This is a Powerpuff Girls review: Ana, AKA Bubbles, reviews the book here. Her friend Katie, AKA Blossom reviews at her place. Meanwhile Thea, AKA Buttercup is still AWOL.

Title: Surrender of a Siren

Author: Tessa Dare

Genre: Romance (Historical)

On the cover: Tessa Dare scored with the Cover Gods for this entire series. I love it.

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: August 25, 2009
Paperback: 400 Pages

Stand Alone or series: book 2 in a planned trilogy but I had no problem reading this without having read the first book. Book one Goddess of the Hunt was released last month and book three, A Lady of Persuasion will be released in September. (I plan to read book one ASAP now.)

Summary: Desperate to escape a loveless marriage and society’s constraints, pampered heiress Sophia Hathaway jilts her groom, packs up her paints and sketchbook, and assumes a new identity, posing as a governess to secure passage on the Aphrodite. She wants a life of her own: unsheltered, unconventional, uninhibited. But it’s one thing to sketch her most wanton fantasies, and quite another to face the dangerously handsome libertine who would steal both her virtue and her gold.

To any well-bred lady, Benedict “Gray” Grayson is trouble in snug-fitting boots. A conscienceless scoundrel who sails the seas for pleasure and profit, Gray lives for conquest–until Sophia’s perception and artistry stir his heart. Suddenly he’ll brave sharks, fire, storm, and sea just to keep her at his side. She’s beautiful, refined, and ripe for seduction. Could this counterfeit governess be a rogue’s redemption? Or will the runaway heiress’s secrets destroy their only chance at love?

Review:

Ah. It is with a most satisfied heart that I start this review. Surrender of a Siren was the first romance book I read after a whole month reading nothing but YA and it was, I am glad to report, a most lovely read, perfect to ease me back into reading Romance.

“In fleeing the society wedding of the year, Sophia Hathaway knew she would be embracing infamy.”

And lo and behold: Infamy goes by the name of Mr Grayson, or Gray. The owner of the ship Aphrodite where Sophia embarks as a paying passenger under the guise of a governess in route to Central America. She hides behind a new name, Miss Turner, concealing her past, her history, all in search of a new future. She runs from nothing extraordinarily dark but the prospect of a comfortable life and a passionless marriage which for Sophia were but a beautiful cage. Sophia dreams of passion, of love, of adventure and being an heiress provides her with enough courage to ruin her own reputation in exchange for all that.

And Gray would be the perfect man to give what she needs except for the small fact that Gray has a past of his own. A former Privateer (NOT a pirate!) with a most dreadful reputation as a man without word and without roots, Gray is trying to be respectful and not for himself, but for his family. Promises have been made to his half brother and sister, promises that he CAN NOT break. It is very important to him to correct the course of his life, to right the wrongs he did as the legitimate first son who made bad choices that soured his relationship with his siblings. He cannot, should not do anything to jeopardise his shipping line right now, and he cannot, should not surrender to the call of the siren that is his only paying passenger.

Oh, the amount of FUN to be had when one watches his struggle – be still my heart. Nothing melts my heart faster than a man who can’t think when around a woman or who thinks only protective thoughts without even realising what he is thinking and feeling. Sophia is a true siren in which everything that she is calls to him: the way she talks, the way she thinks, the way she reacts to his presence. But it all goes so above and beyond the physical aspect: because Gray and Sophia are stuck inside a ship for weeks, they talk a lot, they exchange opinions, they listen to each other. Sophia is a painter and she starts drawing the sailors one after the other and the way Gray reacts to what he sees and to her skills is nothing but great because he SEES her effort and her talent but also he reads her paintings. I like this passage:

“he saw her charcoal sketch of young Davy Linnet. The perception in it, the attention to detail. And suddenly, Gray formed a vision of himself through those all seeing, artist’s eyes. He saw an unshaven brigand, inches away from plundering an innocent governess who was far from home and full in her cups. A man poised to break his word to his only brother, again— as though it were an easy habit. A fraud in foppish boots, trying to buy his way into the graces of his sister and society because he lacked the merit to earn their respect. In that fraction of a second, Gray glimpsed his own portrait, and he did not like what he saw. He might never be the picture of respectability, but he’d be damned if the world would remember him like this.”

And so he takes a step back because he really does want to change. But there is no stopping true love and even though there is nothing really unique in the premise above, Tessa Dare has such a lovely prose and such a humorous tone and ideas (the Goat Boat? Genius) which coupled with a marvellous execution of the storyline – both the romance and the secondary adventures on board- turned this into a very pleasant read indeed.

My one grippe is that the Conflict, when it came, felt very contrived. Things were developing so organically, so beautifully between the two of them, they were truly sharing their true selves and then there comes the wrench (the first one at least) and it didn’t feel RIGHT. It was like an act of treason against the characters – but thinking back, maybe it meant that although Gray had already arrived to a place that Sophia wasn’t yet ready to reach. Sort of inverted positions in which the man reforms first and the woman needs time to create courage to open up – because she might THINK that she is ready to embrace life at its fullest but maybe, just maybe she isn’t. Having said that, once past this point, their relationship felt back in track and I even liked the over- the- top-yet-delicious ending.

