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Dark Lords and Dangerous Ladies #4
Touched by Magic
Nothing could break passion's spell
SEDUCED AND CONQUERED
Lady Cassandra Howard was nearly ruined. He rakehell brother forced her to frequent the London demimonde, then tried to sell her into a marriage with a dissolute lord. Though the world believed her wanton, Cassandra was really just an enticing innocent, untutored in the art of love, naive about the temptations of a midnight embrace. So her desperate plan was foolhardy: to escape her dreadful fiance by trying to seduce England's most virtuous lord--"Saint" Wyatt Mannering--believing he would surely then wed her. Truly, the lovely Cassandra did indeed unleash the very devil in handsome Sir Wyatt..for his honeyed kisses not only taught her wondrous consequences of desire, it swept them both into love's magical pull.
SEDUCED AND CONQUERED
Lady Cassandra Howard was nearly ruined. He rakehell brother forced her to frequent the London demimonde, then tried to sell her into a marriage with a dissolute lord. Though the world believed her wanton, Cassandra was really just an enticing innocent, untutored in the art of love, naive about the temptations of a midnight embrace. So her desperate plan was foolhardy: to escape her dreadful fiance by trying to seduce England's most virtuous lord--"Saint" Wyatt Mannering--believing he would surely then wed her. Truly, the lovely Cassandra did indeed unleash the very devil in handsome Sir Wyatt..for his honeyed kisses not only taught her wondrous consequences of desire, it swept them both into love's magical pull.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 3, 1992
24 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Rice
157 books514 followersWith several million books in print and New York Times and USA Today's bestseller lists under her belt, former CPA Patricia Rice writes emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances which have won numerous awards, including the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards.
Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA® finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after for good reason, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of North Carolina and Missouri, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself.
She also writes under the pen name Jamie Quaid
Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA® finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after for good reason, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of North Carolina and Missouri, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself.
She also writes under the pen name Jamie Quaid
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 24, 2018
DNF. This had the girl running pell mell through a ballroom, scattering dancers to avoid someone. Standing behind her brother (and in past years her father) in a legit gaming hell (who does that! There isn’t a status in the world high enough to overlook well bred women wandering around gaming establishments.
Especially without the buckets of money required to back up, and excuse, bad behavior. Which they don’t have.
Then some dude is waiting to accost her in her brothers house’s hallway at night. I’m sorry no one does that. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have done it at a party, but to play robber laying in wait is just too much for my patience. This is all in the first couple chapters.
I’m all for leeway, but I just can’t with this.
Especially without the buckets of money required to back up, and excuse, bad behavior. Which they don’t have.
Then some dude is waiting to accost her in her brothers house’s hallway at night. I’m sorry no one does that. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have done it at a party, but to play robber laying in wait is just too much for my patience. This is all in the first couple chapters.
I’m all for leeway, but I just can’t with this.
December 18, 2012
I liked the hero. He was adorably shy and insecure. However I did not like the heroine at all. She acted like an immature, naive idiot for most of the book, and had a number of TSTL moments.
Although the hero was supposed to be 29-ish, the way the characters referred to the him, including the hero himself, made him seem closer to forty. They kept going on about his advanced age and how much older he was than the heroine, and he even claimed to be old enough to be the heroine's father. (As he was only ten years older than her, the heroine quickly set him straight. But still, it felt odd.)
The heroine, on the other hand, was 18/19, but acted more like she was ten. And her logic could definitely have used some work.
(Contains spoilers beyond this point, so read at your own risk.)
So the heroine's brother wants the heroine to marry a dissolute rake, because the rake will pay the brother. (The reasons he's willing to pay exorbitant amounts for her is never made entirely clear. I think it was for the family title, but I'm not sure.) The heroine, in retaliation, tries to force her childhood neighbor into a betrothal. When he ignores the heroine for his fiancée, she decides he deserves being tricked into marrying her in retaliation. (What?) But she locks him in a room with her, and being as proper as he is, he proposes. But then her brother turns him down, saying the money he offers isn't enough. When the heroine protests, the brother says he'll tell everyone that the heroine isn't legitimate, so she agrees to marry the creep to save her mother's name. But then the heroine runs away on her wedding night. In the middle of all this, there's a scene that seemingly has little to do with anything, and isn't explained until the end of the book, and was mostly just confusing. I supposed the fact that it existed made the ending slightly less confusing, but it's placement just seemed awkward.
The heroine runs back to her old home, meets up again with the hero, and they become lovers. She does some more excessively stupid things over the course of the book, such as confronting her husband (again). (As if one attempted rape wasn't bad enough. She knows, from experience, that he isn't the type to take no for an answer, as she tried to refuse him on her wedding night and ended up kicking him in the balls to get away.) And then when someone finally kills him, she freaks and runs away, although it seemed to be more because she was worried about the hero and her brother. Or something. The book didn't really give any good reasons as to why she ran away.
The heroine seemed excessively, and improbably, naive. She claims to be friends with dad's mistress, and spent much of her time growing up in gambling hells. She seemed to have some concept of rape, but had never heard of pregnancy. She seemed to understand that her maid was the bastard of another maid and one of her father's friends, yet she also thought that only married ladies got pregnant. The whole "I have no idea what pregnancy is" plot just seemed kind of lame and not really possible for someone who spent the first half of their life in the country.
