The Handbook for Handling His Lordship

The Handbook for Handling His Lordship by Suzanne Enoch R

Nathaniel Stokes, Earl of Westfall, retired from his job as a spy for Wellington when he inherited his title unexpectedly upon his cousin's death. He finds that he cannot adapt to the lifestyle of a do nothing lordling so he decides to help other members of the peerage find items that have gone missing such as jewelry. He is enlisted by Lord Ebberling to find Rachel Newbury, his son's former governess, who went missing with a valuable diamond necklace the day his wife was murdered. Nate has no leads since the disappearance was years ago but when his young brother, Lawrence who is home after being suspended from Oxford, suggests a visit to the infamous Tantalous Club he realizes it might be the perfect place for a genteel young lady of education to hide in plain sight. Emily Portsman has been working for the Tantalous Club for three years and has taken pains to hide her true identity. When Lord Westfall shows up and his brother makes it clear that Westfall might be looking for someone she decides to figure out who he is searching for, but her interrogation turns into a night of passion.

Emily intrigues Nate and while he wants discover who she really is he cannot deny that there is something so much more than that that makes him want to get to know her. Emily is terrified that Westfall will discover who she is and that her past will finally catch up to her, but she cannot deny that she doesn't really want to avoid her. Luckily she has made quite a few friends in the last few years and she enlists their help in finding ways around Westfall's investigation. For the first time in years she leaves the gambling club and finds that time with him is quite enjoyable and that she might have finally found someone to trust. but it is still inevitable that he will realize who she is. Once he does his focus is on learning the truth and determining how best to protect Emily from the man who is obviously determined to do her harm. Together they must find a way to thwart Lord Ebberling and a way for them to reconcile the differences in their station. It takes big risks and a big sacrifice before Emily and Nate find their happily ever after.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed to find out this was a Tantalous Club book as I am getting a little tired of the gambling club trend in romance novels lately. I also did not appreciate that there were so many appearances by previous characters from other books, especially toward the end when they were present as often as the main characters of this story. Emily was a difficult character to understand as she seemed to be changing so often throughout the book, however I did admire how she took herself from poacher's daughter to an exalted position in a Lord's house through sheer force of will. Her running away from her past was understandable but considering where she ran to also rather stupid and her actions after Westfall appeared were not those of someone who was truly terrified as she should have been, and claimed to be. Westfall was a humorous character to me because of the actions he took to hide his own past as a spy from the world and I admired his determination to find out the truth about Emily and his willingness to rethink his opinions and trust her.

Nate and Emily worked very well together and I appreciated the few moments we did get to see them enjoying themselves. Unfortunately most of those moments were about both of them trying to investigate each other's motives or, later on, trying to find away to get Lord Ebberling. That part of the story was really the main focus of the novel and really a big part of their relationship as well, so while it worked and was engrossing enough, I didn't particularly get into the story or the relationship because of it. There was plenty of sex between them but it was very short and perfunctory and really not exciting at all. The Lord Ebberling plot took over and dragged on in my opinion for far too long and then ended in a completely unbelievable and ridiculous way that had me rolling my eyes. The ending of the novel itself was really interesting and the way that Nate and Emily chose to overcome the difference in their stations and avoid a complete scandal completely shocked me, but was much closer to realism than many other romances end. The writing was, as expected from Enoch, fun and fast and very well done.

Rating: A fun, fast read with two fun characters it was easy to admire and while they worked together I wish the relationship had taken more of a central role in the novel.

Rules to Catch a Devilish Duke

Rules to Catch a Devilish Duke by Suzanne Enoch L

Sophia White is the unacknowledged and illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Hennessey and his maid and as such she knows she will never have a proper marriage, or a truly respectable life. She has found employment as a card dealer at the Tantalus Club and in doing so has found the only place she has ever belonged and the only friends she has ever had. But her job has also drawn lots of attention and the Duke has decided that she will marry a man of his choosing or he will shut down the club. Loathe to do anything to hurt her friends she agrees to her father's choice, a self-righteous vicar in some far away time who has promised to dedicate his life to reforming Sophia. Before she sacrifices herself she has decided to have one last happy holiday and so accepts an invitation to spend the season at the country estate of Adam Baswhich, the Duke of Greaves. Adam invited Sophia because she is the best friend to Camille, Lady Blackwood, wife of his close friend, Lord Blackwood, and because he cannot deny that doing so will certainly create a stir among his priggish and lordly guests, especially his sister, the very proper Lady Eustace. Because of a claus in his father's will Adam must marry by his 30th birthday, in a month, or risk losing the entirety of his unentailed inheritance to Eustace's son, so he has also invited plenty of the ton's most eligible bachelorettes.

