One Wicked Night

One Wicked Night by Sari Robbins 930

Lillian Kane took up as the mistress of Dillon Beaumont, future Duke of Greayston, in order to escape her father. Her mother was already pregnant when she married Lord Kane an he has has always been after her money. She does not inherit until she turns 24 and her friend Dillon offered her the position as mistress so that he can play the ladies man in front of the ton and she can reinvent herself as a society darling even if she is ruined. But Kane wants her money badly and he enlists the help of Dillon's brother Russell who is desperately in love with Lillian. Kane frames Dillon for the murder of the lady he himself had been having an affair with and the evidence is indeed damning. Desperate, she engages the help of Nicholas Redford who she briefly met at a ton party and he has since opened up his own investigative services.

Nicholas is reluctant to become involved because he thinks Dillon is guilty but then Lillian proves that Dillon would never be having an affair with a woman. She ties him up and seduces him and he discovers she is a virgin before she reveals that Dillon is a homosexual. Suddenly Nick wants to bring an innocent man justice and it does not hurt that he gets to spend more time with the beautiful and intriguing Lillian. Kane and Russell begin to get scared that their scheme will be discovered and take things to another level by threatening Lillian and Nick. Suddenly Nick is on a desperate bid to discover who is behind the scheme and send the right man to jail so that he can protect the woman he is coming to love. The difference in their social standing leaves both worried that when everything is resolved the other will leave them, but they each have one last trick up their sleeve to stay together.

I was hesitant to read this after the disaster of The Governess Wears Scarlet but I decided that everyone deserves a second chance. While this was certainly better and showed promise that Robins can deliver a palatable romance, it was by no means a home run. I absolutely loved the evil stepfather plot and how she had to pretend to be someone's mistress in order to escape him. And I would have preferred if it had been a real relationship but it was just as good that the book had a homosexual character who genuinely great and kind without being flamboyant. Nick was enjoyable as well as the orphan who was working to make something of himself and liked working. What made it great though was that the difference in their social standing was there and talked about, but it was not a major issue- they were in love and they didn't really harp on not being good enough for the other.

The murder and framing plot was also very interesting and as usual I enjoyed having an inside look into the bad guys minds, even if it was brief. It was well done and kept me reading just so I could see how Nicholas would manage to discover who the bad guys were and set Dillon free. I also liked that this plot had some family betrayal and drama and at least one nuanced villain. There were things that brought this book down though. There were a couple rather weird side plots that I could not get into such as his becoming the queen's lead investigator and helping her find her dog. The sex between them was very rare and the first one wasn't even completed and there wasn't even a decent amount of steam between the two of them. The secondary characters beside the villains, grated on my nerves and I felt like the book dragged in many areas.

Rating: This book did had a lot going for it but I certainly enjoyed parts of it but there were too many little things that added up that I couldn't really appreciate the book.

The Governess Wears Scarlett

The Governess Wears Scarlett by Sari Robins

Abigail West is a 23- year old governess who has been ruined by her former lordly employer whom proclaimed love but predictably abandoned her once the heat was turned on. In an act of revenge her brother "Reggie" steals an important item from her employer who promptly puts a warrant out for his arrest he is forced to go into hiding. Abby gpes to London in the hopes of finding Reggie and luckily a placement officer takes a liking to her and places her with the newly titled, and widow(er)ed, Viscount Steele who serves as Solicitor General to the Crown, a fancy lawyer. She is instructed to take care of his wife's nephews.

Steele also serves as a masked vigilante, prowling the streets of London and coincidentally Abby has taken to roaming the streets as a widow in an attempt to find her brother. This leads to danger and Steele is more than happy to rescuer her, however since both wear masks, or veils, neither is aware of the others identity. Unhampered by society's rules, the two engage in trysts in an ally and later a dusty street vendors shop. Meanwhile in real life, both are feeling an tendre for each other but are unable to act on it, especially while it becomes obviously someone is out to hurt both Reggie and the two young boys Abby is supposed to be protecting. The director of London Underworld, numerous street ruffians, and a disgruntled relative are involved in the rather far-fetched plot that is tidily cleaned up in the last 25 pages.

I have three rather large qualms with this books: the complete "goodness" of the characters, the sex, and the discovery of their joint deceptions. Both the hero and the heroine are just too "good" at loving the children, at putting the children before themselves, at doing anything to make the children happy. This is how it should be of course, but to have it hammered into my head repeatedly, and to seemingly be the only reason for either character fall in love with the other, well that is just frustrating. As for the sex- their were exactly two scenes, which were admittedly very hot, both took place while masked, in unorthodox locations and while the characters did not know each others identity and while both were almost entirely dressed. Neither was an expression of love or deeper feeling, just physical desire, which is fine in a thin contemporary but in a 370 page historical I expect a few small scenes leading up to the culmination and at least a little mushiness. The truth of who they are is not discovered until practically the last page and instead of being angry, scared, hurt, wary, or any other of the wonderfully angsty emotions I would have loved, and expected from such a plot. Instead they were both ecstatic and nothing was brought up about the other sleeping with a complete stranger in a darkened alley.

One of the best parts of this novel is their relationship to other characters. Steele's deceased wife Diedre is neither martyred nor demonized as so many former spouses are in romance novels. Steele was deeply in love with her, yet does not constantly brood about her death and does not decry the idea of ever falling in love with her again. Diedre's father also plays a small, but interesting part of the disapproving father-in-law who one both loves and hates because he is so human but so flawed in ways everyone can sympathize with. Both the children in the book are wonderful as well; they are not pretentious as most romance novel children seem to be, yet they are not clowingly annoying 4-year olds. And Abby's relationship with her brother is amazing, especially at the end when she comes to an important realization about herself and him- it was beautiful to read and one of my favorite scenes. I can not decide whether I liked the "adventure" plot or not as I tend not to get into the murder/Bow Street/spy plots that haunt most romance novels, but at least it was a built in part of the story and not just thrown in there for added excitement.

Rating this novel was difficult, but then I realized the rating should ultimately come down to how the two characters were with each other and how much I enjoyed reading about them and their relationship.
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