Review: Barely a Bride by Rebecca Hagan Lee

A Regency-set historical romance featuring a marriage of convenience is nothing new. A hero who has sworn not to marry until duty forces it of him is also nothing new. A heroine who is unlike the other girls of the ton, wanting to have the freedom to pursue her own interests is, you guessed it, still nothing new. And yet Lee has managed to create a rather charming story with these common elements.

Griffin and his cronies at school formed the Free Fellows League vowing to not only stay unmarried as long as possible but to never let a wife interfere with their desire to serve their country or to worm her way into their hearts. To this effect, they drew up a contract and each signed it. Fast forward years to a short time after Griffin has accepted a commission in the Guard to go and fight Napoleon. His father, the Earl of Weymouth, demands that he marry and at least attempt to sire an heir before he goes off to be shot at. Griffin gives in to this request unwillingly but he eventually meets and appreciates Alyssa, the youngest daughter of the Earl of Carrington, who is completely uninterested in marriage and all its trappings. Alyssa just wants to be left in peace to design and care for gardens but her parents are determined to marry her off. She and Griffin have an immediate attraction. She has no objection to the idea of her new bridegroom heading off to war and he has a large neglected garden in need of rejuvenation. A match just waiting to be made. A large part of the book deals not only with the two of them getting to the altar, but also with them learning all about each other in the brief space of their two week marriage. They find that they have been serendipitous in their choice of each other both in terms of physical attraction but also in their similar thinking. And then Griffin goes off to war, experiences the horrors he never imagined, and realizes that he only wants to go home and love and be loved by his wife. But love was never in the bargain they made.

It was refreshing to read a story where the conflict between the characters was not an issue of misunderstanding or lack of communication. And although neither character wants to admit to their love for the other because of the Free Fellows' pledge (which Alyssa is not supposed to know about but does), their hearts are always obvious. The Free Fellows' League was a bit of a silly conceit but perhaps there's more substance to it in the following two books of the trilogy. Also, the charter itself was a bit sophisticated in understanding for boys of their age and would have been more likely to come from almost teens but that's a negligible complaint. I was pleased to see that the villain in this book was not a cut and dried villain and one who did not wish either the hero or heroine bodily or emotional harm and who actually turned out to be a decent guy. The fact that Lee neatly sidesteps many of the common plot devices found in Regency-set romances these days made this an enjoyable read.

Review: The Mistress by Susan Wiggs

Set the night of the great fire in Chicago, this is the story of Kathleen and Dylan, two people who come together on this terrifying night, under false pretenses, and grow to love each other. Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it? It really is. Kathleen O'Leary (yes, the daughter of the Old Mother Leary who is ultimately blamed for the raging inferno that leveled the city) is a lady's maid. Her mistress is not feeling well and so two of her mistress' friends dress her in finery in a social experiment. One wagers that she can be Pygmalion-like and pass for a lady of the upper crust so long as she looks and acts the part. The other thinks that blood will out. Kathleen, having longed all her life for the life of the monied set, agrees to the charade. While dressed as an heiress, she meets Dylan Francis Kennedy, heir to a Boston fortune and the most sought after man in Chicago at the moment. Only he's not who he appears either. He's a confidence man and while truly captivated by Kathleen's beauty, he sees in her a chance to marry (or seduce if needs be) money. And just when the two main characters are sparking off of each other, the sparks of the actual fire start to fly, scattering the gathering and seperating Kathleen and Dylan.

Through unbelievable coincidence, the two of them come together again in the heart of the fire, gathering people to them and enduring terrible peril together. And this is when, sure that they will not survive the night, they get married in front of a priest, the mayor of the city of Chicago, a judge, the dying clerk of court, and a freed convict. Not exactly the wedding Kathleen had long dreamed about. Of course, the two of them survive the fire and spend several days consummating their marriage. But before long, Kathleen must tell her wealthy husband that she is not, in fact, an heiress. And then he, shocked beyond belief that she's managed, even unintentionally, to trick the trickster, admits he is not who he claims to be either and storms off. Is their love strong enough to hold in the face of all these lies?

While I understand that people do things spur of the moment during times of danger which they might later come to regret, I am unconvinced about the depth of the purported love these two felt for each other. After all, they knew each other for a grand total of about 72 hours before the truth came out and destroyed their union. What in that 72 hours would be strong enough to pull them back together later? I would likely always have had a difficult time believing in such a plot but Wiggs doesn't really sell the idea of this instantaneous and forever love. In addition, Dylan is drawn as completely unappealing. He is completely unrepentant for his lying, cheating, and stealing through the majority of his life. Even presented with Kathleen's strong sense of right and wrong, he is incapable of understanding morality. And while I get that he thought he'd been abandoned as a child and was therefore unloved, that doesn't excuse his character entirely. As for Kathleen, I found her wishy-washy and rather dull. Combined, the characters didn't help me want to believe in their story. The setting was a new one for me and unique in that but otherwise, this was not one of my favorite romances.

