Katherine Sutcliffe: Obsession

Obsession: B
Maria Ashton & Trey Hawthorne, Duke of Salterdon

USA Today bestselling author Katherine Sutcliffe sweeps fans away to the passionate affair she began in Devotion, as one man's search for his lost love leads him to the heights of OBSESSION.

Trey Hawthorne, the Duke of Salterdon, once had a reputation that would humble the Marquis de Sade. Then he found his heart's desire in gentle, innocent Maria Ashton, whose healing touch ignited a forbidden passion between the noble duke and the lowborn vicar's daughter. Defying his family, Hawthorne intended to wed Maria -- but she mysteriously vanished before he could take her as his bride. After tirelessly searching for her for months, Trey gave up hope and reverted to his former wicked ways.

Now, chance has led Trey to his beloved at last -- but the devastating truth behind her disappearance might prove more than he can bear. As he fights to rescue his beautiful Maria from a life of torment, Trey wonders if in saving her, he will also finally save himself -- or if the fight will cost him everything....

This was a very interesting read. I wouldn’t consider it a romance. In fact, this book is probably the most unromantic romance I’ve read, even though it is about the hero and heroine – and their feelings. The closest way for me to describe this story would to call it a “gothic romance-esque story.”

It also didn’t help that this is a continuation of a story started in the first book, Devotion. This is what I get for randomly picking out authors.

In brief, the book starts out with a marriage scene in which Trey is preparing to marry a rich widow because he’s in dire need of money. He’s also really cynical, bitter, and jaded – he’s lost his love three and a half years before. It was a love that reached the bottom of his heart; when Maria disappeared, he spent six months straight searching for her and was crushed when he receives a note stating that she is married to another. So he spends the next three years whoring, gambling, and drinking.

The marriage he’s to have with Edwina, the wealthy but promiscuous widow, is a marriage of convenience: he needs her money, she needs a father for the babe in her womb.

However, as they’re about to wed, the whereabouts of Maria is revealed and he finds out that his evil grandmother had Maria locked away in an insane asylum because of Maria’s social status (she’s the daughter of a poor peasant or some low class worker). When Trey finds her, she’s insane.

And for three hundred pages, we witness Maria’s insanity and Trey’s meanness as he copes with what has happened to her because of him. It’s gloomy. It’s dark. It’s depressing. But you keep reading because you’re hoping it gets better.

Then Trey discovers that when Maria was sent away by his grandmother, she was pregnant – and that the baby was taken away from her after she gave birth to it in the asylum.

When Maria finally regains her sanity, she hates Trey for everything that’s happened to her because of him and the misunderstandings that are between them, thanks to the evil grandmother.

This story is gloomy. It’s dark. It’s depressing. It drags on, telling us in great detail of how much Trey drinks, how insane Maria is, how conniving the grandmother is… it’s very Wuthering Heights-esque. It’s also unique in that the story is told from Trey’s point of view (a first person point-of-view from a male’s perspective.)

I think I would have liked this story more if I’d read Devotion. Because I didn’t, I can only guess at how much Trey loved Maria and I can only guess at what happened before to cause this situation.

The story, on its own, is a little slow… and depressing. (have I mentioned that before?) And I felt a little betrayed when Maria and Trey experience their happiness for like… three pages at the very end. I thought, “What the monkey?! I spent three hundred thirty-something pages reading about this depressing crap and I’m rewarded with a measly three pages of happiness?!”

With that said, I’ll most likely read the first book to experience the “full scope” of their love.

But I’ll give Ms. Sutcliffe credit and say that this is a very creative, unique story – in style of writing, in the presentation of the plot, and even the characters.

(In case you're wondering, I absolutely love Wuthering Heights, which is why I didn't hate this book.)

Jill Barnett: Wild

Wild: C
Teleri of the Woods & Roger FitzAlan


Wales is a wild place in 1280. Sir Roger FitzAlan is there by order of the King, commanded to build a mighty walled castle to defend England's borders. But the site the King has chosen has a strange circle of massive blue stones and when Sir Roger and his men arrive, a beautiful young woman is praying within the ancient circle.

Even more arresting, the young woman flees from Roger's men astride a sleek black Arab stallion stolen from Roger's best friend nearly five years before. Roger gives chase and before long, the black Arab and Roger's mount leave his men-at-arms far behind. When the woman disappears into a thick wood, Roger follows her alone and quickly loses her. But someone else is in the deep woods, and that someone is intent on killing Roger.

