Sunday, August 1, 2010

"A Passionate Endeavor, The Earl of Her Dreams, & The Viscount's Betrothal"

Back log Post 2.


A Passionate Endeavor by Sophia Nash
Aug 3rd, 2004



Excerpt:
Returning from the war with a wounded leg, Lord Huntington isn’t expecting to find a young nurse on his father’s estate. Not only does Charlotte Kittridge possess a most delicate touch, but something about her intelligent mind and fiery heart makes Nicholas want to take her in his arms and never let go. Unfortunately, he took a secret vow long ago to never marry. 

At seven and twenty and without a dowry, Charlotte Kittridge is considered an old maid. The petite daughter of the most talented physician in all of Europe and an aristocratic French mother lost during the French revolution, she can’t stop nursing the hope that the man who makes her heart flush with desire will someday return her dangerously passionate love. 

Charlotte and Huntington must wager all and come to terms with their secrets and desires in their quest for love and happiness.
 

Review:
I had high hopes for this book. Perhaps too high. In all honesty the excerpt was better than the actual book. The characters of Nicolas and Charlotte was alright in by-themselves, but they really shouldn't have ended together. They were victims of what i'd like to call "forced 
symptom" in that they were forced together. I never once got the impression that they were more than anything but friends in the book. Counter to what the author was trying to accomplished. Their whole relationship was really really forced to a point it was like reading fanfiction. And not good fan fiction either. The author tried to rectify this many times by throwing random events in, but all it did was make it more painful to read. Seriously Charlotte's father suddenly dies, a rich viscount cousin shows up, & Nicholas brother and estate manager is caught embezzling funds in the very last chapter. Then for the life of me i could not figure out who this other dowager duchess was for the longest time till the second to the last chapter when i find out she's Nicolas's grandmother who was talked about as if she was dead the whole book. So no character chemistry, too many thrown in events,and basically lack of interesting story. In all actuality a passionate endeavor this book was not


Rating: Two bunnies



The Earl of Her Dreams by Anne Mallory
Oct 31st, 2006



Excerpt: 
Following an accident that killed her father and scarred her arm, Kate Simmons disguises herself as a boy in order to escape from her scheming brother. She chooses a coaching inn on the road to London to hide and emotionally recover. Unfortunately, the inn soon fills, and Kate finds herself saddled with a rakish roommate full of secrets. 

Christian Black, the Earl of Linley, is a man searching for a journal and an escape from his past. When a murder is committed at the inn, he pretends to be a Bow Street Runner in order to use the guise to search for the stolen journal. The role, with the help of Kate, thrusts him into actually solving the mystery and finding the killer. Trapped at an inn with a dead body, a murderer on the loose and an inn full of suspects, Christian and Kate can only rely on each other. What they discover is that an escape into each other's arms and hearts will ultimately heal the wounds from both their pasts 

Review:
This was an ok book. The sad thing is that it was so much of an ok book that i really don't have much to say about it. The characters were ok. The plot was ok. The ending was ok. Everything was just "ok". Not bad, nor good. In truth this book was rather bland. It was also one of those "i*love*&*lust*for*you*at*first*sight.*Lets*marry*even*though*we*haven't*
*known*each*other*for*even*a*week" books. I really can't get behind that kind of love. It's not even close to being realistic. There wasn't even some catastrophic even that put the hero and heroine together. They both just happened upon sharing a room and get stuck solving a badly written mystery together. Something that leads another reaction to my ok thought. NO PLOT or a very poor and pitiful one. The mystery was dullsville and basically consisted of them searching people's rooms all day. Very much of a let down. So.... dull ok book. 


Rating: Two Bunnies.



 The Viscount Betrothal by Louisa Allen
 Feb 1st, 2010




Excerpt: 
What do you do when Polite Society considers you unmarriageable, yet your relatives insist on matchmaking? Escaping, Decima Ross ends up stranded in a blizzard. To be rescued by Adam, Viscount Weston, is both an embarrassment and a delight – especially when he proves to find neither her height nor her freckles a barrier to passion. But Adam has compromised her and Decima is not prepared to find herself married off for the sake of propriety. By the time Adam has found his elusive love again they are enmeshed in a tangle of mismatched lovers and matchmaking mamas which takes all his considerable ingenuity to unravel. 
Review: 
Another hard book review to write. More so because i just found the book boring and love match too quick. Disappointing since i've been wanting to read this book for a long time. The first chapter was great, but them it got.... I mean its page 30 and the hero and heroine are already in love, lust, and kissing each other. This all after knowing each other for ONE DAY. One single day. That immediately turned me off. I mean, i'm fine with the whole noticing how attractive the person is, but this was a little much. Both heroine and heroine was already declaring they've never met anyone like the other after knowing each other for a few hours. A short conversation and they've found their soul mates. It was like speed dating regency style. Then the rest of the book is them pretending they don't want to be with the other while secretly pinning and having romantic flings. It's like make up your freaking mind. Are you together or not. Finally at the very last chapter on almost the very last page they get engaged. Only after finding out their other intended in compromising positions with each other. (I meant that Adam(hero) & Dessy (Heroine) own finance's were caught together.) They then declared they were getting engaged and that apparently kicked Adam and Dessy in getting engaged too. 

I don't know. Maybe it was just me. I just don't like the whole "OMG your my soul mate in the first 30 pages" types of romances. I like build up and having those moments after page 100 or so. Only anthologies can get away with short mesh ups in my opinions. This book is 278 and doesn't count. Therefore it has my turning my head side to side and wondering if perhaps the bitter cold froze the hero/heroines senses. Perhaps it was the ale & whiskey they were drinking. Or perhaps just me again and my high standards... 

Rating: 2 Bunnies for boring since i could barely get through it. It also gets this rating for too quick of romance. I will say it has a gorgeous cover though.
 

















 

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