Ecstasy Wears Emeralds

Ecstasy Wears Emeralds by Renee Bernard 1027

Dr. Rowan West is a well-respected, if not entirely conventional, physician in London who is working hard to do the best he can for his patients and to forget his past. Gayle Renshaw desperately wants to become a physician but all the usual means are blocked because of her gender so she resorts to blackmail. She knows that Rowan was involved with her cousin, Charlotte, back in Standish Crossing, and despite not knowing the specifics, she does know that everyone holds Rowan responsible. Rowan is in need of an apprentice anyway and he sees that she has potential so he succumbs to her blackmail and agrees to train her but only if she will keep their arrangement semi-secret because he does not want other physicians to get wind of what is happening. He immediately puts Gayle to work and while she finds the work exhausting she is excited and motivated and he quickly realizes that she is dedicated and will make a find physician. Gayle has been lead to think of Rowan as heartless, but he proves to be kind and caring and his patients love him.

Suddenly Rowan and his friends come into the picture as members of "The Jaded" a not-quite club of men who apparently met in India while they were all held captive by a mad Indian maharaja. Their experience bonded them and when they left they stole a huge pile of treasure and divided it by color and now someone is after them and trying to get this treasure. The men are trying to decide what to do, but do not know who is trying to hurt them and do not know how to go about smoking him out and making themselves safe again. Rowan needs to keep Gayle safe, even if it means never letting her out of his sight, and this proves far less annoying than he had expected and the two of them spend quite a bit of time together. Gayle still has doubts about Rowan because of what she had learned about his role in her cousin's death, but she has learned that she should accept nothing as fact and should form her own opinions and the man she has come to know could never have harmed someone. Gayle and Rowan have to faith the threats against them, both internal and external, before they are able to accept their love.

I admired Gayle's drive to become a doctor, even if her reason for doing so is kept far too well hidden until the very end of the book, but I felt like her method of going about it was a little off. She foisted herself onto a man she had never met, a man who she believes may have killed her cousin, and while her drive and ambition were intriguing, it was too weird a situation for me. She was intelligent and good with her patients but I did not feel like there was much about her outside of her becoming a doctor. Rowan was very intelligent, even if he could easily have told Gayle the truth about her cousin and saved a whole bunch of bother, and his willingness to take on a female apprentice was years ahead of his time and he obviously cared for his patients. There relationship was actually pretty well developed because they spent a lot of time together even if much of it was in a master-apprentice relationship and/ or as them being doctors and learning. They learned a lot about each other and they were able to work well as physicians together, which seemed like a nice basis for people to get comfortable and fall in love.

They were drawn to each other physically but they both resisted for a long time because of their unorthodox working relationship. While when they eventually had sex it was steamy and inventive I did not feel like it was hot, and that might be because by that time I was just hoping the book would end soon and it was coming so late. Maybe unsatisfied desire can only last for so long before I feel like there's no point in satisfying it. The Jaded plot in this book came across as just ridiculous because it popped up completely out of the blue about halfway through and was not explained at all. Elements that were necessary to make sense of it were left out and new details that had been left out of the previous two books were thrown in- like dividing up the treasure by color- and they seemed haphazardly added for no reason. Nothing was resolved in the novel, because it is very clear that there are more books coming in the series and past happy couples appear repeatedly throughout the book and everyone is so happy with each other and such good friends and it annoyed me.

Rating: I felt like the Jaded plot dragged down the romance which already had some issues and I could not get in to what was happening with these 2 characters.

Romancing the Countess

Romancing the Countess by Ashley March 1025

Leah George was in love with her husband, Ian, when they married but shortly after the ceremony she discovered his affair with the wife of his best friend and for the last year she had gone through the motions without engaging her emotions. Sebastian Madinger, Earl of Wriothesly, was in love with his wife, Angela, for the entirety of their marriage and he lavished attention on her and their son, Henry. He is shocked and angry and hurt when Angela dies in a car crash with Ian and it is obvious that they had been having an affair. His first thought is of protecting Angela's reputation to ensure that no scandal touches Henry. Leah has had an entire year to get used to the knowledge of the affair and after hiding behind society's strictures for so long she has no desire to live the next year mourning a man she had lost long ago. Although Sebastian's plea for discretion does resonate with her she wants to live her life, she wants to not be lonely, to be the center of attention for once in her life so she decides to throw a house party, which of course infuriates Sebastian and he goes rushing off to stop her.

