The Duchess Hunt

The Duchess Hunt by Jennifer Haymore

Sarah Osbourne was welcomed into the Trent family when her father became head gardener on the estate and none was more welcoming than Simon, the Duke himself. Sarah worships Simon as a young girl and as she grows her feelings for him grow until one night the two indulge in a passionate kiss that leaves both of them shaken and forces Simon to abandon the family estate in an attempt to escape his inappropriate feelings. Three years later Simon comes back to the family seat because his mother, the Duchess has gone missing without a trace, and of course Sarah is there helping his family through this difficult time and stirring up old feelings in Simon. Sarah knows how fortunate she is to be welcomed into the unconventional Trent family and enjoys the comfort that comes with being a respected member of their household, but she is also aware that there is no possibility for a future between her and Simon. For his part Simon has spent his entire life trying to restore his family's broken reputation after his parents engaged in numerous, and very public, affairs.

Simon quickly takes over the search for his mother and he decides to take his sister Esme to London to begin his part of the search and appoints Sarah as her companion, a huge promotion for a housemaid. In London she helps build Esme's confidence and helps Simon piece together the few clues they have regarding his mother's disappearance. Sarah and Simon spend a lot of time together, becoming reacquainted and expanding their relationship and it isn't long before they find themselves succumbing to their mutual desires. But Simon's title is an impossible to resist lure to marriage hunters and someone will stop at nothing to ensnare Simon, putting his already difficult relationship with Sarah in jeopardy. Sarah is heartbroken even though she knew their future was murky, but she refuses to allow the love of her life to be forced into marriage. Together Simon and Sarah must fend of villains, secrets, blackmailers, and a stringent societal hierarchy to find a love to last forever.

Haymore has been disappointing of late after starting very strong and I am very pleased to find that she has returned to form with this wonderful first installment of the Trent family series. I love romances where the characters have a history together, but I am often disappointed that their relationship isn't developed enough during the course of the book. Luckily the romance between Simon and Sarah was built during the story and only mildly relied on their past together, while using the past as a strong basis for developing the romance. They spent a lot of time together, learning more about each other, discovering how their feelings for each other had continued to grow over the years and really showing the ready how in tune the two of them were and how well they worked together. The mystery of the missing duchess, the outings in London, the quiet alone moments really illustrated an array of circumstances and I truly believed that Simon and Sarah were perfect together. 

Sarah's position as a gardener's daughter, and later as a lady's companion, made their relationship difficult and certainly unacceptable in society's eyes and while their eventual happy ending is unrealistic, I absolutely loved it. I loved that he stuck up for her against people, that he supported her and never let her insecurities stand in the way of her happiness. The book was very emotional as well and there was wonderful angst over whether Simon would find away out of the blackmail and over the difference in their stations. There was some very hot sex in the novel and while I definitely wish there had been more, I understood the reason behind it being so brief. I enjoyed the plot involving the missing mother and their search to find her, although I found it weird that they weren't more concerned about her whereabouts and went on with their life. As usual Haymore did a wonderful job getting me excited for the upcoming novels in the series so I can discover what happened to the mother and because I already feel a connection to the other members of the Trent family. 

Rating: A very romantic book with a wonderfully written romance between two great characters. Beautifully written and just all around a fun read.

Secrets of an Accidental Duchess

Secrets of an Accidental Duchess by Jennifer Haymore

Olivia Donovan immediately catches the eye of Maxwell Buchanan, Marquis of Hasley, and heir to the Duke of Wakefield, with her china doll looks and immediately noticeable self-assurance. He cannot resist taking the wager the Marquis of Fenwicke poses; he will seduce within six months or owe Fenwicke 1000 pounds and if he wins Fenwicke will walk around in his shirtsleeves for a week. He and Fenwicke have always been antagonists and even though he doesn't intend to claim his victory he is too taken with the idea of besting the horrible man. He decides to cash in on his connection to Olivia's brother-in-law and accompany the family to their country estate in Sussex where he can woo Olivia at his leisure away from the watchful eye of society. A childhood bout of malaria, which resurfaces on occasion, means her family is very protective, perhaps overprotective even, and while not understanding precisely why everyone is so concerned with Olivia's welfare, Max finds himself the only one encouraging Olivia's adventures.