The book did have some twists that surprised me, and I was interested enough (sometimes) to keep reading. But it took me three days to finish, which is not usual at all. (Usually I only spend a day or two at most on a book.) And the heroine just kept annoying me throughout the whole book. (Although I found her problem that was revealed at the end rather endearing, even if the hero seemed to interpret it a tad oddly.) So I'm giving the book a three for some interesting parts, but the overall annoying heroine definitely detracted from it.
Although the hero was supposed to be 29-ish, the way the characters referred to the him, including the hero himself, made him seem closer to forty. They kept going on about his advanced age and how much older he was than the heroine, and he even claimed to be old enough to be the heroine's father. (As he was only ten years older than her, the heroine quickly set him straight. But still, it felt odd.)
The heroine, on the other hand, was 18/19, but acted more like she was ten. And her logic could definitely have used some work.
(Contains spoilers beyond this point, so read at your own risk.)
So the heroine's brother wants the heroine to marry a dissolute rake, because the rake will pay the brother. (The reasons he's willing to pay exorbitant amounts for her is never made entirely clear. I think it was for the family title, but I'm not sure.) The heroine, in retaliation, tries to force her childhood neighbor into a betrothal. When he ignores the heroine for his fiancée, she decides he deserves being tricked into marrying her in retaliation. (What?) But she locks him in a room with her, and being as proper as he is, he proposes. But then her brother turns him down, saying the money he offers isn't enough. When the heroine protests, the brother says he'll tell everyone that the heroine isn't legitimate, so she agrees to marry the creep to save her mother's name. But then the heroine runs away on her wedding night. In the middle of all this, there's a scene that seemingly has little to do with anything, and isn't explained until the end of the book, and was mostly just confusing. I supposed the fact that it existed made the ending slightly less confusing, but it's placement just seemed awkward.
The heroine runs back to her old home, meets up again with the hero, and they become lovers. She does some more excessively stupid things over the course of the book, such as confronting her husband (again). (As if one attempted rape wasn't bad enough. She knows, from experience, that he isn't the type to take no for an answer, as she tried to refuse him on her wedding night and ended up kicking him in the balls to get away.) And then when someone finally kills him, she freaks and runs away, although it seemed to be more because she was worried about the hero and her brother. Or something. The book didn't really give any good reasons as to why she ran away.
The heroine seemed excessively, and improbably, naive. She claims to be friends with dad's mistress, and spent much of her time growing up in gambling hells. She seemed to have some concept of rape, but had never heard of pregnancy. She seemed to understand that her maid was the bastard of another maid and one of her father's friends, yet she also thought that only married ladies got pregnant. The whole "I have no idea what pregnancy is" plot just seemed kind of lame and not really possible for someone who spent the first half of their life in the country.
The book did have some twists that surprised me, and I was interested enough (sometimes) to keep reading. But it took me three days to finish, which is not usual at all. (Usually I only spend a day or two at most on a book.) And the heroine just kept annoying me throughout the whole book. (Although I found her problem that was revealed at the end rather endearing, even if the hero seemed to interpret it a tad oddly.) So I'm giving the book a three for some interesting parts, but the overall annoying heroine definitely detracted from it.
April 21, 2015
I am dissapointed in this book Rice being one of my favourite authors I expected this to be another strong beautiful story, however I was surprised by how little I thought of the characters and the whole story in general. It is a downward spiral once you decide you dislike both the main characters in a book, so afraid this one is only a 2 stars for me.
December 18, 2020
Cass is the poor and poorly educated daughter of a marquess. Her brother is the current marquess and a degenerate gambler who thinks everything can be sold including his sister to a rich despicable man. Cass tries to escape this fate by trapping Wyatt, the earl who used to be her neighbor. She succeeds in the trapping only to discover that her brother wants the money from the other man. It turns out quite terrible and Cass flees Rupert on her wedding night.
I listened to the audio book and must say that the narrator detracted from the story. There was a lilt to her voice and she did try to voice characters differently, but I still felt that it was all a long drudge running together. I have loved other books by Patricia Rice and honestly, I had to double check to make sure I had the right author.
I listened to the audio book and must say that the narrator detracted from the story. There was a lilt to her voice and she did try to voice characters differently, but I still felt that it was all a long drudge running together. I have loved other books by Patricia Rice and honestly, I had to double check to make sure I had the right author.
January 23, 2022
A sweet love story that proves how transformative love can be. At first, I couldn’t imagine how the two would get together because there was no chemistry between them. I like the idea of Kat pretending to be his wife but I’m surprised his cantankerous mother didn’t hire someone to verify the marriage, but then she is a miser so I guess she didn’t want the expense.
April 21, 2020
The story wasn't bad, but the heroin was stupid.
November 1, 2020
I usually love her books, however, the main character was so annoying. I finished the book, but barely.
November 21, 2020
Audible Catalogue
AUDIOBOOK: Read 18 & 19 November 2020
10hrs 36min
Narrator: Jayne Entwistle does a good enough job
Liked it. Good story great plot.
AUDIOBOOK: Read 18 & 19 November 2020
10hrs 36min
Narrator: Jayne Entwistle does a good enough job
Liked it. Good story great plot.
January 1, 2022
Audiobook narrated by Jayne Entwhistle
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews