A Scoundrel's Surrender

A Scoundrel's Surrender by Jenna Petersen 807

When Caleb Talbot found out that he was the product of an affair his mother had he finds comfort in the arms of his sister-in-law's best friend, Marah Farnsworth. Marah has enjoyed getting to know Caleb during her time in London and when he needs someone to help him in this difficult time she sees how close they have become and expects that their relationship will only deepen. But in his hurt Caleb turns his back on everyone and runs away to hid in the bottom of glasses and drown his sorrow, leaving Marah heartbroken and determined to never think about him again. Caleb comes home two years later when his brother informs him that their father, well the man who raised Caleb, is dying. Caleb does not want to stay with his mother so he moves into his brother's town house and Marah just so happens to be staying with them for the season as well. Immediately the attraction that flared between them is back and Caleb cannot resist baiting Marah, trying to get her ire up so that he can prove he still affects her, even while she insists she wants nothing to do with him.

Marah has her own family difficulties as her father had married below him socially and was cut off from his family. When her mother died in childbirth her father dumped her with her maternal grandmother and the entire, very high ranking family, had turned their backs on her. She wants stability in her life and has settled on an ambitious business man who can offer her security and not the passion that troubles her so with Caleb. Caleb is furious at the idea of Marah with someone else, but knows that he has given up any right to her favors, even while trying to get to her at every available opportunity. Family comes first when Caleb's father takes a turn for the worse and it is once again Marah who is there for him in his time of need and once again Caleb mucks things up. Despite his mistakes they support each other through difficult times involving their undiscovered families and Caleb realizes he will need to prove to Marah that love is worth risking things for. Marah must decide if love is more important than the security she has cherished for so many years.

Marah was defined by her relationships with her family members and it really showed in how she acted toward Caleb. She so obviously cared for him but his abandonment of her really scared her and it took a lot for her to recover. I did not enjoy how forceful she was in insisting she didn't want anything to do with him when we knew she was in love with him. It made her seems childish and like she could not be taken seriously. Caleb was just as immature with his inability to confront difficult situations: I understood that it was hard, but hiding in a bottle for 2 years was not justified. It also made it hard for me to root for him and Marah to get together. Their relationship fell back on the banter/ argue that I absolutely loath in romance novels. I want to see the characters getting along, working together, and arguing to some extent because it happens, but I felt like their relationship was based on her trying to get her mad at him just so that she would show some emotion and he could prove that she still had feelings for him. The sex was rather boring and there wasn't a lot of it and it was all packed at, or very near, the end.

I was incredibly frustrated by the blatant way that everyone was throwing these two together; it was obnoxious and showed a lack of respect for Marah's feelings in my opinion. She had a very justifiable reason for not wanting to get close to him and Victoria's actions made her seem like not a very good friend. My favorite parts of the book where when Caleb was dealing with the issue of his own paternity and when Marah was dealing with her fears about her father's family. It was very real and touching and there were definitely times when I cried; the heart to heart Caleb has with his mother was almost heart breaking. It was the most emotional either of them ever got and I wish they had showed the same amount of heart and fear and caring when dealing with each other- it would have made for a better romance. Something that really bothered me was the assumption that we had read the previous book in the series (which I had, but promptly forgotten) because it talks about their past together and I was completely at a loss.

Rating: In the end I couldn't give an unappealing romance a high mark, even though I did really enjoy reading the non romantic emotional moments.

Lessons From a Courtesan

Lessons From a Courtesan by Jenna Petersen 727

When Victoria discovers that her friend Chloe disappears after spending time in London as a courtesan, she and her friend Marah decide that the best way to find her will be to integrate themselves into that part of society. Victoria pretends to be Ria, a famous courtesan, and the two put it through town that Ria is quite skilled. Justin, the Earl of Bayberry, is stunned to realize this famous lady of the evening is actually his wife; the wife he left after their wedding night because her father had blackmailed him into the marriage and he did not think he could trust her. Justin had broken Victoria's heart and she does not want any feelings for Justin coming up and does not want him interfering in her search for Chloe. But Justin does get in the way and wants to know exactly why she is in London and will use any methods necessary- including seduction.

Victoria can not help herself when it comes to Justin and the two have trouble keeping their hands off each other, but neither can trust the other after the blackmailing and the leaving on the wedding night. With no other choice, Victoria agrees to let Justin help her find Chloe as everyone realizes that there are people out there who know what happened to her, including a man both of them think is potentially dangerous. The more time the two spend together, the more they each regret how their relationship played out, and Justin fears that he may want a real marriage with her. But Victoria has one more secret she needs to share with Justin and it may just mean the end of their relationship forever. But when Victoria's father comes and spills the beans about the blackmail, and the dangerous man from Chloe's past comes to confront Victoria, Justin faces the possibility that he may lose Victoria forever and that he cannot face.