Olivia finds she enjoys someone who doesn't treat her like a patient or a child and finds it so easy to confide in Max about her life. Max too is surprised that he is enjoying himself immensely and the bet is becoming something he is ashamed of and wants no part of it anymore. Meanwhile Olivia's sister, Jessica, has befriended their neighbor, Beatrice, who happens to be the Marquis of Fenwicke's abandoned wife and it is not long before everyone realizes that Beatrice is an abused spouse. Olivia finds herself wrapped up in the possibilities that Max presents; a life she had never expected and intimacy she had never imagined. The two embark on a passionate affair and Max is determined to prove that he is good enough for the beautiful, charming, and treasured Olivia, but before he can he inherits the Dukedom. In London Fenwicke reappears and it is clear that he holds a grudge against Max for Max's successes with a woman who turned him down. Everyone in the family must work to put an end to Fenwicke in order to save his wife and provide a future for Olivia and Max.

Olivia really came across as kind of an undeveloped character for me with nothing special and I felt like her illness was just a poor attempt to make her interest and illicit empathy for her. I liked her sister jessica much better, especially once Jessica took such an interest in Beatrice and really fought for her friend's well-being. Olivia apparently possessed immense attraction because everyone was "drawn" to her even though she was arguably not the most attractive of the Donovan sisters and I am not a fan of characters who just magically attract other people. I am not an outdoors person and since Olivia seemed only interested in outdoor activities, since she was confined indoors for so long, I did not really relate to her. I easily forgave Max for making the bet with Fenwick as he quickly showed himself to be an intelligent, well behaved gentleman who really was a nice guy even if he did have a rakehell past and some hell-raising days behind him. Unfortunately, he was not as quick to forgive himself, and I felt like I was constantly being hit with his own self-recrimination which I did not enjoy.

I will admit that Olivia and Max worked really well together and even though it took them quite a while to actually meet and be friends and begin their relationship, once it got started I really felt a connection between them. They had a lot in common and they enjoyed each other's company and they certainly had a lot of chemistry between them. There was some sex, it was really not too hot, and I will admit that after her debut, which admittedly set a very high standard, I have found myself disappointed with Haymore's sex scenes. They just fell flat and just not in keeping with a romance novel that claims the characters have passion between them; I'd almost rather they not have any written scenes than lukewarm scenes. The plot involving Fenwick sustained my interest halfway as I was intrigued by what was happening with his wife and how they were going to protect her but his supposedly longstanding grudge against Max just seemed ridiculous and couldn't hold my interest because it seemed haphazardly constructed. I did like that previous characters were present and it didn't bother me since I liked those characters.

Rating: A readable, if not precisely enjoyable novel, that was far too long and moved slowly and while the characters were well suited I did not particularly care for them or their relationship.

Confessions of an Improper Bride

Confessions of an Improper Bride by Jennifer Haymore 815

Serena Donovan left London in disgrace after the entire ton discovered that she had carried on an affair with Jonathan Dane, heir to the Earl of Stratford. Serena was in love and was devastated when Jonathan turned his back on her in her time of need and had no choice but to head back to her family's bankrupt estate in Antingua with her twin sister, Meg. On the journey home Meg falls overboard and is lost at sea, but unknown to Serena and her sister's, her mother has Serena declared dead in the London papers and secretly writes to Meg's beau back in England posing as Meg. When Meg's beau proposes, Serena's mother reveals the scheme and sends Serena and one of her sister's back to England to marry, in the hopes that the family's status in society will be elevated enough to send all the sister's to London to make matches. But coming back to London brings her face to face with the man who abandoned her and all the feelings she thought were long gone come bubbling to the surface and she realizes she never stopped loving him, even as she goes along with her mother's charade.

Jonathan has spent every day regretting what he did to Serena, but he was young and his father was threatening to cut him off if he did not abandon her. He has spent the last six years drinking and whoring himself into oblivion and is determined never to read to spite his deceased father and to atone for his belief that he killed Serena. He knows immediately that the woman claiming to be Meg is his Serena and now that he has a second chance with her he has no intention of letting her go, even if her new "fiance" is one of his closest friends. He maneuvers every opportunity to get her alone and convince her to give up the farce she is living and take one more chance on him. Serena is tempted, but worried about what affects her actions will have on her sisters' hopes for the future. It is Jonathan who is there to help her when her sister runs off with an inappropriate man and Serena realizes that Jonathan will be there for her in the long run, even when things don't go perfectly as planned. Both of them need to move on from the past, forgive each other the hurts and the lies, in order to find their happily ever after.

Serena was a very nuanced character with very real emotions and fears and having her pretend to be her sister, the "good" twin, made it more clear that she really needed someone who would be there standing behind her the entire time and love her with all the mistakes that she makes. I liked that she cared about her family and wanted what was best for them, but had enough wherewithal to go for what she needed for herself. Her pain over what happened was heartbreaking to read and I felt like she was completely right to fear getting back with Jonathan, but I did feel like she fell into his arms a little too quickly. She was determined to avoid him and yet it seemed like not time had passed before she was kissing him and I felt like it wasn't realistic for a woman who had had six years to get over a heartbreak and betrayal. Jonathan was not my cup of tea because he had not stood up to his father, which was understandable if not admirable, and then had spent six years being a pretty worthless human being to stick it a dead man. I believe I was supposed to feel like it proved his love to Serena but it was just too much.

Because they had known each other beforehand there was definitely a sense that they falling in love had happened earlier and just drawn over to the present. However, I liked that Serena and Jonathan spent a large amount of time together and when they were apart they were thinking about the other, as if they were influenced by each other in everything. And there were times when I saw reasons they would fall in love with each other, especially when Jonathan helped Serena during a difficult situation with her sister. Their relationship progressed from hostility, to longing, to fearing love, to love and I liked that I could really see into each other those steps. There was not that much sex between them and I was actually rather surprised because it was not as hot as I am used to reading from Haymore who usually blazes the pages. The book featured several very well rounded and very well written side characters, including Meg's fiance, Serena's sister, and their very proper aunt, who made the book complete and helped all 410 pages fly by.

Rating: A good book with two characters scared of not being able to move on from the past, with very genuine emotion and great secondary characters.

A Season of Seduction

A Season of Seduction by Jennifer Haymore 1004

The widowed Lady Rebecca Fisk has vowed never to get married again but that does not mean she has given up on men entirely. Her deceased husband William had been after her only for her money and it has left her very wary of ever trusting a man again. She finds herself immensely attracted to Jack Fulton and after a few evenings spent in each other's company in public she agrees to a private meeting at a hotel. Jack likes Rebecca and does not want to use her but he is being blackmailed by an old friend and the only way he can think of to get that large amount of money is to marry. He arranges for Rebecca's brother, Garrett, and other members of the ton to walk in on them at an opportune time. Sure enough they are discovered and everyone agrees that they must get married, but Rebecca is reluctant to enter into such a permanent arrangement without getting to know Jack better.

Jack knows he is running out of time but he realizes that Rebecca is something special and he wants her and no other so he agrees to give her the extra time he needs. Jack begins to court Rebecca by giving her odd items from his travels around the world and it is exactly what Rebecca would want as she is a bluestocking who loves gaining new knowledge. Slowly she begins to warm to him even as Jack's blackmailer is urging him to move faster and move on to another. Jack calls on Rebecca and when they manage to get some alone time she knows that she can trust Jack and she agrees to marry him. But when she finds out that he has ulterior motives for originally courting her, she is devastated and runs off to make a life for herself on her own. Jack has come to know that he cannot live without Rebecca and he goes after to her to prove that he wants her for everything she is and not for her money.

Jennifer Haymore has been a little bit of a mystery for me when it comes to ratings as I loved her first novel but was severely disappointed by her second. I have been very much looking forward to this book and it would have been difficult to live up to expectations and hopes so I kept that in mind while reading it. I really liked that this novel tackled head on, indeed made the focus of the book, something that I am often annoyed with in romance novels; characters who don't really know each other and yet manage to fall in love. Rebecca's insistence on getting to know Jack before she married him struck me as very intelligent and completely in character given her past with marriage. And his courting of her by sending her those very important trinkets was genius as it proved that he did know her and that he understood how he could make her happy and that he wanted to do so.

The plot involving the blackmail was really well done with the villain being multi-faceted and dislikable, but not quite hateable. The incident Jack was being blackmailed with was genuinely awful and warranted his actions and it made it so much greater that he was willing to give up her money and risk so much. I also liked that things did not turn out completely okay, there was a happily ever after obviously, but he does have to suffer the consequences of some of his actions and Rebecca has to make sacrifices to spend her life with the man she loves. There was quite a few appearances from characters from her previous books and while I appreciated her brother being so protective and pushing them together, I was a little irritated with how friendly and perfect her relationship was with her brother's wife. I just do get a little irked when everyone is so perfectly happy with their family and just so buddy buddy.

Rating: I enjoyed this book and the way the characters interacted but I was never 100% engrossed and drawn in by it.

A Touch of Scandal

A Touch of Scandal by Jennifer Haymore 501

A Touch of Scandal starts off four months after the end of A Hint of Wicked with Garrett James, the Duke of Calton, desperately chasing down William Frisk, the man who kept him ignorant and servile in Belgium for eight years before convincing society he was mad and eloping with his sister, Rebecca. Kate Frisk is working as a servant in her brother William's house, but she has to pretend to Lady Rebecca, that she is no relation to the master of the house. She treks home from the manor every night to take care of her sickly brother, Reggie, who is the illegitimate son of the deceased Lord Debussey. On the way home she likes to stop by a small pond, and recently she discovered that a very handsome god has taken to swimming in the river. Upon introduction neither reveals their relationship to William Frisk and the spark and connection they feel for each other instantly bonds them. It really is only a short amount of time before Kate impetuously decides that, although she knows nothing can ever come of the relationships, she wants to truly be with Garrett.

It is not until afterwards, when he is secure in the knowledge that he has met a great woman does Garrett discover who Kate is, but by then it is too late and William has found the two of them. Despite the lies that he strings about Garrett, Kate can't help but feel as though her brother, whom she has always trusted completely, is lieing and she knows she wants to help Garrett. But Kate's mom is always in the back ground, reminding Kate that William is the only good thing left in the world and that it is Kate and Reggie who are the useless ones. Even if she saves Garrett it may be too late for them as a woman from Garrett's past arrives, claiming that the child she carries is his. Will Garrett take duty and honor or the woman he believes is the love of his life? It is up to Kate to prove that this woman is not the innocent she claims to be and safe him from a life of misery. However, even if he escapes that fate she knows that the difference in their station would prevent a match and this time it is Garrett's turn to save Kate from her own fears and insecurities to create a happy life with him.

This book had a LOT to live up to as I absolutely loved her previous book and gave it a very high 5 hearts. One thing I noticed quickly was that Haymore still has not completely developed a relationship from start to finished to my satisfaction as Sophie and Tristan were already very well acquainted before the start of Wicked. She makes it clear that from the beginning of their meeting Garrett and Kate are incredibly drawn to each other and have quite the connection. They both know they can trust each other with everything, despite the tragedies in their past, but there really wasn't any rhyme or reason beyond this. It almost fell more into the love at first sight category than a romance where two adults develop feelings for each other as they learn about each other and notice eachother's admirable qualities. Granted by the end I was so rooting for these two to be together and finally bring these two people, who had been so hurt and had so little love in their lives, the happiness they could give to each other.

I loved Kate as a character and all the emotions and craziness she went through over the course of the book and how well she handled it. She fell in love, had to deal with the fact that her brother was a horrible lieing monster, and risk losing the man she had fallen in love with because of society. Throughout it all she held her up, adapted well to her new situations, and did her best to take care of her little brother. She wasn't "good" or drop dead gorgeous, she had an inner light that Garrett could not resist, and while I'm normally not a fan of the beautiful smile that makes the drab woman gorgeous, Haymore does a fairly good job with it. Garrett is great as the semi-brooding hero who is still trying to get his life back on track and doesn't know quite how best to accomplish this. The sex was nowhere near as steamy as I expected, and there is not enough of it in my opinion, but it was definitely a beautiful expression of their love for each other. I would have liked to have seen more time spent between Kate and Garrett, just the two of them.

