Nevinná léčka

Regencies #7

by Stephanie Laurens

Harry je úspěšný chovatel závodních koní, tak trochu dobrodruh a zarytý svobodný mládenec, který rozhodně nemá v úmyslu nechat se chytit do léčky zvané manželství. Proto se rozhodne před dotěrnými dohazovačkami a vdovami z Londýna utéct!
Lucinda je mladá vdova, jež po manželově smrti společně s nevlastní dcerou cestuje po Anglii a život svobodné dámy, která je do značné míry svou vlastní paní, se jí vcelku zamlouvá. Když jí však jednoho dne neznámý přitažlivý muž nečekaně pomůže z malé šlamastyky, její plány začnou postupně doznávat změn!
Harry cítí povinnost Lucindu chránit před úklady osamělých hazardních hráčů, přestože ona jeho nesčetné nabídky pomoci odmítá. Jenže netrvá dlouho a Harry se zamotá do vlastní pasti – nabídne Lucindě manželství!

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Regency Romance

416 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 1996

About the author

Stephanie Laurens was born in Sri Lanka, which was at the time the British colony of Ceylon. When she was 5, her family moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she was raised. After continuing through school and earning a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in Australia, Stephanie and her husband moved to Great Britain, taking one of the last true overland journeys from Katmandu to London.

Once in London, Stephanie and her husband both began work as research scientists in Kent. They lived in an area surrounded by history. Their own cottage was built in the 16th century, while next door were the protected ruins of an early Roman villa, and nearby was a 14th century castle.

After four years in England, Stephanie and her husband returned to Australia, where she continued to work in cancer research, eventually heading her own research laboratory. One evening Stephanie realized that she did not have any more of her favorite romance novels to read. After years of thinking about writing her own novel, during nights and weekends for the next several months, she began crafting her own story. That manuscript, Tangled Reins, was the first of her books to be published. After achieving a level of success with her novels, Stephanie "retired" from scientific research and became a full-time novelist. Her novels are primarily historical romances set in the Regency time period.

Stephanie and her husband live on peaceful acreage on the outskirts of Melbourne. If she isn't writing, she's reading, and if she's not reading, she's tending her garden.

Reviews

[Somia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Book 3 in the Lester series gives us brother Harry Lester, who helps rescue independent and wealthy widow Mrs. Lucinda Babbacombe and her step-daughter, feeling an instant and unwanted attraction to her he spends most of the book resisting the urge to marry Lucinda, and this resistance and Lucinda’s urge to have him in wedlock, kinda annoyed me, part of me wanted her to give him the middle finger (metaphorically speaking) and live her life – and once he realised what an idiot he had been he had to fight to regain her. I’m not sure why I feel like this, I’ve read plenty of books with this trope and seriously enjoyed them, but within the framework of this book it just didn’t work for me.

There were moments where I liked the interactions between Harry and Lucinda, but not throughout. There’s an element of suspense/intrigue, but you know who the villain is from the get go, which in its self wouldn’t be an issue for me, but the depth we get in the authors other books wasn’t here for me.

There was a time when I was an avid reader of this author – I loved her Cynster series (so I think I’ll go back and re-read some of the books from that series – please let them remain as enjoyable, as I once found them to be). I also remember enjoying the first book in this series so will give that a re-read at some point – I’m sure I have the paperback hiding somewhere.

[Kelsey Dewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not my favourite of her works it was still good. She is definitely cutting her teeth in this one. I am gratified to know that even some of my favourite authors needed practice to craft the characters, plots and erotic scenes that I adore so much. This one is mild compared to her later works.

[Desi · Rating 2 out of 5]

leído en marzo 2010

2.5 estrellitas

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another in the Lester Family series. Harry the third child is the third in the family to avow never to marry. Both Lenore and Jack have fallen in love unexpectedly and then married that leaves Harry and Gerald as the two single family members. Harry, a renown rake with a hurtful secret seems to all intents determined to carry on being just that sort of person in his relationships. However, from the moment Harry rescues the widow Mrs Lucinda Babbacombe from an overturned carriage fate appears to be playing tricks with Harry’s heart. This is only heightened by intrigue as to who is trying to ruin her reputation. The wealth she acquired from her husband seems to be behind these attempts on her wellbeing. Lucinda is not some damsel in distress but a competent, confident women who knows her mind. She sets out to conquer Harry’s unattainable heart through a plan laid out by Harry’s Aunt Em. However, as the days draw longer and she goes to ball after ball, gathering after gathering she begins to think it will never happen. Harry in turn has found out that Lucinda’s safety is at risk. As the story builds there is action, intrigue and exposure of the how certain persons could obtain her wealth and finally what is keeping Harry away from her and how she can draw him to her.

