Love Romance Passion » Heiress http://www.loveromancepassion.com Because Books Don't Fall Asleep Afterwards! Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Review: Pretty Persuasion by Olivia Kingsley http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-pretty-persuasion-by-olivia-kingsley/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-pretty-persuasion-by-olivia-kingsley/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:47:17 +0000 Carla F. http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13717

Reviewed by Carla F.

At the age of 10, Lady Georgiana Montford is introduced to her betrothed, Robert Balfour, who will one day be the Earl of Sheffield. Robert is already a young adult, but he treats Georgie with kindness. A friendship develops, and Georgie falls in love with Robert. She is then devastated to discover Robert in the arms of another woman. Robert is unaware that Georgie saw him, and can’t understand why she is being so cold to him. However, he soon goes off to his father’s Caribbean plantation. Georgie tells no one what she saw, but she is determined to not marry the “Rat” when he returns, and she will take control of her life and destiny.

Things I liked: The story of Robert’s time on the plantation is sad, but shows why he had changed from the happy, more carefree man that Georgie once knew.

It is very sweet that Robert wants to regain Georgie’s friendship even if they will never be married.

The May Day scenes where Georgie washes her face in the dew in an attempt to get rid of her freckles, and the one with her bumping into Robert which causes him to miss the target in the archery contest and lose the prize of kissing the May Day Queen.

The heat in the picnic scene is not caused by the weather!

Things I didn’t like: Georgie was way too headstrong for me. While I admire her decision to not let others particularly her parents run her life, her choices led to other people being hurt.

Georgie and Robert were caught in compromising positions (or intimate discussions) way to many times by family members.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Buy: Pretty Persuasion

]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-pretty-persuasion-by-olivia-kingsley/feed/ 0 Review: The Forbidden Wife by Sharon Kendrick http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-forbidden-wife-by-sharon-kendrick/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-forbidden-wife-by-sharon-kendrick/#comments Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:54:34 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12212

Before you start: Have you read Jane Eyre? Did you like it? Well The Forbidden Wife followed Jane Eyre to a Tee, which is great if you love Jane Eyre (which I do) but awful if you’re looking for new surprises (I was and there wasn’t any).

Heroine: 18 year old Ashley Jones is an orphan who grew up in the foster care system. She’s got lots of debt and so desires jobs that include room and board. She’s pretty perceptive and has a lot of insights on people’s behavior because of her upbringing. Working as Jack’s live-in assistant at Blackwood Manor is her ticket for something better, even if it’s located out in the middle of nowhere on the moors.

Hero: 30 something Jack Marchant is working on a novel about his experiences in the military where something bad happened (but is never explained). He suffers a lot from bad dreams which might be indicative of PTSD (but again never specifically stated). He wants Ashley, his little oddball, something fierce, but the trick is making her realize she wants him and can have him.

Wife in the Attic: Or in this case the cruel wife in a coma. She tricked Jack into marriage with a fake pregnancy, which he honored even after finding out because he didn’t want her to swindle him out of money for a marriage that was only 3 months old and also because his pride demanded he make it work anyway.

Review: I wanted Forbidden Wife to do more. If it explored more emotional depth out of Ashley and Jack it could have been a solid update on Jane Eyre. I found this review of the story hilarious because it really tells it like it is.

Rating: ★★½☆☆

Buy: The Forbidden Wife (Harlequin Presents)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-forbidden-wife-by-sharon-kendrick/feed/ 0 Review: The Secret Mistress (Dudley, Book 3) by Mary Balogh http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-secret-mistress-dudley-book-3-by-mary-balogh/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-secret-mistress-dudley-book-3-by-mary-balogh/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 09:20:44 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12987

I listened to a narrated audiobook version of this novel. Read by Anne Flosnik.

Hero: Edward Ailsbury, the new Earl of Heyward, knows he must marry. As a spare, now heir, he knows the importance of preserving the family lineage. The candidate he has in mind is his family friend and favorite bluestocking, Eunice Goddard. A wife should be a friend, someone intelligent that one can converse with, and a lady unblemished by scandal or wild behavior, but when the lady refuses him, he’s flummoxed. What now? Well, his family wants him to court Angeline Dudley and so he does. He’s flummoxed again when he realizes that the scandalous Miss at the inn is none other than she!