Everybody knows that a HEA is a given when it comes to romance novels, but those of us in the know understand that the end is not really what matters. It’s how you get there. To me, it is very important to see, to understand how and why a couple falls in love. By the end of Surrender of a Siren I knew with a certainty that they loved each other and why they did so; that Gray had found the redemption he sought, that Sophia found the freedom she wanted and that both found the acceptance they needed. I couldn’t ask for much more than that.

Notable Quote/ Parts: I love GOOD, romantic first kisses scenes:
He was

“Not learning how to kiss, but learning why to kiss. Not in persuasion, not as a prelude to further liberties. Simply to discover the taste of her, delicate and fresh and exquisitely sweet. To tell her things he didn’t dare express in words. To tell her things he had no words to express. He kissed her for no greater pleasure than to kiss, because at that moment, kissing her felt like the greatest pleasure imaginable.”

Awwww.

Additional Thoughts: Don’t forget to check KB’s Review

And you can read an excerpt at the author’s website: here

Verdict: I have one word for this book: Lovely. From the prose to the characters, Tessa Dare presented me with a lovely book.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading next: The Hollow by Jessica Verday

Title: Bound By Your Touch

Author: Meredith Duran

Genre: Historical Romance

I need to get this off my chest. I detest this cover. It does a disservice to such a brilliant, sophisticated novel. It screams of unoriginality, it reeks of cheap thrills when what is inside is NOT that at all.

Publisher: Pocket
Publishing Date: June 30, 2009
Paperback: 368 pages

Stand Alone or series: Stand Alone (but there is a secondary character who is getting a book of his own)

Why did I read the book: Meredith Duran’s first book, The Duke of Shadows was on my top 10 of 2008 and I was waiting for her second book with not a small amount of anxiety.

Summary: Silver-tongued Viscount Sanburne is London’s favorite scapegrace. Alas, Lydia Boyce has no interest in being charmed. When his latest escapade exposes a plot to ruin her family, she vows to handle it herself, as she always has done. Certainly she requires no help from a too-handsome dilettante whose main achievement is being scandalous. But Sanburne’s golden charisma masks a sharper mind and darker history than she realizes. He shocks Lydia by breaking past her prim facade to the woman beneath…and the hidden fire no man has ever recognized. But as she follows him into a world of intrigue, she will learn that the greatest danger lies within — in the shadowy, secret motives of his heart

Review:

Meredith Duran’s debut work, The Duke of Shadows was one of my favourite reads of 2008: it had an unfamiliar setting (India circa 1857) and an unusual pair of protagonists with a very nurturing hero and a heroine suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Those, coupled with Meredith Duran’s beautiful writing are the reason why The Duke of Shadows is such a memorable book.

Bound by Your Touch is the author’s sophomore effort and I am glad to report, equally as good and memorable – but in different ways. If The Duke of Shadows took the story and reader to uncharted waters, Bound by Your Touch sits firmly within familiar territory. The story takes place in London and the two main characters are Household Romantic figures: the Rake and the Bluestocking Reformer. But this is as far as convention – if we can call it convention, the characters NEED to be something – goes. Because the writing is utterly, amazingly sophisticated and quite frankly, spectacular so that what would be otherwise ordinary, becomes extraordinary.

Lydia Boyce is the plain, stiff, spinster daughter of a famous Egyptian scholar. In the prologue we learn that Lydia was once in love with her now brother-in-law and mistakenly thought he was love with her as well – but he had been in fact wooing her beautiful sister all along. The sense of betrayal is something that Lydia still carries inside and is a wench in the two sister’s relationship. Now, years later, Lydia sense of self-worth in a society where women are married or not, comes from working for her father in England, looking for financial support for his expeditions and organising the import of his findings. She does some scholarly work as well and can tell a fake piece from a genuine. Which is exactly what she does when she first meets James Durham.

The disreputable rake, son of the Earl of Moreland bursts into one of her lectures to tease his father with what he thinks is a genuine stela (he will do anything in his power to make his father’s life miserable) only to be proven wrong by Lydia and in public. This first encounters sets the story nicely as James then decides to investigate further and finds out that the fake has been brought to England by Lydia’s own father. Lydia is adamant that her father is innocent and asks for James’ help (because he has nothing better to do with his time) in proving this.

And their relationship obviously expands from there – at first they are both very accusing. James thinks she is stiff. Lydia points to him that his life is all about being bored, being useless by choice and being fuelled by his worthless aristocratic consequence. Lydia’s speech is imbued with a sense of unfairness that leaps from the page: she had no place in society because she is a single woman (who was expected to live off one of her sister’s charity and become the auntie) , he is respected simply because he was a man. Regardless of the fact that what she perceives about James t is not entirely true as we learn later in the book , it is still all about perception when they first meet. As they carry on, their perception change.

