Category: A reviews (Page 16 of 16)

Curio by Cara McKenna

March 29, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Various of my Twitter pals had been raving about this one and I finally picked it up in the St. Pats day sales.

What it’s about: It’s a man-whore book!! Here’s the blurb from Goodreads – Caroly Evardt never expected to find herself patronizing a male prostitute. Then again, she never expected to be weeks from her thirtieth birthday and still a virgin.

When a friend mentions that a gorgeous male model in Paris sells his body as well as his image, Caroly’s intrigued. Finally, a chance to sample the gifts of a beautiful man—no strings, no stakes, no fear of rejection.

But she soon discovers that Didier Pedra amounts to more than a striking face and talented body. He’s a kind, charming, damaged man, and after a few evenings of pleasurable education, Caroly’s interest blossoms into something far deeper than mere lust. Her simple arrangement is suddenly feeling downright dangerous

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I expected erotic – after all, it’s a man-whore book! (The author herself calls it that, so it is not an insult). What I didn’t expect was the emotional depth it contained. At just over 100 pages, this story packs a punch. Didier was gorgeous and oh so sexy but also deeply vulnerable.

The story is told from Caroly’s first person POV (and yes, her name is explained int he text – it is not a typo!). She has a dry, self-deprecating wit which I appreciated

I was an extremely homely kid, growing up in northern New Hampshire. I wasn’t quite the ugly duckling who blossomed into a beautiful swan… I merely developed into an okay-looking duck.

and this

I could walk down his street and be like everyone else. I could have a lover. This is Paris, after all. Having a lover is like having a pancreas.

Fortunately for me, the hero-centric reader, there is a quite a lot of dialogue in the story so I felt I did get to know Didier a little. He was so much more on the page than just a pretty face and gorgeous body. I would have been happy to read what happens next, but I appreciated that the story was told by the time the book ended.

I found the book compelling and so much more than merely erotic – although, make no mistake, it is that too.

What else? I was actually getting quite nervous toward the end that the magic would be spoiled by a disastrous ending – even though I had been assured before I bought the book that all would be well. The resolution was hopeful and fairly happy but a bit on the unusual side and there were some things unresolved (- for example, would Didier continue to work as a prostitute?) and there was an element of unbelievability to it but I was happy to accept the fairy tale and go along with it.

This was a very sexy and also very moving read. When I finished it, I had a ridiculous smile on my face and all I could say was “wow”.

Grade: A-

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs, narrated by Holter Graham

March 25, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’m a fan of this series.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Well, first off, the blurb is wrong – not all of the victims were werewolves, some were humans and some were fae/half-fae. The rest is okay though. 🙂

Starting around the time River Marked (Mercy Thompson book 6) finishes this is a clever, tightly plotted story, where the romance aspects between Charles and Anna are neatly interwoven between the investigating-the-serial-killer part. I’d say that the romance aspect wasn’t quite as much to the forefront as has been the case in other books, but it was definitely there and the rest of the story was so absorbing anyway that it was engrossing right from the start. I kept finding excuses to listen to it – more housework, more cooking, taking the long way home! 🙂

I did manage to pick the identity of the bad guy about 2/3-3/4 of the way through which I was quite pleased about – the clues are there but I don’t think the reader is hit over the head with them and while I thought I knew who it was, I wasn’t 100% until the big reveal. It was just as possible those “clues” were red herrings to throw me off the scent. Patricia Briggs is tricky like that.

I enjoy the world Ms. Briggs has created, where fae and werewolf are monsters but where they can also be kind, generous and loving. But, they are always monsters. Charles is a werewolf with extraordinary control for the most part, but he is a dominant wolf and he is super protective of Anna (without smothering her) and he can be, he is a monster. I like that the author doesn’t shy away from it, while at the same time making the characters sympathetic. Brother Wolf, Charles’ wolf half features more strongly in this story and that was fun as well, although there isn’t much of Anna’s wolf at all.

I haven’t listened to Cry Wolf and Hunting Ground in a little while, but I remembered there being a change in how Holter Graham performed Charles’ voice from book 1 to book 2. I preferred the first version, but I understand there is some debate amongst fans about which was better. In this book, if my auditory memory is correct, the voice he uses for Charles is closer to that used in book 1 than book 2 while not being exactly the same, and I found it a good balance. (The only downside was that there was a similarity to that voice and the voice used for one of the bad guys and that was a bit disconcerting).

