Love Romance Passion » Comedy of Manners 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 Movie Review: Boys Over Flowers starring Hye-sun Koo, Min-ho Lee, and Hyun-joong Kim http://www.loveromancepassion.com/movie-review-boys-over-flowers-starring-hye-sun-koo-min-ho-lee-and-hyun-joong-kim/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/movie-review-boys-over-flowers-starring-hye-sun-koo-min-ho-lee-and-hyun-joong-kim/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:01:19 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=13522

What You Need to Know: Boys Over Flowers is a Korean TV romantic drama. It runs for two seasons with a total of 25 episodes. The series is based on a Manga series of the same title which I have not read. There’s been other adaptations of the Manga besides this one with differences.

Recommended: If you like/love/drool over Twilight; if you adore foreign films, especially Asian ones, and can read with ease lots of subtitles or know Korean; if you’re a girl lol---:D; if you like love triangles or if you like YA romances… any one of these and you should see this show; more than 3 of these and you’d be a fool not to see it!

Plot: The story takes place at an elite boarding school where only the top 1% of Korea’s wealthy children attend (and even then some of them can’t get into the school.) Geum JanDi saves a bullied male student from committing suicide while running clothes from her father’s dry cleaning business to the school. Journalists and the public voice are having a field day with it until the school’s president decides to offer a scholarship spot to the girl. From there JanDi runs into the F4, a group of popular boys that run the school, and immediately gets on Goo JoonPyo’s bad side. What follows is a wonderfully complex soap opera full of awesome.

The Love Triangle: (Lots of Twilight references ahead…just because it’s a common base for most to jump from…) It’s so hard to choose because they’re both like Edward Cullen more than Jacob Black.

One of the guys – Goo JoonPyo even has his own crazy hot wild hairdo. It’s curly! It’s adorable. I love it. He’s the possessive one and is basically all of Edward Cullen’s darker qualities, but with a tender streak too. Min-ho Lee who plays Goo JoonPyo has a very expressive face and a really hot body. Yum!

The other guy – Yoon JiHoo is all of Edward’s sensitive artistic aspects combined with his aloofness. Hyun-joong Kim who plays JiHoo is also very hot. I want to go to Korea and date these two boys (seriously! Wow!) JiHoo dislikes all the stupid drama at his school and often rushes to Geum JanDi’s rescue.

The girl – Geum JanDi is a very warm character. She likes to eat, stand up to bullies, and like Bella Swan prefers to stand on her own two feet and not accept monetary bribes or help from the guys. JanDi is played by Hye-sun Koo and the girl is adorable with big eyes. I love how she walks a bike back and forth when she’s not pedaling it – cute!

Final Thoughts: This show has it all – boarding school, school wide bullying/hazing, love triangle, side romances, drowning 3 times? 4 times? something like that, 2 physical disabling incidents, amnesia, lots of fainting and passing out immediately into dead sleeps, faked accidents, fake hospital stays, vacations, backstabbing, revenge, kidnapping, innocents getting setup, getting caught in a blizzard, three proposals, an arranged/forced marriage, estranged family getting reunited, and the kitchen sink in there somewhere too!

Rating: ★★★★★ – Don’t walk, run! Get a copy!

As of December 13, 2011 this is on Netflix (streaming).

Buy: Boys Over Flowers (Season 1), Boys Over Flowers (Season 2)

Buy: Season 1:

Buy: Season 2:

Buy: Geum JanDi's Moon and Star Necklace

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/movie-review-boys-over-flowers-starring-hye-sun-koo-min-ho-lee-and-hyun-joong-kim/feed/ 3 Review: The Amorous Education of Celia Seaton (The Burgundy Club, Book 3) by Miranda Neville http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-amorous-education-of-celia-seaton-the-burgundy-club-book-3-by-miranda-neville/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-amorous-education-of-celia-seaton-the-burgundy-club-book-3-by-miranda-neville/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:00:00 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=12215

Heroine: Kidnapped, Celia Seaton is no passive miss. At the first opportunity she gets out of the attic of a two story cottage wearing only her under clothes. Stumbling upon her worst enemy (who doesn’t even know he’s her enemy because she doesn’t register on his radar) conked out across the threshold of the house, Celia hesitates on what to do. When he wakes and doesn’t know who he is a brilliant idea takes shape.

