This is the 4th in the series that includes The Lion's Daughter, Captives of the Night and the fabuloso Lord of Scoundrels which is the AAR Top 100 #1 book in 2007. I have put off getting it because it hasn't been available on PBS and is out of print. The AAR reviewer really didn't like it, so I just dilly-dallied and then I finally broke down and ordered it used on Amazon.
Why did I bother to pay attention to the AAR reviewer? She and I obviously do so not agree - because I loved this book!! I think Chase used the same wonderful techniques to create this story that made Lord of Scoundrels such a favorite - incredibly witty, rich, layered writing that had me grinning and laughing out loud all the way through the book. Even the dog is funny in this book!
The hero is the Duke of Ainswood, friends with Dain of Lord of Scoundrels, you remember: the one who called Dain's wife Jessica a whore on their wedding day and whom Dain beat to a fare-thee-well because of that comment. Ainswood is all things bad - the last of the hellions in his family. He should never have inherited the title - it went through so many male relatives, down to his cousin Robin, the 6th Duke of Ainswood, who died of diptheria at age 9 after having spent 6 months traveling with Ainswood.
The heroine is Lydia Grenville - she's not high born but suspects her mother was somehow related to Dain, based on a diary Lydia discovered then lost. (the diary was the one piece of info that befuddled me in the story line.) Lydia is a spinster journalist - she is a sort of muckraker, plus she also writes a serial romance under a pen name for the same newspaper. She is hot on the trail of a well known whore who abducts young girls for the trade when Ainswood thwarts her and their first sparks start to fly.
Ainswood manages to continue to thwart her efforts - not really in order to stop her but just because he's intrigued and he follows her. She goes through a number of disguises in order to find justice, but he manages to see through them all. He is so attracted to her, but realizes she must be treated like a lady - and the only thing he can think to do is offer marriage in order to get what he wants (her). She's too independent for that, so he challenges her to a race - if he wins, they marry; if she wins, the prize is money in the form of dowries for her assistant and contributions to her favorite charities.
Lydia has the most wonderful dog - I must be on a roll for great story dogs, since Nora Roberts' Tribute also has a great dog. Susan is a huge mastiff with lots of opinions - and she takes a shine to Jessica's brother Bertie Trent.
Ainswood has 2 wards, Robin's older sisters, that he has been neglecting, and they become the focal point near the end when they run away to attend the wedding (Ainswood and Grenville) and instead get caught by the notorious whore.
So we have mystery, suspense, humor, love - all wrapped up in wonderful writing. What is not to like?? Well, I guess we all have different tastes, because that AAR reviewer pretty much thought everything I liked was bad bad bad.
I think I would consider it a 4.75 if I did fractions, because I did get real confused about the diary and how they discovered Lydia's genealogy in the end (and wondered why it mattered anyway...?) But hey, I'm keeping it because it took me so long to get it. There were plenty of references to characters from the original books, including lots of Francis Beaumont which means it takes place simultaneously to some of the other books (is it a spoiler to say Beaumont dies in the middle of one of the books? I hope not - after all, since he is married to the heroine of the book and he is not the hero, he's gotta go!!) OK, so the AAR reviewer thought it was annoying to have the characters foot-noted - I was glad! I think there were only 3 footnotes, so how annoying is that?
I need to do a full series re-read pretty soon. I have already read the other books 2x each. 5 stars.
I do need to note: the picture on the back cover? NO way is that Lydia or Ainswood, really- that picture is of 2 young, soft looking cute teenagers, and in no way reminds me of the descriptions of the hero/heroine of this book!!
Showing posts with label Loretta Chase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loretta Chase. Show all posts
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase *****
This book was just released recently, and has been on all the romance discussion boards and blogs. The AAR Review gives it an A with DIK status and I have to say, I am in complete agreement with this reviewer. Others are still using words like "disappointed" and "meh" (whatever that means) - which just goes to show that it takes all kinds, and everyone is different!
The heroine is Francesca Bonnard, a divorcee turned courtesan, living in Venice. She was married well and young through the "marriage mart" but it turns out he was bad news, with a series of mistresses and bad political choices. In a naive effort to get him to pay attention to her, she has an affair which causes the breakdown of the marriage and the disastrous divorce. She manages to find evidence of his treason in letters that she takes with her and taunts him with over the years. There are 2 camps that want these letters - the camp that wants to out him as a traitor and ruin his political career, and the camp that wants to destroy the letters so he can move up.