And that perception starts to change in what I think is one of the best scenes I read this year ,when James and Lydia are in the a rooftop and Lydia observes:

“How had he acquired such confidence? His birth had given him privileges, of course, and so had his sex. But there was more to it than that. Eyes were always on him. The newspapers dissected his smallest shenanigan. Yet he bore such attentions as though they hardly concerned him. She could not imagine him hesitating on the threshold of a room for fear he’d be judged and found wanting. If someone tried to cut him, he would only laugh. To live a life of such bold assurance, never caring what others thought….why, it must be another species of living, entirely. No uncertainty. Invulnerable to jibes and slanders. What could one not do, when so free?”

And in that rooftop, she decides to experience a moment of abandon and freedom. Even if she is “always afraid of something” because she is a woman. Unbeknownst to her, the same urge affects James: so if she feels the freedom to experience sensations he has a freedom of speech. They both say to each other things that they wouldn’t say – they are both unguarded. She admits fear. He admits he plays a role. It is an incredibly poignant, touching scene, where the characters are first deeply revealed to the reader and to each other.

I find it ironic that the title of the book carries the word “bound” when the feel I got from reading it, is quite the opposite. They are, at first bound, yes. By the roles they play in society for example. She is bound by her blind devotion to her father. He is bound by his utter contempt by his. In fact, her admiration to her father is directly opposite to his utter revolt against his own. Her faith is freely given and he doesn’t understand that although he does understand devotion for his sister (which is what moves and directs his rage against his father). It is the need to be free from these bounds that allows for them falling in love with each other and making concessions by doing so.

What I think is fascinating though –is how the two don’t undergo a change of character, it is first their perception of each other that changes and then Lydia becomes a little less stiff and James a little less lax. What changes is their choice of role to play in society – and the freedom of finally leaving the roles they play behind. At least (and always) with each other.

There are quite a few, incredibly romantic scenes in Bound by Your Touch – including their first kiss and the final scene. Or how James is completely undone by the realisation that all that devotion that Lydia feels for her father can and will be directed at him as well.

In short: the romance itself and the writing are superb – and to me, Meredith Duran has joined that pantheon of Romance Goddesses and sits right up there with the likes of Loretta Chase and Julia Quinn.

Notable Quotes/Parts :

“Every person was his own country she thought, governed by a private language, a personal reason and custom. She was still discovering herself but she thought she might use him as a guide, Whatever passed through his mind, whatever drove him to kiss her like this he kissed her as earnestly as a prayer – it was right and good. And all of it, the complex curious intricacies of James Durham, were here, bound by muscle and warm flesh, in the span of her hands”

Verdict:Sophisticated, beautifully written and utterly romantic.

Rating: 8 excellent and one of my top reads so far, this year

Reading Next: What Happens in London by Julia Quinn

Title: Don’t Tempt Me

Author: Loretta Chase

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Avon
Publishing Date: June 30, 2009
Paperback: 384 pages

Stand Alone or series: Stand Alone (although part of a “series” of books about Fallen Women)

Summary: “Spunky English girl overcomes impossible odds and outsmarts heathen villains.”

That’s the headline when Zoe Lexham returns to England. After twelve years in the exotic east, she’s shockingly adept in the sensual arts. She knows everything a young lady shouldn’t and nothing she ought to know. She’s a walking scandal, with no hope of a future . . . unless someone can civilize her.

Lucien de Grey, the Duke of Marchmont, is no knight in shining armor. He’s cynical, easily bored, and dangerous to women. He charms, seduces, and leaves them—with parting gifts of expensive jewelry to dry their tears. But good looks, combined with money and rank, makes him welcome everywhere. The most popular bachelor in the Beau Monde can easily save Zoe’s risquÉ reputation . . .

Why did I read the book: It is a Loretta Chase book. I would read a book about the Working Pieces of Your Dishwasher if it was written by Loretta Chase

Review:

It is a truth accepted and confirmed by us, Book Smugglers, that if you are in search of a good romance novel you should look no further than the “C” in your local book store. It is there that you will find Loretta Chase’s books in all their splendid quality that comes from all The Loretachaseness in them: wonderful dialogue, the light and yet deeply emotional plots and wonderful heroes and heroines.

Don’t Tempt Me is yet another one to those books by the author in which every single thing works. And it is with great delight that I report that this is a story with two of my favourite tropes – the Reformed Rake and the Childhood Sweethearts.

Our heroine is Zoe, was twelve years old when visiting Egypt with her family when she is kidnapped and taken as a slave to a Harem. Her disappearance is never understood or explained to her family. But her father never stops hoping for her return – that happens 12 years later with not a small amount of scandal. Zoe is thoroughly changed by her experience. Her thought process is alien to English society and her sexual experience is not one that Ladies should have. She needs to find a place in Society, the place it was always meant to be hers and for that she needs the help of someone who can guide her in her launch and that person is Lucien de Grey, the Duke of Marchmont. Lucien is a rake, a bored Lord who spends his days without purpose and who respects only one person in the world: Lord Lexham , his father’s best friend and the man who guided him when all his family was lost when he was a child. It is because of this respect for Zoe’s father that he accepts to tutor Zoe. That, and the fact that 1) they used to know each other when children 2) the powerful pull he feels towards the woman.