Hero: Tarquin Compton is a rich fashionable dandy (but not gentry) who collects erotic books and books on poetry. When he gets lost in the moors he stops at a cottage for directions and gets knocked out by Celia’s kidnapper. When he wakes he suffers from amnesia and buys Celia’s story that he’s her fiance. Well he buys some of it anyway, there’s no way his name is Terence Fish, which makes him wonder if he tricked Celia about who he was in order to seduce her.

Favorite Moments: When she gives him her web of lies about who he is and what he means to her, the cauliflower incident, and when she gives herself to him.

Missed Opportunity: Tarquin immediately confronts Celia about her ill use of him after the return of his memories, instead of actively trying to be the man she created for him. I thought he was really falling for her at the time and would rather go undercover to discover if she really loved him or was just using him before his confrontation. But apparently he needed to get his head on straight before he could regret his harsh actions/words.

And heroine should have said once when he was still suffering from amnesia that she loved him... all of him even the parts he couldn't remember, because she was darn near thinking it and that would have been sweet. It would also force Tarquin to come to terms with his idiocy sooner. Luckily she rejects his reluctant and insulting proposal to patch up her now ruined reputation.

Mystery: Why is an ex-fiance/governess who has been tossed aside/dismissed for moral turpitude kidnapped? Terence Fish wants to know and so should you!

Review: A fun romp with witty banter, a plucky heroine, an amnesiac hero, and cauliflower! You won’t regret running out to get this book for your collection.

Rating: ★★★★½

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-amorous-education-of-celia-seaton-the-burgundy-club-book-3-by-miranda-neville/feed/ 0 Review: The Bride of Casa Dracula (Casa Dracula Book 3) by Marta Acosta http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-bride-of-casa-dracula-casa-dracula-book-3-by-marta-acosta/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-the-bride-of-casa-dracula-casa-dracula-book-3-by-marta-acosta/#comments Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:00:01 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=8169

In the third installment of the Casa Dracula series, Milagro finds out that marrying into a vampire family isn’t nearly as glamorous or easy as one might think. The Council has a bunch of hoops she has to jump through and the more she learns about them the less appealing it becomes and the more estranged she and Oswald are.

It should have been as easy as signing some papers and all the extra security Oswald wanted her to have would have been bestowed. Instead they want her to renounce her American citizenship for Vampiric citizenship and abstain from sex with her fiancé until after the wedding. What business is it of theirs anyhow? If that wasn’t enough they stick her with a vampire wedding coordinator for the family side of the ceremonies! Can you guess who they got? Cornelia, Corny, Ducharme.

Corny claims to be on Milagro’s side but she’s sticking Millie with all sorts of unpleasant tasks – creating a vampire fruitcake and sewing wedding clothes for herself and Oswald. Then while borrowing Cornelia’s car to run wedding errands the car quits and Millie nearly dies. Police get involved and Oswald doesn’t believe her when she says she’s not acting paranoid… but it’s not paranoia if everyone seems to be out to get you.

One of the things Millie is most concerned about is the bloodletting that Oswald seems to expect once they get married. She hasn’t been able to stand getting cut up and licked since Ian saved her with is blood. She’s also not interested in cutting Oswald and half the time she doesn’t realize her own strength and hurts him. When she runs into Ian she tries to deal with her issues and get him out of her system at the same time – it leads to an unexpected revelation – that Ian has a heart and Milagro can indeed break it.

Outside of wedding plans, Millie is ghostwriting for Don Pedro. While the job is about her writing his memoir, she’s fabricating everything. Joseph Alfred Joseph, someone she met while setting up the deal with Pedro, comes to visit and gets involved with Corny. Oswald wants to hire a new partner and expand his business, something that really bothers Milagro and the two fight over it among other things.

At every turn, instead of bringing them together, the wedding seems to be breaking them up and worse Millie’s confused about her feelings for Ian and Oswald’s parents dislike her with a burning passion. What’s a girl to do?

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy: The Bride of Casa Dracula (Casa Dracula, Book 3)

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Head's up there are some spoilers in this review. Ye be warned.

In the final installment of the Casa Dracula series, Milagro must make the toughest choice of all and that’s following her heart. She’s with Ian currently, but every time she thinks of Oswald, her heart aches. The idea of leaving Ian though causing just as much heartache which confuses her because she swears her hormones hijack her brain whenever he’s around.

When Ian hires thralls, Milagro is severely tested, but Ian confronts her about the issue. Then she sees him snacking on their next door neighbor, Christine (Cricket) Poindexter, and while the woman seems to be enjoying it a little too much, it’s the last straw for Millie. Of course with Ian, Milagro is always looking to find fault so she can run from him. He poses too much of a threat to her heart compared to the safe and fascinating Oswald.

A torrid fling in England and finalizing a second contract with Don Pedro is just the thing she needs to distance herself from all she’s feeling. Ian is none too pleased and they have another confrontation. When Wilcox Spiggot comes to America to continue the affair, he’s killed and left to decompose on Milagro’s bed in her loft.

She assumes it was Ian but his thralls say he wasn’t in the country. Leaving, she stumbles across a scene at the neighbors. Cricket in an attempt to win Ian has been draining her blood in doses and saving it for him, this time she accidentally cut an artery and bled to death. Her husband freaks out, slips on the blood and goes down hard on the floor cracking his head.

Cue a super secret special force team that hauls Milagro away. This is where the opening prologue and the story realign. Book four of Casa Dracula is noticeably darker in theme than the previous while still keeping the ongoing humor element. The one thing I will tell you about the dark portion is that it’s not very long and there’s no rape. Milagro uses her wits and escapes going to Mercedes and then onto the ranch looking for help.

Oswald is not happy and a series of events occurs that results in Milagro having amnesia. At first nobody believes her but it soon becomes apparent Millie is indeed suffering some trauma. The Grant family calls in a shrink who comes to the ranch to help her out while they petition for recovery time from the Council who wants to investigate and interrogate Milagro.

Is this the second chance Milagro needs to turn things around with Oswald or will she realize her heart belongs to Lord Ian?

When she asks for the reasons both men claim to love her is very eye opening set of moments for her and some of my favorite moments in the series.

If you haven’t yet tried the Casa Dracula series, and you love vampires or comedy romances, you need to snatch up these novels immediately!

Rating: ★★★★½

Buy: Haunted Honeymoon (Casa Dracula, Book 4)

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-haunted-honeymoon-casa-dracula-book-4-by-marta-acosta/feed/ 0 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

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-miss-foster%e2%80%99s-folly-by-alice-gaines/feed/ 0 Review: Mr. Harding Proposes by Catherine Dove http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-mr-harding-proposes-by-catherine-dove/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-mr-harding-proposes-by-catherine-dove/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:23:06 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=8156

This lighthearted Regency is a fun little comedy of manners. It’s well researched and the style reminds me a little of Georgette Heyer, but updated so non-Heyer fans can easily follow without getting mired in the narration. The cast of characters is delightful and the dialogue is snappy. I particularly liked Elroyd, Mr. Harding’s butler.

Mr. Richard Harding is several years older than Miss Georgiana Rowland. He was the one to set her on her first horse and the one to stand up with her at balls. His feelings over the years have developed from friendship to love.  He wants to marry Georgie, but is uncertain if she feels the same and for years wasn’t fully prepared to risk their friendship. He can pine for her if she doesn’t know his feelings, but if she did and didn’t return them it would be mortifying.

But now he is no longer content with pining, he wants her as his wife. He just has to propose first. When he does his character gets in the way and Georgie thinks he’s trying to be funny and is not truly sincere. What follows is Mr. Harding’s series of proposals – will he ever get it right so Georgie truly understands?

In the meantime, Georgie is launching her younger sister out on society while their mother languishes indulgently in the background. (It doesn’t make much sense but if you go with it and let it go, it doesn’t get in the way… well at least not until a complete rake comes on the scene… ;) ) Their stickler of a mother only makes an effort when the scandalous Lady Shipton comes onto the scene by flatly declaring the girls are not to have contact with the woman.

Georgie likes Lady Shipton, but is willing to listen to her mother until the woman performs a kind service by protecting her sister. This kind act proves to Georgie that Lady Shipton is a true lady and she is prepared to go to battle over the issue and seeks her uncle’s aid.

This leads to wacky results and the entrance of Lady Shipton’s stepson who takes an immediate liking to Georgie, much to Mr. Harding’s dismay. What’s he going to do when another buck is on the scene, an earl at that, who is also willing to propose to Georgiana? Why propose again!

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Mr. Harding Proposes : a Regency Romance

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-mr-harding-proposes-by-catherine-dove/feed/ 2 An Assembly Such As This by Pamela Aidan- Guest Review http://www.loveromancepassion.com/an-assembly-such-as-this-by-pamela-aidan-guest-review/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/an-assembly-such-as-this-by-pamela-aidan-guest-review/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:25:39 +0000 Sasha Muradali http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=3587

What I love best is seeing multiple perspectives on books that I'm reading, have read, or intend to read. When Sasha sent me this guest review, I was pleasantly surprised. Without knowing it, we were reading the same book trilogy within days of each other! Check out my review of An Assembly Such as This and Sasha's below!

guestreview-2

By: Sasha Muradali, guest blogger

This is not your typical romance novel, nor would I classify it as romance per se because An Assembly Such As This (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentlemen) by Pamela Aidan is the author's take, from the point-of-view of Fitzwilliam Darcy, on Pride and Prejudice, a classic novel, by Jane Austen. However, well-acknowledged, Pride and Prejudice is a love story.

An Assembly Such as This is the first part of a trilogy (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentlemen) that takes us through the all too familiar journey so many of us have come to love. The other two novels are called Duty and Desire and These Three Remain. This specific volume ventures into the first third of Pride and Prejudice up until when Darcy and the Bingley family leave Hertfordshire for London after the fiasco at the Netherfield Park Ball.

You cannot truly appreciate or understand the depths of this novel without having had read Pride and Prejudice previously. There is a lot that the author takes for chance that you already know.

While, many of us have had our assumptions on that Darcy feels, we've never really seen it in writing before. And as someone who is very skeptical about anything that interprets Pride and Prejudice, this first novel of Aidan's trilogy is nothing short of absolutely fantastic.

The author takes her readers through Darcy's first meeting with Elizabeth, why he behaves they way that he does, and how often, what was once seen as him being tough and perhaps cruel, was his natural decorum, or way of flirting holding on to that very decorum.

Specifically, Aidan is able to add some of her own little quirks into the story - consistent letters between Georgiana and Darcy, a look into Darcy's private life as male head of house. This is actually one of the most unique aspects, and what I enjoyed reading the most, because as a reader you get to see an illustration of how Georgiana was really feeling post-Mr. Wickham. These letters also serve as a means to understand how truly and deeply Darcy cares for Georgiana - they also show how often he really puts others before himself.