There were a couple of niggles for me. First, I don’t think it’s a spoiler that Charles, Anna and the FBI led team catch the killer. There is a trial and I am unsure as to the reality of the trial and its process. It certainly served the story but was it realistic? I’m not sure. Maybe, but I had questions about it that were not answered in the story. I’m being intentionally vague here because to do more would be spoiler-y and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone.

The other thing is that my memory of the earlier books is that Charles was able to Change much faster than other wolves due to his Shaman heritage; unless there were repeated changes in a short time or he was wounded. It seemed to me in this book that his Changes were more akin to those of a normal werewolf, except that it remained that he was able to use his magic to clothe himself when he reverted to human. It’s not a big deal, but I did notice there seemed to be a difference. Did anyone else notice this? Am I remembering wrong? (ETA: No, I re-read and Charles can Change much more quickly than other wolves, or at least he could back then.) I think I’ll have to re-read Alpha & Omega (no hardship!) to refresh my memory of how Charles was in the beginning (actually, I was planning on doing it anyway) – oh, how I wish that Alpha & Omega were available on audio! … moving on.

I would also have liked to hear the conversation between Anna and Charles about his ghosts which they never quite got to have. But, these are small things in the bigger picture. Overall, this is an excellent book. It also sets up some exciting changes for the future of both this and the Mercy Thompson series which will shake things up and mean that fans will be champing at the bit for the next book. Such is the lot of a great author – fans are satisfied for so short a time!

What else? Holter Graham is an excellent narrator. He doesn’t do female voices like a bad drag act – he softens his tone and lightens his pitch a little but it is a voice which could be used for a male or female – he lets the context of the story provide the “missing links” so the correct gender/age of the character is placed gently in your brain. He does accents quite well too – I’m not super familiar with the Boston accent but from what I do know, the accent he used was pretty accurate. The character differentiation Mr. Graham uses is excellent and it was, with only rare exception, easy to understand who was talking in a fairly large cast of characters.

I think the experience of this series on audio enhances the enjoyment of it and I recommend this series to any who’d like to give audio a try. However, the series does have to be read in order to truly appreciate it (and this book is actually one where I feel that having read the Mercy Thompson books helps too, as Adam plays a part, but I think you can get by without) and the start of the story is the novella Alpha & Omega. As mentioned above, sadly the novella is not available (yet?!) on audio but it is available as a stand alone e-novella or as part of the On the Prowl anthology in paperback.

Grade: A–

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

March 16, 2012 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I’ve been hearing about this book since way before it’s release with big raps for it from Sarah Wendell (Smart Bitches Trashy Books) and Jane Litte (Dear Author) – initially on their DBSA podcasts. After it’s release I bought it fairly quickly but it stayed on my TBR. I think I was worried it wouldn’t live up to the hype. Anyway, I recently decided to bite the bullet.

Did it live up to the hype? Yes. Yes it did.

What it’s about: (blurb from Goodreads) Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business proposition: a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.

Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This is a delightful book. The writing is tight, witty, at times beautiful, and spare in a way that is reminiscent of Mary Balogh, while being completely the author’s own. Martha is uptight and somewhat cool. Theo is the one who’s all open joie de vivre. He has quite low expectations of himself but it isn’t really that difficult for Martha and Mr. Granville (Theo’s steward) to get him interested in land and tenant management. He’s young (26) and he’s been idle and profligate but he’s basically a kind person – he has a heart made of marshmallow. He falters a little in the delivery sometimes but he learns from his mistakes and he has the best of intentions once he’s on the right track. His character growth felt entirely realistic to me. Theo is also very funny.

He considered her words as she poured. Also, he considered the view down her bodice.

and

With an efficiency only to be gained through much practice, he shucked his clothes. “You may turn over again if you like.” She did, and looked at him, and looked away, just as she would if she’d been foolish enough to gaze straight at the sun, or at one of those gods a mortal could not bear to behold. Apollo, or someone. Mercury. Whichever was the broadest-shouldered and most generously equipped.

