Pleasurably Undone

Pleasurably Undone 628

Seducing a Stranger by Christine Merrill
Victoria Paget believes that her husband's regiment in France was betrayed and thinks that Lieutenant Tom Godfrey must be the culprit as he was the only man to return alive. She goes undercover in a brothel to learn his secrets and he falls for it right away. Tom has been infatuated with Victoria since his captain showed him her picture so finding a twin in a brothel is perfection. When he realizes who she is he offers her marriage so he can take her away from her horrible life. Victoria realizes that she must have the wrong man as Tom is honest and obviously cares for her and wants to do the right thing. Tom tries to find a job with another man in the War Office and when he is turned down, the real spy lands himself right in Tom's lap. Victoria knows she must confess her former suspicions to Tom, and hope that he can forgive her and they can work on capturing the true spy together after they are married.

This story is incredibly short (45 pages) and a good majority of that is absolutely scorching sex. I really had to suspend reality for this one as going undercover in a brothel is just not believable. However, Merrill did a good job with the very small amount of pages she was given, as I quickly grew to like both characters. Tom was strong and wanted to take care of those around him, while Victoria was dedicated and determined to get to the bottom of what had happened to her husband at any cost. I would have preferred a few more pages so that their could have been some angst about her believing him to be a spy, though. I was really excited when they were able to adequately wrap up the spy plot pretty well, although it does end on somewhat of a to be continued in that department. However, the romance, and especially the sex, was great.

The Viking's Forbidden Love Slave by Michelle Willingham
When Aisling O'Bannon is kidnapped by a Viking warrior, she knows she has much to worry about as the Vikings have been raiding and tormenting her family for years. Tharand is known among his people as fierce but they believe he is dangerous and has no heart. He has kidnapped Aisling in the hopes that he can exchange her to his king Magnus for his young sister Jorja. But he is taken with this fierce woman he finds in his possession and it is certainly difficult for him to keep his hands off of her. Aisling tries desperately to hate her captor but as she realizes why he has kidnapped her it becomes difficult. In one furious standoff with the King the two must use all their skills to save their lives, and that of young Jorja.

Another short story, but it desperately needed ten or so pages as the confrontation at the end was over laughably quickly and everything was tied up far too neatly. I felt like Aisling and Tharand did not really get to know each other and that their attraction/ love was merely a product of close proximity. I really did not go for Aisling being so forgiving of Tharand's people as they really had been making life horrible for hers. It just seemed like there was far too much stacked against them and it was not really explained away. The sex between them was decent and short but no real steam.

Disrobed and Dishonered by Louise Allen

When Sarah Tatton discovers that her fiance molested her maid she decides that she needs to get rid of her virtue, or at least pretend to have gotten rid of it. On a midnight ride she runs into Jonathan Kirkland, who is masquerading as a highwayman and thinks he will be perfect for the job. They go back to an inn and without completely ruining her, Jonathan shows her pleasure before she leaves without telling him her name. He tracks her down for one more night of passion and she realizes that she is in love with him, but now it is her who does not know his name. While she is free from her unlikely marriage she is not happy and misses him and hopes that a weekend at a friend's house party will cheer her up. She is not expected Jonathan to be there as the Earl of Redfield and while upset at first, it does not take her long to discover that Jonathan was not playing with her heart- he is playing for keeps.

Allen really puts to shame authors who stretch this plot out for 400 pages as she does quite a good job in a very short amount of space. Of course she could have used more pages on them getting to know each other after they met as their real selves, but all in all a great effort. Jonathan and Sarah falling in love was very believable as circumstances had forced them to learn a lot about each other in a short amount of time. They have a couple of great moments together when they're lying in bed and he's reflecting on how special she is or when they are discussing what happened between them. I would definitely have liked more sex in this novel- there were three scenes, but the final consummation scene was very short and cramped. I also admire her ability to set up her next novels without making it so amazingly obvious that that is what she is attempted to do.

A Night for Her Pleasure by Terri Brisbon

Simon and Elise's marriage had been arranged by her family who wants his connections to rid the family of the taint of treason. Since the first time they laid eyes on each other, they both knew this would be a special marriage. She was beautiful and innocent and everything Simon had been too scared to want, while Simon was kind and strong and made Elise yearn for something she had never experienced. Each is worried the other will find them lacking so on their wedding night they both try to please the other. However, as the night progresses they each discover that they don't need to worry about anything, as they are both ready for marriage and love.

I did enjoy both of these characters, especially loved how I was really in their head and the story switched back and forth between each of their points of view quite frequently. It seemed like the falling in love and realizing how much they liked each other happened before the book started, but we still got an adequate look at it. They were so genuine and wonderful in their desire to please each other that I quite liked their interactions with each other. The book was steamy throughout as it was basically a big lead up to their marriage bed which did not disappoint.