This fact helps the reader understand further his decision to separate Bingley from Jane Bennett; in An Assembly Such as This, Darcy is working together selflessly with Caroline to protect Charles, not harm him.  It would be important to remember that in the original Pride and Prejudice, the ball at Netherfield Park turned into somewhat of a fiasco between the younger Bennett girls running wild with the officers, Mrs. Bennett running her mouth off and, the Bennett's cousin, Mr. Collins, becoming a public laughing stock. These circumstances are part of what fuels Darcy's opinion of country manners being 'savage.'

If you are looking to laugh, gain a near flawless interpretation of Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Fitzwilliam Darcy, try your eyes on An Assembly Such As This.

Here on Love Passion Romance we will be featuring reviews on the other two in the trilogy shortly. So stay tuned and don't forget to remember the tag 'Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentlemen.'

4.5 of 5 stars.

Buy: An Assembly Such as This

Find and buy more Pamela Aidan novels at great prices.

Online Stores ]]> http://www.loveromancepassion.com/an-assembly-such-as-this-by-pamela-aidan-guest-review/feed/ 6 Review: Happy Hour at Casa Dracula (Casa Dracula Book 1) by Marta Acosta http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-happy-hour-at-casa-dracula-casa-dracula-book-1-by-marta-acosta/ http://www.loveromancepassion.com/review-happy-hour-at-casa-dracula-casa-dracula-book-1-by-marta-acosta/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:10:07 +0000 Keira http://www.loveromancepassion.com/?p=8163

In the first installment of Casa Dracula, Milagro De Los Santos, Miracle of the Saints, reluctantly goes to her college boyfriend’s party celebrating his huge success as a newly published author. She thinks his novel is garbage, but the critics love it. She also thinks he’s a superficial stuck-up snob and isn’t proven wrong.

At the party she runs into Oswald Grant, a handsome man who asks her to join him for drinks at his hotel. Never one to deny herself a good time, Millie follows him back. Just when she thinks all he’s interested in is Sebastian Beckett-Witherspoon, Oswald kisses her and so exuberant are they that they accidentally nick each other and swap a little blood.

She thinks she’s been drugged but little does Milagro know she just traded smoochies with a certified vampire, even though he and his family will go to the ends of the earth to claim that all they have is genetic autosomal recessive disorder.

Her reckless behavior attracts Sebastian’s attention, but he’s not what he seems. As a card carrying member of CACA or Corporate Americans for the Conservation of America, Sebastian’s main goal is to eradicate the threat of vampires and use their blood to serve a higher financial purpose.

Gabriel, a gay bodyguard from the Grant family, rescues her and brings her to the ranch where Milagro finds out that Oswald is engaged. The more she hangs out with Winnifred (Winsome) Jardine, the more she likes her and the more despicable Oswald’s behavior seems… when Winnifred’s cousins Ian and Cornelia (Corny) Ducharme show up she latches onto the group.

Hot wild sex with Ian blows her mind, but Ian is much darker and more dangerous than a sincere and serious girl should want and so when she finds out the reasons behind Oswald’s indiscretion she bumps uglies with him. Then Winnie shows up pregnant and Millie can’t hardly stand herself and runs away... and right into disaster with CACA and her ex.

It ends happy, and Milagro gets her man, but did she get the right one? The love triangle theme continues in the next three books and explores this theme along with others like classism, racism, and finding personal happiness. Keep an eye out for those reviews!

For a fun time with a heroine who’s smart, sassy, and funny and just a little naïve who stumbles from one disaster into the next, you should try the Casa Dracula series, a perfect blend of the supernatural and comedy of manners. Acosta will leave you in stitches from laughing so hard while at the same time craving the next bite.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy: Happy Hour at Casa Dracula

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In the second installment of the Casa Dracula series, Milagro meets many more vampires as they come to celebrate the naming ceremony of Sam and Winnie’s baby, an event she just so happens to be excluded from which irks her to no end. Why must Oswald and the Grants always keep her out of the loop?

When Oswald takes off to perform cosmetic surgery for underprivileged children with clef palates, Milagro attends Nancy’s wedding to Toad Todd. She asks Ian to be her escort so she won’t be ignored the whole evening and together they end up hijacking the attentions of society queen Gigi Barton of Barton’s facial tissues (It’s nothing to sneeze at if it isn’t Barton’s!)

The evening ends in disaster when Milagro saves Ian from a faceless thug and is slashed deeply through an arm. The blood loss is devastating and Ian acts quickly transfusing some of his blood with hers and giving Milagro the vampire infection for the second time. It heals her but also brings about some dire consequences. Every time she touches somebody, be they vampire or human, she gets bloody and gory visions of their insides and the urge to attack (and drink) overwhelms her.

Not willing to put the baby or anyone else at risk from the ranch, Millie takes up a job offer from a Fancy University acquaintance, Skip Taylor, in the desert to rewrite the script Teeth of Sharpness. When famous Thomas Cook, a Latino actor, takes over her room and blackmails her into being his assistant, Milagro folds like a deck of cards. It doesn’t hurt that Thomas seems to be the only one who doesn’t bring about the scary visions.

When tabloid writer for the Weekly Exposition, Bernie, tries to tell her that the hotel Paragon has some sneaky and suspicious dealings, Milagro laughs him off. Then he leaks pictures and a story about her and Thomas and a flying goat eating monkey, irking Milagro to know end, but she has to admit the flying monkey is suspicious and so is the hotel’s Diamond Club members… and the crazy vampire Silas and his New Vampire Century who might be behind her hiring for script rewriting.

Concerned about Milagro, Edna shows up at the Paragon Hotel demanding answers and even Oswald cuts his trip and humanitarian efforts short. He’s determined to get to the bottom of Milagro’s behavior and she’s equally determined to figure out what’s going on in La Garbage, California.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy: Midnight Brunch (Casa Dracula Series, Book 2)

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bookreview1

One word: charming.
Two words: engaging hilarity.
Three words: sparkling/sparking chemistry.

Most decidedly, Compromised, is a great way to kick off your summer reading. Kate Noble engages readers with narrative that is tongue-in-cheek. Part of the narrative reads third person omniscient and part is third person lead-centric as we are use to in romance. It changes without warning sometimes, but after the first time or two you don’t really notice it. I started to look forward to it actually because it was so funny, not that the lead-centric parts were not, but the omniscient portions offered a look into Regency society and how gossip spreads.

Maximillian (Max) St. John, Viscount Fontaine, the future Earl of Longbowe, is in desperate need of a wife. Not because he needs money, not because he particularly wants one, but because his father is determined to wield the very last bit of his power over his son before he dies.

You’re probably wondering why on earth Max would give in to this ridiculously patented scheme.

He gives in because his father threatens to spread gossip that Max is a bastard child from a time when his wife cuckolded him (which is completely false mind you), sell off everything that is not entailed and will all of the money to distant relations leaving Max without a name, without funds, and with land in perpetual need of expensive upkeep. Wow! That is pretty darn harsh.

Max is determined to make the best of it, but he only has three months to accomplish such a feat. He’s attending balls, musicales, and parties meeting women who are tall, short, blond, brunette, intelligent, insipid, but none of them are for him. In fact, all of the ladies he’s been meeting lack something.

Gail Alton is unfashionably tall and unfashionably intelligent and unfashionably irksome. She prefers to spend her time at museums and in a book. She loves history and languages and horses. Her sister, Evangeline, is petite, blond and practically perfect in every way. They share a loving relationship and neither one begrudge the other anything. However, compared to Evangeline, Gail is basically invisible, which works for her because she doesn’t find conversations about ribbons to be particularly interesting.

What follows is a regular comedy of manners as Max stumbles into a compromising situation with both ladies. Once with Gail while riding through Hyde’s Park and once with Evangeline including a stolen kiss in a conservatory. He ends up engaged to one girl and falling in love with the other. How will this tangled mess unravel?

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Buy: Compromised

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