They met when Lucien was ten and Zoe Octavia was five. She, the youngest of 8 siblings- he, the recently orphaned boy who needed help from her father to get over his sorrow. Lexham helped alright – but Zoe, Zoe was the antidote to his unhappiness. The cricket incident in the prologue shows all we need to know about Lucien and Zoe:

“She was eight years old. The boys were organising a cricket game. She stormed up to him.
“I want to play, Lucien. Tell them to let me”
“Girls don’t play cricket,” he said. “Go back to your dolls and your nursemaid, brat”
She snatched up a bat and swung it at him – or tried to. She swung as hard as she could, and kept on going. Round and round she went, like a whirligig, and down she went, on her arse.
And there she sat, her disorderly golden hair standing on end and her vivid blue eyes wide open and her mouth open too, so startled she was.
He laughed so hard, he fell down, too.
She was annoying, sometimes infuriating, generally impossible. And she was a bright, bright spot in his life.”

The girl who was a spitfire and very stubborn, who was always disappearing and the boy who would always find her and reign her in. The dynamics remain the same even after the years they were apart even if the two people have changed. The boy who laughed is somewhere underneath a pile of restrained emotion – unwelcome thoughts, unwanted memories, unused emotions are all stored in his Mental Cupboard. Plus, he can’t believe she is back. He won’t believe she is back. And yet, there she is. Different, but the same.

“I crossed the seas, and it was like crossing years”

she says.

He has given his word he will help her (and when Lucien gives his word, he won’t take it back) even if it kills him. It might as well do so. The words Zoe utters as soon as she is back , taunt and haunt him:

“I know all the arts of pleasing a man”

And this is a book filled with the most amazing sexual tension and innuendos. Every sex scene works to develop the plot – from the most unusual to the most funny: like when they can’t help but to fall in each other’s arms even there in the park. Where they laugh and are drunk in each other kisses, and they hardly even notice that they are in public until one of her sisters find them and proceeds to smack Lucien’s head with her parasol. “It is like separating dogs” she says. Then Zoe, this amazing heroine raises herself in her elbows and glares at her sister

“I am going to kill you”, she said. “Are you a crazy woman ,to interrupt at such a time? I do not care how pregnant you are. There is no excuse…”

This freedom that Zoe experiences for the first time in 12 years is all that she cares about , it is all that is important to her coupled to her need to exist in her own world. To be presented to the Queen is the answer to the latter (and when she does so, the scenes that follow with Lucien are wonderfully tender) and to be with Lucien is the answer to the first. Even if it is difficult at first.

Because Loretta Chase’s books may be light in tone but that does not preclude emotional depth. Like for example, the guilt that Zoe feels – it was not her fault that she was taken but because she had a reputation for disappearing acts, it isn’t a surprise that she would wonder if that wasn’t expected . In a way , it reminded me of the Boy Who Cried Wolf fable.

Similarly, her heroes usually go through a lot before the book ends and Don’t Tempt Me is no different. Lucien only holds his position in life because of the horrible losses of people he loved – and yes, that includes Zoe as well. That causes not only emotional detachment but also avoidance of his responsibilities as a Duke. Once he is able to open the emotional side of his heart and he is freed from his own restraints, it is time to confront what his (in)actions have caused . Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not a big fan of secondary suspense plots but in Don’t Tempt Me, the secondary is necessary and important – it is has not only verisimilitude (it was bound to happen given how Lucien lived his life) but it is also important for him to face the result of his way of living. He too, is guilt-ridden. And it is painful.

One last word about a detail I am sure some readers may not like. This is not really a spoiler as it is disclosed in the first pages. I was surprised to learn that even though Zoe lived in the harem as a second wife she was still a virgin. I really wanted her to a True Fallen Woman. But Loretta Chase plays the virgin card with aplomb – because Zoe is well and truly experienced and this virginity is only but a detail that is put aside so very easily – and you will know what I mean when you read the carriage scene. Plus, and this is really good: there is a perfectly reasonable explanation why she is still a virgin that it’s even part of the reason why she was taken in first place.

Basically: anything Loretta Chase throws at me, I will bite, chew and swallow with gusto as everything will inevitably taste as chocolate covered strawberries. This is the case with Don’t Tempt Me and I finished it with the satisfied feeling that I just read a good Romance, a good book, a good story.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: This excerpt shows when Lucien sees Zoe for the first time in years.

