Lover Be Mine

Lover Be Mine by Nicole Jordan

Lord Jack Wilde is surrounded by medeling family members and when his favorite cousin Skye harasses him to meet Lady Sophie Fortin because she believes she is his "ideal mate," he agrees. Family legend has it that everyone will fall in love based on a fairy tale and Jack's chosen story is "Romeo and Juliet" since the Wilde family and the Fortin family have been feuding since a Wilde great-uncle killed a Fortin ancestor in a duel. He is shocked to find himself very attracted to Sophie and to discover that she is no wilting flower who shies away from a little flirtation. Sophie knows that Jack is the last person she should be associating with but she cannot deny that there is a spark between the two of them, especially when a stolen kiss ignites an inferno. Jack is horrified to learn that Sophie is soon to be engaged to an elderly Duke because her family needs his money and desires the connection that come with a titled family member, since Sophie's father was semi cheated out of his own title.

Jack has a past as he is the illegitimate offspring of a scandalous British lady who shocked the ton, and the Crown Prince of Navatarnia, a small but wealthy kingdom. He harbors a deep hatred of his father since he and his mother were abandoned in Paris at the height of the terror and his mother was killed and he was held captive before his British relatives rescued him. He has no desire to reconcile with his father even though he has been legitimized and offered the Crown, but he knows that the only way he could win over her family is to have a title. Sophie fears that the only reason Jack is contemplating returning to Navatania is to rescue her from a passionless marriage and wants a true marriage based on love. Unfortunately Sophie's father clings to his former hatred and Jack must find a way to prove himself to Sophie's father, but more importantly prove to Sophie that he is ready for love.

I really felt like Jack and Sophie were under developed characters and even though they were both given interesting back stories which were developed and interesting, I was never really engaged in their story or their relationship. A big deal is made about the feud between their families throughout the story and serves as a sticking point at several points throughout the story. Unfortunately this falls far short of the Capulet-Montagu feud and veers dangerously into ridiculous territory as it drags, as it is shown to be based on false assumptions, and as it becomes merely a tool to make the book longer. Sophie is apparently filled with warmth and a smile that can light up a room which just comes across as an attempt to make her likable without really saying why she is likable. Jack has a wild streak, which the reader is not really privy too, and by far the most interesting part of his story is his relationship with his father as he progressed from hatred to acceptance to learning to appreciate what he has. It was my favorite part of the story overall and she did a fabulous job of realistically portraying this difficult journey.

Sophie and Jack did spend a lot of time together during the book and I do consider quite a bit of it to be quality time but the two of them just did not connect for me. There was a much discussed physical attraction between them that seemed to be the main thing they had going for their relationship, and while there was quite a bit of sex in the book it was really not very hot and much of it was short and/ or purple flowery. Keeping in line with my favorite part of this book I did enjoy their interactions where the discussed his relationship with his father but I thought it could have been more. The writing in this book was flowery and the book was far longer than it needed to be as toward the end more and more road blocks were thrown in the way of their happiness, including obstacles that hadn't presented themselves until then.

Rating: An unengaging novel with two unengaging characters in a story that dragged far beyond when it should have ended.

To Desire a Wicked Duke

To Desire a Wicked Duke by Nicole Jordan 317

Two years after her fiance, Richard, is killed in battle Tess Blanchard feels well enough to emerge back into society. She has dedicated her life to various charitable causes and one of those involves a theatre master with a penchant for ghosts who also happens to be quite the ladies man. Tess takes a chance on a kiss with him but she is discovered by her nemesis, Ian Sutherland, Duke of Rotham. Ian had fancied Tess at her come-out ball, but had gracefully stepped aside when Richard, his cousin, had staked his claim. Upon Richard's death he felt responsible for Tess and has quietly looked after her from afar for all these years, but witnessing her kiss changes everything and awakens the feelings he had suppressed long ago. Richard and Tess are passionately attracted to each other and are very quickly discovered in their own scandalous position and her godmother insists that they marry. Ian agrees to let things move at Tess's pace, but she is still not happy about having to marry a well known rake and scoundrel as she had always hoped to marry for love. This is made worse when she goes to his estate to discover a young child who bears a striking resemblance to Ian which sends Tess fleeing to his estate in Cornwall with her courtesan friend Fanny.

The estate is supposed to be haunted and it is not long before she is hearing stories about rattling chains and moans coming from within the walls. Meanwhile Ian has followed Tess and Fanny up to Cornwall, accompanied by his newest secretary, Fanny's beau, whom he hired at Tess's behest in the hopes that Basel will finally propose to Fanny. One night Tess senses a presence in her room and goes to Ian for comfort and that marks a turning point in their relationship as they come to rely on each other and help each other try to solve the ghost mystery. Tess has always maintained their distance by constantly needling each other and she continues to believe that the only way to keep herself from becoming to emotionally involved and falling in love. An ex-soldier proves to be their mystery ghost and tells them about a vast conspiracy of thieves and smugglers and it is up to Ian and Tess to stop them. But even when that is solved, it does not mean that everything between Ian and Tess are cleared up and she goes searching for the truth about Ian's character and about his young ward. Ian knows that he loves Tess, but wants her to discover on her own that he is worthy and that he is someone she could love and live happily ever after with.