Heroine: Angeline Dudley is preparing for her first Season. She’s determined to catch herself a simple steady gentleman, a man completely opposite her rakish brothers and father (now passed away). A potentially scandalous incident at a public inn reveals to her just such a man and it’s instant attraction for her. All she wants is his good opinion and his love, but it seems to be the thing he’s determined to hold back. She suspects his interested lie elsewhere and does all in her power to bring them together, for his sake and Eunice’s sake (who becomes her friend).

Review: I really liked the pairing of a stuffy, circumspect, and introverted hero (who doesn’t think he is and takes offense when he’s called on it) with a bubbly, impulsive, and extroverted heroine (who rambles and says things to upset the hero... like calling him a dry stick :D lol).

He’s extremely dignified and extends politeness and courtesy as a shield. She prattles to fill uncomfortable silences and makes jokes at her expense to hide her insecurity. Angeline feels she doesn’t deserve him and her innocent behavior appears to be reckless behavior.

I also thought it was incredibly sweet that the heroine put the hero’s desire so far above her own she tried to orchestrate opportunities for him to meet Eunice in hopes he’d propose to her. There were lots of great quotes in the story, my favorite is below.

Favorite Scenes: Their first meeting at the inn, and Edward’s first proposal to Angeline.

Favorite Quote:

In a few short minutes he had shown himself to be her ideal of manhood. Of gentlemanhood. He seemed perfectly content and comfortable with his ordinariness. He seemed not to feel the need to posture and prove his masculinity at every turn preferably with his fists… He was in fact, more than ordinary. He was an extraordinary man.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-secret-mistress-dudley-book-3-by-mary-balogh/feed/ 2 Review: Regency Nights by Kitti Bernetti http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-regency-nights-by-kitti-bernetti-2/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-regency-nights-by-kitti-bernetti-2/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:09:56 +0000 Sandra Scholes http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12855

Reviewed by Sandra Scholes

Two men, one woman - no breaks for the guys who want to get it on!

This novel takes after Pride and Prejudice as it is set in Regency London with Cavendish De Courcy, a single man from a family who are in want of funds, and need to marry him off to the nearest heiress in order to save them from their fate. Cavendish is not happy to help them in their search for wealth - but he knows he has to make sure he gives them what they want. The fact is, Cavendish has already found a life mate, and one he doesn't want to be taken away from, and it is a secret he knows his parents must never know of. He met him at around about the same time he is to be married, and that in itself creates a problem.

Nathaniel could be the answer to his non existent gay sex life, and being married off to some over pampered puss can only send shivers down his spine. He has to go through with it even if he doesn't want to as everyone knows that in Regency London being gay was an offence in those days. Even so, it doesn't mean that Nathaniel need leave his side; it just makes it more difficult for him to conduct his gay affair while trying to keep his new wife happy.

Nathaniel is the son of the local pastor of the district, and he is studying music to while away his hours. This both amuses and amazes Cavendish who never knew he had such a religious background.

His father has chosen Arabella, his wife for him, and considers her excellent childbearing stock, but as usual; doesn't take his feelings into account. Cavendish thinks he might have to tell Nathaniel to leave his side, but doesn't want to have to make that decision, and instead has to weigh up his happiness over that of his family.

I find that cover art is well worth taking into consideration when wanting to read novels - even though they aren't always indicative of a good book. This novel's cover model is a handsome chap with full lips readers will want to kiss more times than Cavendish will. As a cover it will make it a best seller.

At the beginning, Cavendish's encounter with the life model in an artist's studio gives him pause for thought as he is to be married off to a girl, a girl he has no interest in - he likes men, young men who fuel his sexual fire, and make him as wanton as he needs to be.

There are some excellent moments in this novel, and even at 72 pages it manages to cram in some beautiful sensual scenes where the two of them enjoy their brief moments together out of the sight of Cavendish’s new wife:

Cavendish lay as motionless as a sleeping lion; he suppressed the groan of longing which rumbled in his throat. He couldn’t possibly betray the hunger that seared his body, the need to be touched still further, the desire to have not just a damp flannel, but Nathaniel’s delicate fingers probe his tingling flesh.

When Cavendish brings Nathaniel into their home, he tries not to cause all kinds of problems, and instead has him produce artworks for the family as a cover for their affair He gets the impression that while Nathaniel is there, his wife is aware of the feeling he has for him, and makes it hard for the two of them to be together when she is around:

For over two weeks, Nathaniel played the part of the dutiful artist producing delightful sketches and studies for the commissioned works. Cavendish itched to be alone with him, but Arabella guarded her husband jealously as if she could sense the bond that existed between the two men and was determined not to allow it, or Nathaniel to replace her in Cavendish’s affections. Maddening frustration began to build in her husband. He could not perform his marital duties to her, and he could get no relief from Nathaniel for Arabella stuck to him like a newly born foal sticks to its parent.