As he usually did upon entering a room, the Duke of Marchmont paused to size up the situation. Even now, after the bottle or two or three, his gaze was not as sleepy as it appeared to be.
He saw:
1. Lexham standing in front of the fire, looking ready to tear his hair out.
2. Lady Lexham fluttering upon the chaise longue, in her best dying moth imitation.
3. At the large central table, the four married Lexham daughters, all in black, a color particularly depressing in women of their complexion. As usual, the two eldest appeared to suffer from an obstruction of the bowels. As usual, the two younger ones suffered the consequences of a lively conjugal life. They looked ready to drop brats any minute now–twins or ponies, judging by their circumference.
4. and at the window…
…a girl with a book in her lap.
A girl with golden hair and startled blue eyes, the bluest eyes in all the world, set in a heart-shaped face, all creamy white and pink…
That was as far as Marchmont got. He was aware of his own eyes widening and of a curious galloping sensation in his chest and a feeling of being set on fire then thrown into a deep pool of water. He was equally aware of the way the pink in her cheeks deepened and the way her shoulders went back while he stared and the way the movement drew his attention downward to a figure with the elegant curves of a statue of Venus he’d seen somewhere or other.
All of this happened so quickly that it disrupted the already uncertain connection between his tongue and his brain. Even at the best of times, he might speak first and think later. At present, thanks to the bottle or two or three, his mind was in a thickish haze.
He said, “Ye gods, it’s true. That dreadful girl is back.”
“Marchmont.”
The masculine voice uttering his name in a familiar patient tone made him blink. He climbed out of the very deep pool and into the present. He tore his gaze from the girl and aimed it at his former guardian.
Lexham’s expression had changed to one all too recognizable: a mixture of exasperation and affection and something else the Duke of Marchmont chose not to put a name to.
“Thank you, sir, I should indeed like a glass–or ten–of something,” he said, though he knew perfectly well that Lexham was not offering a drink. Marchmont recognized all of his former guardian’s tones of voice. When he said “Marchmont” in that way, it meant, “Recollect your manners, sir.”
Nonetheless, his grace persisted, as he often did, in willfully misunderstanding. “Something strong, I think,” he went on. “I find myself in need of a bracer.”
Zoe. Here. Alive. It wasn’t possible. Yet it must be, because there she was.
He looked at her again.
She looked right back at him, up and down, down and up.
The back of his neck prickled. He was used to women eyeing him. This sort of survey usually occurred, however, in gatherings of the demimonde or in a private corner of an ostensibly respectable social event. It did not happen in the open in an unquestionably respectable domestic setting.
He was not disconcerted. Nothing disconcerted him. Disoriented was more like it. Perhaps he should have had a little less to drink before he came. Or perhaps he hadn’t had enough.
“But of course you want something to steady your nerves, dear,” said Lady Lexham. “I fainted dead away when I saw our Zoe.”
This didn’t surprise him. The calamity of twelve years ago had sent Lady Lexham into a dangerous decline. When she did recover physically, she did not recover the steadiness and strength of mind she’d once possessed, though he was not sure she’d ever possessed great stores of either quality. These days her ladyship spent much of her time agitated, swooning, or trembling–sometimes, all three at once.
At the moment, he himself felt oddly lightheaded. “Zoe, indeed,” he said. “So it is.”
He made himself meet the assessing blue gaze again.
The girl smiled.
It was and it wasn’t Zoe’s smile, and for some reason the image of a crocodile came into his mind.
“And now I’ve lost a thousand pounds,” he went on, “for I made sure I’d find another Princess Caraboo in your drawing room.”
“Good grief!” cried one of the sisters.
“Is that what they’re saying?” said another.
“What would you expect?”
“I daresay it isn’t the worst of the rumors.”
Marchmont’s gaze swung toward the Four Harridans of the Apocalypse.
“You ought to see the satirical prints,” he said. “Most…inventive.”
“You needn’t rub it in.”
“You find it all hilarious, I don’t doubt.”
“If you’d been harried from pillar to post, as we have been–”
“Don’t waste your breath. He–”
“You are a duke,” came a feminine voice that didn’t belong to any of them. It was like theirs but different.
Marchmont turned away from the Matrons of Doom and toward the girl at the window: the girl who was and wasn’t the Zoe he’d known so long ago.
She had risen from the chair. Her deep red cashmere shawl set off handsomely the pale green frock and was draped in a way that perfectly framed her figure. The high-necked frock’s narrow bodice outlined an agreeably rounded bosom. The fall of the skirt told him her waist was smallish and her hips full. She seemed taller than her sisters, though it was hard to be sure, given that two of them had expanded so much horizontally, and all four of them were seated.
In any event, she was not a pocket Venus by any means, but a full-sized model.
Her potently blue eyes held a speculative glint. Or was he imagining that? His vision was in good order. He had no trouble focusing. His brain, on the other hand, was unusually sluggish.
“You speak English,” he said. “More or less.”
“It was much less at first,” she said. “Lord Winterton hired a companion and a maid for me. They couldn’t speak Arabic. No one else but he could, and he would not. For all the journey home, I had to speak English. And it came back.” She tipped her head to one side, studying his face as though it, too, were a forgotten language. “I remember you.”
In the voice that was like and unlike her sisters’ he detected no trace of anything one might call a foreign accent. Yet she spoke with a lilt that made the sound exotic. It was a voice with shadows and soft edges.
“I should hope so,” he said. “You tried to kill me with a cricket bat once.”
She nodded. “I went round and round, then I fell on my bottom. You laughed so hard you fell down.”
“Did I?” He remembered all too clearly. The mental cupboard would not stay closed.
“I remembered that while I was away,” she continued. “I often pictured you falling down laughing, and the recollection cheered me.” She paused. “But you are…different.”
“So are you.”
“And you are a duke.”
“Have been for some time,” he said. “Since before you went away.” Forever. She’d gone away forever. But she was back. He knew her, yet she was a stranger. The world was not altogether in balance.
She nodded, her smile fading. “I recall. Your brother. It was very sad.”
Sad. Was that the word?
It was in the way she said it. He heard a world of sorrow in that word. He remembered how she’d wept and how shocked he’d been, because Zoe Octavia never wept. And that had somehow made his own grief all the more unbearable.
“It was a long time ago,” he said.
“Not to me,” she said. “I crossed seas, and it was like crossing years. To everyone it must seem as though I have come back from the dead. If only I had done so in truth, I might have brought your brother with me.”
One devastating moment of shock, a sting within as of a wound opening–but then:
“Good heavens, Zoe!” a sister cried.
“Pay her no heed, Marchmont,” said another. “She has acquired the oddest notions in that heathenish place.”
“What does he care? Blasphemy is nothing to him.”
“That doesn’t mean one ought to encourage her.”
“One oughtn’t to encourage him, either.”
“But I must speak to him,” the girl said. “He is a duke. It is a very high rank. You spoke of dukes and marquesses. Will he not do?”
A collective gasp from the harridans.
“Do for what?” he said. The wound, if wound it had been, vanished from his awareness. He glanced from sister to sister. They all looked as though someone had shouted, “Fire!”

Also, Harper Collins has the first three chapters available online:

Additional Thoughts: We will post a Chat with Loretta Chase tomorrow where we talk about the book, the series, harems and more. We will also be giving away a copy of the book.

Verdict: Loretta Chase has yet to disappoint. Don’t Tempt Me is another fresh, witty, full of the wonderful, typical lorettachaseness that I have come to admire and love. Romance novels don’t get much better than this.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Bound By Your Touch by Meredith Duran

Title: Always a Scoundrel

Author: Suzanne Enoch

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Avon
Publishing Date: April 28, 2009
Paperback: 384 pages

Stand Alone or series: Book 3 in the Notorious Gentlemen series. It can be read as a stand alone though.

Why did I read the book: I have been waiting for Bram’s book for a while now: it is a Reformed Rake story , my favorite romance trope.

Summary: Never a gentleman . . . until now.

Lord Bramwell Johns, the second son of a duke, is an unrepentant scoundrel. Now that his two closest friends are disgustingly ensconced in domestic bliss, Bram is feeling strangely restless. And not even relieving London’s least deserving artistocrats of their ill-gotten jewels is enough—until the night he overhears an argument. It seems that Lady Rosamund Davies is about to be forced into marriage with a rogue even worse than himself.

Rose is well aware of Bram’s scandalous reputation, so any reason for his sudden interest in her is suspect; more so since he’s close friends with the man about to ruin her family! She has her own plan though, and Bram may be just what she requires—as long as she remembers that he is only looking out for himself. As long as she remembers that his kisses and caresses don’t mean anything. As long as she can keep from wondering whether she can trust a scoundrel . . . with her heart.

Review:

A few days ago I wrote a review in which I say that one of my favourite tropes in romance is a Beauty and the Beast story. As much as love that one though, it doesn’t come even close to how much I love Reformed Rake stories: there is something about a hardened- by- life, cynical- and –yet- humorous, whore- of- a- man falling in love with that one woman that makes him re-evaluate his life-style that gets me every.single.time.

Always a Scoundrel is Bram’s story. One of the trio known as the Notorious Gentlemen, newest creation of Suzanne Enoch. I read the previous two books in the series and have been waiting for Bram’s book with unabated anxiety. Out of the three rascals friends he was the one that was truly a rake, had truly a reproachable life and a dark past. I am pleased to say that Always a Scoundrel did not disappoint: it met my expectations brilliantly.

So, you have Bram ,or Lord Bramwell Lowry Johns, the second son of the Duke of Levonzy, going about his daily life , bored out of his mind. He whores, gambles and even steals from the rich to give to the poor, playing the part of the Black Cat, infamous robber of High Society’s goods. All of this as a way to prove to his father that he is indeed, the disgrace the Duke thought him to be when he was merely 16. Bram’s entire life since them has been a direct affront to a father who thought a second son was useless. However, if it all started as means to hurt his father, it soon became part of who Bram was and we all have one Kingston Core, Marquis of Cosgrove to thank for: the epitome of all that is immoral and the tutor of Bram’s descent into dissipation.

Luckily for Bram, King is not his only companion: he has Phin and Sullivan, his two friends from the army who are able to see beyond his façade and who continuously have his back and wait as much as we do, for the moment the coin will drop and Bram will realise he is better than he thinks himself to be.

The proverbial coin drops when he becomes acquainted with one Rosamund Davies, a young woman who has just been sold, literally to Cosgrove: her brother has a huge gambling debt and Cosgrove offers to forget about it if she marries him. Her father agrees rather easily and rapidly and Rose is the one to be sacrificed for the good of the family. No one thinks about what she wants, no one ever considers to make the brother pay for his own mistakes. Rosamund is aware of this, she is critical of her own family but she is also prepared to do her duty. It could have been so easy to make Rosamund, a martyr but she is written far too well. Instead, she is a strong character, motivated by honour and an attachment to a family that does not deserve her sacrifice whilst being aware of it, which makes it all the more poignant.

