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.

My Scandalous Viscount

My Scandalous Viscount by Gaelen Foley R

Carissa Portland and Sebastian, Viscount Beauchamp, have always had a rather antagonistic relationship with each trying to one up each other even while all of their friends have paired off and married. Carissa knows that Beau can tell her where her best friends have gone, but as part of the Inferno Club, Beau is honor bound to protect the safe location of his friends' wives while they have gone to Germany to try to put a stop to the evil Prometheans. Carissa has established herself as a "lady of information" among the ton and so she finds herself caught up in Beau's scheduled rendezvous with a mysterious lady. Unfortunately Beau is actually meeting his friend, a fellow Inferno Club member who has turned rogue as a hired assasin and is threatening to murder another of their Inferno Club members, who he has hostage, if Beau doesn't agree to stop searching for them. Carissa ends up shot and when Beau takes her to the Inferno Club for overnight care, it causes a scandal and both of them realize they must marry. Carissa and Beau are both determined to make the most of the situation and believe that they can have a happy marriage, even though both of them are entering it with secrets. Carissa is hiding her past affair with a poet while Beau is trying to protect her by disguising some of the more dangerous aspects of his life as an Inferno Club member.

Beau discovers on their wedding night that Carissa is not a virgin and while at first he is hurt, it causes him to reflect on the pain he has caused in other marriages with his rakish ways, so he is more upset at her for not telling him the truth than at her not being a virgin. Carissa worries that if she tells him she will ruin any chance of a happy future with him and is very aware that he is keeping secrets of his own from her. The Inferno Club has come under investigation from the government and Carissa decides to take matters into her own hands and do a bit of spying on her own which of course infuriates Beau and he forbids her to continue. But with the Inferno Club on the line and someone high up in the government obviously trying to create massive problems for Beau and his fellow spies, Beau must learn to finally open his heart and trust his wife in order for both of them to solve their mystery and ensure the safety of England and their friends.

I had definitely grown tired of the Inferno Club and the last entry in the series was one of the worst I have ever read, but I picked this up because the big Promethean conspiracy part was over and I was hoping that Foley would get back to writing fun and truly romantic novels. This book started that journey, but still was a long way from the best that she can do even while the mystery plot was far more interesting and did not complete overwhelm the story. Carissa is a nosy busybody whose inability to mind her own business is extremely unlikable even while we are supposed to believe she only does it to cover up her own indiscretion; this explanation makes no sense and does not make me likely to forget her issues. Her dedication to helping her husband is admirable but throwing herself into harms way, especially since she knows it is a dangerous situation, really puts her into TSTL territory. Honestly it is her fear of revealing the truth to Beau about her virginity, that most humanizes her to me and really makes her a relatable character because in that era it would be an anomaly for a man to forgive this in his wife.

Beau has his own secrets and it is far less forgivable that he continues to keep so much of his life secret from her than when she does the same. Even when she proves herself to be trustworthy and helpful, he throws up roadblocks to their happiness and it comes across as just a means of extending the novel. I did like reading about him developing feelings for Carissa and coming to love her and I really felt that if the book had focused more on the romance and their relationship that it would have been better off. Many of the problems I had arose from issues that only appeared during the mystery/ Inferno Club part and perhaps without that, they would have been perfectly wonderful characters. There was a decent amount of sex and it was pretty hot, but about halfway through the book other things started to take over and it kind of went by the wayside. The mystery plot was certainly interesting and involved conspiracies and secret identities and people coming back from the dead and I was actually intrigued by what would happen, and I liked that it meshed fairly well with the romance.

Rating: I did not precisely enjoy this book and would have definitely liked more romance, but I was interested in the mystery and it was an improvement.

