The Lady Chosen (Bastion Club, #1) in Fans of Stephanie Laurens

May 18, 2012 Babel rated it really liked it

Shelves: challenge

Desde niña, sí, sí, habéis oído bien, desde niña me ha gustado leer novela romántica. Una que es así de precoz. Con la lectura de hoy, me he sumergido en una novela de 500 páginas que han resultado ser todo un hallazgo. ¿Por qué? Por la sencilla razón de que LA PROMETIDA PERFECTA, de Stephanie Laurens, combina romance, misterio y pasión. Me he deleitado en la divertida premisa, la narración amena, el profuso detalle emocional, el estilo costumbrista y la paulatina relación de amor entre sus prot ...more

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Jul 14, 2010 Kit★ rated it liked it

Shelves: regency-era, romance, historical, series-longer

Oh gosh, ok, I'm gonna do it. Here I go Bastion Club #1... I originally read it back in 2006-7 I think and I remember it being mostly ok, but long and drawn out. But that was before I really got into Laurens' books, got accustomed to her style and such, so I was kind of hoping it would impress me this time around. Well, I did enjoy it pretty much throughout, but I still think it was rather long and drawn out. Not that I can pinpoint anything that should've been cut out, but it just seemed pretty Oh gosh, ok, I'm gonna do it. Here I go Bastion Club #1... I originally read it back in 2006-7 I think and I remember it being mostly ok, but long and drawn out. But that was before I really got into Laurens' books, got accustomed to her style and such, so I was kind of hoping it would impress me this time around. Well, I did enjoy it pretty much throughout, but I still think it was rather long and drawn out. Not that I can pinpoint anything that should've been cut out, but it just seemed pretty long. I got to page 40 or something like that before I realized (cause I'm oblivious to the obvious sometimes) that Leonora, the heroine of this one is the sister of Jeremy, hero of In Pursuit of Miss Eliza Cynster! Ha! I was sitting there like... why does the name Jeremy Carling seem so familiar? Heck, in that case, this is practically a Cynster book xD
Speaking of Cynster, the younger, bachelor Devil Cynster made a brief appearance at a ball, it was kind of fun seeing him, and good ol' Lady Osbaldestone as well. I kinda kept waiting for more names to drop. I like the Bastion guys so far, and the premise behind the club. I don't think Tristan is going to be my favorite though. He had a few moments in this story where he came across as more stalker-ish and overly-controlling than romantic. His pursuit of her hand in marriage showed a side of him that to me, went beyond strong, protective alpha male, and into that crazy stalker territory. Thankfully, they got past it, but there were a few sections where I was wanting to tell Leonora to run from his obsessiveness. To some extent, his actions could be construed as romantic I suppose, but to me it was kinda just a turn-off. And I just gotta say I am not a big fan of the name Tristan. No offense to anyone with that name or loved ones with that name, but it's just not my favorite, at all. I know it's a classic name, but meh, I don't like it :p Other than all that though, I don't really have too many complaints. To me, the mystery wasn't too easy to figure out, it kept me wondering. The love scenes hovered around that mythical border into purple-prose land, but never quite crossed it. A few scenes were even pretty steamy for me. With the description of Trentham having long wavy dark hair, I was kind of picturing him as a beefier Schneider (view spoiler), and that certainly helped ;) I liked the way their relationship developed, though I have to say when she started thinking about having him 'teach' her about desire, all that stuff, I got pretty worried that I was going to have to go through that old, worn plot of love lessons and such that I got so tired of in the Cynster books. Thankfully, it didn't happen that way. The whole heroine with the 'I'll never marry any man' ploy got used here, and that was more than enough.
Mostly though, I enjoyed this book. It didn't necessarily thrill me, but it was pretty good. Plus, it leaves me eager to continue on with the Bastion Club books, I will most likely tackle book #2 next month. Dalziel also intrigues me, I look forward to seeing more of him for sure. 3.5 Stars! ...more

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