Kitti knows how to pen a full bodied book like a fine wine, and in this case, she has managed it. Regency Nights is just that, it fills the senses with its excellent prose, sensual, and highly erotic sexual scenes between Cavendish and Nathaniel. Nathaniel serves to be the one who tries to take his mind off of his duty to his new wife, and all the other duties for her he has yet to do, like having her bear his children.

Readers will notice all too soon that he is more interested in Nathaniel than a woman. He finds he can be the man he wanted to be around him. There is no pressure to be the man his father desired - he can be his own man and not feel as though he is being so wanton and immoral about it. What he does with Nathaniel can only be described as wanton and immoral by others who find out about their tryst. It doesn't matter what others think of them. Cavendish is in love, and with him all his desires are fulfilled.

I enjoyed that there is a solution to Cavendish and Nathaniel’s problem, and it is one that many would not have thought of, but which will make the reader smile.

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy: Regency Nights

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Narrated by: Angela Dawe. The narrator sounded like Parker, but overall she bored me. I continued to listen because it was easier once I had it to listen to the book in the car than it was to go grab the novel from the library.

Series: Bride Quartet, Book 4

Series Background: Four best friends create a wedding business together called Vows. This series is how they go from planning other brides’ weddings to planning their own.

Series Strengths: The friendships between Parker, Emma, Laurel, and Mac are what make this series – that and the crazy brides!

Series Weaknesses: Bogged down in wedding minutia and tame conflicts.

Summary: Parker Brown is the last of her girlfriends to find someone. Of course what she thinks she wants is not what she gets. Malcolm likes Parker’s uptight, Type A, controlling behavior; it makes him want to get under her skin. It’s something he’s particularly good at! *wink wink, nudge nudge* Parker’s not sure where their relationship is going but she’s certain it’s not to the altar.

Review: I love that Malcolm calls Parker “Legs.” I hate that they shorten his name to “Mal.” Bleck. Parker was the one I was looking forward to the most, but she has turned out to be too perfect – She works out all the time (Everyday, without fail, for hours just after she wakes up to perfect her already perfect body. If she wasn't doing it, I bet her friends wouldn't be exercising nearly as much either as she's their ringleader. So can I hit her? Please? I want to feed her a dozen sugary donuts... but to get back on track:) I did like their story, though I’m not sure why Parker fights her attraction to Malcolm all the time. Malcolm makes the book which surprised me, because like Parker in the beginning I wasn't so sure he could pull his weight let alone hers. Over all it’s not a shabby way to end a series.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Buy: Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet, Book 4)


Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-happy-ever-after-bride-quartet-book-4-by-nora-roberts/feed/ 0 Review: Just Like Heaven (Smythe-Smith Quartet, Book 1) by Julia Quinn http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-just-like-heaven-smythe-smith-quartet-book-1-by-julia-quinn/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-just-like-heaven-smythe-smith-quartet-book-1-by-julia-quinn/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:24:55 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12266

Ah, those dreaded Smythe-Smiths! they lack any musical talent and yet they persist in destroying the hearing of the London ton with their dreaded annual musical quartets.

Heroine: Lady Honoria Smythe-Smith plays the violin and she’s awful, but at least she knows it. This year she’s determined to marry and get a man to come up to scratch because she’s ready for a family and home of her own.

She’s one of my new favorite heroines. You got to love a girl willing to contrive the following plot to snag a man: steal a shovel, create a mole hole, pretend to fall in it and cry out for help! Of course the only man watching all this is the hero. Haha.

Hero: Marcus Holroyd is the Earl of Chatteris. He loves chocolate and desserts as much as Honoria. (There’s lots of cute food moments for any foodies out there.) A long time friend of the family, he’s been petitioned by Honoria’s brother Daniel to make sure she doesn’t wed some idiot. Lately he’s coming to find that the only acceptable match for her is him!

Marcus is a fabulous beta hero. One of his best moment’s is coming to Honoria’s defense right at the end of the book. I’d jump his bones!