My Ruthless Prince

My Ruthless Prince by Gaelen Foley

Emily Harper was the woodsman's daughter on the Westwood estate and had been in love with the son of the house, Drake, since she was little and though he returned her feelings it was made clear by both their family's that nothing could come of their relationship. So Drake went to fulfill his familial duty by becoming an Knight of the Order of St. Michael and studying to defeat the evil Promethean Council while Emily learned how to live without the man she loved. Drake was kidnapped by the Prometheans and after undergoing torture and refusing to break he lost his memory before being released by the Council President, James Falkirk, and now he feels he owes his loyalty to James. Even when he is brought back to England he cannot comprehend his old life and that his savior is evil, but he does understand that he has a special connection with his nurse, the beautiful Emily, and begins to regain his old memory. However, he cannot let his old Order friends kill James and he helps James escape and together they go to the Promethean stronghold in the Bavarian alps with Emily tagging along behind them.

Drake finds her and manages to convince the Prometheans that Emily is his mistress in order to save her life but Emily is still not entirely sure that Drake has truly returned from the dark side and worries that he may truly believe in the Promethean Plot to take over the world. Drake hatches a plan to burn the top 100 Prometheans during the eclipse when they all get together to sacrifice and innocent but his first duty is in protecting Emily and he still has qualms about putting James in harms way. But when the Prometheans discover the Emily is an innocent they decide that she would make the perfect sacrifice and Drake's plans are once again thrown to the wind. He and Emily realize they would sacrifice anything for each other, including their lives, and risk everything for one night together. However, there is also a Promethean civil war going on and a big battle between James and his enemy draws Drake back into the fray just as it looked as if and Emily were going to escape. Drake's fellow agents from the order show up just in time for the eclipse ceremony and they have one last chance to destroy the Prometheans and give Emily and Drake a chance for a happily ever after free from evil.

The first thing I quickly noticed was the Emily and Drake were going to take a backseat to the Promethean plot. This has been the case in most of this series, but in this book it was particularly bothersome to me because it was far more prevalent here than in the other books and because I felt like the author was really relying on the fact that they had fallen in love previously. They spent very little time alone together, probably 50 pages in the entire book if not less, and much of that was spent worrying about the Prometheans and what little was about their relationship was about their past and not who they were now. They had a strong connection from when they were little and they were destined for each other but I did not really get a sense for this at all and felt like it easily could have been two people in a desperate situation turning to each other for comfort which doesn't equal love to me unless they can be out of the stressful situation and still have that strong connection. The promethean plot finally came to a close in the only way it could have but I think it was a mistake for Foley to leave so much to be resolved in this book because there was so little room for the romance.

Emily was flat out impossible to like because her following him to Bavaria was so incredibly stupid that everything she did from that point on was just tinged with my knowledge of how dumb she was. I know we were supposed to see it as a sign of her love that she was willing to sacrifice so much for him, but since the plot that created those problems was so impossible to like in this book, I couldn't like anything that sprang from it, including her "noble" actions. Drake was teetering on the edge of complete destruction after being tortured and losing his memory and we are supposed to see how the love of a good woman can save any man but there were so many problems with this because it didn't really seem to make a difference. There were so many times it seemed like they could have gotten away but Drake's duty got in the way or even his loyalty to James prevented him from securing her safety. He claimed she was the most important thing to him but his actions really proved otherwise and it seriously annoyed me and made it impossible for me to like him. And last but not least the writing was horrible and purply and flowery and every other page there was something ridiculous that made me want to laugh, for example this gem, "she was not prepared to take the chance of leaving this life without having poured out the fullness of her love upon him." Seriously, wtf?

Rating: Two awful characters, overly awful flower writing, a overwhelming "side" plot, and a complete lack of romance leads to a terrible romance novel.

Secrets of a Proper Countess

Secrets of a Proper Countess by Lecia Cornwall 1002

Isobel Maitland, the widowed Countess of Ashdown, is entirely proper and respectable because of a clause in her late husband's will that will leave her penniless, and without any access to their son, if she remarries or causes any sort of scandal in the opinion of his mother, the very controlling Honoria. Love for her son has kept Isobel on the straight and narrow until the anonymity that a masked ball offers, and the pull of the darkly handsome and mysterious rake, Phineas Archer, Marquess of Blackwood, becomes too much to resist. A very heated tryst in the garden becomes both of their obsession and while Isobel is determined to forget it ever happened because of what she risked for a moments pleasure, Phineas is equally determined to find the woman he cannot get out of his mind. Even though he presents himself as a carefree rogue, his reputation is actually carefully cultivated to disguise his true identity as an agent of the crown and the more difficult it becomes to find his mysterious woman, the more he wonders if she could possibly be a spy or a traitor; someone he will have to turn over to the police.

