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The second Georgette Heyer novel that I read was a lot easier to get through. It helped that there was few if any references to my lord or my lady in the narrative. The diction used is as exacting and up there as Devil’s Cub. This novel was longer but I read it in less time devouring it with enthusiasm. I do have one question, when did the term Tom, Dick, and Harry first get used? Heyer used it in the novel and I thought it was a modern term not one that dated back to the Regency period.

In a single sentence Friday’s Child is a fantastic tale of a poor besotted girl and a rich spoiled Viscount. Lord Anthony Sherington, Sherry to his friends, is in a pickle. He has a few years left on his trust until he can access his money in full. Worse, both of the two uncles managing his estate are not doing so in his best interest; one is negligent and the other is pulling money aside to feather his cap. Sherry has gambling debts to pay and refuses to get another loan from loan sharks. His idea is to marry.

Of course Sherry goes after the Incomparable Beauty of the season, a girl from his past that he has known all his life who also happens to be an heiress. Sherry is just one of the men that float around the Incomparable, others vying for her affections include a Duke, a nasty man who disguises his true face underneath a mask of charm, and a volatile soul who also happens to be Sherry’s friend George. (George for his part loves Isabella, the Incomparable Beauty and tries his hardest to gain her affections throughout the book.)

When the Incomparable turns him down flat, Sherry in a fit of pique vows to marry the first girl he sees. That girl is the penniless Miss Hero Wantage. Hero has also known Sherry all her life and when she was younger she used to follow Sherry around and be his fetch and go girl. They marry in London through a special license with Sherry’s friends as witnesses. Sherry nicknames Hero and everyone starts to call her Kitten by this point.

Well Kitten gets into scrape after scrape not meaning to do so but unable to stop herself. She doesn’t know the rules of society having been bred as the poor relation in her cousin’s home with the idea she would become a governess. All of Sherry’s friends are sympathetic and watch out for her the best they can – Sherry too when he pays attention. Unfortunately for Kitten one scrape gets to be one too many and Sherry explodes causing her to run away. Will spoiled Sherry realize his mistake? Will he realize he loves having her in his life? Will he find her? Will his friends help him or Kitten, whom they adore?

In short I find Heyer’s Regency set tales quite unique – we should start a Heyer Book Club! She after all has written over fifty novels, it could be fun!

Rating: 4 Stars

Originally posted 2008-09-08 05:07:11. Republished by Old Post Promoter

How I felt about Scandal by Carolyn Jewel in 140 characters:

@cjewel I just finished Scandal & it was completely wonderful. Thx for the past hours spent happily reading. Luv the “I hate you” love scene

I finished the book just before midnight with a happy glow. My favorite scene was in fact the scene after they got married. She was telling him how much she hated him, despised him, and deplored him with every breath as he brought her to orgasm. What makes it so hot is that we know as the reader the heroine really does love the hero, even if she’s unwilling to face it just yet. It’s toe-curling yumminess.

When it came to Scandal, I savored it. At first because it took me a bit to get into the story, which is entirely my fault and not the fault of Jewel’s writing. I’ve been a bit scatterbrained and have read several books all in a short period of time. It was good to slow down, read slower, linger longer on passages.

The way Jewel weaves the story is different than most historicals in that fact that it feels truer to life in several aspects with its depictions of personal tragedies and interwoven story of two people engaged elsewhere slowly coming together. The story takes place in the present and in the past, where the characters are now and where they were. I was expecting this divergence in the timeline and still it tripped me up once or twice. If I’m correct in my calculations Sophie is about twenty-five and Banallt is thirty-four or thirty-five in the present timeline. Or perhaps that was in the past timeline? In any case they’re a bit older than the usual romance couple.

Sophie Evans is a tragic character. She made the worst choice possible in her youth and eloped with a scoundrel. Tommy had her convinced he loved her for herself when in truth Tommy loved only himself and the money his new wife brought to his pockets. Her marriage caused a rift between her family and herself that wasn’t mended until after her husband’s and her parent’s deaths.

The Earl of Banallt, whose first name I am currently unable to locate in the book, was exactly like Tommy if not worse when he first encountered Mrs. Evans. Her plain features and intelligent blue-green eyes arrested him and featured in his dreams. He too was married and unfaithful to his wife. With the deaths of loved ones Banallt grew up, but not before making an utter mess of things with Sophie.

