To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

Book Description:
NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING
Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl's heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?

OR DANGEROUS
Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle's home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh - and luring her into his bed.

THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.
Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud's savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice's love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

First of all, let me begin by saying The Legend of the Four Soldiers Series was a captivating read.  I loved it even more than the author's previous Prince Series.  I had a sneaking suspicion who this last and final book would be about and deliberately did not read any kind of descriptions of it ahead of time so I would be surprised when I got to it.  Overall, the writing in each of the books was superb.  I seem to have a penchant for Georgian romances and Hoyt's novels are a pleasure.  They're sexy, well written with complex plot lines and memorable characters.  Her heroines are (usually) strong women, used to a certain type of environment.  Suddenly thrown off balance and plunged into new and unfamiliar territory, they rise to the occasion and become soul mates to the men they love.

Each chapter begins with a short blurb of an ongoing fairy tale that is the constant thread through the entire series that pulls it all together.   Each soldier has his own tale that parallels the main storyline.   Finally, what I consider a deal breaker when it comes to historical romances, Hoyt's books are true to the period.  Customs and manners were meticulously researched.  The gentlemen and ladies' costumes were well described, as well as the settings, locations and descriptions of the various places, whether it was an urbane London drawing room or the frigid backwoods of an eighteenth century North American settlement.

I sped through the series, eager to get to the final book and see how it all wrapped up.  Who was the traitor of Spinner's Falls?  We are still on the trail to find out who betrayed the regiment that was ambushed and massacred seven years earlier near Quebec at the infamous battle.  It is integral to the plot line of each book.  Someone betrayed them to the French and their Indian allies - an officer within their own regiment.   The Spinner's Falls massacre affected each of our heroes in their own individual way, unforgettable scars they are forced to live with for the rest of their lives.

How ironic that this final book turned out to be my least favorite!  I had been dying to get to Reynaud's story - and how he evaded death.  In the previous books, we are under the impression that Reynaud has died - burned at the stake by Indians after his capture at Spinner's Falls.  Images of his death were gruesome and harrowing, as mentioned more than once throughout the series.  Reynaud was Lord Jasper Vale's best friend from To Seduce a Sinner and the brother of Lady Emeline Gordon in To Taste Temptation.  His death was so hideous, Jasper and Samuel Hartley (the hero in Temptation) wish to keep the truth from Emeline.  Reynaud's horrific death is one that stays with us throughout the series.  It is probably the main driving force of why Vale, Hartley and Munroe (from To Beguile a Beast) all are on the quest to find the traitor that betrayed their regiment.

As it turns out Reynaud was not burned at the stake after all.  He was enslaved for seven years instead.  Only now he has escaped and made it back to London, penniless and in rags, determined to regain his title and holdings that go with it as the Earl of Blanchard.  Presumed dead, a distant cousin had assumed the title and moved into his townhouse with his niece, Beatrice Corning.  Beatrice, a young and unattached young lady has always had a fascination with a portrait of the "dead" Reynaud.  Now, all of a sudden, he shows up out of the blue, acting like a madman.  I forgot to mention someone is trying to kill him.   Reynaud slips in and out of a fever, imagining he is under attack by Indians again, although his attackers are really assassins in London.  Beatrice is accidentally hit by a bullet in one of these attacks and Reynaud oversees her recovery and makes love to her while he's at it.

Their romance and courtship is non-existent.  One minute they're strangers, the next minute they're lovers.  There is almost no getting to know one another.  I had a problem with this.  Beatrice falls into his arms while almost unconscious and then becomes immediately engaged to him.  How convenient.  They both realize they love each much too soon, and it felt rushed and forced, nothing like the tantalizing slow build up of the other books. 

At the same time, there is a mishmash of other plot lines going on.  Reynaud must petition to regain his title in the House of Lords.  His cousin, who is a politician, plans to keep the title by declaring Reynaud mad.  He is involved with this higher up power hungry politician who has an agenda of his own.  Can Reynaud prove his sanity and regain his title?  How can Beatrice help?  What happens with Beatrice's sick friend, a young man who lost his legs in the war?  Can she get Reynaud to help pass a bill allotting money to veterans who were permanently wounded fighting for the king?  The bill can narrowly pass if Reynaud regains his title and can vote for the bill in time.  Despite the mishmash, I really admired the way it all came around with Reynaud's speech in the House of Lords to pass the bill.

Overall, as I said before, it was a great series.  I enjoyed this last book, but it didn't have the same impact on me as the others.  Reynaud's character needed more fleshing out, and Beatrice, who had a good heart and meant well, was a lacklustre heroine compared to the others in the series.  She just did whatever she was told to do and didn't have much to her.   Their relationship, albeit tempestuous, was the most unrealistic of them all.  Reynaud, understandably, carried a lot of baggage due the past seven years and it left it's mark on his mind.   The fact that Beatrice was willing to go along with whatever he told her to do was beyond me.  Still, it was a fun read and kept my interest until the very end.  All the other characters from the previous books are reunited here - just like a big reunion!  If there's one thing I can say about Elizabeth Hoyt - she's a great storyteller!

One more thing - I love, love, loved this cover - my favorite of them all!

3.5/5

Legend of the Four Soldiers Series:  5/5

Share

Book Spotlight: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Synopsis:
Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

About seven years ago a friend of mine bumped into me in the supermarket and we got to talking about books and so forth and after mentioning that I'd just bought The Time Traveler's Wife, she grabbed me by the arm and told me - told me - that I had to read this wonderful time travel book called Outlander.  I'd never heard of it.  She began to go on and on, extolling the virtues of somebody named Jamie Fraser.  Nodding, I began to perk up at the idea and took note of the recommendation.  When I later got home, I impulsively bought the first four books in the series off of Amazon.  For some reason I neglected to get the fifth, not realizing there were five in the series at that point.   Needless to say - I nearly cried when I didn't have it later on!