Meanwhile Phineas' sister, Marianne, who happens to be married to his friend and government contact, meets Isobel and her son, Robin, in the park and Robin befriends Marianne's own son and she decides to take Isobel under her wing. Phineas immediately dismisses the far too uptight Countess as his mystery lady and Isobel is torn between outrage and relief that her indiscretion will not have the consequences she feared. Phineas does need to find this woman, who might be a spy, because the government has learned that someone plans to kidnap the French king and send him to Napoleon. With the two of them spending so much time together it is inevitable that he does eventually discover that the judgmental countess he has been avoiding is the masked woman he has been hungering for. He realizes he misjudged her and is determined to prove that she can let loose with him, but she still fears what will happen with her son. Phineas will have to bring down a spy ring and Isobel's in-laws before she can be free and they can love each other without fears.

I liked Isobel because she was so genuinely torn between her desire to live her life and enjoy herself and be a woman and her love for her son and her need to be there for him and ensure that he wasn't left to her in-laws. I did, at times, become irritated with the situation because I felt like all the power was taken away from her and that made it rather difficult to read because of the element of darkness. However, Isobel handled it the only way she could and it felt very real when she did let loose and the guilty emotions that accompanied it. I really enjoyed the parts of the story that were told from her point of view because she obviously very intelligent and very capable and when I wanted her to stand up for herself, her inner musings made it clear why she did the things that she did. Phineas was likable, but I felt like I had read the good guy pretending to be a rake because he's really a spy storyline, before and he did not bring anything new to the story. My favorite part of his storyline was when it involved Isobel and his determination to find her and later, his determination to make her life better and make her happy.

I really liked their relationship, but felt like there was not enough time where Phineas knew who Isobel was. Most of their time spent together as their real selves, was spent with them not really liking each other for various reasons, and while they certainly enjoyed each other masked, I wanted some more Isobel and Phineas time. The sex between them was HOT, and I was really glad that it didn't all take place masked, but because there was such an emotional connection between them I would have liked to see more of that in the physical aspect of their relationship. As I said I was really frustrated by the circumstances that controlled her life, but I could see how for the time period it was fairly normal. The secondary characters were excellently done, their motives explained, they were well developed and I really enjoyed getting brief parts of the story told from their point of view. There was a mystery/ spy/ kidnapping plot involving lots of higher ups that did not really hold my attention and wasn't very interesting, but it did not take over the book or overwhelm.

Rating: An interesting, if not precisely fun read, featuring a very admirable heroine and a romance that could have been more developed, with a writing style that dragged at times.

The Bed and the Bachelor

The Bed and the Bachelor by Tracy Anne Warren 831

Lord Drake Byron is more concerned with his mathematical theorems and scientific experiments than about women or his house so when his housekeeper abruptly quits he needs to find a new one quick. Anne Greenway is young and beautiful, but she has all the credentials and Drake convinces himself that he will avoid her and not act on the attraction he feels for her. But Anne is actually Sebastianne and has been placed in Drake's home by a French agent in order to find the mathematical cipher that Drake designed for the English army to communicate in code. Her "handler" Vacheau has made it clear that if she fails, her two younger brother and her scientist father will suffer, so Anne agrees to the mission even though she does not like the idea of spying or of betraying anyone. Unused to her new housekeeper duties Anne relies on the help of the other servants in the house, who are far nicer and more accommodating than she had expected and makes her upcoming betrayal even harder to contemplate. And her attraction to Drake proceeds to get in the way of everything.

Drake has the best of intentions but Anne's scent lingers throughout his house and he cannot get his mind off of her. In an attempt to get the key to his safe that he wears around his neck she gives him a sleeping potion, but when she goes to retrieve it he wakes up in a daze and, in the haze of sleep and lust, they mutually seduce each other. Drake knows that there is something special with Anne and although she refuses to become his mistress, he accepts her becoming his secret lover. Anne wants nothing more than to continue this new idyll, but Vacheau is hounding her to get the cipher and she knows her newfound love is destined to end horribly. She knows what she must do, even if it leaves her heartbroken and Drake hating her, but she holds something back from Vacheau to use as leverage. Drake too has been falling in love and he realizes that he needs Anne in his life, so he is horrified to find that she has left him and then determined to get her back. He is willing to risk everything to find her and will do anything to save the woman he loves and bring her back into his life forever.

I have found the previous books in the Byron series enjoyable, if rather bland, and I expected this to be about the same and for the most part it was, except I found it lacking in some of the elements I have come to expect from Warren. Having Anne be a spy for the French was certainly a surprising change to the book and I was torn between liking her for being different and being annoyed at the copout explanation we were given to explain her actions. While I found her dedication to her family and her willingness to do anything, to protect him, I was confused as to why she was even asked to perform this task as she seemed like just a random person in France. Aside from her spying, which was not really done in a heart-racing manner, there wasn't much about Anne that set her apart and I felt like she was rather bland as a character in general which I know is weird to say about a spy, but is indeed true. Drake was a great mathematician and while I like the idea of a handsome and studious hero, he also fell rather flat to me and I just didn't get any feeling that he was a something special.

I have problems when the author has to tell the reader how attracted the characters are to each other because it does not come across naturally in the book, and this was the case here. I definitely feel the lust or steam and even when they (fairly early on) consummated their relationship, I felt like it was rather lackluster and altogether unimpressive. Their relationship never picked up momentum in my opinion; it just dragged on and on and on with very little being accomplished. Suddenly she was in love with him and he was giving up his bachelorhood to marry a woman he barely knew. It did not make any sense to me because they spent so little time together, just learning about each other in their relationship as master and servant which isn't appropriate. The spy sup-plot took over the book to me and took over the romance and I felt like the author wanted to write a mystery and threw a romance in there only because it was expected. As usual Warren's writing style is superb and I enjoyed the flow of the novel, but I did not like the numerous appearances by previous characters to let us know how happy everyone was.

Rating: Two uninteresting characters engaging in a slow and sedate romance with a side-plot I did not enjoy, but the book was readable and I did find moments that I liked.

A View to Kiss

A View to Kiss by Caroline Linden 622

Mariah is the beautiful and well-loved daughter of the Earl of Dorcester, who has made quite a name for himself in politics. The family has returned from years of travel and Mariah is thrust on the social scene to find a husband, and while her parents will leave the decision to her, Mariah is horrified to find that the men of the ton bore her. Harry Sinclair works for the crown as a spy and his latest job is to keep an eye on three men whom the government believes could be targets of discontents. So Harry dons several disguises while he discreetly follows the Earl of Dorcester around London, including that of Sir Henry Wroth, an elderly gentleman with a hunchback and a naughty sense of humor. At one of her parents balls, Mariah escapes the crows out on the balcony where she runs into a mystery man who tempts her and intrigues her like no man she has met. Harry knows that Mariah is far above him and that he should not be trifling with her, but he cannot stop himself from flirting with the beautiful and intelligent young woman, but he leaves before giving her his name.

More determined than ever to find out who he is, she enlists the help of her cousin and her mother, even while she doesn't reveal the entire story. Harry cannot resist and finds himself sneaking into Mariah's window at midnight to spend time with her and during these interludes he tells her about himself while still maintaining his anonymity. He begins to wonder what is going on with his latest mission because it does not seem like his usual protection business and he is proven right when he confronts his superior to discover that the men he is following, including Mariah's father, are possible traitors to the crown. Mariah realizes that Sir Henry Wroth is her Harry and sets out trying to spend every second possible with him, even while Harry is trying to keep his distance because he feels like he is not worthy of Mariah. But then Harry finds out that the Earl, and possibly Mariah, are in danger from the real traitors and when he intervenes he is thrust into Mariah's sights and she has no intention of ever letting him go; she just needs to convince Harry that they belong together.