They meet again, a few years after Tommy’s death and Banallt is quite determined to prove himself to Sophie. He wants her, desires her, loves her but Sophie is equally determined not to let another man hold power over her heart. She is good at denial and self-denial. The book nearly ends with Sophie refusing to give ground and admit her feelings, but happily she does and the result is spectacular if a bit hushed.

Rating: 4-4.5 Stars

Buy: Scandal

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The Heiress by Jude Deveraux started off exceptionally well in my opinion but tapered off into mediocrity and stayed there after the jumpstart. It’s too bad that it did that as my initial impressions of the novel were four out of five stars. The editing felt choppy in the middle and was completely disconnected towards the end. There was a distinct lack of transitions between scenes and as I read I felt like I was missing the good parts, the parts that tied everything together.

It was hard to feel for the characters after the initial start as well. There was no chemistry between the two of them in the end and that’s what killed the book. I kept reading though hoping it would turn around and be the amazing story it started off as. No such luck.

Axia has forever been stigmatized by her fortune. When people first meet her, they dismiss her, but that soon changes when they hear about how she is the Maidenhall Heiress. Their entire demeanor would do a one eighty. Men previously uninterested would turn fawning gazes her way and declare their undying love and devotion. For once Axia would love to be wanted, needed, and desired for who she was rather than how much money she represents.

James, call him Jamie, Montgomery is a dirt-poor Elizabethan knight. He inherited his brother’s earldom after his death to a fever. Unfortunately for James, his brother had gambled away everything leaving the family with nothing and no way to support themselves. James had responsibilities to the tenets whose land had once been Montgomery before his brother’s debts, his withdrawn mother, blind twin sister, and tomboy younger sister. So when Maidenhall offered to pay him to escort his daughter Axia to her betrothed, James said yes.

But then his sisters found out and hatched a plan to use Jame’s beauty to save them from destitution. He would woo the Maidenhall Heiress while she was under his charge and convince her to marry him instead of the man she was betrothed too. However Axia outsmarts James and convinces her beautiful cousin to play the part of heiress to allow Axia freedom on the journey. The tale is a topsy-turvy ride through layers of deception, intrigue, and desperation.

Rating: 2 Stars

Originally posted 2008-08-25 05:41:11. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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Book three of the Pleasures Trilogy staring plump little Gabrielle from India and Erskine (Quill) Dewland soon to be Viscount Dewland. Right off the bat, this was my kind of book and I loved reading every word. I’ll tell you why:

First, the alpha male is one of those wounded and brooding alphas. Quill was hurt from a horse riding accident that left him scarred. He walks with a slight limp most of the time but when tired it is more pronounced. He can’t dance. Repetitive motions cause him intense migraines and this includes riding horses but more importantly intercourse. As alpha males goes, Quill is decidedly masculine. He likes women – he just doesn’t know if they’re worth the three day recuperation.

Second, this story also involves one male character basically stealing the bride out from another man’s nose. This doesn’t always go well for me, but in this case it was just icing. Upon learning that his son was practically incapable of siring progeny, the elder Viscount Dewland orders his second son Peter to take the heiress sight unseen as his bride. Peter doesn’t want to marry, positively shrinks back from the idea, but eventually under pressure agrees. To his dismay, Gabrielle is the antitheses of beauty, grace, and lacks the instinct to navigate smoothly with society’s haut ton.

Third, Gabrielle is a completely charming heroine. She is as gabby as her nickname implies and loves to talk. Gabby is protective, open, loving, kind, and sharp. She is smart enough to keep her half-brother safe from harm. She also knows that Peter finds her a great disappointment. Despite knowing from experience with her father in India, is determined to do her best to please Peter so that he will fall in love with her. This makes her equally stubborn.

She makes friends early with the Duchess of Gisle who has just returned from her honeymoon on the continent. They meet at the dressmakers. Peter has brought her there to clothe her properly so she won’t shame him in public and prays the Madam will be able to transform his ugly duckling of a future wife.

Quill of course, thinks his younger brother is nuts. In fact most of the men in the ton that have seen luscious Gabby agree with Quill. They congratulate (quite crudely) Peter on his good fortune to snare such a well endowed beauty who will surely be a hellcat in bed. They think it’s doubly clever of Peter that she is an heiress.

When Gabby laughs her way into one social scandal, Peter is determined to throw her over but doesn’t know how. Quill gladly informs his brother that he will marry Gabby and happily. Of course, he’s worried about what she’ll think of him later, but Quill can hardly bring himself to care about his own problems. He burns for her and is happy around her. This is enough for him. His only true concern is will it be enough for Gabby?