Believe it or not, once the books arrived, there they sat - for nearly a year in my TBR pile.  A year! Can you imagine?  What was I thinking?  I don't know what made me finally pick Outlander up, but I began to read it, and I was entranced.  I'd never read anything like it before.   From that moment was the demarcation point in my literary life.  Life before Outlander - life after Outlander.  The rest is history.  I swept through the books (okay, The Fiery Cross took me longer than the others and I had to put it down from time to time).  I was hooked!  Suddenly it was Jamie, Jamie, Jamie instead of Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Darcy!  As soon as I finished the The Fiery Cross, what did I do?  Naturally, I turned right around and began reading the entire Outlander series again from the beginning - with barely a pause for breath! I didn't want it to stop!  I loved it even more the second time around, suddenly it was like reading it in technicolor!  Now that I knew what would happen I could pay more attention to all the rich details and characterizations, I no longer wanted to speed through it to see what happened next!

Well, after I read the series through again - and again, I discovered the amazing unabridged audio books, narrated by the incomparable Davina Porter.  Davina Porter's voice is unbelievably perfect for this series.  She is the voice of Claire - she is Claire.  When she's Jamie - sigh - she really is Jamie Fraser!  I was able to borrow the audio books from my local library (on inter library loan) and for the next two years (I kid you not) I listened to the whole series in my car nonstop while driving around doing my various daily errands and what-have-you during the course of the day.  Only in my car.  It got to the point where my husband and son would go crazy if they heard Davina Porter's voice - they'd scream and yell, begging me to turn it off! When I finished the series, I bought the CD's and just started from the beginning again in one giant Outlander loop!  I kept this up until A Breath of Snow and Ashes came out.  After reading it, I added that CD to my giant loop as well until An Echo in the Bone came out.  I estimate I listened to those audio books in my car for about five years!  I just never got sick of the story, it fed my addiction.  Even my husband read Outlander.  That's saying something for he's not much of a book reader, unless it's Stephen King or Robert Ludlum.  I think he was mainly curious to find out who this Jamie guy was.  I was breathless with anticipation to hear what part he was on.  What did he think of it?  What did he think of the beating scene at Leoch?  What did he think of what Black Jack Randall did to Jamie at Wentworth Prison?  What did he think of all the sex???  Well, my husband is not the chatty type, it was like pulling teeth, but I did get him to talk about it eventually.  Did he go on to read the second book, Dragonfly in Amber?  No, but maybe he will before we go to Scotland this summer?  Did I happen to mention we're going to the Scottish Highlands this summer?  The title of my blog doesn't have the word Outlandish in it for nothing!  And guess who that handsome red haired Scot in my banner is?  (Ah, the wonders of Photoshop!)

So, now you know about Outlander and me.   I dare any of you who haven't read it yet, not to be affected by it when you read it for the first time - and trust me, you'll read it more than once.  It's that kind of book.  Maybe you won't be as affected by it as much as I was, but trust me, this series is that good.  It's life changing.  Not only is the story fantastic, but the writing is superb.  They're huge books, the kind you can get lost in - the Calgon take me away kind of books that leave you misty eyed, utterly exhausted but exhilarated as well.  You laugh, you cry, you're all over the place in these books.  Jamie and Claire's story is one of an everlasting love.  The time travel element gives them a special quality as well as the lush richness of Gabaldon's writing.  Frankly, I find it indescribable.  Everyone I've recommended them to has loved them as well -  the books are evocative, magical - and addictive!  

It was twenty years ago that Outlander was first published, below is an excerpt to give you a taste of what I'm talking about, it's one of my favorite moments:

Jamie made a fire in a sheltered spot, and sat down next to it. The rain had eased to a faint drizzle that misted the air and spangled my eyelashes with rainbows when I looked at the flames.

He sat staring into the fire for a long time. Finally he looked up at me, hands clasped around his knees.

"I said before that I'd not ask ye things ye had no wish to tell me. And I'd not ask ye now; but I must know, for your safety as well as mine." He paused, hesitating.

"Claire, if you've never been honest wi' me, be so now, for I must know the truth. Claire, are ye a witch?"

I gaped at him. "A witch? You—you can really ask that?" I thought he must be joking. He wasn't.

He took me by the shoulders and gripped me hard, staring into my eyes as though willing me to answer him.

"I must ask it, Claire! And you must tell me!"

"And if I were?" I asked through dry lips. "If you had thought I were a witch? Would you still have fought for me?"

"I would have gone to the stake with you!" he said violently. "And to hell beyond, if I must. But may the Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul and on yours, tell me the truth!"

The strain of it all caught up with me. I tore myself out of his grasp and ran across the clearing. Not far, only to the edge of the trees; I could not bear the exposure of the open space. I clutched a tree; put my arms around it and dug my fingers hard into the bark, pressed my face to it and shrieked with hysterical laughter.

Jamie's face, white and shocked, loomed up on the other side of the tree. With the dim realization that what I was doing must sound unnervingly like cackling, I made a terrific effort and stopped. Panting, I stared at him for a moment.