Sebastian cannot help but compare Leah to Angela and he finds that she smiles wider, she talks and laughs louder and she enjoys being with people for her own sake and not merely to make other people like her. He cannot get her out of his mind even while he recognizes that her actions threaten to start a scandal that could lead to the truth. Leah is enjoying herself even with Sebastian trying his hardest to prevent a scandal and she finds that the more he tries to interfere the more she enjoys his company and believes he is enjoying hers. But she is worried that he is constantly comparing her to Angela and finding her wanting, just as Ian did and she cannot forget how betrayed she felt in her marriage and she never wants to feel like that again. When Leah finally causes a scandal that could threaten all of them Sebastian finds that the most favorable solution is to marry her and realizes that this is something he wants; to be a part of Leah's life and to have her in his. She must overcome her fears and anxiety before she too realizes that Sebastian is the perfect man for her and in this marriage the love is mutual.

I absolutely loved Leah because she was so amazing and I found myself totally immersed in the story of this woman who was just starting to live her life. Reading about her and how she had lived a half life, following all the rules and doing exactly what was expected of her and slowly succumbing to unhappiness and then realized she had a whole life ahead of her and she had control of it, was completely moving. It was depressing that her actions kind of backfired and she ended up almost worse than where she started but I was with her every step of the way as she assuaged her loneliness and tried to find happiness. Sebastian was far too obsessed with protecting his dead wife's reputation but he made up for that with his love for his son which was so touching to read about. I also loved that he was in love with his wife and his betrayal felt so real and yet I could understand the process of him coming to realize that he needed Leah in his life. The comparisons he made between her and Angela were somewhat troubling, but it also served to show how perfect she was for him and how he and Leah were equals.

Their relationship definitely was well developed and underwent complete dissection through every step of the process; from mutual anger and hurt to fear of the newness of their feelings to eventually admitting their feelings and hoping they were returned. I really felt like these two were perfect for each other because they were foils for each other and, without claiming that they had a lot in common, I knew that they "meshed" together and they made each other so happy. There was not very much sex between them because she was haunted by her sexual past and she never wanted to be under a man's power. They danced around each other and wanted each other but there was not even a buildup of lust and the eventual culmination was rather disappointing because it took so long in coming. There was certainly a lot of angst in the book as the each questioned themselves over what happened and the influence of what happened was seen throughout the book. I never felt like it took over the romance, which remained the focal point, and I never felt like it was marginalized which I appreciated.

Rating: A very good novel about betrayal and learning to trust and love again with two characters who were so obviously perfect for each other.

The Serpent Prince

The Serpent Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt 1023

Lucy Craddock-Hayes is content with her quiet life in Maiden Hill, being courted by the local vicar, friendly with all the locals, and living with her father, Captain Craddock- Hayes, and her grumpy man of all work, Hedge. Viscount Simon Iddlesleigh vowed revenge against his brother, Ethan's, killers after a group forced him to issue a challenge to a man more skilled them him and he was killed. He has already successfully killed two of them when they find him first and leave him for dead in Maiden Hill and it is only with Lucy's skillful nursing that he survives. He imagines her as an avenging angel come to save him and warn him away from his wicked plans and he wants her soothing touch and voice near him always. Lucy finds that the arrival of the suave man from the city is making her question the choices she has made and her supposed satisfaction with her life and she wonders if she is destined for something more. Simon feels that he is becoming more and more attached to Maiden Hill and the people in it so he heads back to London to finish his revenge plan and try to move on with his life.

Lucy tries to move on as well with her life but she cannot forget the brief glimpse into another life she was given with the arrival of Simon. When he finally realizes that he will not be able to get Lucy out of his mind he heads back to Maiden Hill and proposes and she accepts but there are still secrets about the motives behind Simon's actions. She gets along well with his family and even her own father grudgingly approves of the  marriage and while most aspects of their marriage work, there is still the problem of what Simon is is up to. While Lucy knows that what happened to Ethan was a tragedy and she understands why Simon feels he need to avenge his brother, she worries that he is slowly losing his soul, and perhaps his life, every time he fights another duel and takes another life. She tries to get him to see reason, but he is driven by a single purpose and when he discovers there was a master behind the plot to kill Ethan there is no stopping him. Lucy loves him but does not know if she can live her life under a cloud of revenge and Simon realizes that all that really matters is his love for Lucy and hers for him.

