Too Tempting to Resist

Too Tempting to Resist by Cara Elliot L

Lady Eliza Brentford has endured one horrible marriage to save her family from complete financial ruin and refuses to do so again just because her younger brother has squandered the family fortune in gambling hells and brothels. She searches for him at a notorious house of ill repute where she encounters the Marquess of Hadden, Gryffin Dwight, a notorious hell raiser. The two share a moment over a discussion about a painting and discover they both have a love for botany and a certain spark ignites. But Hadden hides his true passion from the world; he is currently writing a book about gardens and plants and so when Eliza's brother invites him to a house party he jumps at the chance to explore the famous gardens at the estate. Eliza is not happy that her brother has decided to host a party of fellow drunkards and hell raisers and stays out of the way as much as possible, locked up in the gardener's cottage where she engages in her secret pursuit as an illustrator for books about flowers. But a chance encounter in the garden with the man who had so intrigued her at the brothel has her wondering if there is something more exciting than flowers and paints in store for her.

When curiosity gets the best of her she finds herself chained to Hadden's bed and she decides it's about time she took something for herself and she give into the passion she has been hiding for so long. Hadden knows he wants more of the beautiful young widow but for Eliza, Hadden stands in the way of her long held dream to become financially independent and move to a cottage on the coast where she no longer has to worry about her brother. Luckily a new commission has come in and she will finally have enough to make her dreams come true, but what she doesn't know is that it is for Hadden's book and when he discovers that she has been keeping this a secret from him he is furious, and even more so when he finds that one of her paintings is being auctioned off as a forgery for a famous painters. But Eliza is in a bind of her own as her brother's friend has been using this possible forged painting to blackmail her into marrying him and she has no one to turn to but Hadden. But Hadden is not about to let anyone hurt the woman he loves, the woman who has shown him what a relationship can be and nothing will stand in the way of their happiness.

Lady Eliza is super fun and exciting from the very beginning and it was impossible not to like her because she was smart and independent in a way that seemed very real and possible. She cared about people, she wasn't scared of her feelings, she enjoyed her life and was comfortable with her sexuality, and she was willing to admit mistakes and forgive herself and others. Hadden was exciting and fun and really not all that different from romance novel heroes as he's the bad guy with something he has to hide from society- in this case his love of plants. I felt like Hadden and Eliza worked really well together and their conversations were enjoyable and full of genuine back-and-forth that clearly showed that they were equals with something real to hold their relationship together. Their was amazing sexual tension between the two of them throughout the book that remains sizzling. There is a lot of sex, not too much, and all of it is super sexy and very well written and pretty imaginative for the period. I admit to being completely uninterested in plants and flowers in the way that botanists are, and I found it a little odd that they both happened to be enamored of the same obscure things and I was occasionally bored when there would be little spiels about plants and the language of flowers.

I did like that they both had something they were passionate about and they had dreams and aspirations, which might make them a little too modern but I still liked it. Eliza's brother was quite an ass and I liked that she did not make so many excuses for him and could recognize that he was not good people. The blackmail scheme came out of the blue towards the end and I really felt like it was awkwardly thrown in there. It also frustrated me that someone who had come across as so intelligent did not go straight to Hadden and instead tried to solve it herself. Independence has it's place, but I would have liked for her to recognize she needed help. And Hadden also came across a little stupid for jumping to the wrong conclusion randomly despite all that he knew about Eliza's character. I think because of the chemistry I enjoyed the book, even though the book took me longer than expected, and I found it tough to put down despite the length and tiny writing. The book flowed well with the great writing and diction, but I found this to be about average.

Rating: A fairly enjoyable book with two great characters with great chemistry but an awkward side plot and some holes that created a dragged out feeling.

Too Wicked to Wed

Too Wicked to Wed by Cara Elliot 1127

Lady Alexa Hendrie goes to the Wolf’s Liar, London’s most notorious brothel and gaming hell, in search of information about her younger brother, but she is unprepared to confront Connor Linsley, the Earl of Killingworth, but better known as the Irish Wolfhound. Connor doesn’t need some milk and water English miss butting into his life but Alexa is anything but the typical young lady; she is not afraid to confront the Wolf in his Liar and he can’t help but challenge her to a kiss. Neither of them can get their moment of passion out of their head and Alexa decides to ask her family for a London season in the hopes of discovering that passion in a potential husband. She quickly learns that no one else inspires the same feelings as Connor and when she dresses up like a man in another gambling hell she is shocked to find that she has won a half stake in Connor’s gambling hell. Connor has recently had a run of bad luck as someone is obviously trying to destroy his business; stealing from his safe, cheating at cards and destroying his stock of brandy and he needs to discover who is beyond everything.

When next Alexa goes to visit Connor his enemies try to do away with him and in the process discover her identity. She turns to his fellow Hellhounds for help and they decide that the safest place will be at Connor’s seaside childhood home, Linsley Manor and Alexa accompanies the unconscious man. Connor is not pleased to be at the home that holds so many unhappy memories of his childhood where his father gambled away all their money. Alex quickly sets herself the task of trying to fix up the decrepit manor and find a way to make it profitable and Connor can’t help but wonder how she is working her way into his life. The sexual attraction between them never goes away and when Connor finally lets loose his iron control he believes he is left with no choice but to marry her because he is not willing to give up the last shred of his honor. Alexa worries that he is marrying her for all the wrong reasons and wants him to love her as much as she loves him. Finally they both are forced to go back to London to confront Connor’s enemies and they will find themselves fighting for their lives and for each other.

Alexa was intelligent and naïve, confident and yet unsure about herself in society, and affectionate and scared of her emotions all at once. I found these qualities about her so relatable and I really wanted to like her because she was being stifled by the society around her and I wanted her to spread her wings and find her place. However she behaved in ways that were just so impossible to believe, such as going into a gambling hell or brothel or dressing up like a man, that while I admired her motive of wanting to be something other than what society prescribed, I just could not help but feel she was acting ridiculous. There was also an incident at the end where she VERY clearly became too stupid to live and it made me lose a lot of respect for her. Connor was incredibly austere, living up to his nickname by growling at everyone and being very cold and removed from everyone. I liked that he was a working-man and that he was a caring employer but felt like he did not show any softer side, or lighter side, to Alexa and I could not see falling in love with someone who was dark and brooding all the time.

His darkness, his brusque manner, made a romance very awkward in my opinion because Alexa was throwing herself whole heartedly into their relationship and I did not see what she was getting in return or how she could fall in love with him. There was a lot of sexual energy between them but I felt like the actual sex was rushed and rather bland. A very big deal was made throughout the book about the connection Connor had with his friends, the fellow Hellhounds, and it is clear that there will be sequels featuring those characters. While I found the idea of the group laughable I really liked that he had genuine friends who he laughed around with. The Hellhounds were of course there to help him discover who was behind the attacks on his person and his business and I felt like that plot was well integrated into the story for the majority of the book. It was important, it was interesting and it did not get overwhelming and take over until the very end when it became a matter of him having to save her from the evil dude in order to realize his true feelings for her.

Rating: I had trouble getting into these characters and their romance but I liked the mystery plot until the very end and I really enjoyed the writing style.