"Yes," I said, backing away, still heaving with gasps of unhinged laughter. "Yes, I am a witch! To you, I must be. I've never had smallpox, but I can walk through a room full of dying men and never catch it. I can nurse the sick and breathe their air and touch their bodies, and the sickness can't touch me. I can't catch cholera, either, or lockjaw, or the morbid sore throat. And you must think it's an enchantment, because you've never heard of vaccine, and there's no other way you can explain it."

"The things I know—" I stopped backing away and stood still, breathing heavily, trying to control myself. "I know about Jonathan Randall because I was told about him. I know when he was born and when he'll die, I know about what he's done and what he'll do, I know about Sandringham because ... because Frank told me. He knew about Randall because he ... he ... oh, God!" I felt as though I might be sick, and closed my eyes to shut out the spinning stars overhead.

"And Colum ... he thinks I'm a witch, because I know Hamish isn't his own son. I know ... he can't sire children. But he thought I knew who Hamish's father is ... I thought maybe it was you, but then I knew it couldn't be, and..." I was talking faster and faster, trying to keep the vertigo at bay with the sound of my own voice.

"Everything I've ever told you about myself was true," I said, nodding madly as though to reassure myself. "Everything. I haven't any people, I haven't any history, because I haven't happened yet.

"Do you know when I was born?" I asked, looking up. I knew my hair was wild and my eyes staring, and I didn't care. "On the twentieth of October, in the Year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and eighteen. Do you hear me?" I demanded, for he was blinking at me unmoving, as though paying no attention to a word I said. "I said nineteen eighteen! Nearly two hundred years from now! Do you hear?"

I was shouting now, and he nodded slowly.

"I hear," he said softly.

"Yes, you hear!" I blazed. "And you think I'm raving mad. Don't you? Admit it! That's what you think. You have to think so, there isn't any other way you can explain me to yourself. You can't believe me, you can't dare to. Oh, Jamie..." I felt my face start to crumple. All this time spent hiding the truth, realizing that I could never tell anyone, and now I realized that I could tell Jamie, my beloved husband, the man I trusted beyond all others, and he wouldn't—he couldn't believe me either.

It was the rocks—the fairy hill. The standing stones. Merlin's stones. That's where I came through." I was gasping, half-sobbing, becoming less coherent by the second. "Once upon a time, but it's really two hundred years. It's always two hundred years, in the stories. ... But in the stories, the people always get back. I couldn't get back." I turned away, staggering, grasping for support. I sank down on a rock, shoulders slumped, and put my head in my hands. There was a long silence in the wood. It went on long enough for the small night birds to recover their courage and start their noises once again, calling to each other with a thin, high zeek! as they hawked for the last insects of the summer.

I looked up at last, thinking that perhaps he had simply risen and left me, overcome by my revelations. He was still there, though, still sitting, hands braced on his knees, head bowed as though in thought.

The hairs on his arms shone stiff as copper wires in the firelight, though, and I realized that they stood erect, like the bristles on a dog. He was afraid of me.

"Jamie," I said, feeling my heart break with absolute loneliness. "Oh, Jamie."

I sat down and curled myself into a ball, trying to roll myself around the core of my pain. Nothing mattered any longer, and I sobbed my heart out.

His hands on my shoulders raised me, enough to see his face. Through the haze of tears, I saw the look he wore in battle, of struggle that had passed the point of strain and become calm certainty.

"I believe you," he said firmly. "I dinna understand it a bit—not yet—but I believe you. Claire, I believe you! Listen to me! There's the truth between us, you and I, and whatever ye tell me, I shall believe it." He gave me a gentle shake.

"It doesna matter what it is. You've told me. That's enough for now. Be still, mo duinne. Lay your head and rest. You'll tell me the rest of it later. And I'll believe you."

I was still sobbing, unable to grasp what he was telling me. I struggled, trying to pull away, but he gathered me up and held me tightly against himself, pushing my head into the folds of his plaid, and repeating over and over again, "I believe you."

At last, from sheer exhaustion, I grew calm enough to look up and say, "But you can't believe me."

He smiled down at me. His mouth trembled slightly, but he smiled.

"Ye'll no tell me what I canna do, Sassenach." He paused a moment. ... A long time later, he spoke.

"All right. Tell me now."

I told him. Told him everything, haltingly but coherently. I felt numb from exhaustion, but content, like a rabbit that has outrun a fox, and found temporary shelter under a log. It isn't sanctuary, but at least it is respite. And I told him about Frank.

"Frank," he said softly. "Then he isna dead, after all."

"He isn't born." I felt another small wave of hysteria break against my ribs, but managed to keep myself under control. "Neither am I."

He stroked and patted me back into silence, making his small murmuring Gaelic sounds.

"When I took ye from Randall at Fort William," he said suddenly, "you were trying to get back. Back to the stones. And ... Frank. That's why ye left the grove."

"Yes."

"And I beat you for it." His voice was soft with regret.

"You couldn't know. I couldn't tell you." I was beginning to feel very drowsy indeed.

"No, I dinna suppose ye could." He pulled the plaid closer around me, tucking it gently around my shoulders. "Do ye sleep now, mo duinne. No one shall harm ye; I'm here."

I burrowed into the warm curve of his shoulder, letting my tired mind fall through the layers of oblivion. I forced myself to the surface long enough to ask, "Do you really believe me, Jamie?"

He sighed, and smiled ruefully down at me.

"Aye, I believe ye, Sassenach. But it would ha' been a good deal easier if you'd only been a witch."

Excerpted from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Copyright © 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. Excerpted by permission of Dell, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Now a little bit about Diana, who wrote these amazing books. I've met her in person twice now and she is amazingly down to earth and unaffected by her success. She seems very grounded and a gracious and lovely lady!

