. The little moments they steal together are the happiest in Sophia's life, but her husband keeps such a tight leash on her that they are difficult to find. When Paul discovers that she has asked her grandfather for help he decides it is once and for all time to rid himself of his horrid wife and sends her on a death march that will allow him to play the mourning husband. Adam finds out in time to rescue her and the two begin a season-long honeymoon at her grandfather's palace and try to forget that out in the real world there is very little hope for their relationship. Reality intrudes in the form of a summons from the empress and Paul is furious to learn that his wife has survived his attempt to get rid of her, even more so when he discovers that she is having an affair. He hunts her down with an army, but Adam is there to protect the family that he wants to build with Sophia, and without Paul in the picture there may be hope that the stars will align for these two lovers to be together.

I do not believe I would have picked this book up if I had realized what it was really about because Russia is not really my place of choice and the topic was very heavy. Some of my favorite books are about women who have affairs, but I don't think they are really my choice du jour in romance novels. I read until the wedding in this one and then put it down for a month because I realized it was going to be fairly depressing for awhile and while I am not against heavy topics in a romance novel, her being married to a man who psychologically tortures her was a little too much for me. When I picked it up again I was basically just determined to get through it as soon as possible, which is what I did, even when it really messed with my head. The major focus of this book for me was her getting out of this marriage and it kind of made the romance and relationship a secondary focus. Every time Adam and Sophia were together, or anytime anything was happening, I was worried about Paul and how she was going to escape him or what would happen. This made it very difficult to enjoy the relationship or for me to really be happy for them and really just took over the book for me, which was something I really didn't like.

Both Sophia and Adam were likable characters, strong-willed and independent, but they recognized that they had to play the game that was set before them. Her ability to keep her spirits despite what Paul was putting her through was admirable, and Adam's ability to keep her from losing herself was a really great addition to the book. I was rather surprised when these two admitted to being in love because they really hadn't spent much time together at that point and I didn't really see any love developing. Eventually they do spend more time together and worked well together though, so it did work out. I found the sex rather bland and while they certainly did it a lot, it was really nothing special and got rather flowery and wordy and I skipped over it. I actually really enjoyed the parts of the book that were told from the point of view of Paul because it is nice to get some insight into the mind of the bad guy, and I liked the empress's POV as well because she came across very realistically. I am not really a fan of Feather's writing style as it is very heavy, very wordy, and often branches off into tangents that are important for the novel, but not necessarily for the romance and I want her to get back "on topic" as it were.

Rating: Different than my usual book and while it was intriguing, I could not get into the heaviness, almost depressing nature, of this book.

Scandal's Daughter

Scandal's Daughter by Christine Wells 323

Gemma lives an idyllic life at her grandfather's estate Ware, where she feels like she is the natural successor as she has put in years of hard work in dedication seeing the estate run successfully. She lives in semi-self-imposed exile as her mother's scandalous behavior years before has lead to her being a topic of scandal and there is no denying that Gemma has an "aura" about her that attracts men to her. Her father does not believe that she should inherit Ware and tasks his godson with marrying her before his own death, which is expected soon. Sebastian Laidley is a rake of the first order and has spent his life trying to forget his father's legacy and the havoc that in wreaked in his life and the life's of his mother and older, and deceased, brother. He has no intention of marrying Gemma, even though after meeting her he is struck by her beauty, and strikes a bargain with her grandfather to find her a husband within three months or marry her himself. The first step in this is to escort Gemma to his family estate under the guise of helping plan his sister's wedding and showing her grandfather needs her for Ware to run smoothly.

Before they leave Gemma's mother shows up with her very young beau, Charles Bellamy, and Gemma is once again the lost girl whose mother abandoned her. She does go to Laidley with Sebastian, where their friendship quickly blossoms into something more. His mother is still learning how to be her own person after years of marriage to a controlling husband and his sister, Fanny, is madly in love her fiance, but because of his own reputation as a rake she is continually fighting with him and calling off the wedding. Meanwhile Gemma takes charge of the estate; discovering the housekeeper is pilfering money and getting the house running smoothly and looking beautiful. She helps Sebastian see things from his sister and his mother's points of view and helps him cope with the reality of his brother's suicide and the fact that Sebastian needs to step up and be lord of his estate. But Sebastian is worried that Gemma will not be able to see past her lifetime obsession with running Ware and fears proclaiming his feelings for her. It will take a family tragedy for Gemma to realize that loving Sebastian will involve some risks and giving up her old dreams, but it will be worth it to have love in her life everyday.