Teleri of the Woods is delighted to have lost her pursuer and it isn't until the following day, when she returns to search for her lost pouch, that she discovers Roger, barely alive, and struggles to rescue him. Roger awakens in her bed, cranky, furious, and too ill to leave. Forced to remain with the beautiful young woman, he slowly becomes aware of the world about him in a way he has never known. Despite Teleri's lack of gold and possessions, she is rich in knowledge and appreciation of life.

As Teleri teaches Roger about her life, he's forced to confront his lust for her and his prior beliefs about love. But their time together in the magic woods must come to an end and when it does, what will Roger do about the forbidden love that once ruled him? How will Teleri cope with life beyond her enchanted woods? And how will they solve the dark mysteries that swirl around Roger and threaten both their lives?... (amazon)

Teleri's story is kind-of Sleeping-Beauty-esque but without the great singing skills (and the whole pricking her finger deal.) She finds Sir Roger FitzAlan, a knight, badly injured and nurses him back to health. Roger, a redhead (thought I’d mention it), has been burned by his previous love and takes him some time to appreciate and fall in love with Teleri.

Cleo and her man from the previous novel, Wonderful, make an appearance – and the “crazy old woman” from the first story is actually Teleri’s grandmother.

This story is filled with two minor mysteries – the question of who tried to kill Roger and the unsolved mystery of who Teleri’s father is.

This book is nice… but nothing spectacular. I also don’t like redheaded heroes much. And I wonder how Teleri is able to communicate and behave so well with Roger when she has spent her entire life along in the woods. Granted, she did have interactions with her grandmother, but really, is it plausible to think that she’d be able to magically fall in love?

Oh wait, this is a romance… (lol.)

However, I did really like her (er, Roger's) horse...

Laura Lee Guhrke: The Wicked Ways of a Duke

The Wicked Ways of a Duke: B

Prudence Bosworth & Rhys de Winter, Duke of St. Cyres
Sequel to And Then He Kissed Her

Prudence is a poor seamstress, working hard to earn her living. She sees Rhys, is attracted to his good looks and starts to idolize him when she witnesses him acting “honorable” and “gentlemanly.” She doesn’t listen to society’s rumors of Rhys actually being a rake…

Things take a turn for the better and overnight, Prudence becomes an heiress – her father, the cad who ran off when she was a child, had actually gone to America and was the founder of the famous Abernathy department stores. She’s rich – in that her annual allowance is a million pounds per year! (Think back to when prices were a lot cheaper PLUS the fact that the current conversion rate is almost two dollars to the pound! I imagine, in today’s terms, she’d be making well over 10 million a year…)

Rhys, the Duke of St. Cyres, is in a pitiful state. He’s beyond poor. He’s dirt poor. However, it is a solution that can be quickly remedied: marry wealthy. To his wonderful surprise, the cute seamstress that caught his eye has grown into an overnight sensation.

He goes about manipulating and playing Prudence like a well-tuned piano and convinces her to marry him. Rhys is beyond surprised when he feels himself starting to fall in love with Prudence.

There is a catch to Prudence’s inheritance: she must marry within a year, with her prospective fiancé approved by the Board of Male Members handling her finances. The entire ton is aware of these rules and when Prudence announces her decision to marry Rhys, people warn her about his rakish ways.

But, as expected, the truth comes out. Prudence feels betrayed and she calls off the wedding. She stands up to her scumbagish cousins – the ones who ignored her for years, making her work long hours to survive and ones that magically reappeared after finding out she was rich. She chooses to donate her inheritance to charity.

I won’t go into too much detail but magically, everything gets solved and everyone is happy in the end. (Sorry, have I said too much?)

The firs half of the book is an absolute bore. I put it down and almost didn’t pick it back up; I only finished it because it was the book selection for my book club. The second half of the book redeems the lackluster first half and the ending is nice. Enjoyable read…except for the fact that the British sure liked to name females after strange character traits: this is like the seventh Prudence I’ve read about. (And there apparently were a million girls named Patience, Faith, Hope, Grace, and all those nice things that girls have deep inside them…)

I liked that Guhrke really went out of way to make Rhys a really huge asshole. But we all know that he loves her (deep down) and his actions at the end of the book are wonderful. A bit cheesy, but wonderful.

Worth reading for fun.

A word of caution! The cover art for this book is absolutely hideous. I want to rip it off and shred it into tiny pieces.