Diana Gabaldon is the author of the award-winning, #1 NYT-bestselling OUTLANDER novels, described by Salon magazine as “the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting “Scrooge McDuck” comics.”

The adventure began in 1991 with the classic OUTLANDER (“historical fiction with a Moebius twist”), has continued through six more New York Times-bestselling novels–DRAGONFLY IN AMBER, VOYAGER, DRUMS OF AUTUMN, THE FIERY CROSS, A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES, and AN ECHO IN THE BONE, with nineteen million copies in print worldwide.

The series is published in 26 countries and 23 languages, and includes a nonfiction (well, relatively) companion volume, THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION, which provides details on the settings, background, characters, research, and writing of the novels. Gabaldon (it’s pronounced “GAA-bull-dohn”—rhymes with “stone”) has also written several books in a sub-series featuring Lord John Grey (a major minor character from the main series): LORD JOHN AND THE PRIVATE MATTER, LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE, and LORD JOHN AND THE HAND OF DEVILS. Another Lord John book, LORD JOHN AND THE SCOTTISH PRISONER, will probably be published in 2011).

Returning to her comic-book roots, she has also written a graphic novel titled THE EXILE (set within the OUTLANDER universe and featuring the main characters from OUTLANDER), but told from the viewpoint of Jamie Fraser and his godfather, Murtagh. The graphic novel is illustrated by Hoang Nguyen, published by Del-Rey.

Gabaldon is presently working on the third Lord John novel (LORD JOHN AND THE SCOTTISH PRISONER), and the eighth book in the OUTLANDER series. In addition, she is working on a contemporary mystery series, set in Phoenix, and has written Highly Scholarly Introductions (with masses of footnotes) to recent Modern Library editions of Sir Walter Scott’s IVANHOE and Thomas Paine’s COMMON SENSE.

Dr. Gabaldon holds three degrees in science: Zoology, Marine Biology, and Quantitative Behavioral Ecology, (plus an honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters, which entitles her to be “Diana Gabaldon, Ph.D., D.H.L.” She supposes this is better than “Diana Gabaldon, Phd.X,”) and spent a dozen years as a university professor with an expertise in scientific computation before beginning to write fiction. She has written scientific articles and textbooks, worked as a contributing editor on the MacMillan ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMPUTERS, founded the scientific-computation journal SCIENCE SOFTWARE QUARTERLY, and has written numerous comic-book scripts for Walt Disney. None of this has anything whatever to do with her novels, but there it is.

She and her husband, Douglas Watkins, have three adult children and live mostly in Scottsdale, Arizona.



You can visit Diana online at http://www.dianagabaldon.com/.

Published by Random House, here is the link that will tell you where the books are available for sale. No word yet on when exactly the next book of the series will be coming out, but Diana is working on it and said it might be as early as 2012!

Thanks to Cheryl Malandrinos for organizing and inviting me to participate in the Pump Up Your Book Virtual Blog Tour for Outlander, this was fun!

Share

Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught

Book Description:
The tempestuous marriage of Alexandra Lawrence, an innocent country girl, and Jordan Townsende, the rich and powerful Duke of Hawthorne, is about to face its ultimate test of tender loyalty. Swept into the endlessly fascinating world of London society, free-spirited Alexandra becomes ensnared in a tangled web of jealousy and revenge, stormy pride and overwhelming passion. But behind her husband's cold, arrogant mask, there lives a tender, vital, sensual man...the man Alexandra married. Now, she will fight for his very life...and the rapturous bond they alone can share.

Another winner by Judith McNaught!  I simply love going through her backlist, it's a sheer joy to read her romances.  Well written and passionate, they pack a wallop, often a roller coaster ride of emotions.  She's one of the queens of romance and a favorite of mine.  The relationships she writes are hot blooded with not a little angst, alpha heroes abound and her heroines have a winsome innocence to them that I love - Something Wonderful is no exception!

Jordan and Alexandra are the most unlikely couple.  She, a country lass, is incredibly naive to the point where I nearly rolled my eyes.  She doesn't even know what husband and wives do on their wedding night?  C'mon!   But, despite that, I liked her and was able to overlook it, it only adds to the plot later on in the book as she matures.  He, on the other hand, is an experienced, worldly, man about town.  A wealthy duke with estates and influence up the wazoo.  Due to a strange quirk of fate, they are forced to marry.  He doesn't want to, but because she saved his life, he unknowingly compromised her and ruined her reputation.  He would be a cad if he did not marry her.  It's the least he can do to this young innocent girl that doesn't deserve to be ruined for an act of kindness and bravery.

Alexandra is seventeen years old and green as green, the last person in the world he thought he'd ever wind up marrying.  Being a cynic when it comes to love, he's not accustomed to her ingenuous heart of gold and joie de vivre.  Between her optimism and his gradual fascination with her personality that is new and fresh, you get the feeling their marriage has potential - if only he'd drop his ballerina mistress.  His first thought is to hide her away at one of his distant estates in Devon and carry on with his life - and mistress - in London.  But, as they get to know one another before the wedding, things begin to blossom between them and Alexandra falls in love with him, just as any seventeen year old would.  He's bigger than big, larger than life - and she's going to marry him!  She develops major hero worship, although he still thinks of her like the little puppy she's adopted on their honeymoon.  Yet, Alexandra's vivacious personality grows on him and by the time they marry and have their wedding journey, Jordan has become smitten by her guileless charm.  It's catching.  They christen their marriage bed en route to London and it's pure bliss, Alexandra is overwhelmingly in love with him even more.  He'd never admit it, but he's coming around to her as well, maybe this marriage thing will work between them after all...