This book languished on my bookshelves for awhile because I have not had much luck with Linden's spy novels, even while I have loved her other books. Mariah was rather one-dimensional I felt like and I couldn't really find anything about her that set her apart or made her special and I just felt like I didn't get much of anything from her. She was bored by the men of the ton, but I could not see why they weren't just as bored with her because I certainly was. Harry was a little better because we were given some interesting background about his family, but I feel like an interesting family history isn't really enough to make him interesting. I guess Mariah was drawn to him because he met her on dark terraces and in her bedroom in the dark because I didn't see what else there could have been. The two spent very little time together in the book and that very little time was secretive, furtive, and over incredibly quickly. I don't understand how either of them could feel like they knew the other well enough to fall in love. I really wanted these two to have had more time together- maybe that would have made them more interesting.

The majority of the book was taken up by her trying to find out who Harry was or thinking about how she wished she knew who Harry was and by him doing his spy job and trying to convince himself to stay away from Mariah. Really, that does not make a very interesting book and I will say again that I was so disappointed in the very stingy amount of time these two spent together. There were a few kissing scenes that got a little heated, but the only actual sex came at the very end and by then I was just eager for the book to be over and it was not that hot at all. Both of their families were interesting and I thought that her family was particularly well written because they were traditionalists but still were really just looking out for the best interests of their child. The spy plot was interesting at first, but when the romance completely stagnated I got frustrated that the spy plot was progressing while the relationship wasn't. I was able to guess what was going on before Harry and I just wanted to slap him for not seeing it too, and I wish that it had taken a backseat to more romantic developments.

Ratings: The book had a nice flow and writing style, but there was little romantic development and far too much spying in a book where neither character was able to pull me in.

My Irresistible Earl

My Irresistible Earl by Gaelen Foley 428

Mara Bryce, the widowed Lady Pierson, has devoted the last years of her life to her toddler son, Thomas. She is not prepared when her childhood sweetheart, Jordan Lennox, the Earl of Falconridge, reappears in her life. Jordan is the only one who knows how horrid life with her family was and yet when he left to serve his country, he did not send her a single letter. Feeling she had no other choice, she married Lord Pierson, only to find out later that he was not the caring man he seemed, and his death was not something she mourned. Jordan is actually a member of the Inferno Club, a secret Order that works for the crown and is devoted to destroying the Promethean Council, a club of evil-doers who want to use black magic to gain control over Europe. He has never forgotten the beautiful young woman he fell in love with and had to abandon because of his duties to his fellow Inferno members, and upon first seeing her again he is determined not to let her back into his life. Mara remembers how it felt when Jordan abandoned her and she believes that he had been merely toying with her when she was younger and thus is equally determined to not let him back into her life.

Things never go precisely as planned and with the rest of the Inferno Club so happily married, Jordan wonders what he missed out on when he gave Mara up all those years ago. Seeing her with her son makes him yearn for what he never had and suddenly he decides that it would be a good idea for Mara to be back in his life, however he knows that he can never tell her about his secret life. Conveniently Mara is close with the Prince Regent, and his work with the Inferno Club, requires that he infiltrate himself with a member of the Regent's inner circle as he is believed to be working for the Prometheans. Like many in London, he worries that Mara 's closeness with the Regent means that she is his mistress, and it brings up all sorts of jealousy in him. Mara finds herself quickly falling back under Jordan's spell, he is courteous and charming and he is so kind to her son, but she feels like there is something he is hiding from her. Even when things begin to look to be going well for them the Prometheans come out in full force, using everything at their disposal to try to found out who the members of the Inferno Club are, and will stop at nothing to get their way. Jordan has to trust Mara with the truth and his heart, and she has to forgive him for the past before they can move on and love each other.

I have enjoyed the Inferno Club series so far because I like Foley's writing style and the way she blends serious intrigue and murder with some really great romance. She once again nails the characters with Jordan and Mara and I will admit I am a sucker for lost love and the angst that it brings. Mara is a passionate woman who cares deeply about her son and I really like the way that Thomas was the center of her life and yet she still came across as a well-rounded character. Jordan was also great as the hero torn between his duty and his love and who has lived his life trying to have no regrets, but is now realizing that he is due for a major change in life. Their relationship in the past was touched on briefly, enough for me to get a feel for how they got on and to recognize that they did have a deep attraction and set the stage for what was to come, but the main focus was on their current relationship and how it progressed. Their relationship felt very natural and they had so many qualities that complimented each other and they had to deal with so many fears that came in between them and deal with their past. The sex between them was pretty hot, but it wasn't as frequent as it could have been.