Gemma was rather boring really even though I know I was supposed to find her interesting for running her grandfather's estate and being independent. Her desire to run Ware was well founded and I did not like how everyone just accepted that her grandfather would not leave it to her. However, I just could not really bring myself to be interested in what was going on with her and ware, probably because her experience at ware took place before the book started and we didn't get to see it. She was so scared to venture out into society because of a scandal her mother had created, but I could not figure out what this scandal was. It was hinted at and it certainly caused quite a hubbub throughout the book, but all I could figure out was that she had married someone unsuitable which hardly seemed to warrant the horror everyone regarded it with. Her take charge attitude at Laidley was impressive but happened on the down time of the book. Sebastian was more interesting because of the demons that haunted his past and I liked that Gemma was the one who helped him sort through his feelings and got him back on the right track. Sebastian and Gemma had a very well developed relationship with lots of quality time and real conversation between them. There was almost no sex between them and it was rushed and shoved to the back of the book, so it was not really that interesting.

I did like all the other relationships that happened throughout the book, especially the one between Sebastian and his family. They were incredibly sweet and moving and Wells did a really great job of developing them and using them to bring Sebastian and Gemma closer together. Towards the end I really lost a lot of respect for this book as Gemma's feelings were made to seem childish and shrewish and unreasonable, when in fact I thought she should have been more angry. Although her grandfather made it clear that she would never inherit Ware, I completely understood why she thought she could change his mind, and thought she was completely entitled to be disappointed when he left it to someone else. Instead she ends up apologizing for her behavior, which was really not that bad and should have been worse, to the man who showed up in the 9th hour and supplanted her position. She apologizes to her mother for making some rude innuendo about her behavior, when her mother was the one who abandoned her and left her alone, only to bring this other man into her life at the last minute. This was a big issue for me and I became very frustrated when I was reading this and it really knocked this book down quite a bit in my esteem.

Rating: The romance was good enough and there were some interesting little side bits, but I just did not "get" Gemma's obsession with Ware or appreciate how her feelings about Ware were belittled.

A Little Bit Wild

A Little Bit Wild by Victoria Dahl 120

Marissa York is wild and reckless and very curious about sex so as the story opens, she is just coming to regret very recently sleeping with Mr. Peter White. The experience was nothing like she imagined and she decides that Peter will not, as she had expected, make a good husband. Unfortunately her older brother, Edward, Baron York, and her cousin, Harry barge in and disrupt her and demand that she marry Peter. She tries to convince them that is not possible, but with the possibility of scandal, not to mention a baby perhaps on the way, a marriage must be soon. Her youngest brother Aidan is accompanied by his friend Jude Bertrand, the bastard son of a Duke, who has had his eye on Marissa since he first met her. He offers to marry Marissa and her family accepts even though under normal circumstances they would never consider him. He senses a wickedness, a wild and naughty streak, in Marissa and he wants to bring it to the surface in her- just for him. Jude is unlike any of the other men Marissa has fancied; he is big and brash and is far from the pretty boys she has always admired.

Although he is not someone she would have considered for herself, she has to admit that there is something intriguing about Jude. He shows no signs of jealousy when she ogles other men, he likes her sexual side, and even his brutish looks begin to grow on her. Jude hopes to use sexual passion to entice Marissa into falling in love with him because he wants her with nothing held back; he will take all of her or nothing. Their engagement takes the storm by surprise as Marissa does seem to be marrying beneath her potential and causes both of them to rethink some of the assumptions they had made about themselves. Jude realizes he had been thinking himself less than his noble friends, the Yorks, and being with Marissa he discovers he is no longer comfortable thinking like this. Marissa worries that her past actions regarding Jude, like telling him he is not her physical type, will continue to come between them. But when the threats of scandal are past both of them must face the knowledge that they want each other forever and it has nothing to do with scandal.

