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Book Review: The Courtesan Duchess (Wicked Deceptions)

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Rating: 5/5

Title: The Courtesan Duchess (Wicked Deceptions)

Author: Joanna Shupe

 

I seldom give five stars unless a book is truly exceptional, and this one was.

I liked this book so well I stole time to read it in less than a day. This has been extremely unusual for me lately.

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The premise of the story is the hero married the heroine 8 years ago and then fled England for the continent, having never consummated their marriage. The heroine is abandoned by his family and has none of her own to see to her interests. So when the hero’s cousin starts using his influence over her missing husband’s finances to force the heroine into his bed, she decides to find her degenerate husband and get pregnant with his heir so she can take back the finances.

After getting lessons from a prominent courtesan in London, the heroine accomplishes her mission, but falls in love with her husband in the process. He falls in love with the courtesan she is pretending to be, and then flies into a rage when he learns of her deception. The rest of the story is based on their reconciliation and happily-ever-after ending.

 

Pros

  1. I actually liked the heroine. This has been rare for me as of late. She has a problem, she tries to solve it. I don’t have to be told how bold she is, I see it in her actions. In her desperation to save herself, her aunt and their servants. She is willing to buck society and learn from a courtesan, she hunts down her husband, and she seduces him. Yes, she runs off when she realizes she’s in love with him, especially given her deceit. I found that a little harder to believe, given her dire straits and need for an heir, but okay, I still liked her.
  2. I liked the hero. Yes, he’s a cad, especially at first, but you can actually sympathize with him when you learn more about him. And you see it for yourself when he cares about his friend (who is actually helping the heroine with the deception). I also felt like his actions and responses were genuine. He didn’t suddenly become a gentleman when he returned to England, and I love, love, love how he handled his cousin who was trying to force his wife into performing sexual favors.
  3. There were genuine sparks between the characters.
  4. There was also genuine tenderness between the characters.
  5. I wanted the characters to get together. I really wanted to see them get their happily-ever-after.
  6. I liked the supporting cast, too. They each have personalities. Simon, the white knight. Quint, the disheveled gentleman. Fitz the devoted bodyguard. Aunt Theo with her cakes and sherry. And I like that they care about their friends, look out for them.
  7. The steamy scenes were good. Not just passable, but good. Some of them worth reading twice.
  8. There was a plot, and it made sense in the context of the story. Yes, I predicted the ending and the whodunit part. But this is a romance, not a mystery. The fact that the author laid foundations so I knew who was behind it and what they were about is so much better than the dues ex machina I see in so many romance novels.

 

Cons

  1. (Spoiler alert) I never understood why the villain killed the hero’s older brother if her motivation was to be the duchess. She was already married to the heir of the dukedom. Never understood why she hires someone to kill the hero years ago, either.
  2. I did get a bit tired of some of the contrived reasons the characters couldn’t get together in the last quarter of the story. I literally rolled my eyes when the hero took up rooms in the nearby village because he worried his wife wouldn’t want him near as her due date approached. There was a bit too much of cutting off their nose to spite their face going on. I get that they were angry with each other and that it took time for them to build trust, but I would have rather seen them building this while being true to their feelings and let external issues play more of a role in keeping them apart.

 

All in all, one of the best romance books I’ve read in a long time. I highly recommend giving it a read.

Book Review:The Earl Next Door

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Rating: 3/5

Title: The Earl Next Day (Book 1 of 3 in The Bachelor Lords of London)

Author: Charis Michaels

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This is actually a hard review to write. Not because I hated the book, but because it was merely okay but had the potential to be great.

In a nutshell, the story is an American heiress flees to London to avoid her mother trying to marrying her off to one of her step-brothers. She meets a meets a broke earl and they fall in love, against his better judgement.

 

Pros

  1. I actually liked the heroine most of the time. She was vibrant, full of life, and she was not formal by nature. She was strong minded and strong willed . . . except when it came to her mother. This was actually irritating, but I will get to that in the cons.
  2. The hero was likable.  I didn’t necessarily connect with him, but he still made a good male lead.
  3. The chemistry between the characters was quite good.
  4. The steamy scenes were pretty good.

 