[Lita Bouquard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 3- Brother Harry rescues a widow and her step daughter and the from that moment he fights the urge to marry.
I liked Widow Babbacombe despite the name. Lucinda knows she wants Harry from the get go. She is business minded and keeps surprising and annoying Harry with her ability to safely accomplish things.

She has common sense and intelligence.

She has a great scene at the end where she defends herself.

Harry's aunt Agatha - a plotter who is determined to help Lucinda bring Harry to his knees.

She loves Harry's horse. There is a sweet scene at the track that makes the romance seem lovely but that feeling is never quite captured again.

At least in this book Laurens villians were named in the begininng- unlike Cynster books where you can figure out too easily who they are.

I didn't like
Harry knows almost immediately that Lucinda's vehicle was sabatoged yet he never tells her.

I didn't like Harry a lot of the time. He was angry so much.
The romance scenes were lacking.

It took him so darn long to propose the second time when he knew he was going to.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost returned this book despite just downloading it from the library. I am very close to being burned out on Stephanie Laurens even though I do enjoy her books. However, this was a nice change. The story focused on the main characters with elements of intrigue on the periphery. This is by no means her more in-depth romantic suspense novel that she is usually known for. It's a nice light story with elements of intrigue but we know from the get-go who the bad guys are and in fact, I felt it added to the enjoyment of the book as I patiently read on to see how the story unfolded. The only thing I will say is that the story appeared to end abruptly. I guess there is nothing to add since all the loose ends were tied but it just felt like where's the rest of the end.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was 'unwilling' (Don't hate me) to read this novel based on the fact that I had only slightly enjoyed one of Laurens other novels before, but actually I really enjoyed 'The Unwilling Conquest'.
The characters were well-developed and I enjoyed their flirtationship and banter as much as their story. They were both sharp and witty as well as being traditionally romantic and flowery as most Regency novel characters are.

I only gave it three stars because while it was a good read it was entirely repetative and obvious throughout. I want a bit more pazzaz for four stars!

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Spoiler
Note to Self;

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[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

[Lady E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heroine: Lucinda Babbacombe, 28. A widow who inherited a fortune from her much older husband. She is the guardian of her step-daughter and together they are co-owners of 54 inns throughout England.

Hero: Harry Lester, 34. A confirmed rake who breeds race horses.

Date: unknown

How they meet: While traveling, Harry comes upon an overturned carriage and rescues its occupants, Lucinda and her step-daughter.

What happens: He gives them a ride to the nearest town, where there is a week-long horse racing event going on. Being concerned for their safety with so many men in town he takes them to his eccentric aunt’s home nearby. His aunt is happy to have the company and they determine she was acquainted with Lucinda’s father years ago.

Harry learns that Lucinda’s carriage was tampered with and remembers seeing a group of would-be thieves along the road shortly before he came upon the carriage. He does not know why she is a target, but he feels it is his responsibility to look out for her. Lucinda has come to this particular town to inspect two of the inns she co-owns. Harry is a bit shocked that she would seek to do so unaccompanied and so takes it upon himself to watch over her as she conducts her business. He is impressed with her business knowledge.

Harry is in town for the horse races and takes Lucinda to see one of his horses run. They start to form a connection, which does not go unnoticed by Harry’s aunt. She is happy to play matchmaker once she learns Lucinda is interested, so she plans to travel with Lucinda and her step-daughter when they return to London so she can make introductions (Lucinda was married very young and never had a season). Harry shows up in London and makes himself available to accompany Lucinda on inn visits and shows up at various balls. He thinks she is too trusting of the men showing interest in her and tries to teach her a lesson about temptation, which backfires.

Harry finally shows interest in marriage, but Lucinda does not want another loveless union. Harry begins to court her in earnest and at the same time is learning more about the men who wished her harm in the carriage accident and who are continuing to keep track of her whereabouts. He feels the sooner they can marry, the better for her safety. He finally works up to the right moment to propose, but the bad guys show up and derail things.