I have loved Victoria Dahl's book in the past and this has been in my Kindle Cart for quite awhile, so I read it with really high expectations. I was immediately drawn in by the opening scene and how daring Marissa was and how willing she was to take risks because of her desire for sexual pleasure. I liked Jude for being wonderful enough to step up and offer to marry Marissa even with the possibility of a baby and because he was so different from her usual type. It set it up for Marissa to really get to know Jude and fall for who he is and develop new tastes. The relationship was really the heart of this novel as it grew from one of necessity to one that they both desperately wanted but feared that the other did not. Much of this novel was spent with the two of them interacting with each other, thinking about each other, or dealing with issues surrounding their engagement. There was steam between them and both of them were quite sexual, but there was very little sex in the book and it was disappointing because it felt rather desperate on Marissa's part was not as hot as I had expected from the rest of the book.

I don't usually have a problem with a heroine's promiscuity, let's face it the female is very usual at all promiscuous in romance novels, but I found it rather odd that she just had sex with a man because she was curious, with no thought to the consequence. It kind of made me like her a little less even while admiring her for throwing off the norms of society. There was a decent amount of angst about whether or not the other truly wanted the marriage to happen, but I felt like Dahl is not so good at writing angst and I found myself rather bored with it and wanting both of them to just get over it. I did like the plot involving someone blackmailing the family because it was interesting and contained a couple of nice plot twists. As usual in Dahl's novels the writing was superb; it was fast paced, it was fun, it was descriptive when necessary and it really created an enjoyable reading experience. Her secondary characters were superb, from Marissa's very dramatic mother, whom I absolutely adored, to her brother's, to the well-developed "villain" of the story.

Rating: A fairly enjoyable book with two interesting characters, but I know Dahl can do much better and I expect more from her.

Sex and the Single Earl

Sex and the Single Earl by Vanessa Kelly 118

Simon St. James, Earl of Trask, wants to invest in new factories and his future partner wants assurances that Simon will be able to provide enough coal to keep the factories running. Luckily for Simon he is already expected to marry Sophie Stanton whose family has been close to his for years. She is a scandal monger who makes impetuous decision and Simon knows he will have to be able to keep a tight reign on her in order for their marriage to succeed. Sophie Stanton has been in love with Simon for years but she acknowledges that he is not the happy and carefree young man she remembers. He is more concerned with avoiding scandal than ever, but it does not stop her from hoping that tone day he will love her as much as she loves him. While she is staying with his aunt's in Bath he decides it is the perfect time to propose. Before he can Sophie goes out to town where her family's heirloom bracelet is stolen by a beautiful young thief and, while he escapes, Sophie becomes determined to help him and safe him from a life of crime.

Sophie tries to enlist Simon's help and while he does not find it to be a very worthwhile cause he finally agrees, but only after obtaining Sophie's agreement that she will not venture out to find the boy without him. Sophie of course has no intention of following through on this promise and makes several excursions out before the boy seeks her out to return the bracelet. She discovers that Toby is in terrible trouble as his father is going to sell his sister to a brothel and she is more determined than ever to help them. Simon does not like all the scandal she is causing, but cannot manage to stay away from her and they indulge in one night of passion that seals for Simon that Sophie is meant to be his. Unfortunately Sophie is not sure that a marriage between them will work out as Simon is so scandal averse that she worries things will go badly when she steps out of line and because she does not believe he loves her and it does not get better when she discovers he also wants her coal mines. Simon must prove that he doesn't care about the scandal- only about having Sophie for his own; and that he loves her.