When we meet James Cordier, our hero, we know he is there to get the letters but it isn't clear which camp he is in. He's a master spy, master jewel thief, master mimic and 2nd son - he thought he was at the end his spy career until pressed into service one last time to get the letters.
He first meets Francesca at the opera, in disguise as a servant, and realizes right away the charm and appeal she has for all the men in her life. She is currently between lovers, and is stringing along a series of men, waiting to see which one will be her new protector.
Francesca has been using her wiles to attract men for 5 years - skills she learned from a madame in France. She is independent and strong - character traits she honed from her experience with men abusing her trust, mainly her father and her first husband.
From the start there is a chemistry between James and Francesca, but what makes their story different is that both have had lots of experience with lust and sexual chemistry and the use of sex as a weapon or a ways to an end. They go into their relationship with eyes wide open, knowing (or assuming) each is only good for one thing. She teases him and leads him on only because she assumes he could not afford her services, and he plays along because he is only looking for the letters. What they don't see until they are both in the thick of it is how their relationship has evolved, how their teasing and intrigue has changed, and how they have both fallen so deeply in love, against both their better judgements. In fact, in a conceit I love, he realizes it and voices it first and often.
Chase's writing skill is unmatched in my experience - she manages to write layered, complex stories that are still light and funny and witty and romantic and steamy and still ring true. I almost wrote "unique" and I guess "unmatched" isn't exactly right either. The other author who writes like this is Jo Goodman, but they aren't the same and they don't write the same style or the same stories. It's just their abilities to craft words into experiences that are similar, and unlike any other authors I've read. Not sure if that makes sense... I sure don't have that talent.
5 stars and a definite keeper (although I'm so tempted to grab a PBS credit by swapping mine out....)
The heroine is Francesca Bonnard, a divorcee turned courtesan, living in Venice. She was married well and young through the "marriage mart" but it turns out he was bad news, with a series of mistresses and bad political choices. In a naive effort to get him to pay attention to her, she has an affair which causes the breakdown of the marriage and the disastrous divorce. She manages to find evidence of his treason in letters that she takes with her and taunts him with over the years. There are 2 camps that want these letters - the camp that wants to out him as a traitor and ruin his political career, and the camp that wants to destroy the letters so he can move up.
When we meet James Cordier, our hero, we know he is there to get the letters but it isn't clear which camp he is in. He's a master spy, master jewel thief, master mimic and 2nd son - he thought he was at the end his spy career until pressed into service one last time to get the letters.
He first meets Francesca at the opera, in disguise as a servant, and realizes right away the charm and appeal she has for all the men in her life. She is currently between lovers, and is stringing along a series of men, waiting to see which one will be her new protector.
Francesca has been using her wiles to attract men for 5 years - skills she learned from a madame in France. She is independent and strong - character traits she honed from her experience with men abusing her trust, mainly her father and her first husband.
From the start there is a chemistry between James and Francesca, but what makes their story different is that both have had lots of experience with lust and sexual chemistry and the use of sex as a weapon or a ways to an end. They go into their relationship with eyes wide open, knowing (or assuming) each is only good for one thing. She teases him and leads him on only because she assumes he could not afford her services, and he plays along because he is only looking for the letters. What they don't see until they are both in the thick of it is how their relationship has evolved, how their teasing and intrigue has changed, and how they have both fallen so deeply in love, against both their better judgements. In fact, in a conceit I love, he realizes it and voices it first and often.
Chase's writing skill is unmatched in my experience - she manages to write layered, complex stories that are still light and funny and witty and romantic and steamy and still ring true. I almost wrote "unique" and I guess "unmatched" isn't exactly right either. The other author who writes like this is Jo Goodman, but they aren't the same and they don't write the same style or the same stories. It's just their abilities to craft words into experiences that are similar, and unlike any other authors I've read. Not sure if that makes sense... I sure don't have that talent.
5 stars and a definite keeper (although I'm so tempted to grab a PBS credit by swapping mine out....)
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