Tag Archives: historical romance

Book Review: The Most Eligible Viscount In London, by Ella Quinn

I won a paperback copy of Ella Quinn‘s The Most Eligible Viscount In London through Goodreads. Then, it was promoed on Sadie’s Spotlight, which was a reminder to actually read it instead of letting it get lost on my book shelf.

Viscount Gavin Turley is convinced that love matches cause nothing but trouble. Still, after months of courting, he’s fallen for Miss Georgie Featherton. He’s passionate about her, in fact. But words of love are not an indulgence he will allow himself. When he presents Georgie with his marriage proposal, he will lead with his head—not his heart. His qualifications as a husband are excellent, after all. What could go wrong?

No sooner does Gavin kneel on one knee than Georgie’s heart goes aflutter with joy. Finally, the proposal she longed for had arrived. Yet Gavin seemed to be listing his credentials for a business partnership, not a romantic union. Without a declaration of love, Georgie can only reject his offer—unless the ladies of the ton, and Georgie’s grandmama, have anything to do with it. For sometimes it takes a wiser eye to see the love behind a guarded heart—and a clever scheme to bring it out of hiding…

I found this beyond frustrating. It is an entire book that could have been resolved with one simple conversation. But then the characters commenced going horseback riding together, to town fetes, winning problematically entitled treasure hunts, eating meals together, etc and not having that conversation. It’s all either character thought about, but they didn’t speak of it. And frankly I found the whole contrivance stretched credulity far beyond believably.

Do you know what it felt like? It felt like 10 pages of set up, 262 pages of filler, a page (page 272) in which The Conversation finally occurred, another 7o pages of further filler, and then a rushed obligatory Baby’s birth tacked on. None of that was satisfying. I didn’t feel any true love between the characters. I didn’t feel any true tension in the plotting or enjoy any of the filler events. It was dull and unbelievable.

I’ll admit that the writing and editing are clean, as you would expect from an author who has published a billion books with big 6 publishers. But I thought this a huge waste of time to have read.

Book Review: Any Old Diamonds, by K.J. Charles

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I purchased a copy of Any Old Diamonds, by KJ Charles last October but never got around to reading it. Then, later, bought an Audible copy, which I listened to.

Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes is the younger son of the Duke of Ilvar, with a bitter grudge against his wealthy father. The Duke intends to give his Duchess a priceless diamond parure on their wedding anniversary—so Alec hires a pair of jewel thieves to steal it.

The Duke’s remote castle is a difficult target, and Alec needs a way to get the thieves in. Soldier-turned-criminal Jerry Crozier has the answer: he’ll pose as a Society gentleman and become Alec’s new best friend.

But Jerry is a dangerous man: controlling, remote, and devastating. He effortlessly teases out the lonely young nobleman’s most secret desires, and soon he’s got Alec in his bed—and the palm of his hand.

Or maybe not. Because as the plot thickens, betrayals, secrets, new loves, and old evils come to light. Now the jewel thief and the aristocrat must keep up the pretence, find their way through a maze of privilege and deceit, and confront the truth of what’s between them…all without getting caught.

It took me a while to get into this book, but I eventually did and enjoyed it. I very much appreciated the way both men tried to be good to the other and the way Jerry insisted on clear boundaries and obeyed them. They were definitely perfectly matched in desires. However, I also thought there was a tad too much sex, it cluttered the plot. (It was hot though.)

The close bonds outside of the main pairing were also appreciable—Jerry and Lane, Lazarus, the siblings. There were tons of platonic relationships and connections and I thought it enriched the story. Plus, it was fun to get an indirect peek at some of the characters from another Charles book!

All in all, I wouldn’t call it my favorite Charles book, but as always I enjoyed reading it…or listening. Cornell Collins did a fabulous job with the narration.

Book Review: Misleading a Duke, by A. S. Fenichel

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Through Goodreads, I won an early e-copy of Misleading a Duke, by A. S. Fenichel.

Description:

Betrothed to a man she has barely met, Lady Faith Landon calls upon her three best friends—the self-proclaimed Wallflowers of West Lane—to help uncover the secrets of her mysterious fiancé. Her suspicions are aroused when she learns that he has recently returned from France. Is he a traitor to his country? The truth is quite the opposite. Nicholas Ellsworth, Duke of Breckenridge, is a secret agent for the English Crown who has just completed a risky mission to infiltrate Napoleon’s spy network.

After his adventures, Nicholas craves the peace and quiet of the country and settling into domestic bliss with his bride. Until he discovers Faith’s deceptive investigation. How can he wed a woman who doesn’t trust him? But a powerful spark has ignited between Nicholas and Faith that could bring about a change of heart. Faith seizes her second chance to prove to Nicholas that they are a true love match but his past catches up with them when three French spies come to exact revenge. Surviving rather than wooing has become the order of the day.

Review:

First off, I should not have read this book without reading book one. I don’t think it stood well on its own. But what’s done is done and that’s not the book’s fault.

Outside of that issue, I simply didn’t care for the book. I think I liked what the author was attempting to do (create a group of sassy, self-reliant women going after control of their lives) but not what she actually wrote. I found the whole thing repetitive, contradictory, and overly sappy. I’ll break that down a little more.

I lost track of how many times the characters’ internal thoughts ran the same rail. Nicholas was especially bad about this, but certainly, Faith thought the same things over and over too. Tying into this was what Nicholas actually thought. I hated the way every other paragraph was interrupted for either thoughts of how badly he wanted Faith (how attracted he was to her, etc) or how much he disliked her (or both). I get that the author was trying to show that he was conflicted. But instead, it just felt like waffling. But it also made the first half of the book REALLY choppy. Similarly, as the book and relationship progressed the characters went from obviously wanting each other to thinking about how the other was about to leave them or not want them, etc. Over and over and back and forwards.

The sappiness is on an objective scale, but this tipped over into too sappy for me. There were just too many passages about how amazing one or the other was, how much they loved the other, too many declarations of adoration, etc. In my experience, this is a symptom of a particular sort of blunt romance that I just don’t enjoy very much.

I do love that cover though!