Sophie could be a little childish at times but she really grew on me throughout the story as all the things that made her childish were admirable traits. She didn't accept society's restrictions in her determination to go after what she wanted and help Toby and his sister. She desperately wanted Simon to love her and wasn't willing to settle for less and while she loved him she wasn't willing to compromise her own principles in order to have him. It was this quality that really made her so amazing and the only thing that really brought her down to me was her unswerving loyalty to Simon even when I felt he didn't deserve it. I did not understand why she was in love with him for much of the book, however he did redeem himself as the book went on with his possessive/ protective act even if it did go too far on many occasions. The sex between them was very hot and plentiful and worked well with the story as it brought them closer together and sealed Simon's need to have Sophie in his life. In the end I found their love for each other believable and the romance well written.

There was also a villain of the story in the form of Simon's ex-mistress, Lady Randolph, and as usual I found myself really liking a female villain. For some reason, I absolutely love them, but I wish that some of her motives had been better explained as there seemed to be a backstory that we were not getting. She served the purpose of providing more scandal that Sophie and Simon would have to overcome if they were going to be together. There were so many obstacles thrown in their path, several different scandal threats, Lady Randolph herself, and then the fear that Simon only wanted her for her coal mines. At first I was behind them as all romance novels need something to stand in the way of the protagonists or they'd all be 50 pages, but it did eventually begin to wear on me. There was so much talk of Simon working hard to avoid scandal and yet we didn't really see it happening in the story. By the end I was just waiting and waiting for them both to get over all of the things in the way and finally be together. Even the big declaration was a disappointment after Vicky Dreiling's How to Marry a Duke.

Rating: A better effort than her previous novel, and while I liked Sophie and her actions, I didn't like much else.

A Christmas Promise

A Christmas Promise by Mary Balogh 1223 

Randolph Pierce, Earl of Falloden, inherited massive debts along with his title and he has postponed an engagement with a lovely young lady of the ton because he hopes to make a little money first. But John Trasnmore, a very wealthy coal merchant, buys up all of the debts and threatens to call them all in if Randolph does not marry his daughter, Eleanor. Eleanor has fancied herself in love with her distant cousin, Wilfred, for years but when he writes to inform her that their relationship has no future, she thinks she might as well fall in with her father's plan. She has had horrible experiences with members of the ton who regard her class as vulgar, and she harbors little hope that she and a titled gentleman can ever get along. John Transmore is dying and his last wish is for his daughter to marry into the ton and he survives just long enough for Randolph to promise to live with Eleanor for a year and to consummate their marriage on the wedding night. 

Things do not go well on their wedding night as she is defensive and he can't help but think that she is cold and emotionless. Before their marriage he had invited several friends up to his hunting lodge and he decides to keep those plans and allow Eleanor to invite her own family. Still feeling like she will never belong in the ton she decides to invite her entire extended family- partly to show Randolph that she is indeed a vulgar social climber. Randolph is at first put out, but it isn't long before he is enjoying seeing his new bride in such different surroundings; she is suddenly full of life and happiness. And she is beginning to see that Randolph is not so judgmental and he fits in so well with her boisterous family with no signs that he dislikes having them. Now they both know that they want something more out of their relationship but worry that the other will not feel the same way. It takes a wonderful Christmas Eve of merrymaking and joy and a little miracle for them to move past their bad beginning and into the future. 

I know that it is highly unlikely that the social classes really did intermingle back in the day, but I am still a sucker for romances that feature people from different hierarchies. Who doesn't like a little bit of a fairy tale? And of course it leads to some great emotional moments where one of them feels like he/she is not good enough and the other realizes that the separations in their class don't really matter. This book had so many of those elements in a tried and true plot device where the merchant father buys his daughter a title. What made this so well done was that the story was told pretty equally from both points of view so I was really able to see them as they both underwent changes and had new thoughts about their spouse and their relationship. Eleanor's excuse for giving in to her father's desire for her to marry a lord was a nice little difference from the usual and her relationship with Wilfred lead to some more great emotional scenes between the two of them as they argued over her old feelings. 