And a matter of befuddlement to Bram: both because he doesn’t understand what would King want from a plain, virginal woman and he doesn’t understand why Rose is bent on protecting her family. His confusion leads him to investigate further and to ascertain that King is playing a game with Rose, who sees as a toy he wishes to break in the worst manner possible. Once she also learns of this fact in a couple of encounters with the man himself , she accepts Bram’s offer of tutoring her in how to face King in his own grounds; and Bram and Rose become entangled in each other in a friendship that leads to more which leads to Bram becoming self-conscious when he realises he could be compared to the monster that King is.

And that, my friends is the moment I LOVE in Reformed Rake stories: the moment when the rake looks back at his life, realises he no longer wants to be that man and that he wants to change for that heroine. The moment that is full of a hurt that leaps from the page.

That is also the moment that makes or break a Reformed Rake story: as this only happens because of the heroine and that female
character needs to be well-written, interesting and to have that ONE thing that will make the reader believe that this rake, this man would change his life because of this woman.

And in Always a Scoundrel this one thing is: reflection. Rose’s situation is a mirror to what Bram went through years ago and he recognises it as soon as he learns of her situation. What makes him follow her, fall for her in a way that he needs to protect and love her is that realisation that she is the better person by how she REACTED to the situation created by her family. She manages it all with the honour and dignity that he didn’t. They are the underdogs, unwanted by their families, sharing similar backgrounds and bonding because of them. Of course, it also helps that Bram is hot and has the hots for plain Rose.

Ultimately, it takes a great woman to reform a real rake. It cannot be just about anyone, Bram is aware of this and muses to himself:

“ If the woman Cosgrove had selected hadn’t been witty and forthright or hadn’t had a compelling sprinkle of freckles across her nose, would he be attempting to play a hero?”

No, he wouldn’t. A rake like this be redeemed by THIS particular woman and Suzanne Enoch convinces me that they are a perfect couple. And I am grateful that Bram’s path to redemption is heart-warming, sometimes even heart-breaking, as I hoped it would be.

Notable Quotes:

“So you intend to spend the remainder of your life whoring, drinking, wagering, and being as outrageous as you can imagine?
Bram shook himself. He made it a point to be serious as little as possible, and neither did he want to argue with two newly married men about the merits of being leg-shackled. “Please, Phin”, he said aloud. “I would never think so mall. You know my ultimate goal is to lower the standards of morality enough that everything I do becomes acceptable.”
“That’s likely what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah” Sullivan observed.
“One can only hope”

Gotta love the pre-reformed rakes with sense of humour. My top priority is to hope that they are redeemed without ever losing their edge.

Verdict: Always a Scoundrel is everything I hoped for Bram’s story. Suzanne Enoch delivers yet another good book in the Notorious Gentlemen series.

Rating: 7 VERY GOOD.

Reading Next: A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore

Title: Scandal

Author: Carolyn Jewel

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Publishing Date: February 3, 2009
Paperback: 320 pages

Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone

Why did I read this novel: I got one copy from Katiebabs who highly recommended it. I got another copy from my contact at the publishers. The only thing I have to say to both of them is: THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Summary: The earl of Banallt is no stranger to scandal. But when he meets Sophie Evans, the young wife of a fellow libertine, even he is shocked by his reaction. This unconventional and intelligent woman proves to be far more than an amusing distraction– she threatens to drive him to distraction. Unlike the women who usually fall at Banallt’s feet, and into his bed, Sophie refuses to be seduced. And soon Banallt desires her more than ever– and for more than an illicit affair.
Years later, the widowed Sophie is free, and Banallt is determined to win the woman he still loves. Unfortunately, she doesn’t believe his declaration of love and chivalrous offer of marriage– her heart has already been broken by her scoundrel of a husband. And yet, Sophie is tempted to indulge in the torrid affair she’s always fantasized about. Caught between her logical mind and her long-denied desire, Sophie must thwart Banallt’s seduction– or risk being consumed by the one man she should avoid at all costs… .

Review:

I am at heart, a simple person. I can fully appreciate intricate and complex stories, especially when it comes to fantasy/paranormal books but with regards to romance, especially historical novels, the simpler the better. Scandal is one such book, in which a man falls madly, intensely, completely in love with a woman – over the years, no less, slowly progressing from lust to friendship to a love that shapes the man that he becomes.

And here I stand: madly, intensely, completely in love with this book – to say that if you are a romance reader and if you have a preference for historical novels with a hero to die for, you should get this book as soon as you possibly can. Now, let’s get to the review:

“The First Thing Gwilym, Earl of Banallt, Noticed when he rounded the drive was Sophie perched on the ledge of a low fountain. Surely, he thought, some other explanation existed for the hard, slow thud of his heart against his ribs. After all, he hadn’t seen her in well over a year, and they had not parted on the best of terms. He ought to be over her by now. And yet the jolt of seeing her again shot straight through to his soul.
He was dismayed beyond words”

Thus, Carolyn Jewel opens her novel: this sentence is the very first of the book. This is how we are introduced to the Earl of Banallt with the first chapter being from his point of view as he walks back into the life of Sophie Evans, the woman he loves and has loved for years.

