Surender to Sin

Surrender to Sin by Tamara Lejeune 609

When Abigail Ritchie calls of her engagement to a penniless Lord who wanted to marry her for her money, he retaliates by claiming that she stole the diamond engagement ring. Already hovering on the edge of society she takes the name Ms. Smith and goes to Hertfordshire with her elderly maid Paddles, hypochondriac Mrs. Sturges, and Mrs.

Sturges nurse and her companion. She chooses this location after a chance meeting in London with a distant cousin Cary Wayborn when she learns he lives there. Cary is trying to fix up his estate, Tanglewood, and is renting out part of his house and he is desperate for a woman as it has been so long. Her father is a wealthy merchant who makes Scotch whiskey and she is horrified when she learns that Cary owes her father money and has no intention of paying. It isn't long before his own cousin, Horatio, who hates that Tanglewood was left to Cary, enlightens her about Cary's long history of horrible spending habits. However, Cary is trying to work his way out of his hole.

All of the men in the village have taken quite a shine to Abigail and Cary does not exactly like all the attention she is garnering. But when things finally get physical between them, Abigail knows that she wants more than just sex from him and she worries that he will never regard her as a potential wife. When things go beyond mere touching, Cary decides that they must marry, but Abigail is still concerned that Cary does not love her, so Cary takes her to a rector's house and leaves her no choice but to marry him. When Cary's horrid sister, Juliet, shows up, Abigail runs back to London and much of Cary's stuff goes with her as Mrs. Sturgeon's companion steals much of it. Cary is devastated when he thinks that Abigail has left him, but Juliet, who has just been left by her own fiance, thinks she is the perpetrator. So once in London Cary needs to find Abigail, show her that he loves her and find out if she loves him, and somehow win over her father- who is not at all agreeable to the match.

It was really interesting to read about a hero without a magical all powerful knowledge of money and was actually responsible for his own financial problems. Most of them either have a ton of money or, if they don't, quickly make a whole bunch of it. It was quite refreshing to read about a hero who really needed to rely on the woman to help him through some tough times. Abigail on the other hand was quite the financial genius and gets frustrated quite a bit with Cary's financial problems. Neither really show much in the way of strong personality traits throughout the book and it was a little odd that these two fell in love with each other when all they really had going for them was some rather annoying banter. Abigail and Cary banter and argue for literally quite a lot of this book and it gets beyond annoying after only a little while. And it really seemed as if this banter was not at all romantic or sexy or really indicative of any true feelings between these two. It really just made it seem as though these two did not like one another and had nothing with which they could talk about together.

I really enjoyed the sex between these two as it was quite a nice change for them to be engages in more friendly banter with each other. I found it a little odd that he referred to his member as "the Prime Minister" while Juliet was the Queen and lovemaking was discussing important business. I also very much enjoyed when these two were talking about their relationship, even if I didn't like it when they talked about almost anything else. For awhile the side characters were funny in their little eccentricities- such as Mrs. Sturgeon's whining and complaining and her stupid bird. However, I got annoyed with her very quickly and even more so with the people around her, like Cary and Abigail, for not giving the grumpy old bird a slap on the face. I was also incredibly disappointed that the book featured Juliet and Wayborn and both came across as completely horrible people and were unbelievable mean to each other, judgemental, and just plain awful in every way. I kind of liked these two in their own book, and really they were quite ruined for me here.

Rating: This book had some big problems and I felt it really lacked romance really, but as usual, I do like Lejeune's fast-paced and fun writing.

The Heiress in His Bed

The Heiress in His Bed by Tamara Lejeune 517

Lady Viola Gambol is not at all pleased that her deceased father has arranged a not at all advantagious marriage to the Marquess of Bamph. He is in desperate need of her money, but she is not prepared to give herself to some random man in exchange for money. Her brother, the Duke of Fanshawe hires Julian Devize, to help with the marriage contracts. Julian is actually the second son of a baron, but he has stuck it to his family by becoming a working class stockjobber. When his family hires him to find his older brother in a brothel, he is startled to discover that a young virgin is being put up for auction without her knowledge, a young woman with connections to his employer, so he decides to purchase her. Unfortunate this requires that he "borrow" some money from the Duke. He takes Viola, whom he believes to be a Miss Mary Andrews, back to his place, tells everyone they're married, and after only a little ado decides that the two of them should marry. Viola believes herself in love and is thrilled that she has found a man who loves her for something besides her money.

But the Duchess of Berkshire recognizes Viola and she wants her own son, Simon, to marry her, so she plants a seat of doubt in Viola's ear and Viola runs off. Still thinking that she is Mary, Julian goes to the Duke to find Mary, but the Duke believes he is talking about the real Ma

ry and tells him the marriage is off. Then Julian hears that the woman has eloped with a Mr. Rampling, who just happens to live very close to Julian's sister and her husband so he hightails it down there to meet them. There Viola is pretending to a nursemaid to a drunken woman and helping the homely Lucy Rampling prettify herself- even if she is only interested in Alex Devize, Julian's brother, whom she believes is far too good for her. Viola just wants to know that Julian really does love her and plan to marry her, but thinks he just wants to make her his mistress. Much hijinks ensure as everyone believes that someone is marrying someone they're actually not, but in the end we manage to sort everything out- quite hilariously!