At times I was a little frustrated by how quick Eleanor and Randolph were to think the worst of each other, even after sufficient time together to have shown them both that they had been wrong about each other from the beginning. Eleanor especially was far too defensive and she really did come across as cold and unfeeling quite a bit and I found myself empathizing more with Randolph than Eleanor. In typical Balogh style the sex was incredibly bland and rather ambiguous as to whether Eleanor ever got any of her own satisfaction. And some of it was incredibly painful to read about as there was a complete absence of feeling and it seemed like they were both just trying to hurt each other. The Christmas element of the story was done very well with an emphasis on family and togetherness and not so much on the religious elements. Of course there were a couple little side romances going on that were quite fun and I wish we'd had a little more from them. As usual I liked her writing style and the book was certainly fast as it was only 270 pages long. 

Rating: A typical Balogh novel with a slow and muted relationship and very little sex, but it was well told and a fast read. 

How to Wed a Baron

How to Wed a Baron by Kasey Michaels 1218

Justing Wilde, the Bad Baron, does what the Prince Regent tells him to as he needs to receive a full pardon for a duel where he killed a man who had slept with his wife. Even though he paid an enormous sum to the Regent he does not expect that to be the end of anything and his fears are confirmed when he is told he must marry the King of Austria's ward, Lady Alina. From the first moment he sees her coming down the gangblank off her ship, he knows that Lady Aline is special and that life will never be the same. Alina hopes to escape her aunt back in Austria after her father and mother both died when she was young, and she hopes to meet her mother's English family. Justin knows there has to be a catch and is not surprised to learn that Alina is the niece of the man he killed in the duel and that there is someone out to kill her. Her guard, Luka, informs him that she has a tenuous claim to a strip of land that is also desired by the Inhabar Novak. He figures out that he supposed to kill the Inhabar for going after Alina, taking the blame from the Austrian King and eventually be hung for murder by his own Regent.

He has to keep Alina safe and he engineers a complex series of instructions that leads him from one house to another, hiding with his friends and their wives. He meanwhile is running around the country trying to meet with the Regent himself and with the Inhabar and he rendezvous with her and her entourage while at a gypsy encampment. She can see that there is something Justin is hiding from her and even though he claims they cannot possibly have a happy life together, she wants to go through with their marriage- after they have settled all of the problems surrounding her. He is furious with himself as he knows he has to kill the Inhabar in order to keep the woman he loves safe, but he also knows that he in turn will be killed for doing so. He tries to think of ways for them to be together, but continues to make arrangements for her after he dies. However, things are not as they appear and there is someone who has been lying to them about Alina and only when Justin puts a stop to that man can he hope that Alina and he will be able to have their happily ever after.

I felt like neither Alina nor Justin was a completely developed character and there were so many holds in this story. We learned about them through the assassination plot but it really did not serve as a complete picture of who they were or why they fell in love with each other or why I should like to read about them. Alina liked pretty things, she found Justin very attractive, and in an act far too stupid to live, she stepped out of a carriage in the middle of a shootout because she though she could shoot back. I was willing to overlook that because it was supposed to show that she wasn't a simpering miss, but when that is all we're really shown of a character it's hard to remain interested. Justin is of course the tortured hero dealing with his dark past as an exiled lord trying to get back in his sovereign's good graces by killing traitors and enemies. He spent so much tim shipping her off to friends and running around trying to figure out what was going on, that I felt like he didn't spend enough time with Alina for them to fall in love, and not enough non- intrigue inspired time for my tastes.

The sex between them was very hot and well written, even if it was too brief and near the end was hinted at and then cut away before anything exciting happens- that really annoys me. In Michaels typical style there is a lot of banter in this book; between Justin and Alina, between Justin and his foppish manservant, Wigglesworth, between Justin and the Regent, between everyone really. I did not really like it in her previous works but in this one it served as some much needed lightheartedness in the midst of so much murder and mayhem. However, it did serve to make Justin seem rather frivolous and there were times I wanted him to hold a genuine conversation with someone that was not just about assassinations. Secondary characters, especially Wigglesworth, were absolutely wonderful and written about enough to be humorous but not enough to get annoying. I do wish there had not been so much wonderfulness surrounding characters from previous novels, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. The murder/ assassination plot was very well done and had the most intriguing twist to it but it really did completely take over the book.

Rating: I didn't dislike the book, but I did not precisely have fun reading it because there was far too much I didn't like and not enough that I did.