Cons

  1. Historical inaccuracies. If you are actually looking for a historical romance that has done its research, you will be disappointed. There are glaring errors, such as Scotland Yard being a thing in 1806.
  2. The hero and heroine are not together much at the beginning of the story.
  3. Jumping between viewpoints. I am used to seeing the world through the hero and heroine’s eyes. But this books also jumps between several other supporting characters’ viewpoint.
  4. The plot. It is so full of holes, I think Swiss Cheese would hold more water.
    1. The heroine, who is strong willed and admirable in most of the story, simply wilts  whenever her mother is around. Why does she even allow her mother around her? The heroine is very rich and I assume has servants aplenty that would keep her mother away from her in New York, and once she’s in London, not even her mother’s position in society would allow her to harass the heroine.
    2. The villains might as well have mustaches to twirl. I mean, they have no redeeming qualities, not even bathing, apparently. Within minutes of meeting a pretty maid, they’re accosting her. It is hard, as a reader, to take them seriously. Especially in London. Not sure why the heroine doesn’t report them to Bow Street.
    3. Mother doesn’t care which of her 5 stepsons the heroine marries as she has made an agreement with all of them that if she helps them get her daughter’s hand, they give her half of her daughter’s fortune. No idea what the agreement is over the dowry. So Mother brings all 5 stepbrothers to London. A crossing of the Atlantic ocean was not a small undertaking in 1806. Weeks on the ocean, and not all ships made it. Now, let’s remember, mother got the other half of this fortune when the heroine’s father died. And she remarried. Granted, it appears the man she remarried doesn’t have the large fortune he boasted. And, of course, not sure how Mother is certain the stepson will even share with her once her daughter is married.
    4. Mother continues her tantrums even after her daughter marries the earl. Really?!?  And the earl doesn’t have her hauled off? She is now bothering a Countess, and the earl now has access to his wife’s money and her dowry. He is now quite rich.
    5. The hero’s past “catches” up to him. Still not sure how a man and his two goons, who speak no English, not only find the earl in London rather quickly, but manage to find him 2 days hard ride from London in the English countryside. Really?!? And they don’t speak English?!?
    6. Also trying to figure out how a man and his two goons are not brought to the authorities. They are Greek, and if they are harassing an English Earl in England . . . I can’t see the authorities being very sympathetic.
  5. The hero and heroine could have solved a lot of their troubles with a conversation. I give this a lower priority than the horrible plot as it does seem to be common in the genre. Still, I wish they would have both acted like adults, especially when the mostly likable and level-headed heroine decided to “run away” when she’s injured.
  6. Still wondering about the earl’s country estate that is commented upon but never followed up.

 

This book could have been amazing if:

  1. We could have spent more time with the hero and heroine together and really let the sparks between them fly
  2. Cleaned up the plot to be a lot more believable. Give the mother something real and tangible to hold over the heroine and get rid of the supercilious step-brothers. Do something better with the Greek villains. Make them believable.
  3. Clean up the historical inaccuracies.

Book Review: The Study of Seduction by Sabrina Jeffries

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Title: The Study of Seduction

Author: Sabrina Jeffries

Rating: 3/5

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**Trigger Warning**  This book deals a lot with rape and, to a lesser extent, stalking. The stalking I gathered from the book blurb, but I did not have any inkling based on the blurb about the brutal rape that would be rehashed repeatedly when I bought this book. I am giving fair warning as I am going to discuss it in this review as it was an integral part of the book.

This is a historical romance novel that centers around a French diplomat wanting to wed the heroine, Clarissa, and his willingness to go to any length to do so.

Edwin, an earl who’s been friends with Clarissa’s family since childhood, does not believe in love and is looking for a “comfortable” bride. He is attracted to Clarissa but knows she will be anything but comfortable. As the diplomat gets more aggressive, Edwin marries Clarissa to protect her.

Clarissa is hiding a dark secret. The back of the book alludes to this. What it doesn’t tell you is that she was brutally raped at her society debut by a man trying to force her to marry him so he could get her fortune. Her brother duels the rapist, kills him, then her brother flees to the Continent to avoid the repercussions as he won’t say why they dueled. After the rape, Clarissa has avoided all relations with men. Even with the patient and gentle Edwin after they’re married, she can’t bring herself to have marital relations with him.

The author does eventually get the heroine over this and there is a happily ever after ending. As I have never endured such a vicious attack, I have no idea if Clarissa’s responses are “normal”. What I can say is that it made the book almost unreadable to me.

 

Pros

  1. I adored Edwin. He was a quirky, fun male lead. The author did a great job showing his personality. I never had to be told he was smart or generous. I saw that in the books he read, his ability to build automatons, and his interest in a boy’s charity school. I loved how he could be blunt to the point of rude. Logical (his take on picnics) and forthright. He was protective without being overbearing. A solid alpha lead without being a jerk. I really liked him, as you can tell.
  2. Steamy scenes were well done when they weren’t being overshadowed by the heroine’s fear. If I had known there was a rape in the book, I’d never have bought it.
  3. Romance pace was quite good. The pair start out as friends and their relationships grows believably over the course of the story. By the end, they both know and admit that they are in love with the other. I appreciate this far more than the “love at first site” or “soul mates” tropes.
  4. Genuine love and respect grew between between the characters. It was, not sweet, not exactly, but kind and loving. A romance instead of lust.

 

Cons

  1. Clarissa felt flat even while Edwin really took on a life of his own, . Everything about her personality had to be told to me as I never saw her as strong, bold, effervescent or any other descriptors that were used about her. I didn’t like her, but at least I didn’t dislike her. After reading some really awful heroines lately, maybe I should move this to the pros column . . .
  2. The rape. I bought this book to be a fun read. Watching a woman’s life be broken by a brutal attack and watching her struggle to piece it back together, even with the help of a kind, patient and caring hero, is not fun.
  3. The steamy scenes could have been spectacular, but I found myself racing through them as Clarissa’s fear made them impossible to enjoy.
  4. Heroine’s mother – I normally care marginally about background characters, but this woman was too stupid to breathe. So dumb she wasn’t believable.

 

All in, I liked the author enough that I will give another of her books a try. I wanted to enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t. It could easily have been a 4 or 5 star book if there was either no rape or if the fact that a rape was going to feature prominently in the story was clearly disclosed in the book blurb so a reader knows what they’re getting.