This first chapter encompasses everything we need to know about their story: that they met a number of times over the years, that they both used to be married and are now both widowed, that Sophie was married to a no-gooder of a husband, Tommy Evans who spent his time whoring and gambling while she wasted away in the country and when he died he left her destitute and that now she lives with her brother John; that the Earl of Banallt was his closest chap and the man Tommy aspired to be and that somehow Sophie and Banallt became friends until something happened that made him go to Paris. Now , he is back to ask her to marry him. To which she says no: she can never., ever trust Banallt. Her heart has been broken by her scoundrel of a husband and she, quite understandably, cannot allow that to happen again, because we are talking about real misery and unhappiness here.

And this is basically the conflict in Scandal: at one side, the Earl of Banallt who, we the readers KNOW from the get go is a reformed rake, who adores Sophie and wants to marry her and is prepared to keep his vows this time, trying to convince her that he is changed. And then, Sophie who has absolutely no way of believing this, given his past, her past and the scandals that surround both of them.

But there is so much more. There are so many things that are so GOOD about this book, I don’t even know where to begin. The mere fact that it opens with an already reformed rake – and reformed rake stories are admittedly my favourite romance trope – gives me the warm fuzzies from page one. I am reading the first page and I KNOW.

Then, the format itself hits all the right notes, as the writer alternates between the present with Banallt’s attempts at wooing Sophie and Sophie’s other prospective suitors (yes, there are others on the run, as there are other on the run for Banallt as well – not that he wants it) and the past with their encounters over the years .We learn what happened between them, and we have a measure of Banallt’s past as a rake, a walking scandal who had more lovers than he could count and who cared nothing for his wedding vows even though he loved his wife and his daughter. A man who one day accompanied his friend Tommy to his country home and met his wife Sophie and became intrigued with her against all odds – she is nothing like his expectations or anything like the women he has ever liked. He at first, wants her because he simply desires her. Then because he admires her and then because he loves her. They become friends as he continues to visit – he keeps on trying to become her lover but she never gives in – Sophie truly loves her husband, even if part of her wonders about Banallt (and who wouldn’t, really) . Until tragedy strikes, Banallt does something hurtful and they are apart until they are free (not for very long though and nothing in the book proper, thank very much).

And this is another thing of note: the author does not shy away from true tragedy. People hit rock bottom so that they can emerge from ashes. From them main characters to the secondary ones. There is even the required secondary love story but when I thought the author was going in one direction she did something that left me awestruck and completely surprised. Kudos to Carolyn Jewel for having guts.

Then there is a historical context that plays an important role in the novel: Napoleon has escaped Elba and is going to Paris and all the men including Banallt are worried about the events to come and what would happen. I admired the way the author incorporated this important event to the happenings of the book all around and to the resolution of the novel in particular – it added verisimilitude and a realistically tone to the proceedings.

But if you want a sprinkle of fairy tale, you will also find it: what about the fact that Sophie has dreamt since she was little about the Earl of Banallt and his castle (who was near her childhood property) and that he was her knight in shining armour. She then fell in love with Tommy Evans , eloped with him and then one day, the Earl of Banallt walks into her life. Spooky. Plus, Sophie has always had a creative mind, and because of that she was able to write sensation novels which were what kept her and her husband afloat when he was spending money right and left in London. It was her secret and one she shared only with Banallt, who destiny has it, was already a fan before meeting her.

Is the book perfect? Nope. The annoying, cynical part of my brain kept telling me that they could have been together sooner had Banallt been a bit more insistent or had Sophie listened to her own heart. I also wanted to know more about how exactly did Sophie get published and how did her husband never asked where their money came from but now this is me, being anal.

What I like the most about reformed rake stories is that generally speaking a rake is a man that has everything: power, money, women, a title, beauty, freedom, living the high life. Then there comes one woman and he is suddenly, completely power-less. His happiness hangs in the balance of one word: yes.

In Scandal, Sophie is left destitute twice (I will not elaborate on that, as it contains more spoilers that I should give) hence being completely powerless when it came to her life, her means of bare survival. So, even though at times I may have been impatient with her for her inability to see past her prejudice again Banallt , I also understood that the ONLY power and the ONLY control that she did have was of her own heart – and having Banallt’s heart twisted even more by protecting herself.

In the end, Sophie needs to relinquish this control, and realise that this power she has struggled to maintain over her own feelings is keeping herself prisoner of the past. And by doing so, she has much more to gain than to lose. And when she does so…..it is beautiful.

Scandal is already shortlisted for my top 10 of 2009.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: A quote from the first chapter – a taste of Banallt’s thoughts:

“She was still dainty. Still slender. Still with eyes that made a man think of nothing but looking into them a moment longer . Still wary and reserved. He knew her as he had never come to know any other woman. He knew she longed for love and that her life up to now had not been one to make her think she would ever have it. He still wanted to take her into his his arms and swear she would never want for anything again. “

Verdict: I am in love with this book. Simple as that.

Rating: 9. Damn near Perfection

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

I have one copy of Scandal to giveaway – I like it so much, I need to spread the love. The contest is open to everyone and will run until Sunday February 8th at Noon (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment saying who is your favourite reformed rake? (mine is easy: Sebastian St Vincent from Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas. )

Good luck!