Trope: Friends to Lovers. If you know me, I hate this trope, but I actually enjoyed it this time. That’s because neither one of them pined for the other growing up. There was no little girl crush or secret school girl crush on Honoria’s behalf for Marcus and he certainly only saw her as Daniel’s little sister - that is until he gets dreadfully sick and Honoria forces her mother to come with her to his family estate and attend to him. You see, Marcus is an only child and has no living family. That’s why he’s always loved the Smythe-Smiths - there’s so many of them that he could slip into their lives and be part of their family.

Dislikes: The long focus on Marcus sickness - as a book I could skim it and get through it faster but as an audio book it seemed to last forever and is the book’s only serious downer.

Narrator: Speaking of the narrator - she was excellent!

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Just Like Heaven

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Wes Murphy was the son of a conman and was raised to be one too. A con gone wrong when he was younger landed him in a halfway house and changed his life. There Wes discovered he loved to cook. Now he’s studying at a great school and working toward being the top of his rotation in hopes of landing the best externship. Unfortunately he’s flunking Food Chem. Why should he learn to take something as creative as cooking and turn it into something as lifeless as science?

Dr. Rosemary Wilkins was a child prodigy. She loved chemistry and hated germs. A bit of a hypochondriac and a total Star Trek dork there was nothing she loved better than the clean sterile environment of her lab. When Wes Murphy rescues her on her first day lecturing on Food Chemistry 101 and winds up in trouble with the dean, she can’t help but offer her support of his story… and somehow finds herself agreeing to supervise his project on of all things, aphrodisiacs.

There’s a side romance between two men, who both work at the restaurant where Wes does his externship. It’s pretty sweet how every one of their friends tries to get them back together and help fix what went wrong between them.

Rosemary is a lot of fun to read. She bounces all over the place, uses big words, over analyzes, curses in the language of Star Trek and Buffy, and finds her best friend in a dog.

Wes is a very sensitive hero. He’s determined to do right but winds up in a pile of lies and soon the mess is out of control. He wants Rose, Bunsen burners and all. If only he took his own relationship advice, he might just be able to keep her.

I especially loved the sex in Central Park, but the sex between them is always smoking hot. Edwards certainly knows how to set the mood!

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Just One Taste (Recipe for Love)

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bookreview

I had a hard time setting Highland Hearts aside to get some work done once I started it. I ended staying up late last night to finish it. This story is exciting and thrilling and you'll be sure to love it even if Highlander romance is not your cup of tea.

Contessa Delgado's journey to love begins the moment she releases Sir Revan Halyard from her Uncle Thurkettle's dungeon. Footsteps and voices descend the stairwell leading down to where they are and Revan does what any dashing knight would do when life was in danger - hold a girl by sword point and threaten to skewer her if Thurkettle and his men don't drop their weapons.

Feisty Tess has a wicked tongue and gives him a verbal lashing even as he drags her onto his horse and rides into the woods as if the devil were on their heels. When arrows start to rain down on them without a care to Tess' safety and some aimed even more deliberately at her the urge to get away is even more dire. What uncle would shoot to kill his niece? An uncle who wanted all the wealth she just inherited from her trust, that's who.

When they rest at last Tess tells Revan what she thinks of his gratitude for her saving his life and he swears then that he never truly meant to run her through with his sword, the threat just had to look real. Then Revan asks Tess to face some hard facts. Tess acknowledges to Revan that she is aware of at least three other incidences where her uncle's tried to kill her and make look like accidents. Revan having kidnapped Tess has made it far easier to kill her and lay the blame elsewhere.

Revan guesses it is because of fortune and Tess murmurs her agreement and tells him a paltry version of her inheritance not revealing her full wealth to the handsome knight. She then asks Revan why her uncle had locked him up and he reveals that he is a knight in service to the king. Together they patch what clues Revan was able to gather on his mission to spy for King James II and what Tess can deduce from clues she unwittingly encountered in her uncle's keep of treason and betrayal her uncle and their neighbor Douglas were cooking up together.

Their knowledge puts them in even more danger as they now have to get their information to the king, avoid her uncle's men and the Douglas men out to get them, and while they do not fight the growing fires that flare between them their love is not an easy one. This novel is truly about passion on the run as Revan and Tess land in one mess or another.

