SHE HAD TOO MUCH SENSE TO BE SEDUCED BY SUCH A MAN... Beautiful and reckless, the Loversall women have been notorious for loving unwisely and all too well. But Cara, now the widowed Lady Norwood, refuses to follow family tradition. Instead, she is quite happy rusticating on her estate in the Cotswolds, tending to her garden...until the day her brother arrives requesting her help. It seems that her niece, in the manner of all true Loversalls, has developed a most unsuitable tendre. And the object of her affection? None other than Mannering--the most irresistible, infuriating, indecently handsome rake in all of London.
BUT SINCE WHEN IS LOVE SENSIBLE? To the world, Nicholas, Lord Mannering can seduce the birds from the trees. But unbeknownst to Society, there has been one conquest who got away. Now, Nick has devised a shameless scheme to lure a certain defiant lady back to London--and into his arms. Alas, he never counted on Cara's niece being so devilishly determined to hold onto her prize. Suddenly the most worldly and sophisticated of rogues is caught between two stubborn women...one he will do anything to entice, the other he wants only to escape. In this scandalous tangle of hearts, does love stand a chance?
I’ve written horrible poetry, better short stories, adequate commercials, educational and industrial film narration, and very forgettable screenplays. Once I learned how to make a story last longer than a few paragraphs I moved on to novels, and there I stayed. I've written forty-three to date.
Truth is, I kinda hated this book, but I also liked the plot. The execution? Terrible.
The hero flirts with a chit half his age (she is 17), her father (what about her mother? It was never mentioned what happened to her??) doesn't know what to do and begs his sister to come to London. His sister, our heroine, is secluded in the country since her super elderly husband died. Turns out, the hero did everything he did so the heroine could come back. Yep, they had a past liason that ended abruptly when she decided to marry an old man after getting her heart broken bc of a misunderstanding.
The whole misunderstanding was so stupid, and to think she got married to an old guy only because of that and that both lost years together (she thought he had an affair with another girl).
And not only the execution was bad.. the characterization! All characters are horrible:
- Cara: the heroine. She is prompt to violence (punches the hero twice and her suitor once, although the latter deserved it). Everything is justified saying she was a Loversall. - Nick: the hero. He is described as strong as a hellion, but gets easily maneuvered by this young chit? The situation on the stairs was so ridiculous it made me almost quit reading. - The chit, Zoe: the most beautiful and popular girl in season. How?? She was rude, childish, ignorant, ageist, and the most stupid and spoiled character I've read, bordering on ridiculous. And not only that, she also assaults the hero sexually, and it was all supposed to be for laughs? (she forces her tongue in his mouth, forces his hand to touch her breasts...) She deserved a dozens of slaps, and she is in 80% of the book! Unbelievable. - Her father, Beau: and brother of Cara. It does not specify how he got hitched so young when he is such a "playboy". And the most useless father in history. - Nick's friend, Fritz: another imbecile, supposedly for the laughs? But he was not funny.
I struggled to finish this book, but I admit I root for the ML. And I like the traditional cover (the one with the woman with the hat.. the other cover is horrendous).
Historical romance. The story had some amusing scenes. Lots of quirky characters but none I particularly liked or became attached to. The romance was supposed to be based on some shared history between characters but the author didn’t really explain much of the past romance and the interactions during the story didn’t really show much of a connection. The niece everyone was working to benefit was pretty horrible. The family history was confusing and used way too often to explain the gaps in the flow of the story. The ending was forced to be happy. Violence. Quite a bit of innuendo and make out stuff. Some language.
I don't think so. A painfully boring book loaded with descriptive paragraphs. Every piece of clothing the characters had on, every room they entered, every meal they ate, every garden viewed was described in detail. If the author had spent as much time on the story line and dialogue maybe I could endorse this book. As it stands I would give this book a pass. No humor at all. I gave it two stars for the effort it took to write it.
I recently discovered this author, trying to read her books as I find them. This one I enjoyed due to the storyline and characters, loved Cara and Nickolas. My pet peeve is the over use of descriptive scenes that bring the story to a halt just to set up knowledge of this era and gender, then the scene resumes as if that wasn't inserted. Still I would recommend this author because her stories are quirky and her characterization is good.
The widowed Lady Norwood nee Loversall is one of the infamous Loversall's known to love too well and unwisely. Determined to follow her head and not her heart she has rusticated in the Cotswold only to be drawn back to London to help manage her unmanageable niece's come-out.
An engaging twist from blushing misses and all too proper situations...
First off, let me tell you this one was a huge surprise on so many levels. A little slow at the beginning but that's totally ok, because that slow start totally misleads you, and suddenly you are reading yet another installment of the highly dramatic and extremely impetuous Loversall family tree. If only this were longer, because it was a delight!