Shameless

Shameless by Karen Robards 803

Beth Banning, the youngest of the three Banning sisters, has already thrown over two suitors and when she gives her third his conge, he does not take at all well and attacks her. Neil Severin happens to be on scene as he is out to kill Beth's brother in law, Hugh the Duke of Richmond. He does not interfere as Beth fends off her attacker but when he has been dispatched he helps her get rid of the body and in the process comes to admire this very beautiful and capable young woman. He decides that best way to get to Richmond is to kidnap Beth, but before he can get to her she is kidnapped by someone else and he knows he has to rescue her. She is taken to a house of very ill repute and before he can put a plan into action she takes matters into her own hands and makes a run for it with several of the other young women who have been kidnapped and Neil finds himself with seven women on his hands.

Their escape from the brothel is harrowing and quite long winded with a dark rowboat ride and a night spent in a cave until finally Richmond's men find Neil, thinking he was the one who kidnapped Beth. Beth is horrified that the man who saved her could be killed, even if he does have a past as an assassin and helps him escape. When he explains to her the truth about his past and how he has to kill Richmond so that he can live the rest of his life as a Marquis without fear of being assassinated, she decides that the two of them should marry. No one is exactly pleased at this new turn of events but they decide to make the best of it while pretending to the ton that they did not elope. But there is still someone out there who knows the truth about Neil's past and wants him gone, and Beth is worried that Neil only married her to save his life and that he does not love her. On one dangerous night all their fears collide and everyone from the series has to embrace their love for all of their new family members.

I very much enjoyed the first two books in this series, and Robards ability to combine suspense and mystery with a very well developed romance and I especially liked the characters in all of her books. Beth did not live up to her sisters, as while she was certainly very capable and I liked that in several instances she took charge and saved herself and others, I found her assertions that she wouldn't be owned, wouldn't be married, and finally her rather awful attempts to be flirtatious and wild to stick it Neil when she did not think he loved her, quite juvenile and pitiful. Neil was better as he had quite the dark past as an assassin whose family had been beheaded in France who did not think he could ever be deserving enough of love. However, I found his willingness to leave the other women to fend for themselves in the brothel to be rather reprehensible, even if it was to illustrate how he eventually changes through the book.

The first thing that struck me about this book was how so much of it was taken up with suspense and around other people. The kidnap and escape from the brothel took up about 200 of the 350 pages and really did not allow for much in the way of romance in my opinion. While it was certainly interesting and did keep me reading as I wanted to see that everyone ended up safe it was not really to my taste in a romance. In addition the asassination and being hunted by other people also took up a large part of the story and made spending time alone together rather brief. I think it says something that my favorite part of the story was really the last 50 pages, after they had been married and were putting on a face for the ton as they participated in the commonplace rituals and balls and such. There was a nice amount of face time for the rest of the Bannings which makes sense as they are sisters.

Rating: I was looking forward to this but it felt like the two spent the entire time with an unconscious body or running from people who were hunting them which made it difficult for me to see them as a couple.

Irresistible

Irresistible by Karen Robards 626

When Claire Lyons, nee Banning, is kidnapped on her way to visit her husband David, who is the heir to his cousin the Duke of Richmond, she has no idea what is happening. Convinced they are going to kill her she escapes and makes for the beaches where she is captured by Hugh Battancourt, who takes her on a ship to France. Hugh has been sent by the Home Office to capture Sophy Trowbridge on the very beach he fuond Claire on. He does not believe her protestations of innocence, although there is a certain air of innocence about her that he can't entirely attribute to great acting abilities. He wants to question her but it is incredibly difficult as he can't help but be attracted to her, and similarly Claire is unable to stop from noticing how well built her captor is. The two engage in a quite entertaining little struggle to gain the upper hand, but through it all it becomes apparent that there is more to their relationship than meets the eye, which does not at all please Hugh's batman, James.

Once on French soil, Hugh is betrayed and they are forced to go into hiding. They both know this will probably be their last night together and Claire wants to experience the passion she will never find in her marriage. Back in England she tries to make the best of things, but it is tough going as she misses Hugh and the comfort and passion she felt with him. She is not expecting him to re-enter her life, and especially not as her husband's cousin, the Duke of Richmond! Now her passion for him is even more upsetting, but try as she might she can not keep her feelings a secret from him. Hugh wants to continue their relationship as well and hopes that he can convince his cousin to grant her a divorce or at least keep quiet about their affair. When he begins to search for the truth about what happened to Claire on the beach, and how she came to be there, he discovers that someone close has betrayed him. There is someone who wants both Hugh and Claire dead and they must stop this person, and find a way to thwart David, if they want to have a life together.