As you can see, Theo does not suffer from poor self esteem. 🙂

Theo has a charisma which means that he can persuade almost anyone to do almost anything and he once he turns that charm on the challenges of good stewardship of his land instead of on getting laid, he’s a force to be reckoned with. For example, Martha has a passion for education and is keen on getting the children of the district educated, including the girls. Consider Theo’s sales pitch to a young shepherdess, which succeeds where Martha has spectacularly failed.

“Very good,” he nodded at the shepherdess. “You look like a reader of sturdy constitution. You must read this novel and tell me whether there’s good story in between all the accurate and elevating parts. I’m afraid those virtues are a kind of poison to me, and I need some other reader to go before, like one of those fellows who tastes the king’s suppers.”

Martha on the other hand is all about duty which made her seem, to me, to be much older than her 21 years. She read as about 30/35 in ‘regency years” sometimes and I had to keep reminding myself that she was younger than Theo. At least in part I think this was deliberate on the author’s part as there are times when Theo has to remind himself of the same thing. From Theo she learns to make friends (something she had not heretofore been able to do) and to relax and enjoy life a bit. When she combines the force of nature that is her will with a few smiles, she gets a lot further than she expects. She and Theo make a fairly awesome team in fact. The parts of the book where they are engaging with their respective tenants were very well done and somewhat surprisingly, very entertaining.

From Martha, Theo learns about duty and responsibility but he also learns that pleasuring a woman can be done without sex and as he falls in love with Martha and as she will not accept physical pleasure (more on that later) from him, he longs to give Martha pleasure she will accept. He finds a strange joy in pleasing her with his business ideas.

Her smile went through him like a fever-chill. What a strange, strange thing to give a woman such pleasure without touching her.

and

If only she’d inoculated him with more frequent smiles, he would not lose all his conversation.

and later

Such tricky business, being a husband. Knowing when to be your wife’s champion, and when to stand back that she might be her own. So many large and small skills to master beyond simply pleasuring a woman in bed. Yet one more unexpected lesson from his time in Sussex.

I only would have wanted a little more exposition at the end of the story. It’s no surprise that Martha and Theo fall in love and want to be together. Martha has formed a plan so that she will get a baby one way or another even if she has to pay for one from a poor tenant. She can’t be with Theo and say that the baby is her late husband’s. She can’t save Seton Park if she goes off with Theo and lives HEA. The dilemma is solved fairly neatly in that the specific problem is not who owns the land but that she doesn’t want her evil brother-in-law anywhere near it (he’s a rapist). Once that has occurred however, Martha is still newly widowed and for her to be with Theo creates its own uproar which didn’t seem fully resolved to me. It was like, having solved one problem, the cat was amongst the pigeons and the book ended, while the brawl was still ongoing. I would have liked to have seen that bit resolved too.

However, in the big scheme that is a fairly small niggle and I believe we will see more of Theo and Martha in future books and maybe, if we’re lucky, a Christmas short or something (*hint Cecilia Grant hint*).

What else? Martha does not enjoy (at least initially) and does not want to enjoy Theo’s physical attentions. She feels to take pleasure in sex with Theo would make her actions worse than to ‘suffer’ them. There is some nobility in suffering for a cause (keeping the females on the estate safe from the attentions of the evil brother-in-law). Were she to enjoy their encounters, she feels she can make no claim to nobility. Of course, Martha is a woman and when she first has sex with Theo she doesn’t know him at all. It is not to be expected that she would enjoy such attentions initially anyway. One of the things which struck me about the early part of Martha and Theo’s physical relationship is that there is a certain role reversal present. By that, I mean it is Theo who, by virtue of regularly giving Martha “his seed” finds himself emotionally entangled – Martha herself is not wooed so much by the physical as by the man she comes to know and the man Theo comes to be. There is physical attraction on her part certainly, but I’m convinced she would have continued to find him eminently resistible if not for her growing attraction to the rest of him. Typically, a man can “love ’em and leave ’em” and typically physical intimacy breeds emotional intimacy in a woman. Martha and Theo however, are far from typical and this is just one of the ways they were not only engaging and fun, but interesting to read about.

The contrast of Martha’s dry wit and removed sensibility with Theo’s open and lusty nature was also fun and these two certainly heat up the sheets as their relationship develops.

“Always. Use me, Martha.” His voice invited her into unspeakable things. “Ride me until you’ve got your seed, and then take your pleasure from my mouth.”