I love that Lucy was the content country miss who suddenly realized there was a whole other world out there for her and she was determined to make the most of her life, even if it meant bucking expectations without going completely off the deep end. She was kind and intelligent, in a very confident and practical way, and she cared for the people in her community. Simon was obsessed with revenge but the motives for it were explained and proved him to be a caring and responsible man with hints of honor because he was looking out for his family, including his sister-in-law and his niece. I wish there had been more to him though because while I could see why he would fall in love with Lucy, it seemed unbelievable that she would fall in love with him knowing so little. It was more like she was in love with the idea of a new life and something exciting than she was with Simon himself. I wish there had been more about their relationship progressing to love and them getting to know each other however I liked the longing that existed between them during the period when they were apart.

The one part of their relationship that was very well developed was their sexual relationship and the sex was scorching hot and both of them were confident sexual beings and it showed throughout the book. Eventually the book came to be more about the duels than the romance and that is when I really started just wanting it to be over. There was such a big to do about how what Simon was doing was bad for his soul and was going to lead to his downfall and wouldn't he please just stop. While I understood that murder is bad and it was obviously draining him, I felt like it was an attempt to put some sort of wedge in an otherwise very well suited couple who were getting along perhaps too well for a romance novel that still had 70 pages to go. The plot itself was certainly well integrated into the story because it really was the impetus for them getting together and was interwoven somewhat in the story, but it really did just overwhelm everything and it the book definitely came to be more about him getting revenge than about Lucy and Simon falling in love.

Rating: Excellent writing as usual but this book was not Hoyt's best work because the focus was off the romance and I got tired of the revenge and duels.

A Courtesan's Guide to Getting Your Man

A Courtesan's Guide to Getting Your Man by Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan 1023

Piper Chase-Pierpont is a curator at a Boston Museum and her job hangs on the line as she is designing an exhibit on Boston's favorite abolitionist, Ophelia Harrington. She is shocked when a secret compartment reveals Ophelia's diaries which detail her beginnings as London's most sought after courtesan and her very sexy escapades with a man known as "Sir." Her life becomes even more difficult when her college crush, Mick Malloy, shows up as a guest employee of the museum looking just as delicious as ever. Reading the steamy diary and the way that Ophelia changed her life has made Piper eager to take a plunge of her own and with her best friend's help she undergoes a makeover that is more than physical. Mick has always wanted the shy bookworm, and now that she is unabashedly trying to seduce him there is no holding him back. Along with a smoking hot affair Piper has to figure out a way to plan an exhibit that is true to Ophelia and sneak it by the conservative museum trustees, all while a brown-nosing employee named Linc is trying to get her fired.

Ohelia Harrington is tired of being controlled by her family so she takes a chance and enlists the help of The Swan to become a courtesan. Swan enlists her own friend, Sir, to help train Ophelia and Ophelia embarks on 7 nights of sin with her masked stranger before she is thrown into the the real world of London's demimonde. Throughout her career she never forgets Sir and although she knows it can never be she finds herself jealous of his other lovers. Even while she finds men whose company she enjoys Sir reappears in her life occasionally, including one time to warn her off one particularly nasty man. Ignoring him, Ophelia learns a dangerous lesson and it is Sir who is there to pick up the pieces. She lives her lie in freedom, enjoying herself and those she chooses to have around her, but there will always be people who are jealous of her success and they are determined to see that she is brought low. When those forces come together their charges threaten Ophelia's life and she must once more turn to Sir, who turns out to be far different than Ophelia had expected and he offers her far more.

I loved Piper as the repressed academic whose sole attempt to be wild backfired, so she hid in her shell for years and is only just now coming out. I guess I'm a sucker for ugly duckling- beautiful swan stories and this was a great one because it had some pretty awful parents thrown into the mix to justify her actions. Mick was also great as the sexy Irish hero who was just as brilliant as Piper and his honorable attempt to do the right thing backfired and he is just now getting together with the woman who intrigued him all those years ago. Obviously their romance was short so I did kind of feel like I was missing some things and their wasn't as much romantic development as I would have liked, but I still felt like they went so well together. They had common interests and helped each other out and supported each other through some really tense situations, especially his support of her museum exhibit. They had some pretty hot sex, nothing like Ophelia's story, and I liked their story best, which surprised me because I am more into historicals then contemporaries, but I related more to this Piper than Ophelia.