SPOILER

But, this isn't a story about two people getting to know one another after a forced marriage.  It takes a twisty turn.  Just when you think Jordan and Alexandra are going to have a great beginning to their marriage and get on with their lives, he gets knocked on the head and disappears!  Oh no!  I couldn't believe it!  Everyone believes he's dead and after a year of mourning and missing him, Alexandra gets on with her life - alone - as his widow and duchess.  She becomes sophisticated and develops some polish.  Basically, she grows up and becomes a women.  She's no longer the girl Jordan left behind.

Thanks to Jordan's grandmother's who grows to love Alex, she becomes the toast of the town and London society.  But, while she's undergoing her transformation, she begins to hear the truth about what her husband had been like before she met him, and she doesn't like what she's hearing.  She feels like a fool, all her hero worship evaporates as she finds out just what kind of man he had been like.  Torn by her own memories of him and his notorious reputation as a ladies man she flings herself into have a grand old time.  Although she remains chaste in her scandalous escapades, rumors abound about her as well, though none of them are true.  To squelch the wagging tongues, she agrees to marry Jordan's cousin, Anthony (who inherited the dukedom) to settle down as his duchess.  She doesn't love him, but it's a future she can live with.

Guess what happens just before they say "I do" in the church?

I was up and down over Jordan in this book.  I kept wondering if McNaught was deliberately killing him off and we were going to read about Alexandra finding love with someone else - his cousin.  I was mentally preparing myself for that kind of storyline, unsure of my feelings of whether I wanted her with Jordan or Anthony.  At times I hated Jordan, he is not painted as a sympathetic character at first.  He's haughty and unfeeling, plus a real womanizer with many sins in his past.   While he was missing, Alexandra heard all about his exploits, his mistresses and paramours to the point where she was sickened by it.  She was determined to erase his memory from her mind and start fresh again.   Yet, upon his miraculous return Jordan wants his "wife" back.  Uh-oh.

Can Alexandra accept the man who has returned as her husband?  Faults and all?  Can Jordan accept the accomplished and glamorous young woman his wife has turned into in his absence?  It's as if he believes she has blossomed because he "died."  He can't accept that she simply grew up.  A lot has happened to both of them in the last two years, but one thing hasn't changed.  Someone is still trying to murder him.  Unfortunately, Jordan becomes convinced that Alex and her "fiance" Anthony are plotting to murder him.  Grr! So much angst and miscommunication!  They should be happy and loving each other and instead Jordan is being a jerk and brooding, brooding, brooding, taking it all out on innocent Alexandra who just wants to love him again and forget the past and move on.  I hated the way Jordan treated her at times - so typical of McNaught's heroes.

Yes, Jordan is the stereotypical jumping to conclusions McNaught hero.  Tall, dark and handsome, masculine, commanding with the haughty demeanor only a duke can have.  He assumes the worst of his wife.  Never does he give Alex the benefit of the doubt, even though he claims to love her.  He doubts her love for him and assumes that she couldn't wait to get married again after he "died" and had been living it up as a merry widow!  It drove me crazy that he was so wrong about her, but at the same time, I love, love, loved it!  I'm a victim to these kind of Judith McNaught heroes, if I met one in real life, I'd probably hate his guts, but in print - I swoon!

So, how do these two resolve their differences and live happily ever after, read the book and see!  It's a great book all the way up to the end-simply wonderful!

4/5

Share

To Tempt a Scotsman by Victoria Dahl

Book Description:
She Has Nothing Left To Lose...

After finding herself at the center of a very public scandal that left one man dead and another on the run, Lady Alexandra Huntington has exiled herself to her brother's estate and is content to manage his affairs. But the arrival of darkly handsome Collin Blackburn awakens her curiosity and her desire - and the advantage of being a fallen woman is that she can be ruined only once...

Except Her Heart...

After a promise sworn to his father, Collin Blackburn is compelled to seek the aid of the woman who brought about his brother's death in a senseless duel. Yet Lady Alexandra is not the shameless femme fatale he expected. In fact, Collin suspects she is guilty of nothing more than a hunger to experience passion, and the brawny Scot is certainly equipped to oblige. But the quick-witted, keenly sensual Alexandra has a few lessons of her own to impart - on life, love, and the delicious joys of succumbing to temptation...

One of the things I love about Regency romances is their settings and the period.  I've read a million and know what to expect - it's like returning home for me when I pick up a new Regency.  The places, the etiquette and gentility, the styles and dress codes, that sort of thing.  Everyone is polite and dainty, bowing and curtsying.  I expect everything that was customary for the early nineteenth century. For the most part I enjoyed this book, and it kept my interest but I had one big problem with it.  It did not fit into my comfort zone for a Regency.  I tend to be a stickler with my heroines and Lady Alexandra was much too modern for a Regency chit - and she wasn't forthright with our hero, Collin.  She deliberately misled him and I had no sympathy for her.  Her manner was jarring to me and she did not behave the way I expect a young aristocratic lady should. *hmmph*  I admit it, I'm a Regency snob.

The premise of the story is the heroine, Alexandra thinks she's ruined for (nearly) getting caught in the act with a ne'er do well rake, so she might as well act the part and really be a wanton woman!   I disliked this logic and she annoyed me to no end.  Prone to riding astraddle and wearing men's britches, she does whatever she wants because she is the sister of a duke.  She sets her sights on Collin Blackburn, a handsome Scot, who has come to question her to find out the truth behind the death of his brother - a death that she is partially responsible for.  Collin's brother had been in love with Alexandra and fought a duel over her and was killed by the same rake (who's name escapes me) that she was caught in a compromising position with.  All in her first season! Collin is convinced this rake set his brother up and wanted him dead all along and staged the whole scene to make his brother call him out.  Alexandra turned out to be oblivious to it all and wound up becoming a casualty to the whole episode because she lost her reputation when news spread about what the duel was over.  Banished to her brother's estate, she has remained quiet over the whole episode until Collin shows up and wants answers.

Alexandra is no shrinking violet, after their initial first acrimonious meeting, they meet again at the estate of a mutual friend and she basically throws herself at Collin like a cat in heat. Tempting as she may be, he does the honorable thing and does not sleep with her, when she has so obviously made her wishes plain to him.  She actively pursues him and goes to Edinburgh for the Scottish "season" and she propositions him again.  She's pretty shameless with her intentions.  She knows what she wants and isn't afraid to go after it.  It's just so inconceivable that any well brought up young lady of that period would do such a thing!  She invites him to spend a week full of sex with her at her little secluded cottage and he takes her up on it.  He's falling for her and he can no longer resist her charms.  He is a man, after all, and he can only say no so many times.  Their week starts well until they go to bed and - oops! It turns out she's a virgin!  Well, he's furious she lied to him, he insists they marry, she says she doesn't want to marry him (hurting his pride) and then she up and gets sick with a high fever and he's got to rush her (on horseback) back to her brother's estate.  Once her brother, the Duke, gets wind of what's been going on he insists they marry but he won't let Collin near his sister until she's well again.  Her brother is seething, having no idea his sister is the one that started all this business.  Also, since she got sick, she forgot to tell Collin that the disreputable rake is back in town and wants money from her. 

As soon as she is well again, she and Collin have a quickie wedding, but then Collin gets jealous of every man Alexandra comes into contact with!  Plus, he suffers from "my wife is richer than me" syndrome.  Does he tell her what his problem is?  No!  So, there's all this miscommunication between them, lots of angst, she doesn't know what his problem is and their marriage begins to go to hell in a handbag!  Poor Collin - he went from noble do-gooder to stupid husband who doesn't know the first thing about how to treat a new wife!

Then, there's the problem of the disreputable rake that returns to England from the Continent and is blackmailing Alexandra...

He turns out to be a real scumbag and manages to kidnap both Alexandra and Collin and there's this horrible near rape scene that Collin has to watch, but I can assure you all ends well.  Still, I felt like this book was all over the place!  I sympathized to a point with Collin, but hated the way he constantly jumped to conclusions about the fidelity of his new bride!  I liked him better before he married Alex.  She is clueless for the most part, she does the stupidest things with no thought of how it must look in regard to her reputation, and she keeps neglecting to tell him about the rake who killed his brother and that he's back in town!  Grr!

Anyway, the overall book was entertaining and a good beach read on my new Kindle while I lolled around the pool in Cancun.  But it wasn't terribly memorable, maybe it would have helped if I had read this one first, before reading the sequel about her brother, the duke, first.  Something tells me that wouldn't have changed my opinion very much, although I liked the sequel better.

3.5/5 

Share

To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

Book Description:
CAN A WOUNDED BEAST . . .

Reclusive Sir Alistair Munroe has hidden in his castle ever since returning from the Colonies, scarred inside and out. But when a mysterious beauty arrives at his door, the passions he's kept suppressed for years begin to awaken.

TRUST A BEAUTY WITH A PAST . . .

Running from past mistakes has taken legendary beauty Helen Fitzwilliam from the luxury of the ton to a crumbling Scottish castle and a job as a housekeeper. Yet Helen is determined to start a new life and she won't let dust - or a beast of a man - scare her away.

Another winner, and probably my favorite of Hoyt's Legend of the Four Soldiers series.  I loved this Beauty and the Beast themed romance that brought two lonely opposites together.  One devastatingly beautiful women is fleeing a life of captivity from a man who thinks of her as his possession.  The other is a man, horribly disfigured who has shut himself off from the rest of the world because he cannot bear to see children and grown people cringe and scream at the sight of him.  It's not your typical boy meets girl story. 

Helen Fitzwilliam is the former mistress of the political and powerful Duke of Lister.  We fleetingly met her in the first book of this series, To Taste Temptation, as an oblique figure, shunned by the snobbish society at a weekend garden party.  Standing apart from the rest of the women, no proper young lady would talk to her since she was a mistress - albeit, to a duke.  Why would he bring her there in the first place?  He is inconsiderate and vain.  You pity her for it looks to be a lonely life, ostracized by polite society - what kind of woman would want that kind of life in the first place?  Then in the second book of the series, To Seduce a Sinner, we meet her again, her name is Helen, and she becomes flesh and blood, no longer a distant figure to wonder about.  She seems to be a good person with two children, an attentive and caring mother too - even normal, except for the fact that her children are bastards and no one nice will talk to her.  By the end of the book, Helen has made up her mind to leave the Duke and run away.

Here in To Beguile a Beast, we pick up with Helen running off to the castle of Sir Alistair Munroe with the aid of Lady Vale (from To Seduce a Sinner).  Munroe is a gruff and reclusive naturalist living in the wilds of Scotland where he can remain cut off from society.  He bears the unsightly scars of torture by Indians while in the Colonies seven years earlier after being captured after the slaughter at Spinner's Falls.  Alistair lost an eye and two fingers as well as having one side of his face gouged and burned.  A once handsome man is now a beast, as he thinks of himself.  Can the beautiful Helen tame him - or perhaps make him a man again in his own eyes?