Review: Autumn in Scotland by Karen Ranney

Charlotte, the Countess of Marne, has traveled to Scotland in hopes that the man she married so recently is holed up in his castle there. Her parents are disapproving and reluctant to leave her, especially when they discover that he is not there, the castle is in disrepair, and he's absconded with her entire dowry, leaving her with no word of her whereabouts. But for the first time in her life, she stands up to her parents (after all, they arranged this disastrous, only weeks old marriage for her) and chooses to stay. 5 years later, she has turned the repaired castle into a thriving girl's school and the first class of young women is about to graduate when Dixon MacKinnon walks through the doors. Mistaken for Charlotte's long lost husband, whose cousin he is, Dixon is reluctant to disabuse her of her assumptions, enjoying their sparring and eventually falling for the spirited woman who is so terribly capable. Their passion ignites but Dixon still hasn't told her his identity, a serious miscalculation. While he's looking for personal peace, he is also trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to his cousin and he thinks he's found the key when he hears the poem of the old family legend from an ancient family retainer.

Yes, there was the withheld truth of Dixon's identity offering and obstacle to their love, but more than that there was Charlotte's pride and Dixon's guilt. The missing Earl of Marne was less an impediment to the plot and blossoming sexual tension than he probably should have been but Ranney neatly deals with that problem by having Dixon mistaken for George. There are several sub-plots tossed into the story to lighten the tension between Dixon and Charlotte but they were so over the top, like when the older women all came to Balfurin to discuss sex like an X-rated coffee klatch, they didn't fit with the seriousness of the main story. Somehow, the pieces of the story just didn't hold together all that well and I suspect diversions such as these are at fault. Not a terrible historical romance, this was decent but nothing special for me.

Review: Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Jane Darlington is a physics professor. She's single-mindedly focused on her work but when her ex-boyfriend dumped her and announced that he was having a baby with the new girlfriend, the tears kicked her biological clock into high. But Jane has a problem. She is a certifiable genius and she doesn't want her child to have the unhappy, freakish childhood she had so she purposely sets out to have her baby fathered by someone who is dumb as a post. (Obviously understanding genetics and the role it plays in intelligence is not her strong point though.)

Her next door neighbor's ditzy daughter decides to set her up with the quarterback of the local pro team and Jane, seeing him play the rube on tv, agrees. She is to be Cal Bonner's birthday present from his teammates who think that releasing sexual tension might make ole Cal less of a bear to work with on the field. Somehow, despite Cal's aversion for prostitutes, he is willing to have at it with the vamped-up, anonymous, supposed high class call girl Jane. But she doesn't get pregnant. And so all on her own initiative, she accosts him for a repeat performance the following month, at which time she does fall pregnant. Now he's never supposed to know about the baby but finds out, leading him to strong arm her into an unpleasant marriage of convenience, at least until the baby is born. Even worse, they go back to his tiny home town and Jane has to deal with his family, including his wacky, backwoods grandmother, all while maintaining a frigid relationship with a man she's coming to love.

There is much sexual tension, some laughable scenes, and the requisite misunderstandings in this contemporary romance. Cal is not nearly as stupid as Jane had hoped and she is not nearly as savvy as he assumed. There are mini plots galore amongst Cal's family as well. This is a generally likable book that doesn't require deep reading. It will be a hit with most romance fans.

Review: Enchanting Pleasures by Eloisa James

I tend to pick romances up when I am overly stressed or just completely overbooked with things to do. They satisfy me at these sorts of times because I need something that will read quickly for a sense of accomplishment and that will end happily ever after. Their very predictability calls to me at times and that is not a negative, especially if an author can write well within the rather strict confines of the genre. James is one of the best at this.

Third in a series of Regency-set historical romance (the previous entries of which I've not read), this is the story of Gabby Jerningham, the exuberant, clumsy, and incredibly imaginative daughter of a British missionary in England and of Quill Dewland, the heir of Viscount Dewland. Gabby has been sent back to England from India, where she was maligned and belittled by her termagant of a father, to marry Peter Dewland, a man she's never met. Traveling with her is a young, simpleminded Indian boy, heir to the throne near her birthplace. He has been sent with her to England for safekeeping and to keep him out of the clutches of the East India Company. Meanwhile Peter Dewland, the younger son of the current Viscount has been ordered to marry Gabby because his older brother, Quill has had an accident that leaves him unable to participate in any repetitive action (including sex) without suffering a days long, blinding migraine as a result. Peter is very conscious of looks and social approbation and so he is horrified to see the, in his mind, dumpy, unfashionable Gabby, chastizing her at all turns. Quill, however, is captivated by her fresh, unstudied beauty, her charming imagination, and her quick intelligence. And despite her rushed bethrothal to Peter, Gabby falls for Quill, even while not understanding his horror of marriage. The impending death of Viscount Dewland rushes everything here and yet Quill, without explaining his fears to Gabby, marries her in lieu of the rather prissy, fastidious Peter.