Verdict: First of all, I thought the title was misleading as no one is forced into anything relationship-wise. I thought there was good chemistry between the hero and heroine and, for the most part, I liked how their relationship progressed. The non-romance aspects of the story were nicely woven together and the plot was complex, but not confusing. The culminating scene of the book was a bit ridiculous and it seemed inconsistent with Harry’s previous actions for him to leave her alone, plus it was not well done of him to get mad at her for being abducted when he chose to keep secrets from her about the risk she was under. I felt like the intimate scenes didn’t seamlessly contribute to the progression of the relationship as they should have. This is one of Laurens’s non-steamy books (although has more intimacy than the previous two books in the series). There is the build up of the passion--mostly vague descriptions--but then it fades to black. It is the third in the series, but I think it read fine as a standalone. Harry does show up a fair amount in book 2, but it isn’t absolutely necessary to read that book first. The hero from book 2 also makes some appearances in this book.

Steam-level: low to moderate steam and not very explicit

Rating: 3 stars

[Jack Vasen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third book in the Lester Family series tells a complete story and appears to conclude that saga. The fate of the fourth family member, Gerald, is not firmly settled but appears to be well on it's way. Since this book was published 14 years ago at this writing, I presume there is not a 4th book in the series. This book can stand alone, and except for minor spoilers of the obvious from the earlier books, the series can really be read in any order.

There is a bit of a male/female role reversal in this story. The reputed rake, Harry, is almost always a principled gentlemen. In the notable exception, it is the genteel widow, Lucinda, who is the aggressor, as she is through most of the story.

Lucinda is a heroine reckoning back to the accomplished Lenore. Lucinda is very intelligent and a very competent businesswoman. Her one minor flaw is not so much that she is naïve, but as Harry says "She's merely incapable of recognizing her own vulnerability but, conversely, has infinite confidence in her ability to prevail." It is this trait that leads to a situation where Harry can't simply leave her on her own, but must set himself up as her protector.

Like Jack before him, Harry hardly lives up to his reputation as a rake. As I mentioned in the 2nd book about Jack always seeming a duplicate of Jason, the Duke, Harry is a character almost indistinguishable from either Jack or Jason.

One way Harry does live up to the stereotype, like Jack before him, is how insultingly controlling he is of Lucinda. He expects her to obey him like a child. He even spanks her behind, once, but even that's too many.

The repeated teasing of Harry's protection frustrating Lucinda's desire for him drags until about midway when the paradigm changes a bit and some new elements take over one after another.

We know who the villains are, and unlike the previous two books, this story has seemingly dangerous villains. I usually have mixed feelings when a Romance author tries to inject real danger into a story, and this was no exception. The antagonists' plotting is inept despite some suspense at the end. There would have been no suspense had the protagonists had a little more sense at a critical moment.

In the end, there is the expected romantic climax and it is satisfying.

Mature themes: there is more intimate fondling than the previous two books including shedding some clothes leading to the obvious result. There is violence including an attempted abduction with the intention of ravishing the victim. A gentlewoman is called a b____. There is a party which is obviously intended to lead to what amounts to swinging even though those activities are never specifically mentioned.

[Sandra Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

This book is well-written, because Stephanie Laurens is a talented writer. I've read a lot of her books, and have always enjoyed them, so I wanted to read this series, too. Since it is one of her earlier series, the sex scenes are not as descriptive or explicit as in her later books -- I liked that.

This book seemed a little slow at first, as the author spent a lot of time developing her characters and the plot. There was also a great deal of descriptive detail to wade through. It didn't bother me, but it did make the book long -- and some readers might not like that.

Harry was likable enough, but it bothered me that he had decided that all women were just as untrustworthy as the one who had hurt him years before. It took him a while before he realized that Lucinda was nothing like the woman who used/betrayed him. He was also incredibly arrogant, which I found a bit annoying.

I liked Lucinda, and liked that she was so determined to take care of her stepdaughter. I also liked that she was incredibly intelligent, and capable of managing her late husband's business interests. There were a couple of scenes that I particularly enjoyed, where she showed Harry just how intelligent she was, and proved to him that she was able to do things that were mostly done by men.

There was one other very minor issue, but it is a pet peeve of mine. The people on the cover of a book should look like they are described in the book. Harry was described as having blonde hair, but the man on the cover has dark brown hair, not blonde. This may not be the author's fault, but it still bugs me.

