Author: Vanessa Kelly
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: May 2010
Synopsis from the authors website:
Bath, 1815
Their marriage was convenient...
Simon St. James, fifth Earl of Trask, knows he could do worse in the marriage of convenience department. Sophie Stanton may be a bit of a social liability, with her ungovernable ways and flighty nature, but Simon has responsibilities as an earl that far outweigh happiness in the household. As for happiness in the bedroom...he has to admit he sees Sophie’s potential in that arena...Their passion was not!
But Sophie isn’t some bargaining chip to be traded, and she’s not about to let Simon St. James tell her how to live her life—even though she has nurtured a crush on the handsome young earl for as long as she can remember. If his idea of courtship is telling her what to do, then she is not interested, or at least she is trying not to be. But when his scolding words turn to scorching kisses, suddenly Sophie starts paying attention...
My Thoughts:
I'll start with what I did like about this novel. I liked that Sophie was strong, and held her own against Simon, and let him know when she thought he was out of line. I also like that she did her own thing, and didn't really care about what others said about her. She stayed true to herself.
After reading so many urban fantasy books in a row, it was hard to get excited about this storyline when it centered around a stolen bracelet. A stolen bracelet isn't really the same as demons trying to take over the world, is it? The heroine in the story, Sophie does try to solve this matter by going after the thief who stole it, and discovers that it was actually a little boy. She's flummoxed by this, and later on can't believe the poverty that he and his sister live in. That's the second problem I had with this book. When I read historical romances, I want to escape. I don't want to think or be reminded of social justice causes while reading them.I know that's very shallow of me, but there it is. I have a feeling that this might be a new trend in historicals, because it's the second one I've read lately where the story centered around the hardships of the time. Another problem I had with this book was the dialogue. I'm all for the characters speaking as they should during the time period the book takes place, but it just was well, jarring in places and interrupted the reading places.
Like the title states, there is sex in this book, but I felt like it didn't really have to be there. I'm all for a good smokin hot love scene, but I just didn't feel the passion between Lord Trask and Sophie to make it necessary to the storyline. It just kind of came out of left field. I feel so bad that I didn't like this book more. I really wanted to, but I need more of a juicier plot then a stolen bracelet and an upset mistress. (Did I forget to mention that part? There is a mistress, and she tries to make a muck out of things and fails horribly.) If you are in the mood for something light (and I do mean light) and are a fan of historical romances, then you'll probably like this book.
I've decided to make March unofficially historical romance month for me-I want to see if it's just switching genres that made it hard for me to read this book or not.
I want to thank Marissa from Marissa's Book Lair and Tasha from Heidenkinds Hideaway for listening to me go on and on about this book. I feel super bad that this review was so harsh...
Sigh Meter: Low
Swoonworthy Meter: Low
STAR Rating: 1 out of 5