Viola is quite a bracing, and very easily dislikable, character who manages to deftly avoid complete horribleness. She is selfish, she is spoiled, she is quite judgmental, and she runs roughshod over everyone around her. Matters are helped because oftentimes she is right about what she is doing, but I had the most problems with her treatment of money and how she just threw it around. I can see her being a very troublesome character, but I found her interesting. Julian was a tad bizarre as the lordly son who bucked convention and alienates the ton by some barely legal business practices. They had some quite intriguing scenes between them but I wish there had been more. I like to have a few scenes where the protagonists spend some quality time together, just being nice to each other. The sex was hot enough, but there were some odd scenes where he was in such a hurry that the experience wasn't very good for her. I found it a little odd that Viola admired the fact that Julian was so disliked- she wanted a husband who inspired some feelings and she just didn't care which.

All of Lejeune's books that I have read have featured extensive mistaken identity plots that miraculously manage to be mostly amusing and not too annoying. Although there were definitely times I wanted to just have everything sorted out RIGHT NOW because it was getting a tad ridiculous, the vast majority of the time I was wonderfully amused and loving every minute of it. I think it's because something was always happening- there is very little downtime or fluff in the book.The cast of side characters, though quite extensive, is truly amazing and completely wonderful! Viola's brother is a delightfully amusing character who says the most ridiculous things because of his obsession with food, his obtuseness, and his own self interests in the oddest things. Some of my favorite scenes and quotes came straight from his mouth, including one where he refers to Bamph's mother as "the she-Bamph." Hysterical! There were a couple of side romances in this, from Julian's sister and her husband to Alex and Lucy and they added quite a bit to this book.

Rating: I did enjoy this book, but my favorite parts were really the parts where romance wasn't really involved- the funny parts for instance. Interesting, but not quite the best romance.

Simply Scandalous

Simply Scandalous by Tamara Lejeune

When Juliet Waryborn's brother Cary is badly beaten by footpads who claim to be hired by Lord Swale the night before Cary is set to race Swale (in a curricle) Juliet is determined to "avenge" her brother. She humiliates him by beating him in the curricle race and then further damages his reputation when he loses his temper with first her and then later her brother and his friend. Even Swale's father is angered with him and insists he makes ammends to the entire Wayborn family- preferrably by marrying Juliet. However Swale has no intention of marrying the female who humiliating and whom, he is sure, is entirely mannish. Despite his not at all attractive looks and his atrocious temper, which he never can seem to control, Swale thinks of himself as a great catch and thinks he is far to good for such an unladylike lady. He determines to make Juliet fall in love with him and so follows her out to Hertfordshire where she is staying with relatives in the hope that gossip in London dies down. While surprised that she is not what he expected as far as appearance wise he is not at all shocked when her behavior is not exactly welcoming.

Nevertheless the two of them begin to grow on each other and when Swale leaves for London and Juliet for Wayborn Hall they both have trouble keeping their mind on other things. Swale is scared that Juliet will marry her cousin, the very attractive Captain Cary, and Juliet is scared that Swale will marry the horrid Lady Serena, who has already broken several men's hearts and is only after money. And both of Juliet's brothers are determined that the two will not make a match and are joined by Swale's sister Maria who, with Lady Serena in tow, move into the estate next to Wayborn where the two waste no time giving her the cut. When Swale is assigned to watch over Cary Wayborn the two head off to Wayborn Hall where the crazy antics really start. Both Juliet and Swale are convinced the other is going to marry the wrong person and this causes much hilarity to ensue as they each try to both win over the other and play tricks on the family and friends determined to keep them apart. The mistaken intentions aren't cleared up until the very end leaving everything (but not everyone) very satisfactorily.

While I know that everyone has different tastes when it comes to attraction and the opposite sex and romance novels have a wide variety of appearances among the heroines, this book seems to take that a tad to far. Our hero has bright red hair, often unkempt, with long bushy sideburns, a nose described as both ugly and pug as well as a mouthful of crooked teeth. Juliet's appearance isn't as detailed but while it is clear she is not a diamond of the first water she is not at all displeasing to the eye. Later on it does seem as though Juliet begins to like his red hair and comments that she misses it when it is cut and does begin to fantasize about little red-haired children. But the teeth? It must be they're understated attraction to each other that leads to very minimal steam. There is one very very brief (and not sensual at all) kiss and one very fun and well-written sex scene. Despite the very few scenes the book doesn't seem at all lacking because of them and there is more than enough happening in the book that one doesn't really miss them.

Juliet and Swale are amazing characters and so much fun to read about. I was confused about the rapidity with which Swale changed from a tempermental brute to a gentleman determined to control his emotions in order to impress the woman he had fallen in love with as well as how fast the two of them had fallen in love with each other. I guess the way Juliet dealt with her mistaking Swale as the man who beat up her brother and how much Swale had changed for Juliet had something to do with it. The two characters spent a remarkably small amount of time in each other's company and even less just the two of them, but that doesn't stop the banter which is fun and not at all overwhelming. Despite the madcap mixups and numerous cases of mistaken identity, all of which made the book funny, the book wasn't exactly fun or fast to read. Unlike "To Catch a Heiress" the 'mistaken identity' plots (not exactly mistaken identity but mistaken people and intentions) were well written, crazy without being overwhelmingly unrealistic and persisted because the characters talked at cross purposes.

Rating: I certainly enjoyed the book, the characters and the remarkably way that Lejeune has with words. Not exactly everyone's cup of tea, but certainly a great read.