Former heroes and heroines from Foley's other books make infrequent appearances, but I never felt like their appearances hit me over the head of took over from the main characters, rather they just served as a back drop and were colleagues of Jordan's. The Promethean/ Inferno Club plot has been one of the very few intrigue/ spy/ mystery/ conspiracy plots that I have been able to stand in romances. Most of the time they are either overwhelming or they just seem to be there to fill up space and are boring and not at all important. This plot is an integral part of the plot because it influences their relationship as far as them breaking up to begin with and then him "using" her to get closer to the Prince Regent, and also because his involvement in the Inferno Club really made him the man that he is today. It was also interesting and I love that she tells some of the story from the point of view of the bad guys and the suspense is just right. I also like that the reader is "in the know" about what is going on so we don't feel lost or too on edge, but that there is still a little mystery there about what is going to happen.

Rating: A strong showing by Foley who presents another strong romance with a fun side plot, but I would probably give it only 3 1/2 stars because it dragged at points.

How to Woo a Reluctant Lady

How to Woo a Reluctant Lady by Sabrina Jeffries 2211

For years Lady Minerva Sharpe had loved Giles Masters, her brothers friend from afar, but it did not take long for her love to wither after she snuck into a scandalous party and he compared her to a tart and a doxy. He was in the process of stealing some documents from the host of the party and she has no idea that his reaction was fear that she would reveal what he had been up to. Over the years Minerva had written Giles into her very popular pulp fiction novels as the hero/ villain of the story, Lord Rockton, including the thieving incident. Giles had been working for the Crown, trying to find evidence against a swindler and when his handlers see the resemblance between him and Rockton they demand and end to the writings. Mrs. Plumtree has issued the ultimatum to her wayward grandchildren that they must all marry quickly or all of them will forfeit their inheritance. While her two older brothers have already complied, Minerva still hopes that she will be able to find a way of getting her grandmother to rescind the ultimatum.

Giles shows up at Halstead Hall after Minerva has placed an ad in the paper looking for a husband and it does not take him long to realize that he wants to be Minerva's husband. He has been battling his attraction to her for years but his work for the Crown has required him to appear a dissolute gambler. Now he is a respectable barister and can offer Minerva a real life, however she only agrees to it if it's a pretense because she hopes her grandmother will be furious. It is Minerva's brothers who are furious and completely against the match and it is not long before their suspicions are proven correct when Minerva and Giles are caught in a compromising position and forced to marry. While the bedroom aspect of their marriage works smoothly, Minerva is disturbed to discover that Giles is keeping many secrets from her. When Giles receives blackmail threats the secrets become even more harmful to their relationship and both begin to worry that they will never get past this. But when they find a clue into Minerva's parents' deaths they must work to help each other and solve the mystery and find love.

Well this book took me a VERY long time to read and I will admit that part of it was due to the slow nature of the book, the majority of it was because I spent far too much time doing stuff besides reading such as school, shopping, and watching television. I really liked the Sharpe family in Jeffries' previous two books and I think it has something to do with the fact that I like Jeffries' heroes more than I like her heroines and when the heroine is the "main" character it rather drags the book overall. Minerva was interesting because she was a writer, but I felt like there was nothing unique about her as all of her other characteristics could have been shared with every other romance novel heroine. Giles was also a typical hero as he had a past as a ne'er do well and a scandalous past and hidden demons in his closet that were far more bark than actual bike. Even his work for the home office was a little bland and not developed enough for me to understand precisely what he was doing and why it was so important. Neither of them were as well done or interesting as any of the characters in her previous books in the series.