Well. Apparently not unspeakable, to him.

and

“But I find one man might differ in significant ways from another.”

“One might have a larger appendage, you mean.”

“That’s not at all what I meant.” The corners of her lips twitched nonetheless. “Though, I’m sure you’ll be gratified to know you do best my late husband in that arena.”

“Darling, I best most men there.”

“My felicitations”

*snort*

Grade: A

Glomming on Megan Hart

February 23, 2012 / Kaetrin

Mandi from Smexy Books recently discovered Megan Hart. In sharing the love, I was inspired to do a re-read of 3 of my favourites of hers and read the other 2 books which had been languishing on my TBR.

Dirty – A (re-read)

This is what happened…

I met him at the candy store.
He turned and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children’s candy store, mind you–this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss’s wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee.
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
I’ve been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears.
Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake.
The problem with wanting is that it’s like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don’t apologize for who I am or what I’ve done in–or out–of bed.
I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven’t wanted anything else.
Until Dan. Until now. (Goodreads blurb)

Elle Kavanagh has a troubled family past. She takes comfort in numbers and counting and wears only black and white. And she does not do relationships. Then she meets Dan Stewart. And he is sweet and persistent and sexy and hot and persistent. This is a very romantic book (complete with HEA) and the prose is spare and lyrical and evocative and just plain beautiful in places.

“And then the prince went away, Dan, and left the fox bereft.” I looked down at my hands, holding his.

“Would you be sad if I left you?” He asked me, and at first I wasn’t sure how I would reply.

At last the answer came on a breath as tremulous as a breeze wafting curtains from an open window.

“Yes, I would.”

He squeezed my hand. “Then I won’t.”

He pulled me close to him, my head on his shoulder, and for a long time that was all I needed or wanted to do.

Dan smiled at me with lips still moist from mine. I have seen clouds part for the sun. I have seen rainbows. I have seen flowers in the morning, covered in dew, and I have seen sunsets so brilliant with fire they made me want to weep.

And I have seen Dan smile at me, his lips still wet from my kiss, and if I had to choose which sight moved me the most I would say it was that one.

It is a wonderful, moving book and holds up extremely well on a re-read. Still an A for me.

Reason Enough – B+ (re-read)

Elle and Dan haven’t quite achieved their goal of having sex in every room of their new house–but “almost ” Marriage hasn’t dampened their hunger for one another in the least, and their relationship is as hot and passionate as ever. But when Dan brings up the subject of having a baby together, Elle finds herself conflicted. Between her dysfunctional family background and her fear of how a baby might change their life together, Elle’s not sure she’s ready for the big step. Dan doesn’t bring the subject up again, but the issue takes hold in Elle’s mind. And as their frequent lovemaking sizzles with unquenchable desire, Elle’s heart is filled to the brim with love and the longing to give Dan “everything.” (Goodreads blurb)

This Spice Brief is set after Dirty but I actually read it first the first time round. It says something about Ms. Hart’s writing that this 56 page short was able to completely take me in when I hadn’t, at that time, read Dirty. It makes more sense, it is true, when one has read Dirty first. And for those who have, there is a lovely Dan and Elle fix for those who didn’t quite get enough in the novel. My note on re-read? I love Dan. That is all. 🙂

Tempted C-

Anne Kinney’s perfect life turns upside-down with the arrival of Alex Kennedy, her husband James’s best friend. Its not until James leads her into an affair with Alex that she realizes her husband might want her to sleep with Alex–because he can’t. (Goodreads blurb)

A sexy book with, again, some lovely writing but the ending wasn’t satisfying for me and it wasn’t poignant either. In the end, I didn’t love the story arc, even though I loved other things about the book. You get the sense early on that there is no happy ending here. However, by the end, I wasn’t confident that James and Anne were okay and Alex’s motivations were a bit of a mystery still. There is a Spice Brief which tells the story from Alex’s POV and I might pick it up one of these days. I’m curious to know Alex better but I’m not sure it can make me feel differently about the story overall.