Lauren Royal: Lost in Temptation

Lost in Temptation: C-
Sweet Temptation Series #1

Alexandra Chase & Tristan Nesbitt, Lord Hawkridge

The last time Lady Alexandra Chase saw Tristan Nesbitt, she was a teenager with a hopeless crush. Now, seven years later after meeting again, Alexandra discovers that her feelings for Tristan have not diminished. The one thing that has changed is that Tristan, with his sudden rise in station to Lord Hawkridge, is now a perfectly acceptable suitor. Then Tristan cruelly dashes all of Alexandra's romantic hopes by informing her that they can never wed since the scandal surrounding his sudden inheritance threatens to ruin any woman he marries. Despite what Tristan may think, Alexandra knows he is the only man for her, and she is determined to do whatever it takes to change his mind...

Boring and typical.

Alexandra Chase is beautiful, unoriginal, boring, and perfect. She has been in love with her older brother’s friend, Tristan Nesbitt, Lord Hawkridge, since she was a little girl. To her dismay, he left England to work for his Uncle at a plantation in an island place (Haiti? Jamaica?) Tristan sees Alexandra as the sister of his best friend.

Fast forward five years. He returns with a title because of the death of his uncle – and he comes back with a dark scandal. There are rumors that he murdered his uncle while he was abroad.

So he comes to Alexandra’s home, where she is getting courted. (Sadly, she didn’t get a full Season with the ton because her mother passes away, then her father, then her eldest brother, and then her grandma, all with a six-month interval. So they were in continual mourning for like four years…)

Her older brother, Griffin, needs help with irrigating his vineyard, something their eldest brother wanted to do but passed away before being able to do so. Luckily, Tristan has invented some special pump to irrigate water upwards, defying gravity, and he stays at their home to create the mold and to build it.

There is the forbidden attraction between them two – since Tristan refuses to court Alexandra, even though they both have feelings for each other because of the scandal that is following Tristan (he’s shunned by the ton).

But they are caught in a compromising situation (dang, a lot of these things happened back in the olden days…) while Tristan is sleep-walking and they get married! Alexandra is determined to solve the case of Tristan’s uncle’s death so that Tristan is able to have a clean slate…

If you don’t know what happens in the end, everything gets solved and they live happily ever after. (LOL)

I enjoyed the last book of the series, The Art of Temptation, more than this one. Alexandra is a bit boring and even a little irksome when she is so determined to get Tristan. It’s an admirable character trait – going after something you want – but somehow, it didn’t work well for her.

You can also see the start of Griffin and Rachael’s story (which I already knew how it ended, not that it would have ended any other way). Alexandra’s sisters, Julianna and Corinna, are introduced and play cute roles in setting Alexandra and Tristan up. However, Julianna sounds super nosy (she is described as being so) and I don’t know if I’d like her as a heroine. Corinna, I liked.

Read for not-that-great fluff. You won’t get much else.

Cuh-rap!

I just finished reading Devil's Bride by Stephanie Laurens.

To my horror, I discovered that it is the first of a fourteen-book series. Crap! Are ya kidding me? This means I have to search out thirteen more books to read about the delicious Cynsters. Augh. Why couldn't it have been the Cynster twins, or something?

Apparently, Laurens had a huge desire to write about the six Cynsters, two Cynster females, one friend of the Cynsters, and then a million and a half "honorary Cynsters."

I'm happy, but unhappy at the same time. Aw, nuts...

Jaclyn Reding: The Pretender

The Pretender: B-
Elizabeth Drayton & Douglas MacKinnon

Back cover: Angered by his daughter’s secret writings on female equality, and in need of an heir, the Duke of Sudeleigh has hit upon the perfect scheme. He’ll marry the feisty lass off to the man of his choosing. But Lady Elizabeth abhors arranged marriages, and she’ll do anything to avoid one – even wed a Scottish farmer.

Elizabeth does not realize, however, that the man she assumes is a poor crofter is an aristocrat every bit as prominent as the duke. Now her father and her chosen groom-to-be have hatched a plan to catch Elizabeth at her own game. But with one deception following another, heartbreak is inevitable…unless true love can save the day.

I feel that the back of the book is slightly misleading.

So, Lady Elizabeth is outgoing and feminist. She writes for a feminist publication which her father reads and is infuriated by the woman’s gall to write such nonsense. He soon finds out it’s her. He’s pissed off – major. So he chooses an old, almost-his-own-age husband for her, one whose lands borders theirs.

She finds out while she is making the trip to marry her husband and is pissed off- major. Their (her and her younger sister, Isabella) carriage breaks down as a Scottish farmer, Douglas MacKinnon, is walking on by. He offers to help. They accept.

Then Elizabeth is intrigued and thinks of a great plan – why not pretend to marry Douglas and watch her father blow up one of his main arteries?