Tess was a slight deviation from a typical romance novel character because I really got the sense that her charitable works are genuine and not merely an attempt to feel better about her own immense wealth. She really was a giver and a caring person, which made her blind spot and loathing of Ian all the more confusing and frustrating. I like the idea that Ian has secretly wanted Tess for so long but did the noble thing by stepping aside for his cousin. Despite his reputation as a rake, Ian has actually been quite noble throughout his acquaintance with Tess, with various donations to her causes and by keeping an eye on her, and generally not really living up to his rogue-ish reputation. I could not figure out why all of his good deeds had to be kept a secret from Tess and served as a really unnecessary block in their relationship that I didn't like.  I did like the angst that arose for Ian when he feared that Tess was still in love with his cousin because it seemed like something reasonable for a man in his position to fear and because it showed some vulnerability in this otherwise strong man. There was some decent sex here, pretty hot, but I know that Jordan has done better, and after the strong sexy start I was really expecting more from this book.

A little more than halfway through this book devolved into the romance novel staple of having both protagonists waiting for the other to admit to love first. Saying those three words became a sign of weakness and vulnerability and both feared admitting to the feeling. This is so common that it took  me awhile to realize how obnoxious it is and it comes across as just a way for the author to extend the book when every other problem has been solved. am having difficulty deciding if I liked having the mystery solved about halfway through the book; on the one hand it made the book kind of anti-climatic and did rather drag on, but on the other hand it left a significant portion of the book for Tess and Ian to focus completely on their relationship and on falling in love. The mystery was very fun and was a great opportunity for Jordan to show how well the characters fit together, even if it did lead to some sassy heroics on Tess's part that rather irritated me. It wasn't a big page turner, but it did not blow up into something crazy and involve kidnappings and murder plots, but was a nice addition to a romance novel. For the majority of the novel, Jordan managed to avoid bringing in all the happily ever afters from previous books, but by the end it was a big giant reunion and I was a tad annoyed.

Rating: An enjoyable and fun romance with a nice little mystery to accompany it, but there were some very frustrating aspects of the book and it was really nothing special.

To Tame a Dangerous Lord

To Tame a Dangerous Lord by Nicole Jordan

When Madeline Ellis' employer dies she heads to London to look for a new job but an overeager lecher forces her into the room of Rayne Kenyon, Earl of Haviland, who realizes that her father had saved his life during a war. Rayne feels a tad protective of this very stubborn young woman who has resigned herself to being a spinster and who is determined to take care of herself, and her newly married brother, all by herself. He insists on taking him to Freemantle Academy where his friend Arabella, Lady Danvers, is looking to hire new instructors to teach her bourgeoisie students how to mix with the ton. Madeleine gets the job and the more Rayne comes to think about her predicament, and his own need to find a wife and start creating heirs, the more he comes to believe that Madeline could make a perfect wife. He does not want to risk falling in love with a woman after a former love interest had used his connections to save her family from the blade in France while secretly being in love with another man. He thinks Madeline will make a good, if not precisely biddable, wife and he won't need to worry about losing his head.

Madeline is wary of entering into a marriage of convenience as she has always wanted to find true love like her parents did, but when her brother is accused of stealing an heirloom necklace from a peer to make his new wife's family happy, Madeline thinks that having a connection to the ton could be helpful. And there is also the fact that she has fallen in love with him. Their wedding gets off to a rocky start as after quite the passionate interlude Rayne abandons her to return to London so he can investigate a supposed plot to assassinate Prinny. Madeline seeks the help of the Loring sisters and their friend, courtesan Franny, to discover ways to seduce her husband into loving her. Unfortunately the more Madeline tries to get Rayne to love her the more suspicious he becomes of her and her out of character actions. He recognizes that his feelings for her are changing and tries desperately to fight them. But when he discovers that Madeline has only been trying to help her brother and has been trying to protect him, he knows that it is up to him to show Madeline that he has made a mistake and that he does love her.

Madeline often got a little irritating because of her stubbornness and inability to ask for accept anyone's help. The "banter" between them regarding said stubbornness, as well as that regarding her feistiness, was quite irritating and not at all cute. I also wondered why a grown woman was determined to support her grown brother and his new family- seriously she kept giving and giving and giving him money and I wanted her to put her foot down. However it was nice to see a female who could take care of herself. Rayne was interesting and his spy background got a little boring, especially when it was given to us in some very large and awkward information dumps. I am always a little wary of heroes who are determined to not fall for the heroine but I recognize that without those types of heroes we'd have like 10 romance novels total. In this book it does drag on a little long, but I like that there was the added element of suspicion against her because her secretive and changing behavior. I recognize that some readers wouldn't exactly like this, but it works well here and the explanation behind his behavior is adequate and understandable.