Naked – C-

No strings. No regrets. And no going back.
I didn’t think he wanted me. And I wasn’t about to get involved with him, not after what I’d heard. Sure, Alex Kennedy was tall, dark and unbearably hot, but I’ve been burned before. When I solicited him to model for my erotic photography book, I didn’t expect such a heated, passionate photo session. And now that we’ve crossed that line, our bodies aren’t the only things that have been exposed.
But I can’t give my heart to a man who’s so… unconventional. His last sexual relationship was with a married couple. It’s enough that my ex-fiancé preferred men, I can’t take that chance again no matter how much my body thrives on Alex’s touch. I can’t risk it, but I can’t resist it, either.
Alex can be very convincing when he wants something.
And he wants me. (Goodreads blurb)

The blurb, unfortunately, isn’t very accurate. Plenty of time and plenty of sex have passed since the events of Tempted and Alex and Olivia get together more as a result of him renting the downstairs flat in the building she owns than anything else.

I spent most of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop. When it kind of did, there were only 2 or 3 pages left and not enough time for me to feel that the HEA was secure. All the time they were getting together, there was a tone to the prose which made me feel like there was sword hanging over their heads and it was going to cut deep any second. I can’t say I was convinced Olivia and Alex would last and I found the ending unsatisfying. I still found Alex largely a mystery, notwithstanding he’s been a major character in 2 books now (that I’ve read). There seemed to be too many things left unsaid and unresolved. There were some lovely passages, but the story left me wanting more (and not in a good way).

Stranger – B+ (re-read)

Funeral director Grace Frawley faces loss each day, so she has decided that paying strangers for sex would be the best way to save herself from experiencing loss herself. Then she meets Sam, and Grace wonders if she can go back to the impersonal. (Goodreads blurb)

This was another re-read. Sam is the brother of Dirty‘s Dan Stewart. He’s been in New York but comes back to town when their father dies. Grace’s job means that she sees people dealing with loss and grief all the time. As a result, she’s so frightened of being bereft, she doesn’t venture into relationship territory at all. And then she meets Sam. Like Dan, he’s persistent. And charming and sexy and hot.

What is unusual about this book is that much of the sex in it is not actually between Grace and Sam – a lot of it is between Grace and Jack. We first met Jack in Dirty when he’s involved in a threesome with Dan and Elle. Inspired by those events, Jack has taken up work as an escort and that is how Grace meets him. It sounds strange, but it works. Trust me.

This book was excellent right up until the end, where there wasn’t enough to satisfy me about how Grace and Sam were going to work out their HEA. I needed at least another conversation – the ending was just too abrupt to satisfy. Sam’s “issues” came up late in the book and I can’t say that I truly understood them or what would happen in the future.

Otherwise, it was really good and beautifully written. The scene where Grace is providing funeral services to a couple who has just lost their young son had me in tears.

In For A Penny by Rose Lerner

March 29, 2010 / Kaetrin

I bought In For A Penny after reading AnimeJune’s review over at Gossamer Obsessions. Thank you AnimeJune!!

The Blurb: No more drinking. No more gambling. And definitely no more mistress. Now that he’s inherited a mountain of debts and responsibility, Lord Nevinstoke has no choice but to start acting respectable. Especially if he wants to find a wife-better yet, a rich wife. Penelope Brown, a manufacturing heiress, seems the perfect choice. She’s pretty, rational, ladylike, and looking for a marriage based on companionship and mutual esteem. But when they actually get to Nev’s family estate, all the respectability and reason in the world won’t be enough to deal with tenants on the edge of revolt, a menacing neighbor, and Nev’s family’s propensity for scandal. Overwhelmed but determined to set things right, Nev and Penelope have no one to turn to but each other. And to their surprise, that just might be enough.

Bouquets: Have you ever, in bright sunshine put on sunglasses and felt your eyes sigh in pleasure? Have you sat down in a comfy chair at the end of a busy day and felt your very bones sigh in relief? Sometimes, when I am very fortunate (because, sadly it is not as common as I would like), I pick up a book and after only a page or 2, I heave a happy sigh – in dual relief and anticipated delight because I know, I just KNOW that I have found a book which will please me from start to finish and I can just settle in to enjoy the experience. This, for me, was one of those books. At the foot of page 1 (page 1!!) is this:-

“Lady Ambersleigh did not look delighted when the three young men were announced. Nev tried to avoid the eye of a young matron on whose new settee he had accidentally upended a punch bowl the month before, and that of an earl from whose son Percy had won almost two hundred pounds at piquet the week before, and that of a lady whom – oh, hell, he tried not to meet anyone’s eye.”

And that was when I knew. The tone, the humour, even the sentence structure pleased me. So, I did a mental happy dance and settled on in.

In For A Penny is not just the title and a play on the name of the heroine. The theme of “all or nothing” (or, “in for a penny, in for a pound”) appears time and time again throught he book; there is Nev who starts off being a very likeable profligate – his life is drinking and playing and very little else. Then, after his father dies (a father who gambled excessively and very badly, another “all or nothing”), he decides to change – he gives up drinking, his mistress and his friends and throws himself completely into saving the estate. Penny’s response to Nev’s proposal surprises even her but she throws herself into it wholly. She also spends much of the time wholeheartedly showing to all that she is a “lady” (even though she is a Cit and she believes that makes her “lady-ness” (huh, I made up a word) fake). Even Sir Jasper, on the neighbouring estate, is totally uncompromising as to the rights of landholders vs. the citizenry. And, through the book, Nev and Penny and many of the secondary characters too, learn where compromise is appropriate (ie, where it doesn’t have to be “all or nothing”) and where it is not – Nev relaxes enough to enjoy a brandy occasionally, knowing that it won’t mean he’ll suddenly become a drunken, gambling, wastrel; he suggests compromise between the rioting tenants and himself as landholder but he loves Penny wholeheartedly, holding nothing back. And, although it is, I think, less obvious, over the course of the book Penny becomes more accepting of her origins and comfortable in her own skin.

I enjoyed the secondary characters too. I really liked Penny’s parents; I felt for Nev’s friends when he dropped them like a hot potato because they were too frivolous for his new life; I felt for the tenants who were struggling with their lot. Even Sir Jasper had a backstory which made his “villainy” somewhat understandable. I say somewhat because he was, by the end, crazy 8 bonkers (I don’t think that’s giving anything away to mention).

I started reading romance at about age 12 and I pretty much believed what I’d read about deflowering virgins in the books I’d read. Then I was educated (I’m looking at you Kalen Hughes!). Now, reading a “deflowering” (ugh, what a word!) scene getting it wrong wrong wrong makes me cringe. This is one of the very few novels I’ve come across where the position of the maidenhead was correct – Thank you, thank you, thank you! And, even Nev knew it! Hooray! In fact, the love scenes were all realistic, sexy and romantic at the same time and I don’t see that all that often either.

Brickbats: There isn’t much to complain about in this book. The conflict was believable and there was no deus ex machina to solve everyone’s problems. Through compromise and hard work, things started to turn around – this may sound dull but it actually wasn’t. Penny and Nev don’t fall into bed, they don’t fall in love in a day or even a week, they had to learn how to communicate (and they did!). Nev’s description of love (as explained to his sister Louisa) is accurate and, in my humble opinion, no less romantic for being so:-

“Love isn’t a game. Living with someone, being married to her – that’s work, Louisa. It’s trying to be what she needs even if it doesn’t come naturally, and struggling to understand her and working together to make a life! It’s accepting that sometimes things aren’t perfect. It’s understanding that sometimes one of you has responsibilities that have to come first and knowing that she understands that too!”

So often, descriptions of love are about how the person makes “me” feel. While there was a bit of that in the book (well, it’s true, after all), it was nice to see the hero recognising the effort, the sacrifice that love is too – the “it’s not just that I think I’d die without him – it’s that I’d sacrifice for him“, kind of thing. Nice.

If I were to have a quibble, it would be that I didn’t have much sympathy with Penny’s fears over her lack of aristocratic background. I identified more strongly with Nev. That Penny considered for the longest time that Nev could not love her because she was a Cit, especially when she had such loving parents herself, strained a bit for me. Nev never treated her as less than ladylike despite her fears. But, that could be a product of my modern upbringing. I certainly understood it was a concern, I just thought the self-flagellation dragged a little towards the end. But, as quibbles go, that’s not much.

I enjoyed this excellent book very much and will be watching out for future titles by this author. Just thinking about it gives me that happy sigh….

Grade: A

Don’t Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

January 27, 2010 / Kaetrin

This is my very first review. Perhaps one of many. Who knows? It’s probably not the world’s best review, but one has to start somewhere, so here goes!!

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in only a few hours, the pace of the story and the witty repartee between the characters kept me smiling and engaged the whole time.

Lucien de Gray, Duke of Marchmont and Zoe Octavia Lexham knew each other as children. After the death of Lucien’s parents, Zoe’s father stood in loco parentis to the young boy and his elder brother and the families spent much time together. Lucien and Zoe have a connection even as children. After the death of his brother in a riding accident, Lucien inherits the title. Shortly after, Zoe and her parents travel to Egypt and other exotic locales. Zoe is kidnapped and spends the next 12 years in a harem.

Lucien’s reaction to the loss of Zoe, after losing his only brother and his parents, is to shut himself off from emotion, locking his more tender side firmly away. He becomes the epitome of the bored fashionable young lord, taking nothing very seriously and not looking too deeply at anything or anyone.

The book begins when Zoe escapes from the harem and finds her way back to England and her family. She of course, has been more obviously locked away and it is these themes the book explores.

There is the convenient retaining of Zoe’s virginity (her “husband” was impotent) but I thought in the end that this was because the book was not about violation, at least, not really. If Zoe had returned to England a non-virgin there were of course numerous issues surrounding a “good marriage” and reintroduction to “polite society”. Her keeping her virginity neatly skirted those issues. Others have commented that the plot point was improbable and while this may well be true, I thought, on consideration that the book would have been a very different one without it. I would still have liked to have read it, dark as it would no doubt have been. But, I don’t regret the book I did read.

I would have liked to have spent more time with both characters seeing how they felt about what had happened to Zoe in the harem – eg whether Zoe felt violated, virgin or not. I assume that her sexual instruction involved at least someone touching her and in the circumstances, this would amount to a sexual assault but there wasn’t anything in the book that hinted at such feelings from Zoe. Similarly, Lucien greatly enjoyed Zoe’s sexual abandon and knowledge but did not seem to struggle at all (or much) about how she’d come to learn these “arts”. Perhaps because she was only 12 when kidnapped the sexual stuff became “normal” and she didn’t suffer for it? I’m not any kind of expert in that area but that’s the only theory I could come up with for why she seemed so normal and accepting of her sexual self. She was in no way ashamed and it may be that’s what led Lucien not to trouble himself about it.

In any event, the themes of the book were, for me, about imprisonment and freedom. Zoe had been literally imprisoned in the harem and Lucien was emotionally imprisoned by his various tragic losses. (The second half of the book explores other types of imprisonment/freedom but I won’t give that part of the story away here.)

When Zoe returns to Lucien’s life, she has to learn how to be free and Lucien discovers, much to his dismay, that the “mental cupboard” he has been shoving emotions and memories into will no longer stay closed. Lucien has a very dry wit which I loved and Zoe, used to life in the harem, often says things which are considered scandalous in polite society. Both caused some laugh out loud moments for me – some of the best bits of a Loretta Chase novel in my view.

I love the way Ms. Chase writes and I love Lucien’s contrary wit – here’s an example:-

Adderwood waved a newspaper under his nose. “Have you seen this?”
Marchmont glanced at it. “It appears to be a newspaper.”.
“It’s the Delphian. Have you read it?”
“Certainly not. I never read the papers before bedtime, as you well know.”
“I should have bet anything you’d read this one.”
“I hope you bet nothing. It pains me to see you lose money, unless it is to me.”
“But it’s all about the Harem Girl.”
“Is it indeed?”
“What an aggravating fellow you are to be sure,” said Adderwood…. “This” he tapped the newspaper, “appears to be the young woman.”
“Certainly not.” said Marchmont. “That is a newspaper. We settled that a moment ago. Do you not recollect?”

The chemistry between the h/h was instant and believable. I genuinely liked Lucien and Zoe and would have liked to have spent more time with them.

I thought the book ended a bit soon – it was a fairly short read – coming in a just over 220 pages on my Sony reader but I live in hope that the characters will appear as secondary characters in other books – I’d like to read about Lord Winterton – he was the plot device used to return Zoe to England but apart from that we are told he is “darkly handsome” and that Zoe, despite his good looks, felt no spark with him, he is a cipher. Perhaps we’ll get his story next?

Overall, I rated this book an A.

Thank you Ms. Chase for a wonderful read.