They go to an inn. She gets drunk off of strong whiskey (while experimenting) and Douglas carries her into her room. She invites him to stay (she’s drunk!) and he turns her tempting offer down. But she reveals to him that she is afraid of the dark and he stays with her – intending to stay only until she falls asleep. Unfortunately, the fatigue of the physical exercise that day and the tipsiness from the whiskey combines and lulls into a sleep.

They are found the next morning in that inevitable “compromising situation” and ended up getting married – for real!

Return home. Everyone freaks out. Dad and Douglas talk. Dad finds out Douglas is the laird for his clan and he is fighting with the British King in order to get back the lands that the previous King confiscated.

Dad and Douglas plot together. Elizabeth and Douglas are to stay married for two more months – since Elizabeth is headstrong and spoiled. She got herself into this situation so she has to stick it out. BUT she isn’t to know that Douglas is a laird – she is to believe that he is a farmer. If after two months, they still are at odds with each other and they haven’t done the hanky panky, then the father will go and ask for an annulment.

So Elizabeth and Douglas return to Douglas’s home and she learns, first hand, what it feels like to be a farmer’s wife. Seeing that her father is a very highly regarded English gentleman, milking a cow and doing the laundry are new experiences for her.

Along with this humorous budding romance is the fact that Douglas’ clan, the MacKinnons, are fighting to protect their Scottish King – someone the English calls “The Pretender” since he isn’t the British king.

Good premise, but just not enough development. The book is a short paperback, a skimpy 305 pages and this story could have been developed so much more. The romance (falling-in-love part) was a little rushed in the end (she totally could have added an extra 100 pages…) and the whole “adventure” with the Pretend King wasn’t too interesting. I was tempted to skim over those parts.

However, Isabella’s story sounds, The Adventurer, sounds like a whole lot of fun from the excerpt. I’ll have to check it out!

Elizabeth Vaughan: Warsworn

Warsworn B+
The Chronicles of the Warlands #2

Xylara and Keir

In a fascinating sequel to Warprize (2005), Lara, the Queen of Xy, and Keir, warlord of the Firelanders, are on the way to his people's homeland. When scouts report that a walled village of the Xy has denied them entry, Keir and his troops are ready to annihilate the village. Lara intervenes, and discovers that a plague has killed nearly everyone inside. When she begins to sicken, Keir helps heal her. As the plague hits the entire army encampment, taking hundreds of lives, Keir’s second conspires to displace him. Readers will be delighted to learn more of the customs of this unique civilization, and they will enjoy the growing love between Lara and Keir. It is refreshing for the conflict in a romance to eschew petty misunderstandings and present, instead, life-and-death situations through which together the hero and heroine become stronger. The emphasis is on the emotional rather than the physical in Vaughan's unusual and thoroughly enjoyable tale. Diana Tixier Herald (amazon.com – booklist)

*SPOILERS about the first book, Warprize*

Warsworn continues in the journey of Lara and Keir as they make their trip back to the Plains, Keir’s home.

The readers now know that a warprize is not a sex slave, or even a slave for that matter. It is a treasure, something that is treated preciously because of its worth. A warprize usually offers the tribe a type of a special revolution – a gift that brings benefits and change. Lara, met with this information in the last book, was able to give herself freely to Keir, knowing that he prized her – and she was given special status because of her uniqueness.

They are traveling to the Plains when they pass by a village where a plague has overcome them. Keir, out of love and fear for Lara, is against entering this village to find out more about the illness, but Lara is determined to try and help find the cure to whatever illness has caused the destruction of an entire village.

She goes in and lo behold, falls sick. Not having discovered the cure, she knows she must kill herself so that the illness isn’t taken back to Keir and the soldiers.

However, Keir is unwilling to let her go and she is retrieved…bringing the illness to the entire tribe. And when Keir falls sick…

I felt that this was a good sequel to Warprize, but I don’t feel that it surpasses it. This book is a little gritty, with lots of death. There is also a loss of many beloved secondary characters, something that I felt brought about realness to the book but not necessarily happiness. (And I don’t really have a problem with people dying…) As with the first book, there were some scenes that melted my heart, like when Keir saves Lara (*sigh*).

When Lara insisted on going in and discovering the cure to the illness – or at least offering her help – I wanted to strangle her. Why?! She had everything going for her! Why would she jeopardize it? But the fact that she did go in, knowing that she might not survive, is a trait that is indicative of her character – compassionate and full of desire to heal. Keir’s anger with her was just and made him that much more drool-worthy. *sigh* (Seriously, he’s a hunk. I want him…)

It’s a good tale, captivating and exciting and I’m excited to read the last installment of the series.