As the series continues, we are still on the trail of finding out who was the traitor that betrayed the regiment that was ambushed and massacred seven years earlier near Quebec.  The infamous battle known as Spinner's Falls is integral to the plotlines of each book in this series.  Sir Alistair was not a soldier, but he was traveling with the Twenty-eight of Foot while doing research for his book on North American flora and fauna.  Captured and disfigured he has resisted dredging up the memory of his experience at Spinner's Falls, but his old friend, Jasper Vale, has peeked his interest in revealing who the traitor was that gave their position away.  Someone betrayed them to the French and their Indian allies - an officer within their own regiment.

Meanwhile, on the romance side of things, Helen has shown up at Sir Alistair's announcing that she is to be his housekeeper.  His castle is a mess!  Filthy dirty, it's going to take a huge job to get it cleaned up and Helen doesn't exactly have any experience.  Helen has her two young children with her, a young boy of five and his sister who is nine.  For once I really liked kids in a romance!  They had their own little personalities and I felt and cared about them.  They are all on the run, hiding from the Duke of Lister who is determined to find them.  Not that he loves them, but they belong to him and he doesn't like the idea of losing something that is his.  Basically, we hate the Duke.  At first, I didn't think I was going to relate to Helen, I'm not the mistress loving type, but she is written so beautifully and sympathetically.  Young and impressionable when she first met the Duke as a young girl, you understand her plight.  I felt sorry for her and was rooting for her to get away from his grasp and start anew with her children.  Yet, the Duke is powerful and has long arms that can reach far away...

As Alistair becomes more and more used to his new housekeeper and her rambunctious children he begins to thaw.  Naturally, they are afraid of him at first, but they all warm up to each other in no time.  I particularly liked the tenderness Alistair showed to his aging dog which involved a poignant scene in the story.  As Helen and Alistair spar together, I adored reading of his evolution from recluse to passionate lover. He tries to ignore the attraction to Helen at first, but she feels it too.  His disfigurement means nothing to her, she falls in love with the man.  Helen was the perfect foil for him, he could not resist her and I loved how they came together.  It was sensual and fulfilling, just what you'd want to have happen between them.  Of course, that pesky Duke doesn't make things easy and I totally loved the way Alistair saves the day for her and her children.  It was all very clever and well done with a little angst thrown in, but not too hard to take, although I was on the edge of my seat reading all the way up to the end of the book. 

I couldn't ask for more in a romance, this book had everything! A good story, some hot sex, two charismatic and sympathetic leads and it kept my interest all the way up to the end.  The fairy tale legend of the soldier is great as well and matches the main plotline of the story.  I was surprised that this turned out to be my favorite of the series!  Give it a try and read the entire series, it's so worthwhile and Elizabeth Hoyt is a definite favorite of mine now!
 
5/5

P.S. I randomly won this book and received my copy in an online drawing.

Share

Kiss of the Rose by Kate Pearce

Book Description:
Desperate to defeat King Richard III and gain the crown, Henry Tudor made a pact with the Druids binding him and his heirs to the Druids' struggle against vampires. Ever since, the Llewellyns, a vampire-slaying family, have been in the king's employ. Now Henry VIII reigns, and his father's bargain has been almost forgotten - until bloodless corpses turn up in the king's bedchamber. To save the king, Vampire hunter Rosalind Llewellyn must form an uneasy alliance with Druid slayer Sir Christopher Ellis. But soon, Rosalind must face an unthinkable truth: that her sworn enemy may be her soulmate ... 

Why, oh why do I subject myself to these lack lusty lacklustre vampire tales?  Because, I am on a never ending quest to find another series that thrilled me as much as the Gardella Vampire Chronicles - and nothing just seems to match up!  *pout*  As soon as I see the words: historical, paranormal, vampire slayers - I think, "maybe... maybe this time..."  Alas, not this time.  Instead, another disappointment and another wasted kindle purchase.  Is it just me or does the cover look like it's piggy back riding on the success of the The Tudors miniseries?

The premise sounded interesting, think Buffy in the Court of Henry VIII.  Except our Buffy, whose name is Rosalind was born and raised to be a vampire slayer.  Newly arrived at Henry's court, she has been summoned to investigate the murders that are taking place near the King and Queen.  Something is threatening them and Rosalind is the vampire slayer sent to kill off the rogue vampire who is creating all this havoc amidst the court (even though no one really seems to know about the deaths, they've been kept very hush hush).  Rosalind's partner arrives with her and he is posing as a groom in the stables.  He has trained her for the past several years and would one day like to marry her.  She is oblivious to his feelings for the most part.  She is a Druid on a mission to wipe out vampires everywhere - she has no time for romance and love and talk of marriage!

Until she meets Sir Christopher Ellis.  A sworn enemy to Druids, he belongs to a sect that has vowed to protect vampires, plus he may or may not have a little vampire blood in him as well.  His mother was turned into one while she was giving birth to him (I can't even imagine how that can happen!) and then she ran off with her vampire lover.  Ellis, now a handsome grown man is a courtier in the Spanish Queen's good graces.  As soon as he meets Rosalind he is instantly smitten.  He wants her, but their families are sworn enemies, there can be no relationship between the two of them.  It is impossible, even if they wanted one.  Rosalind hates him at first, but soon fights an attraction to him that increases more and more each time she sees him.  She must resist it so they can pair up to find the evil female vampire that is getting closer and closer to the King and Queen.  But, during the Spring Solstice they pair up together in a different way in a pagan ritual as old as time... uurgh. 