When the bridge connecting his estate to the nearest village collapses Adam and Sophia find themselves stranded together with no one but his judgmental sister and the servants for company. It does not take long before they are becoming closer than they either thought possible and even while both know that Adam cannot possibly marry Sophia, they throw caution to the wind. Adam decides that the one gift he can give Sophia is to try and get her out of her marriage to the preacher by contacting the friends her father has decided to ruin, but he continues in his search for a bride even while acknowledging that none of them will come close to Sophia. Sophia is furious when Adam offers her a position as his mistress as she believed he had come to respect her and so she decides to give up any hopes she had and begin her new life as the pastor's wife. However, Adam has no intention of letting her go and her leaving was just what he needed to realize that bucking conventions and defying everyone's expectations will be a perfect way to start the future he is determined to have with the woman he loves.

I very much enjoy reading Suzanne Enoch because she writes smooth and satisfying romances that have lots of romantic development in her story and writes characters that are easy to like and root for, and mixes some good sexiness in with it. This book was no exception and I found myself breezing through this, liking the characters and the plot, but finding myself irked by some of her more irritating elements. Sophia was very confident and self-assured, with hints of vulnerability that made her more realistic, and her dedication to her friends was admirable. Adam was reliable and fun and I loved his interactions with Sophia, but the book did make much of his little fits of temper, and while I understood I was supposed to be awed by how Sophia could sooth him, I found myself more than a little skeptical of his suitability for marriage.  Sophia and Adam spent quite a bit of time together, but all of their positive interactions occurred before the rest of society intruded, and once they did their relationship tottered horribly. His quest for a bride really made me like him less, as he openly sought to begin a relationship with someone else, while refusing to give up Sophia.

There was some very steamy sex between them, but given their histories I was annoyed that it took so long for them to start sleeping together. I did not have a problem with her not being a virgin, it would have been a little too unbelievable if she had been and I admired her acceptance of her past, and I admired his acceptance of it as well. I am always irked when they is a major problem standing in the way of everyone's happiness that is easily solved and her marrying the pastor is one such issue. It was clear from the beginning that if he wanted to Adam could call in his own connections and put a stop to it, so when it dragged on for so long it became annoying and the drama it caused at the end was unnecessary and made Sophia come across as far too prideful. The end was amazingly rushed which really just served to show how ridiculous all the obstacles in their path were, as Adam took care of all of her problems with her father with just a conversation and while Sophia put up some token resistance to Adam, it really seemed to be just for show.

Rating: A very enjoyable and readable book that strained even my capacity for unrealism in romances and suffered from the easily solvable problem.

Taming an Impossible Rogue

Taming an Impossible Rogue by Suzanne Enoch 

The Marquis of Fenton is humiliated when his longtime fiance runs out on him at the church and takes up residence at a scandalous gambling hall working as a hostess. He hires his cousin, Keating Blackwood, to bring her back to him and offers him 10,000 pounds, and as Keating is in desperate need of funds he agrees. Lady Camilla Pryce took one look at Fenton and realized that if he'd never even said hello in all the years they'd been engaged, their marriage was doomed. She enjoys the freedom of working at the Tantalus club and the friendships she is making. When Keating shows up at the club it stirs quite a scandal as he had previously admitted to killing his lover's husband, earning himself the nickname "Bloody Blackwood." Camilla finds herself drawn to Keating anyway, especially since he admits that he is trying to get her back with Fenton and does not lie about his motives.

Camilla agrees to go along with Keating and allows him to escort her around town and as they get to know each other they discover they have a lot in common. They both have ruined reputations and for each of them the other is the only one who understands their motivations and why they have done what they have. Keating trusts her with his deepest secret; that he had a child with his former lover and he has been supporting her for years and he needs the promised money from Fenton to support his son. Camilla knows what she must to do to help the man she has fallen in love with and agrees to the marry Fenton and give up the chance of something more- give up the chance for love. But luckily their friends are determined for neither of them to settle and they make their own discoveries that make a happily ever after possible for Keating and Camilla. 

