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Scandalising the Ton
by Diane Gaston
by Diane Gaston
AgentScully's review
bookshelves: harlequin-historical, regency-buck-take-me, swap-to-good-home
Apr 26, 10
bookshelves: harlequin-historical, regency-buck-take-me, swap-to-good-home
Read from April 05 to 08, 2010
Since I enjoyed my first Diane Gaston (The Vanishing Viscountess) so much, I decided to read the next one too. This was a bad decision, as I disliked almost everything about this book.
The hero Adrian was way too passive and beta for me. He helps out the heroine but after having sex with her (in the opening chapters), he seems to disappear almost entirely for the next 100 pages. He tries to see the heroine but goes away meekly enough when she shoos him away. I'm used to heros who make things happen and he just never does. He's more prominent in the second half of the book but by then I'd given up on him.
The heroine Lydia was a shrew. Yes she had it tough with reporters hounding her, but I got tired of her stubbornly sending the hero away. I wasn't impressed with her plan to pretend her baby was her dead husband's either. And after she and Adrian finally get together in the second half, I cringed every time she lost her temper upon seeing another scurrilous attack in the papers and blamed Adrian. How is it his fault? Then a couple of chapters before the end, she's demanding a separation. And he goes along with it. Ugh.
During the early period when Adrian is mostly invisible, focus is on the reporter who's responsible for the smearing stories. I didn't care for him at all, I thought he was a villain and a waste of pages. I loathe reporters who hound innocent people. Imagine my surprise when he became the hero of the secondary romance. With Lydia's maid whom he was pumping for information. No, no, no! This totally did not work for me. Rather than see him get a HEA, I wanted to kick his rear into the next continent.
There was not enough action in this book, no excitement. Not enough focus on the hero and heroine either. They were apart for too long, then they were unhappy and quarreling when together, then they were apart again. Where were the scenes of them being happy and in love? And with sex occurring so early in the story, there was no sexual tension to speak of.
A big disappointment all around. And a weak 2 stars, even on my Harlequin grading scale.
The hero Adrian was way too passive and beta for me. He helps out the heroine but after having sex with her (in the opening chapters), he seems to disappear almost entirely for the next 100 pages. He tries to see the heroine but goes away meekly enough when she shoos him away. I'm used to heros who make things happen and he just never does. He's more prominent in the second half of the book but by then I'd given up on him.
The heroine Lydia was a shrew. Yes she had it tough with reporters hounding her, but I got tired of her stubbornly sending the hero away. I wasn't impressed with her plan to pretend her baby was her dead husband's either. And after she and Adrian finally get together in the second half, I cringed every time she lost her temper upon seeing another scurrilous attack in the papers and blamed Adrian. How is it his fault? Then a couple of chapters before the end, she's demanding a separation. And he goes along with it. Ugh.
During the early period when Adrian is mostly invisible, focus is on the reporter who's responsible for the smearing stories. I didn't care for him at all, I thought he was a villain and a waste of pages. I loathe reporters who hound innocent people. Imagine my surprise when he became the hero of the secondary romance. With Lydia's maid whom he was pumping for information. No, no, no! This totally did not work for me. Rather than see him get a HEA, I wanted to kick his rear into the next continent.
There was not enough action in this book, no excitement. Not enough focus on the hero and heroine either. They were apart for too long, then they were unhappy and quarreling when together, then they were apart again. Where were the scenes of them being happy and in love? And with sex occurring so early in the story, there was no sexual tension to speak of.
A big disappointment all around. And a weak 2 stars, even on my Harlequin grading scale.
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Reading Progress
| 04/05/2010 | page 1 | "Kinda sequel to Vanishing Viscountess, which I liked" | ||
| 04/06/2010 | page 120 | "H and h have hardly spent any time together so far. More pages spent on Villain reporter, whom I LOATHE." | ||
| 04/07/2010 | page 288 | "Passive beta hero and shrew of a heroine. Villianous reporter turns out to be protagonist of secondary romance. Shoot me now!" |
Comments (showing 1-5 of 5) (5 new)
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seton
(new)
Apr 06, 2010 03:46am
glad to see DG getting some lurve :-)
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Seton I really liked The Vanishing Visountess and the hero Tanner. But I'm really having problems with this one. I'm almost 1/2 way through and the H and h have hardly spent any time together so far. Except having sex once! Way too many pages wasted on the lowlife reporter, and I HATES reporters who hound innocent people. Tell me it gets better :-/
I cant say anything, babe. Only read her first 2 books :-( I find her a very steady writer with a nice quality to her style and not necessarily always exciting.
Ouch *takes this off the wishlist*other goodie read I've read from Diane Gaston is Gallant Officer, Forbidden Lady with two unlikely leads in a ex-soilder turned painter and a actress in a time of the Napoleon wars. I really enjoy this and her hot little short story The Unlacing of Miss Leigh was good to (for a short story)