My rating system is below.
1 star -- Hated it, or did not finish. I usually only give this rating if some of the content is truly objectionable to me, like if one of the main characters does something really awful, and gets away with it.
2 stars -- Didn't like it. This rating usually means that I thought the writing wasn't very good, the editing was terrible, I didn't like the characters, or it had other major flaws.
3 stars -- I liked it, but had some minor issues with it. This rating means that there were minor editing issues, the story needed more character development, it was just too unrealistic, or had some other fairly minor issue. The majority of books I read get this rating – I do not consider it a bad rating.
4 stars -- I liked it a lot. This is a high rating for me, and I rarely give a higher one.
5 stars -- I loved it, and will probably read it again. Very few books are good enough to get this rating from me. The ones that do are usually classics.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was much better than Jack's book. I liked Lucinda; she was smart and brave if a bit oblivious. Harry was so determined to do the right thing. From the first moment they met he was just there for the right reasons. Then, when he realized that she not only owns a bunch of inns but is actively involved in their running and understands how to run them he let her go about her business, and just acted as an escort to ensure her safety. They had great chemistry. The plot to malign her character, steal custody of her step-daughter and therefore gain control of the money from the inns was almost unnecessary. Like, I forgot about it for most of the book because the rest of the story was good. I really liked the bit at the racetrack with Thistledown. And with his man, who was adamantly opposed to Harry getting married and then was firmly like, will you hurry up and get married already? Much better than the previous book.

[Rainz ❤️rainnbooks❤️(on a break) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an enjoyable fare and different from the usual stories from Stephanie Laurens. Some of her works had become a bit tedious for me.This was easy and light with very likable hero and heroine, the banter was good and witty with a kind of dry humor which was entertaining.The suspense was not heavy and was woven well into the story. Lucinda and Harry were both interesting characters and I loved Dawlish with his sarcastic and amusing comments.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #5 Smutathon Jan 2020.

This was more a 2.5. It was just slow and dragged. I liked Harry and I liked Lucinda (they say Mrs. Babbacombe so often it gets annoying on audio). The conflict would have been cleared up if they just talked to each other. I don't usually like miscommunication as a plot device.

The narrating was great, so I enjoyed that. First time reading Stephanie Laurens, but I've heard some of her other books are better. So may try again.

[Betty Sotherland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful Book by Ms Laurens

I just love reading this author. Character development, dialog,and plot always meld together to make an unforgettable adventure. The entire Lester series is a must read for any historical romance lover. In fact if you read any of Stephanie Laurens' books you will be hooked.

[Jina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have loved to have an epilogue to properly have some dialogue about how the bad guys were properly dealt with. Did they go to jail? Were they hanged? Also it would be nice to get even more confirmation of the possible side pairing of Gerald Lester and Heather Babbacombe that could have happened at Harry and Lucinda's wedding or perhaps a Lester family gathering after their wedding.

[Pet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I‘m just about caught up with this authors massive backlog of books and out of all of them I’ve found very few that I did not thoroughly enjoy. I like her style and most of all love that her ladies demand respect and love above all things sometimes even to their detriment. This one is no exception.

[Karen Darling · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the heroin is smart she's still dumb. She goes outside on a terrace with a rake and gets attacked and the hero had to save her. She got what she deserved, she's not even a young debutant, she should have known better. I hate dumb heroines. I couldn't finish this.

[Patti Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book switches the scenario of male pursuing an unwilling female who secretly wants to be caught. This time it is the woman who plots and makes the man realize despite his reluctance to succumb that it is in his best interest.

[Louise Broadfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

again this book was ok. a little better then the last one. the begining was good and so was the end with the villains. i wish we had more between the heroine and her stepdaughter. along with aunt em.
still 7 books down and 1 to go so.

[JS · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice read - very promising start but ended up being long-drawn-out. Interesting couple,but could have seen less dithering.

[Vixen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable

I enjoyed it, had some nice humorous moments. Liked the strong female lead and the male was not bad at all.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this romance between a widow and a rake. Fun, with good supporting characters and story.

[Barbara Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Racy but enjoyable

[Kem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story, while an intriguing one, is too drawn out with the love chase and not enough of the danger part.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best. Heroine. Ever.

[Insof Waeji]

I want to know this plot summary approximately 2 pages foe rewrite in my paper. please, this is my assignment. who can help me

[Diana H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Stephanie Laurens does not disappoint. The Lester Family series is fun, flirty, and romantic.

[Angela]

11 May 2020: $1.99 on Kindle