Married heroines are not exactly common in romance novels, but Robards definitely made Claire a heroine that everyone could sympathasize or relate to. Reading about her incredible struggles when she's being kidnapped were awe-inspiring and I knew I'd like her right off the bat. Sometimes during kidnappings I'm a little worried that feelings are inspired by Stockholm syndrome, but it was clear throughout the book that the feelings they felt for each other were real. Yes, these feelings were helped along very nicely by their immense attraction for each other, but there was obviously a layer of respect and trust that went with it. Hugh was great as well and quite the swashbuckling hero and I really liked reading about him working with Claire to save both their lives. The two made a really great team and were just so great together. The sex between these two was smoking and while I normally dislike unpleasured wife's as too much of a cliche in romances, it was done very well here and really made the sexy scenes pop.

I really enjoy Robards writing style; I will admit it is wordy, but none of it is boring or superfluous and it portrays what is going on, in the physical and inside the minds' of our protagonists very well. I loved that Claire was married throughout this book and she was struggling with her feelings of guilt for her husband and her newfound passion with Hugh. Nothing was glossed over and we got to read about the internal struggle, but it was not overdone. I do wish we had gotten more of the story told from Hugh's point of view, as their were times when it seemed like he was taking everything so lightly, and while I think he was just acting- it would have been nice to have proof. The side characters were great as well, no one was one dimensional, and everyone behaved in a manner that made sense to their circumstances. The kidnapping and murder plot was done excellently, it played an important role in bringing the characters together and was interesting, and quite mysterious for some time, but it did not overwhelm or take over the romance.

Rating: Excellent book. I really loved every moment of this book and enjoyed reading the romance and the kidnapping and murder plot.

Scandalous

Scandalous by Karen Robards 529

Lady Gabriella Banning is determined to give her sister, the beautiful Claire, a season in London so that she can find a man. After years of living under their father's penny-pinching thumb, she can't help but feel relieved when he dies and their brother Marcus takes over. Marcus has lived in Ceylon on a tea plantation his entire life, but they hold out hope that he will be a better guardian than their father, and certainly better than their Uncle Thomas, who will inherit after Marcus. But Marcus is killed in Ceylon, and Gabby decides that the best thing to do will be to just pretend that Marcus is still alive so they can have access to the Wickham funds until Claire is married. When they arrive in town Gabby is stunned to find that there is someone there pretending to be Marcus, the Earl of Wickham. Although she is certainly not pleased about matters, the two reach a tentative agreement to go along with things and pretend that the pretend Marcus is the real Marcus.

When Gabby accidentally shoots Marcus, she spends a lot of time at his bedside nursing him back to health. Marcus quickly comes to realize that Gabby, despite not being as pretty as her sister, is brave, kind, and dependable. To get kisses out of her he cruelly pretends that he will attempt to seduce Claire, and Gabby gives in. She knows she cannot trust this pretender, but when the two of them are being intimate, none of that matters. Unfortunately, Gabby also knows that for the good of her family she will need to marry a steady, dependable man. Nick, the fake Marcus, has been pretending to be Marcus, in order to discover who it was that shot the real Marcus. But Gabby is wary of trusting Nick, even as her feelings for him are changing into something that closely resembles love. Things come to a head when Gabby's life, and the security of the nation, are threatened and he must choose between his duty and the woman he loves.

I really liked Gabby's character as she really was a great person, because she was willing to really do anything to help her sisters, and yet she also broke the rules quite a bit which I loved. The fact that she had a limp and a scary man in her past, that she tried to overcome, was just icing on the cake in showing what a great person she was. Nick was interesting for sure, but I did not really like that fact that we did not really discover anything about him until the book was practically over. It made knowing why Gabby fell for him a little difficult. Really she knew nothing about him and he blackmailed her into making out with him by flat out threatening to flirt with the prettier sister. However, he was suitably protective about her when it came to the bad guys so that was good. The sex between them was hot and well written with plenty of good lead in scenes, and it happened in a more realistically timely manner (the two did not just fall into bed together) than usual.

I was a little confused because the plot about finding who had killed the real Marcus was almost completely forgotten for most of the novel. Nick's attempts to find the killer basically consisted of him disappearing for days, causing great concern for Gabby. I felt as though it was wrapped up really fast and rather abruptly, however I will admit that I did not particularly mind as I was more concerned with Gabby and Nick's relationship. I really wish more of the story had been told from his point of view as I would really have liked to have gotten a better on handle on that. The writing was certainly good, but at times it got a little wordy and there were several instances when the paragraphs were far too long, like an entire page. Once I got used to it I find myself completely immersed in the story and able to overlook this. This was the first in a series about the Banning sisters, and I am already looking forward to reading the next ones.

Rating: A very good story with a great heroine. I would have liked more information about the hero and the murder plot though.