I loved both Keating and Camilla because they were both noble, and scared, and full of hope and passion that had been tamped down by society but together they were able to be true to themselves and be happy. Camilla was wonderful and so real and I felt like every emotion she was feeling was so true and I was rooting for her the entire time. Keating was great as the reformed rake who had made the hard decisions and was willing to live with the consequences of his actions. They were able to heal each other's hurts and become better, happier people with each other and I really liked reading about each moment they spent together and luckily there was quite a lot. It made their relationship seem so strong and based on a really strong connection. Because of their noble-ness there was not very much sex but there was some but it was not exactly hot. 

There was a lot of talk about Keating's past in this novel, and with good reason, but it got to be a little too much for me and I got tired of both of them being so willing to sacrifice their own happiness in order to save the other. A little of that is good but what they were doing just came across as ridiculous and of course, everything was wrapped up a little too conveniently in that department for my taste. I really enjoyed reading about Camilla's relationship with her family because she had to deal with so much from them and learn how to be independent. I thought there was a decent presence from previous characters and the next novel was set up very nicely. The writing was, as always, fast and fun and very enjoyable.

Rating: A fun book with two very lovable characters who could be a little too self-sacrificing for my taste, but overall had a very strong connection.

A Beginner's Guide to Rakes

A Beginner's Guide to Rakes by Suzanne Enoch 1030

Diane Benchley, Countess of Benchley, returns to London amidst a firestorm of gossip after she and her husband had fled England for Vienna chased by creditors demanding payment for her husbands debts. When Lord Cameron dies Diane is left nearly penniless and uses her skills to convince people that he had left her all the unentailed properties and is determined to never ever be under any man's thumb again. Oliver Warren, Marquis of Haybury, hears the rumors surrounding Diane's return and decides he wants nothing to do with her. The two of them had engaged in a brief affair in Vienna and when he had found that he was falling for her he hightailed it back to London to make nice with his uncle who was threatening to leave him a bankrupt title. Diane felt betrayed and she too wants nothing to do with Oliver, until her partner in waiting passes away and the only person she can think who could help her is Oliver. Diane wants to make gambling finally work to her advantage and plans to open a club in her own home and as a dedicated gambler himself, Oliver is the perfect partner.

Oliver is not eager to help Diane, but she has information about the one time he cheated at cards and he cannot risk his reputation at the table so he agrees to loan her money to help start her venture, to teach her employees- all female- how to work at a club, and to move in upstairs but leave her alone. Diane needs to keep her distance from Oliver and even carries a gun around for protection if he should get ideas, but he quickly proves to be more than she can handle, moving around as if he owns the place, and truly becoming a partner and helper in her business, instead of the reluctant victim of her schemes. As he sees her attempt to run such a complicated establishment and try so hard to prove that she doesn't need anyone, the more he wants her to need him and he wants to make up for what he did long ago and show that he has changed and there is a future for them. Diane is terrified of how much Oliver is coming to mean to her and how much he can hurt her but it it is only with her help that she can take care of her problems; both from her family and coming from inside herself, and they can finally find love together.

Diane had admirable qualities like her ability to look after herself and her complete self-centered-ness was a change of pace from the usual romance novel heroine. That is about all I can say about her that is good because I found nothing about her to be sympathetic, likable, or worthy of anyone falling in love with her. She was cold, incredibly cold, and it was impossible for me to warm to her because she was only concerned with herself; her money, her feelings, her ability to take care of herself. The book briefly mentions how she is taking in women who have nowhere else to go, but it felt more like a desperate attempt to make her seem human and it fell far short. Oliver was definitely more human but I felt like there was nothing special about him and I could not really get into his character because I was so horrified that he was in love with such an unlikeable heroine. Their relationship started years prior so I felt like I missed out on them falling in love- like perhaps Diane had been lovable back then but I saw no evidence of this in the present.