So these two had quite the past as leaving someone on the wedding night is something it will take a lot of work to overcome. He does work to overcome this, but it is made especially annoying as all he would have had to do was ask Victoria if she had anything to do with the blackmail and so many problems could have been avoided. And the fact that after the marriage he chased after every woman he could find made the situation even worse. And then when she spills her secret he gets upset with her, and without saying what it was, I will say that, while she should have told him, he should have been there for it and I sided much more with her on this, even though it supposedly evened out what he had done to her. The major thing these two had going for them was sexual chemistry and there were times when he admitted the only method he had of controlling her/ getting through to her was by seducing her. The sex between them was fairly frequent and incredibly hot and very very well done.

The plot with Chloe disappearing could really not hold my interest and I can not really figure out precisely why. I felt as though I should have been intrigued and I did enjoy that it was integrated into the book and really meshed with everything else that happened, but I just did not like it. Maybe because it was so overarching and took up so much space, maybe because I couldn't help but feel that Victoria was going about finding Chloe in the most ridiculous and far- fetched manner possible. It didn't help that when they find Chloe I wanted to slap her upside the head for putting her friends through hell. I did like that the story was a little mysterious and I wasn't really sure until the very end what had happened to Chloe and who was involved. Their was a completely non- discussed side romance between Marah and Justin's brother that I wish had been written about more, as it wasn't really touched upon.

Rating: There were so many frustrating elements of the book but I did enjoy some of the emotions that came out about him leaving her.

The Unclaimed Duchess

The Unclaimed Duchess by Jenna Petersen 1023

Anne Danvers has been engaged to Rhys Carlisle, current Duke of Carlisle, since she was a little girl and while he has changed over the years he has known her she has always been in love with him. She knows he is cold, often pompous, and can be quite mean to those he feels are beneath him, but she harbors hope that she can make him fall in love with her. After their honeymoon his friend Simon, the Duke of Billingham, visits to inform him that Rhys is actually the result of an affair his mother had with his (Simon's) father. Rhys is completely thrown as his whole life it has been drilled into him that blood and titles are all important and he runs away. Anne is both terrified and angry when he leaves and decides that she wants to fight as hard as she can to bring her husband back, even though she doesn't know the reason behind his fit, so she heads off to the seashore to make him love her.

Rhys decides that the best thing to do is to reveal the truth about his family before the blackmailer can do so. He wants to keep Anne safe so he pushes her away and plans to give her a separation so she can move on with her life when everything comes to light and so that another child won't inherit while carrying non-Carlisle blood. She does not understand his reasoning and sets out to convince him of the wrongness of his decision by seducing him at every possible opportunity and revealing her love for him. The two live an idle life secluded at the cottage, pushing aside the concerns of the real world, but eventually it has to end. Back in London Anne demands to know the truth and when he tells her she is furious that he wants to throw everything away and leaves him. It takes that for him to realize that he too wants to fight for what their love and he has to keep this secret from spreading so he can be with Anne.

Anne and Rhys are not exactly two people I can see together as they seemed rather mismatched. His obsession with blood became old very fast even as it was explained away with his father's own obsession with it. There was a big deal made over how he changed during the course of the book and became more accepting of those who weren't as highly ranked as him. Unfortunately it was really hard to see this happening and I just didn't really see it. This was part of my confusion as to why Anne was in love with him as she had been for years even though he was apparently a pretty awful person who looked down on everyone. She loved him while he was pompous and she loved him when he was hobnobbing with the lower classes and I guess I can give her points for at least being consistent. It almost seemed like the only thing we really know about Anne is that she loves Rhys- and not much else.

They do spend a lot of time together and Anne brings out the best in Rhys, although the best is rather hard to determine when it comes to Rhys, and I liked that she had a good influence on him. I didn't like his determination not to have sex with her and while there was plenty of sex, even if not a lot that could result in a baby with impure blood, but it was actually rather boring and it got repetitive very fast. The plot around him discovering he was a bastard was really well done as we got the story from Rhys and Anne's point of view, and also got to explore it from Simon and Rhy's mother's side as well. The resolution of the blackmail scheme and how Simon and Rhys handled everything also worked out really well. I wish it had been a little more dramatic and clearer that he was doing it for Anne. I did like the writing in this book, it we

nt really fast and I felt like there was not a lot of extra fluff with lots of dialogue between the characters.

Rating: On the whole the relationship and romance was somewhat lacking in my opinion but it did have it's high moments.