The Unlacing of Miss Leigh by Diane Gaston

When Margaret Leigh responds to an add placed in a newspaper for a gentleman's companion she is at first put off when she realizes it is for a mistress, but she eventually agrees to meet him. She is stunned when the man is none other than her childhood crush, Captain Graham Veall. She agrees to a period of two months with him in exchange for an annuity, but she knows that it will be all too easy to fall in love with him. Graham game back from the war horribly scarred and is convinced that no woman will ever want him. It is up to Margaret to convince that he can be, and is, loved and that happiness is within his grasp.

I really enjoyed this story and felt like the characters worked very well together. Their time together is rather rushed, but I could still tell that there was a great connection. I loved the back story and the epilogue added a really nice touch. Graham's feelings about his scar might have been a tad overdone, but Margaret was a perfect heroine to convince him of the truth. The

sex between these two was pretty hot, and did not take up a whole lot of the story. While answering the advertisement seemed an odd way to get two people together, it worked well here and was very well developed and integrated into the story.

The Accidental Countess

The Accidental Countess by Michelle Willingham 418

Stephen Chesterfield, the Earl of Whitmore, wakes up to find his childhood sweetheart, whom he hasn't seen in 10 years, standing over him and claiming to be his wife. Unfortunately he has no recollection of actually marrying her, or of the previous three months. He is wary of her claims as he doesn't think he would have married, but looking at her he certainly knows that there would be one benefit to being married to Emily. Emily Barrow is furious at Stephen. Four months ago he had promised to look after her brother, who had enormous debts and terrible investment intuition, and her niece and nephew if she married him. In exchange he would finally get out from under his domineering father's thumb. But Emily also believed there were feelings between them and so when Stephen left her a week after their wedding she was devastated. She became even angrier with him when her brother died and she was told that Stephen had been spending time with his mistress. Neither is sure what they want to happen with this marriage, but Stephen is determined to get to the bottom of what happened to him, and her brother.

The more Stephen investigates the more confusing the whole debacle becomes. He believes it is his duty to protect Emily and her niece and nephew, whom she is responsible for now that her brother is dead. He thinks the best way to accomplish this is to lead that killers to believe that he does not care for them. This plays right into the hands of the ton, and Stephen's family, who already dislike Emily and believe he should seek an annulment. Unfortunately Emily is not too keen on this idea and it only plays into her insecurities, as she was not raised to be a lady because of her family's financial difficulties. She knows she should protect her heart from Stephen, but she cannot help but give into her attraction for him. When her brother's will resurfaces and names her great-uncle as legal guardian of the children, Stephen believes they should go along with it until legal action can be taken and Emily feels like he has betrayed her. Meanwhile the assassins are hot on their trail and have already made attempts on Stephen's life. Emily refuses to let Stephen risk his life on his own and insists on accompanying them: this places them both in danger but also forces both of them to confront their feelings for each other.

I like Emily and reading about how she was feeling and what she was going through was incredibly interesting. She has real thoughts and emotions that make sense in the situations she is put in. Her devotion to the children was completely well done as she was not the simpering and too nice guardian of some romance novels where the heroine is just far too sweet and childlike for my taste. She tries so valiantly to guard her heart and I absolutely loved how she wanted so desperately to give in to this man she had loved since she was a girl, but at the same time she was terrified he would crush her again. Stephen was a great character as well, especially how he admitted to himself so quickly that he needed Emily in his life and not just to make his father mad at him. I did find the necessity of making everyone believe he didn't need Emily to be a little cruel and it definitely made her a target for all the other members of the ton, without really accomplishing anything. The sex between them was plenty hot enough, but it didn't last very long and there wasn't enough of it.

A huge theme of this book is Stephen's amnesia and the author handled this in the most realistic manner possible. There was no waking up with a "who am I," on his lips, and I really appreciated her research into the topic. While not my favorite romance novel plot, at least it wasn't completely blown out into crazytown. Obviously a large part of this book revolved around attempting to find out what had happened during the three months that Stephen could not remember. It was quite convoluted with betrayal and assassins and lots of worrying. It was interesting and I did want to discover what had happened but I would have liked to have had more time where the characters weren't worrying about getting killed or talking about what had happened. Basically more romantic development. The secondary characters here were perfectly written, from the age appropriate behavior of both of the children, to the cold snubbing of the ton, to his heartily disapproving father who, despite his disapproval, obviously does want to do what's best for his heir.

Rating: A satisfying read with nothing particularly awful about it, but the most special part of it was that the author actually did research on amnesia beforehand.