Rating: 4 Stars

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-highland-hearts-by-hannah-howell/feed/ 1 Review: Miss Foster’s Folly by Alice Gaines http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-miss-foster%e2%80%99s-folly-by-alice-gaines/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-miss-foster%e2%80%99s-folly-by-alice-gaines/#comments Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:47:26 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=7788

This Victorian romance is the very opposite of sexual restraint. If you're in the mood for something hot and spicy with a wide streak of naughtiness you'll want to read this book! You’ll love it from the very first page.

Miss Juliet Foster upon her father’s death is given all of his wealth while her brother gets the businesses, and her sister the real estate.  Suddenly Juliet isn’t just a virginal American spinster. She’s also an heiress and the leeches are popping out the woodwork to try to force her into marriage so they can get control of it.

Determined not to get caught but to still enjoy her life, Juliet decides the best thing to do is seduce her way through the Continent. First she’ll go to Britain, find a nice staid man to start. Then she’ll hit France to turn herself into a more sophisticated lover. Next Spain, for a little passion. All because, if she’s going to end up with a man he’s going to be Italian – the most perfect of lovers to be found anywhere! There’s just one flaw – somebody has to take her virginity first.

David Winslow, the Marquess of Derrington, Derry to his friends, suffers from the Winslow curse which skips between generations. If he’s ever going to be happy and successful he needs to find a woman more wild than he is because in taming her he’ll tame himself. It’s his ‘dying’ grandmother’s wish that he marry soon and so he goes to America to find himself the perfect bride, one who meets all his grandmother’s requirements and cares not a fig for his wealth or title. When Juliet Foster asks him to take her maidenhead he’s both flabbergasted and excited because he knows she is his perfect match. When she runs away he knows he has to chase after her.

It’s a fun romp of cat and mouse and hot hot sex. Really, it’s decadently delicious in every way.

My one complaint is how often the heroine runs off. The very last time she does was one time too many for me. I felt the angst moment could have been satisfied a little sooner with better results if the North & South type moment had been seized upon with vigor.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy: Miss Foster's Folly

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Story: Lady Cahill is Jack Carstairs’ grandmother and is determined to see her moping scarred and wounded grandson back on his feet and back in the market for marriage. Just because his father disowned him, and his fiancée dumps him doesn’t mean he can turn his sister away from his door and refuse to see her! That is just outrageous. Well let him try putting his grandmother off! Ha!

On the way she’ll kill two birds with one stone and pick up Kate Farleigh. Except there’s a snag... one headstrong girl. Not to worry! Immediately after Kate refuses her offer for a Season in London Lady Cahill kidnaps her. The Lady can’t imagine why the stupid chit turned her down. They have a connection! She’s the godmother of the girl’s dead mother, so of course it’s not charity!

The morning after she arrives with Kate in tow Lady Cahill decides to get the two kids together… for the animation in Jack’s face inspired by Kate is just too tempting to ignore. But Kate still isn’t interested in a Season. What’s a grandmother to do? She hires Kate as Jack’s housekeeper and dashes off to get out of the way, that’s what.

Review: I love Jack. He’s so outraged on Kate’s behalf its funny! A genteel lady shouldn’t be scrubbing floors, cooking his meals, or anything else a housekeeper does. He doesn’t understand why Kate thinks its good enough, because clearly it isn’t!

Their banter on it was hilarious – the kind of hilarious that requires stitches. :P Jack doesn’t know how to fight with Kate and usually ends up flustered and speechless with rage. She’s so calm about most of their confrontations, but sometimes she seeks to egg him on too because she loves his responses. She knows it means he cares and with her background (being unloved by her father) knowing someone cares means a lot.

I liked a lot of this novel… but

(Spoilers) I felt Kate’s secret history was very sad… she was raped during the war by a French man who took advantage of her amnesia (and maybe caused it, who knows, because she definitely was knocked over the head by someone). He claimed to be her husband and she gave him conjugal rights.

I didn’t feel her emotions connected to this made much sense. I would have reacted differently been angry or bitter or something more than accepting. Especially since all she’d ever wanted was a nice husband and kids (she really wanted kids.) Luckily for her, she’s the heroine of a romance novel!

I’m very glad that when the other soldiers show up that they don’t treat her like a whore (how she was treated on the continent by those who knew) and that they wanted to see her and Jack together. Nobody made an inappropriate advance on her from among Jack’s friends… (but someone tries for other reasons.)

The ending sequence when the group of soldiers ban together to help Jack save Kate’s reputation at a ball is so sweet and heartwarming.

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Gallant Waif (Harlequin Historical)

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