This book continues the minor intrigue into the Sharpe parent's death that was covered up by the grandmother and while presented as an accidental shooting and a suicide, may have been an intentional murder suicide or a double murder. This was definitely a side plot to the story and I rather enjoyed it because it was in the back ground, it served to bring both of them very close together, and I really want to know what happened to their parents! Unfortunately his blackmail scheme played a much larger overall part in the story and was the cause of much dissension and problems between Minerva and Giles and yet I really didn't care about it. It seemed like a big deal was made about something that was not and I got sick of it rather quickly. It did create some very nice angst and tension between them which was nice as it broke up the monotony. There was some pretty hot sex between them, nothing too scorching, but there was quite a bit of it and it was also a nice break from the otherwise rather boring prose. I am hoping that the next additions in the series will be much improved.

Rating: This book had redeeming qualities and while I can see that some people would enjoy it, it was far too slow and predictable for my taste.

Nothing But Deception

Nothing But Deception by Allegra Gray 1205

The widowed Beatrice Pullington is quietly enjoying life, going to social events, spending time with close friends, and being a secret poet. She accompanies friends to the home of Lord and Lady Willoughmere to see an exhibition of Philippe Durand's work. As a famous international painter, Philippe no longer takes on commission and just paints those people and things that inspire him. Upon her deathbed her mother revealed the identity of his real father, a famous painter and English Lord, Lord Owen, so Philippe made a trip to England. When he sees Beatrice he knows that he must paint her and in front of the entire gathering he invites her to pose for him, causing quite a stir among the uptight ton members present. Beatrice is both scandalized and intrigued by the offer and agrees to pose for him. The two go to the ancestral estate of the Duke of Beaufort, her friend Elizabeth's husband, to find the perfect place for the painting and begin spending quite a bit of time together.

At a ball Beatrice discovers a coded message hidden in her pelisse and, believing it to be a love note, she decodes it and heads to the meeting arranged in the note. There she discovers that it is actually a French plot, coinciding with Napoleon's return to France, so she immediately tells the Duke of Beaufort who takes her Viscount Castlereagh. He enlists her to keep an eye out for any information she can give him about the men she saw, and meanwhile she goes about in society with Philippe on her arm. It is not long before she does indeed have more information to give to Castlereagh but unfortunately her identity has been revealed to those she is spying on and they quickly set out to silence her and anyone else who might know what she knows. Philippe is there to help her but he is upset that she was keeping her involvement in spying a secret from him and it makes him question their relationship. When he himself is accused of being a spy, Beatrice knows she must do all she can to set him free in the hopes that their relationship can survive and they can both finally give in to love.

Gray's debut novel, Nothing But Scandal, was a complete success and I absolutely loved the story of Elizabeth and the Duke of Beaufort. Many of the elements in that story that I loved were lacking in this story, specifically the emotional connection and the development of the relationship between two very well written, and likable, characters. I love the widow who finds love and passion after not experiencing that with her deceased husband and Beatrice played the part beautifully. She was friendly and personable and happy with her life, even though there was something missing. She played a dangerous game in the spy ring, and while she did make at least one careless mistake, I never felt like she was behaving in an overtly careless way. I felt like she was remarkably levelheaded throughout the book and carried herself well. Philippe was not quite as well done and I did not really feel as connected with him, partly because he was such an artistic person and really seemed to see the world as an artist would. While he also played the hero, I felt like there wasn't really much to him.

This brings me to my biggest problem with this book which is that I felt almost no connection between Beatrice and Philippe at all. He was just magically struck by her when he saw her at a party and from there everything just seemed to develop at an alarming, and un-justified, rate. They spent very little time together, they didn't really discuss anything but the painting, and I really just did not see how they were just suddenly in love at the drop of the hat. There was a decent amount of sex between these two and it was fairly hot, but because the rest of their relationship was so lacking, I would have liked for there to have been more. The spy plot was very well done, with lots of twists and turns and back stabbing, not to mention lots of opportunities to showcase Philippe's heroism and Beatrice's level headedness, courage, and intelligence. Unfortunately the plot did not exactly excite me, there was no big surprise at the end and overall, it just felt lacking. Elizabeth and Alex Bainbridge make frequent appearances throughout the book, but I felt like they added more to the story than did the main characters of the story.

Rating: I know Gray can do better than this, but this book was lacking in the relationship department and the side plot overwhelmed the story and was not even interesting.