I felt like their relationship, in the present, got off to a very poor start with the blackmail because I felt like it gave one person far too much power in the relationship. Enoch tried to make it seem like Oliver was there, eventually at least, of his own free will and that Diane's control was not so all encompassing, but I just did not get over her holding a pistol to him for much of the book. I also did not enjoy that their relationship was based on one-upping each other like they were in constant competition and trying to prove something to the other. It did not come across as the basis for a stable, or very romantic relationship. They were both supposedly incredibly attracted to each other and while their was quite a bit of lust on both their parts, the sex, when it finally occurred, was not all that impressive even while I recognized that might be because I didn't really like the characters. The side plot involving her ex brother-in-law was interesting, but after so much to do over what would happen it was settled incredibly quickly and in a rather ridiculous manner.

Rating: Two characters I disliked in a romance that was far from romantic and a side plot that was ridiculous, but the writing style was easy and fast paced.

Wicked Nights With a Lover

Wicked Nights With a Lover by Sophie Jordan 1213

Marguerite Laurent leads a quiet life as an end of life nurse until one of her patients hires a fortune teller who foretells Marguerite's death, but only after she marries a man who is desperately in love with her. She is at first skeptical but when other things the fortune teller had predicted come true she worries that she has only a short amount of time left and has not lived her life to the fullest. When she goes to visit the fortune teller she is confronted by a very dark and handsome brute of a man who spends brief moments with her in a carriage, awakening passions she never knew she had, before disappearing. Ash Courtland grew up on the streets of St. Giles and managed to claw his way out of the gutter with the help of Jack Hannigan, the king of the London's underworld. He built quite a fortune for himself and Jack and he is furious when he discovers that Jack plans on leaving his half of the fortune to his three illegitimate daughters- after he marries them off to peers of the realm.

Jack is determined not to let this come to pass and he decides to kidnap one of Jack's daughters and marry her himself. Marguerite has no love for her father, but she does answer his summons, only to find herself kidnapped by the dark and handsome stranger she had met outside the fortune teller's house. Jack proposes a very reasonable marriage that offers her freedom and she can't deny her attraction for him, but she cannot get the prediction of her death out of her mind. She can't prevent herself from succumbing to Jack's overtures and spending so much time with him on the way up to Scotland she begins to think that this might be one risk taking. Jack cannot figure out why Marguerite cannot make up her mind about whether she wants to marry him or run away from him. When she finally makes her decision she is left with the knowledge she may have sealed her own fate and it is only now that she fully realizes how much she has to live for. She would do anything to prevent her untimely death so she can live a full life with Ash, even cheat fate.

 The novel is fairly short; although it is a full 374 pages it has large type, large line spacing, and each chapter ends with a blank page. I felt while writing this review that I did not have very much to right about and really the bulk of the review was just set up for them finally meeting and beginning their relationship. I loved that Marguerite was a truly independent woman with a career and was making a go of it, however I found the attempt to fill her life with friends a tad weak as neither friend made an appearance and it felt like it was an attempt to bring past heroines into this novel. However, it set up her meeting with her two half-sisters very well and that was an element of the story that was very well done, if a little too briefly. I am rarely one for paranormal plots and fortune telling falls into that category for me but here I liked that it was more just a fun little way to get Marguerite to take a chance on life and set up her full leap into her relationship with Ash. I did not like that it served as the major sticking point in that relationship as well, as it just seemed a little too crazy.

We got only a brief backstory into Ash and his demons and I liked it better that way as it was just enough for me to gain insight into his actions and his feelings about Jack's betrayal. He was really just a typical romance novel hero from the wrong side of the track who wanted the girl whose parents didn't like him. Their trip up to Scotland was fun and lively providing plenty of opportunity for the two of them to get to know each other and talk. However, Marguerite also went through some very quick mind changes with agreeing to marry him and then changing her mind several times. She made an unbelievable amount of escape attempts and was, of course, waylaid by Ash who wasted no time taking her in hand. There were also some issues involving Ash being so scared of his feelings that he made some big mistakes that lead to an overdone emotional mess at the end, complete with dead relatives beckoning from a white light. There was some decent sex between the two, nothing too exciting, but the two of them were very obviously attracted to each other.

Rating: A very fun and fast book with two interesting if not spectacular characters. The book was satisfying, but nothing special.