Ophelia was difficult, very difficult, for me to relate to or understand because while I could see that having her life planned out for her is unpleasant, it still seems impossible that a woman of her standing in that era would throw it all away to become a courtesan. While the sadder part of that life was touched on, I still felt like it was too glorified and there was so little thought given to what she was giving up and how her "freedom" was still based on a man, even if it was different than a marriage. Sir was nearly impossible to get a feel for because none of the story was told from his point of view and while we are lead to believe he's a male prostitute, and it was even questionable weather he was the actual hero, his identity is kept a secret until the very end. The sex is scorching, with quite a bit of kink and fantasies explored, and there is certainly quite a bit of it and it is not purely between Ophelia and Sir. Their relationship progressed slowly because they didn't really see very much of each other with him just popping up randomly so it was difficult to see how they worked together.

Rating: I felt like the contemporary story was stronger in the relationship, but both stories were enjoyable and were different from what I usually go for which was a nice change of pace.

Ripe for Scandal

Ripe for Scandal by Isobel Carr 1020

Lady Boudicea "Beau" Vaugn has secretly wanted her brother, Leo's, best friend, Gareth Sandison, for years even while he has man-whored his way through half the women in the ton. Gareth has wanted Beau as well but she is Leo's little sister and he is far beneath her notice as the second son who is not destined to inherit anything. But Beau has a habit of getting into scrapes and when she is once again kidnapped by a rake who appears to want to marry her, her narrow escape threatens to ruin her reputation unless someone can save her. Gareth happens to be passing by and she clings to him as her savior, but both are concerned that they are taking advantage of the other for their own gain in finally getting the person they have longed for. Beau's family is horrified at this turn of events, believing that Gareth took advantage of her and Leo wastes no time in turning against Gareth and making sure that all their friends in the League of Second Sons refuse to have anything to do with him. Nevertheless both Beau and Gareth are determined to make the best of things as they head up to his secluded estate.

Their marriage gets off to a wonderful start as the two explore every wonder that the bedchamber offers and make plans to fix up the dilapidated house and woo the local stray dog into becoming a house pet. But when Gareth's older brother, Souttar, shows up with a little boy who is apparently Souttar's son from a secret marriage, Gareth is forced to pretend the child is his in order to avoid the scandal. Beau is distraught and upset with Gareth but that does not prevent her from falling in love with the boy, Jamie, and quickly developing a strong bond with him. Gareth suddenly finds himself on the outs with his wife for a crime he didn't commit and he desperately wants back into her good graces and he sets about wooing his wife, making nice with his "son," and trying to prove to her that he did not marry her out of necessity, but because he wanted her. When the people who tried to kidnap Beau before resurface it becomes clear that there is a very dark and sinister plot to ruin her and perhaps more and they must work together with their friends to save those they love and show how much they love each other.

Beau was kind of hard to get a handle on because she was strong and confident but she also was a bit naive when it came to men and her ability to hold her own against men who were after her for her money was too much to believe in a woman of that era. I did enjoy that she was comfortable with herself and had a good relationship with her family without allowing them to run roughshod all over her and that they obviously loved her. Gareth did not differ too much from a typical romance hero, which is not a bad thing in my opinion because there is a reason that type of male is the norm, except for his extreme dedication to his family. At times that dedication became irritating and I wanted to slap him, but it was also admirable and made sense because of who he was and made him seem both honorable and slightly ridiculous. I always like novels where characters have admired each other from afar because it adds a bit of extra angst and longing to the story, however, as usual, it also meant that I felt like I was missing part of the story behind them even though Carr did do a very good job providing backstory for them.

Their relationship progressed very well throughout the novel as they both worried that they were taking advantage of the other and that their feelings were not returned. They were obviously getting to know each other in a completely different way than they had previously known each other and I really liked reading that story. They had their ups and downs and they were so obviously happy together and worked well as a couple. The longing led to some great pent up lust that certainly exploded on the page; the sex was quite hot and really added to the story in my opinion even if there was one scene where he tried to use sex to control her. The added bonus of the child and protecting his family did add to the story because it gave them something more between them and showed off their true characters, but it was also a little worrying because I'm not a fan of men who have hidden children from their wives- even if it's not really his. The book moved incredibly fast and her writing style is fun and easy to read and Carr sets up the next book in the story really well without throwing her previous characters in our face.

Rating: A very fun book with two characters who had such a great relationship together, in bed and out, and a little extra problem thrown in.