Rating: 5 Stars

Originally posted 2008-12-11 09:29:18. Republished by Old Post Promoter

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I literally couldn’t put Vexing the Viscount down. I devoured the book in just two days. For those on Twitter, this was the book I was talking about not too terribly long ago. So what’s it about?

Romance treasure, naughty sculptures, and pagan adventures are the pursuits of the impoverished Viscount Rutland and curious Miss Daisy Duke. But even more scrumptious than the thrill of finding lost treasure is watching Daisy Duke attempts to win over the reluctant Viscount.

The man won’t budge! Ever since Lucian Beaumont’s run-in with her pike while playacting when they were younger. (Despite the past acquaintance they are not childhood friends.) If her deadly aim weren’t enough of a detraction, clearly there must be something dreadfully wrong with her as she is a lovely unwed heiress… must mean she is nothing less than socially unacceptable. He needs a fortune, but he does not need hers! As if his own reasons weren’t enough of a deterrent his father’s particular disliking for the Dukes, especially her uncle, must be taken into consideration.

Still, Daisy remains undaunted. Adventure she craves and adventure is what she’s going to get. The girl takes the mistaken identity plot device and runs with it - playing herself by day and courtesan by night. It’s wicked good fun! Plus Lucian Beaumont is a virgin hero. Yes, that means what you think it does… a virgin hero going to a virgin heroine for love lessons. Squee!

Vexing the Viscount is engaging, spicy, and delightfully intricate… a must read for the adventurous at heart.

Rating: 4 Stars

I loved In the Prince’s Bed by Sabrina Jeffries. It was dazzling, sexy, full of wit and great dialog. The characters and their motives were well thought out and spun together to create a wonderfully fantastic tale. This is the first of the Royal Brotherhood trilogy.

Alec Iversley, comes home from abroad at his father’s death to find his inheritance gone and in its place a large debt. His childhood home is a wreck, his finances a wreck, his tenets and servants in terrible shape, and his honor in question because of his father’s misdeeds. He needs an heiress and he needs those funds yesterday if he is going to save Edenmore and all the fortunes of those that depend on him.

Miss Katherine Merivale needs to get married. Her grandfather left her a large sum of money as her inheritance, but it can only be retrieved upon her marriage. Her mother needs the money to pay off her father’s debts from gambling and whoring. Katherine and her childhood friend, Sydney Lovelace, have had a long time understanding that they will wed. So why hasn’t he bucked up the courage to overthrow his mother’s tyranny and declare her his bride?

From a deal struck up with his half-brothers the other byblows of the Prince of Wales, Alec has in his possession the name of his future heiress. At Lady Jenner’s cherry blossom themed party he spies a lovely young miss with flame-red hair and a wildly exotic red dress. When he finds out afterward that this woman is his heiress he thinks to himself, ‘no man can be that lucky.’

But Katherine has defenses Alec can scarcely hope to breach. She believes in the gossip about his past, dislikes rakehells, and defends herself at every turn from seduction. Lucky for him, she’s a passionate woman with a streak of recklessness yearning to be set free and that Sydney is a spineless wet towel. Now all he has to do is prove he’s not the man the gossip paints him, woo her with drugging kisses, and somehow show her that he’s the better man.

Rating: 5 Stars

Originally posted 2008-11-26 21:57:45. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Today I have the pleasure of presenting the first of the Highlander Novel Cover Contest entries. Be sure to vote by leaving a comment on the entries that you enjoy! The winner is determined by the amount of vocal support they receive before the end of the month!

Model: Alex, who is really Scottish.
Designer: Zarabeth

Romance Novel Title: The Highlander’s Heir

The Tale:

Patrick Kelley, the bastard grandson of the Laird Joseph Kelley knew only two things. He needed a wife and he needed an heir. The passing of Laird Joseph Kelley left Patrick with a dilapidated castle in Edinbourough, a stack of debts, and responsibilities he couldn’t ignore. The fields needed new tenants and tenants meant new homes built with money he didn’t have. Despite his severe loathing of London Society he would have to venture there to find and wed an heiress.

Emiline Pembroke was a plump cousin and companion of the beautiful Jessamine Pembroke, the only heir to the fortune of the Earl, Byron of Pembroke. The Earl’s estate in Wales was Emiline’s preferred setting for her quiet and uneventful life as a spinster at the age of 26. Her cousin’s coming-out ball would only be the 1st tiresome event of the next season in London, where she would dutifully sit and sip in the companions’ corner, unnoticed and unwanted.

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