How they come to an understanding and a solution for Quill's disability and the political machinations Gabby indulges in regarding her sweet and simple, missing Indian prince take up the second half of the book. There are the requisite misunderstandings as a result of communication failures and shame but the reader is never in any doubt that Quill and Gabby will end up having a comfortable, passionate, long-lived marriage. Quill's illness does seem a bit unbelievable and Gabby's naivete is occasionally over the top but generally, the plot and sub-plots hold together nicely. James' writing is smooth and consistent; her characters always stay in character. Fans of historical romance will definitely appreciate this novel.

Review: The Rogue and the Rival by Maya Rodale

Angela Sullivan is living in a convent, where she chose to flee after being embroiled in a scandal that caused her family to suffer a tragedy. She is still wrestling with herself about whether or not she is ready to take her vows when an injured man is brought to the convent. Phillip, the Marquis of Huntley, is a class A rake and wastrel. He was beaten and left for dead over his debts but through the sheer cussed luck of the charmed, he survives and wakes up to find himself being nursed back to health in a convent. Angela has been assigned to be the one to nurse him, despite her feelings toward men in general after being ruined six years earlier. The two reach an uneasy detente and eventually slowly fall for each other throughout Phillip's convalescence. But just when things seem to be falling into place, Phillips disappears and Angela comes to the conclusion that she can never be a nun, hightailing it to her aunt's home in London where she sets out to erase Phillip from her heart, perhaps with the conveniently widowed Lord Frost, who was the one to ruin her so many years before.

Rodale does a nice job building the relationship between Angela and Phillip. The reader can really see the evolution of their feelings for each other and how they become better, more compassionate people through their interactions with each other. Wrenching Phillip from Angela happens rather abruptly in the plot but without the wrench there would be no room for conflict, making for a fairly milque-toast story so it is forgiven. What was less understandable was Phillip's bloody-minded insistence in staying away from the woman he loved and Angela's obsessive need to have him pay for his betrayal. The secondary plot with Lucas, Lord Frost, returning after so many years was almost incidental to the main thrust of thigns. But overall Rodale has doen a nice job and historical romance readers will mostly approve of this. Strong characters and a decent plot make this a nice way to while away a few hours.

Review: Ooh La La by Robin Wells

I don't typically tend to read a whole lot of contemporary romance because I'n not a huge fan of paranormal elements nor of a thriller-ish plotline and those two things seem to be dominating the current contemporary romance releases. I prefer fun and humor with my happily ever afters. So I don't know how long I've had this book sitting around the house unread, but after skimming the back cover copy, I decided it would suit my mood and fit the very narrow personal guidelines I have for books in the genre.

Set in New Orleans, this is the story of a former child actor turned director shooting a movie in the famed Red Light District and the history professor hired to ensure the historical accuracy and integrity of the movie. Given Zack's willingness to sacrifice accuracy for explosions and chase scenes and the like to make his movie, at base a love story, appealing to both male and female audiences, he and Kate are destined to butt heads and often. Both characters have a huge stake in the movie. Zack's last few pictures have failed and this is his last shot at directorial success. Kate is up for tenure but the department chair doesn't like her and thinks her historical focus is soft and unacademic so her professional credence is on the line with the movie. Tension between the characters is high as they both fight for their professional lives. But as they learn to accomodate each other, the movie starts to pull together and so does their relationship at least until the more underlying issues start to eat at them. There is a subplot here with Kate's mother having anxiety attacks and agoraphobia traced back to the early death of Kate's father and the way that it affects her own potential relationship with a cameraman on the movie. The other major subplot deals with Kate's teenaged daughter and the deadbeat father she's never known.

The characters here are entertaining and watching them open themselves up to each other is fun. Wells throws in small bits of humor, like with the script writer who may just throw a tantrum once Kate finishes slashing through his screenplay, excising the historical anachronisms, which helps lighten the book. Perhaps too many plot lines swirling around, the subplots were handled a bit cursorily but as the bulk of the book is the development of Kate and Zack's relationship, this is merely a blip. The tidbits about New Orleans' Red Light District are welcome and I personally would have enjoyed hearing more but that might have derailed the plot too much. Overall a good story with just the right amount of conflict culminating in the necessary happily ever after. A good choice for contemporary romance fans.