I kept with this book even though I was bored silly with it.  Some sex, but no chemistry between Rosalind and Ellis.  The love triangle that developed was lop sided, and frankly I just didn't care, nothing moved me about this book.  Most of the action was hard to follow and the evil characters were caricatures of what they seemingly should be like.  Nothing very memorable, unfortunately, although it wasn't really bad, it just didn't capture me.  The ending was unsatisfactory as well, although there is no doubt in my mind the next book is going to have Anne Boleyn as a vampire.  And how do you kill a vampire?  Cut off it's head, of course!  Ta-da!

2.5/5

Share

The Seduction of Sara by Karen Hawkins

Book Description:
The Seduction of Sara is the lively conclusion to Karen Hawkins's trilogy of passionate Regency historical romances. Saraphina Lawrence is a willful young woman, as magnificent as the Lawrence sapphires she proudly wears. She wed once for passion and was widowed scandalously when her bridegroom fell from a carriage while coupling with his mistress. Now, faced with an ultimatum from her brothers - remarry and live quietly and respectably, or lose the income that supports the independent life she loves - Sara is quick to plan her strategy. Exiled to the dull town of Bath for the Season, she must find a gentleman who is socially acceptable, tolerable in looks and manners and, most important, willing to let Sara have her way in all matters. Her search is going poorly when she hits upon a splendid plan involving Nicholas Montrose, the notorious Earl of Bridgeton (the irresistible villain in need of redemption who was introduced in Hawkins's first book, The Abduction of Julia). Nick wants Sara for his mistress, and she thinks it would be splendid to have such a masterful lover teach her the art of seduction, hoping to use those new skills to lure a suitably compliant man to the altar. It would be hard to say whether Nick or Sara is more surprised when Sara practices the wiles Nick taught her on Nick himself - and the man who swore he'd never marry is tempted to propose to the one woman who has promised she will never be his bride.

The first book that I ever read by Karen Hawkins, An Affair to Remember, was great, I loved it.  But, little did I know that even though it was the first of Hawkin's St. John Talisman Ring Series, there was a prequel to it.  I suspected as much, for there were many references to the hero's sister, Sara and her recent marriage.  The Seduction of Sara is the prequel.

But, being the stickler that I am, I had to start at the beginning of the previous series - the Rogues Trilogy - to get to Sara's story.  I didn't mind, the first two books weren't bad, albeit not as great as the first two in the St. John Series.  Still, that's understandable, being Hawkins' first efforts.  Finally, having finished The Seduction of Sara, how ironic that it turned out to be my least favorite of the three!  Overall it was disappointing in comparison to her other books, but not bad.  One problem is I'm not a big reformed rake fan.  Nick, the hero is not all that likable a character.  He was the cad in the first of the series (reminiscent of Lisa Kleypas' Devil in Winter)  and Sara was too ditzy with her hare brained schemes to find a malleable husband that will allow her to do what she wants in order to avoid having her brothers marry her off to some old fogey.   It was such a ludicrous idea, I found it hard to believe she kept pursuing it!  But, at least now I know what Sara's story is so I don't feel so clueless while reading the St. John series moving forward.

Sara is a wild child, the only girl in a large family of brothers.  Widowed at a young age to a scapegrace husband who was a philanderer, she now wants to have fun herself!  Her brothers are afraid she's going to cause a huge scandal eventually and want her married off, safely out of the way of danger. They ship her off to Bath in hopes that it will calm her down and put some sense into her head.  While there, she meets Nick Montrose, who has just returned from the Continent after winning an estate in a hand of cards.  He has a reputation as a rake of the first order, yet he now wants to settle down, fix up his new place which is outside of Bath and try to do some good before he goes insane.  Yes, he is convinced that he will eventually lose his mind due to the terrible headaches that come over him.  His mother had the same problem and she eventually became addicted to laudanum and died in an accident.  Because of this, Nick is determined never to marry, although that won't stop him from having a mistress.  As soon as he sees the delectable Sara Lawrence he sets his sights on her as his next conquest.

She, on the other hand, has other plans.  She wants a husband that she can manage with no strings attached.  She singles out a few bachelors that look promising but none of them work out.  Meanwhile she is becoming more and more tempted by the handsome Nicholas Montrose who enjoys rescuing her from her aborted attempts at propositioning men!  Before long it's obvious they have the hots for one another and Sara's brother catches them (nearly) in the act and forces them to marry.  So much for Nick's plan never to marry.  But then he comes up with the ridiculous notion that to avoid bringing a child into the world with his malady he will never sleep with Sara again (even though they already have once and it was mind blowing and unforgettable).   Poor Sara is looking forward at least to that part of her forced marriage only to find out her new hubby is avoiding her at all costs!  Bummer!

As you can imagine, it gets worse.  Nick feels he needs to be even more noble and he tries to force Sara to leave him of her own accord by making it look like he has dumped her for a former mistress.  Luckily, Sara shows some smarts (finally) and sees through his sham performance while in the arms of his ex.  Luckily, she does eventually find out what his problem is and tries to help and they get back together, but overall this was a tiresome romance, though I liked the little side story romance between Sara's aunt  and chaperon (a fortyish widowed duchess) and Nick's friend, an aging roue, posing as a French nobleman to lure rich women to his bed.  He turns out to be a dear and I really liked him!

Although I wasn't crazy about this book it hasn't dampened my interest in Hawkins' other books.  I'm eager to resume the St. John Series after this minor bump in the road.

3/5

Share