This is going to sound a little weird and I am having trouble adequately putting it in words but: despite lots of sex and it being interesting enough it was rather bland overall. I can not quite put my finger on why it was this way- but I really wanted to skip over most of them and get on with the rest of the book. I was a tad bit irritated with the re-emergence of the Loring sisters even though it wasn't overdone. Mainly I was irritated by how nice and sweet and understanding everyone was to Madeline- I wanted someone who wasn't a horrible excuse for a human being (like Rayne's very stickler grandmother) but who wasn't just so genuine and wonderful and Madeline's best friend. No acquaintances in this book. Surprisingly my major pet peeve was the author's portrayal of the French Revolution: she was very sympathetic to the escaped aristocrats (and they are deserving of some sympathy surely) but she made it seem as though the ignorant and awful French rabble was purely after them because they were aristocrats- completely ignoring that whole starvation thing.

Rating: I believe I would give the romance of the book a 4, but the poor writing quality and the annoying-ness of her brother's plot bring it down to a 2 1/2. I'll give it a 3 though.

To Romance a Charming Rogue

To Romance a Charming Rogue by Nicole Jordan

Years ago Eleanor Pierce broke off her engagement to Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham when she say him taking a carriage ride with his supposed former mistress. However she is unaware that Damon purposely created a situation he knew would cause Eleanor to break off their engagement when he realizes she expects her husband to love her. He is, of course, unable to return any loving feelings because he has shut himself off emotionally from other people ever since his twin brother died at sixteen of consumption and his parents both died in a tragic boating accident a few months later. He ran away to Italy, supposedly on a grand tour, but was actually there to open a sanitorium for those suffering from consumption. When he arrives back in England he discovers Eleanor engaged in a very promising courtship with Prince Lazarra from Italy and is determined to end their relationship through any means necessary and has no problem taking advantage of the overwhelming attraction between the two of them.

When Eleanor and Damon realize that Prince Lazarra's life is being threatened Damon accompanies them on their outings until a freak accident leads to Damon compromising Eleanor and being "forced" to marry her. Nobody is thrilled at this prospect except Damon who is still determined to guard his heart from Eleanor but is happy that at least her relationship with Lazarra is at an end. All the characters retreat to Eleanor's aunt's country estate for a house party where the "accident's" come to an abrupt end but the Bow Street Runners apparently continue their investigation- off scene. Meanwhile Eleanor engages the advice of a famous courtesan on how to win her husband's affections. She strings him along for awhile but ultimately fails in holding him off for long- as she is of course immensely attracted to him. I imagine our "climax" is supposed to be the juxtaposition of finding out the perpetrator of the attempts on Lazarra's life and the final confrontation between Eleanor and Damon over (the pathetic excuses on) why he refuses to give her his heart.

Like other Nicole Jordan books I have read, this one is crazy steamy- throughout the entire book we are titillated and briefly teased before consummation and it does not really let up for much of the book.Some of the most bizarre and, to be frank, poorly thought out and written, prose I have read. I dog-eared the pages where unbelievably unintentionally funny dialogue takes place, but had to stop halfway through as nearly every other page was bent. Favorites include; "My loins are full and aching for you," which is not at all sexy, and her assertion that she is saving herself until marriage which struck me as odd as all well-bred females in those days were supposed to do that. In addition the completely odd side-plot of attacks on Lazarra's life was ridiculous. It was not all that exciting to begin with as we barely cared for this character, but it did serve as an excuse for Damon to butt into Eleanor's life. But then it is dropped for nearly 150 pages until we discover that people have been covertly investigating and have discovered the (unsurprising) villian.

I have never been able to understand the immense appeal that "witty banter" holds for romance novel readers- at least I assume there is immense appeal seeing as how every romance novel is chock full of it. This one has enough for a dozen novels or more, and what is even more odd is that the characters actually acknowledge how much they like "sparring" with each other- referring to it as exhilarating. While I admit little jokey talk can be fun- if that is the only way two people ever seem to talk to each other it gets a little old and is certainly difficult to understand how they can even contemplate a life together. And unfortunately there is very little development of the romance between these characters so the author seems to revert to the romance novel staple (of poorly thought out books) that she JUST IS in love with him, which she realizes after much good sexin' of course, and he can't live without her vitality and zest for life.

Rating: Good sex does not make up for poorly written characters, dialogue, and ridiculous side-plot. I barely managed to keep myself from putting it down 200 pages (out of 400) in.