Rating: The book was fairly good, but with two side-plots coming between them I kind of felt there was not enough focus on the romance. Still, two great characters and great writing.

A Hint of Wicked

A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore

Our book opens as our heroine Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, discovers that her husband, Garrett, is missing and presumed dead. When we flash forward eight years later Sophie has given birth to her and Garrett's child, Matilda, while Tristan, the former Lord Westfield, has succeeded Garrett to the dukedom and married Sophie after his own wife died while giving birth to their son Gary. The two had only been married for a year but Tristan had been in love with Sophie his entire life, but had given her up when Garrett had declared his own intentions to marry her. Garrett chooses an amazingly inopportune time to stroll back into their lives as he interrupts them engaged in kinky sex play, Garrett proceeds to beat Tristan to a pulp and Sophie is left stunned and tied spread eagled on the bed. Sophie loved Garrett the entire time they were growing up and the entire time they were married but for eight years she has taken care of herself and has fallen passionately in love with Tristan. Garrett vows to have Tristan and Sophie's marriage annulled and wants to have his own life back exactly as it was. Tristan is furious, partly at Garrett, and partly at Sophie who finds herself in torn between two men, both of whom she loves.

But life is different for everyone. No longer are Tristan, Sophie, and Garrett the best of friends, doing and sharing everything together. Garrett has a relationship to develop with his wife and his daughter and Tristan takes his son Gary and leaves. Garrett had amnesia the 8 years he spent wandering around Belgium and it was only with his discovery by one of the men in his military unit during Waterloo that he re-discovers who he was. Garrett trusts this man, Fisk, implicitly and relies on him for everything; he hands power of attorney over the man and it doesn't take long before Fisk finds a doctor who declares that Garrett is going insane and will be completely mad fairly soon. Neither Sophie nor Tristan trust Fisk or this Doctor MacAllistor but Garrett will not be swayed. Unfortunately Garrett's young sister Rebecca is quite taken with Fisk and Sophie doesn't inform her of her concerns which proves to be a disastrous mistake. Tristan sets off to discover the truth behind Fisk and hires an investigator to research Dr MacAllistor but it is Rebecca's actions that force things to a head. In the aftermath of the struggle Sophie realizes that she has known all along who her heart belongs to, but was too scared to admit it.

The book presents the first steamy scene right at the beginning and it is certainly memorable. While I have nothing against light bondage and maybe a little submissive role play in romance novels, something about this scene squicked me out. Tristan was just a little too dominant and controlling for my tastes with his commands including this exchange:

"It's what you want, isn't it? To be bound to my bed, subjected to my will."
"Yes."
"What was that?"
"Yes, Tristan. It's what I need. What I want."

I expected her to say yes master in response and was inordinately glad when she didn't. Apparently before our book opened Sophie had revealed to Tristan that being tied up (and completely submissive?) was a fantasy of hers though, so that did mitigate my feelings for it somewhat. It was the only scene like that in the book, although there were several other steamy scenes that push the limits of romance novel sex including some stuff I hadn't ever dreamed of reading in one. Without going into details, as they're delightfully surprising I'll just say that this book is not for those who are easily offended by kinky sex in any capacity.

Haymore did an outstanding job of presenting all three character's points of view. Garrett, Tristan, and Sophie are easily relate-able, lovable, sympathetic, and flawed characters. Even the young children are portrayed well; Gary is an adorble little boy, and Miranda is the precocious young girl who is so attune to the feelings of those around her. I would have liked a longer, more detailed description of Garrett's first meeting with Miranda and what he was thinking/ feeling during their meeting. Obviously the situation provides amazing opportunities for angst and there is no shortage of it in the book although, like everything else in the book, it's done so well it's not at all overwhelming. I also liked how we could see why Sophie made her choice: the book does a great job of explaining her emotions and letting us know what she wants and why. There was a loose end the book didn't clear up- was Garrett's solicitor a part of the scam with Fisk? It was something I wondered about while reading and the possibility was briefly brought up, but never concluded.

Rating: An outstanding book on literally every level. A little interesting in the sex department, but that just adds to the sheer awesomeness of this book. And of course I am very much looking forward to reading the sequel featuring the man who didn't end up with Sophie. (no spoilers in that department)