Ruination and kidnap were not on Miss Lucy Lazenby´s list of planned events for that week...even if it seems to be for her own good. Caught up in the lies and passion of Lord Danbury, Lucy finds the truth can never be hidden for long.
Jasper Carnforth, Viscount Danbury is really doing the girl a favour by ruining her...if it just so happens to coincide with his own need for vengeance - all the better. However keeping the delectable Lucy in his home is more of a challenge than he´d imagined.
Retribution may have brought them together, but desire has its own agenda.
This fast paced Regency novella (34,000 words) is the first standalone story in The Captivating Debutantes Series
Emily grew up in the north of England on a diet of historical romance and strong tea.
Unfortunately, you couldn’t study Regency slang, so she did the next best thing and gained a degree in Classics and History instead. This ‘led’ to an eight-year stint in engineering.
Having left city life, she now lives in a dilapidated farmhouse where her days are spent writing, fixing the leaky roof, battling the endless vegetation and finding pictures of well-tied cravats.
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1.5 stars. I didn't like this one much. I couldn't find it in myself to like the H and the h was a hormonal dolt. The H was awful. He plans revenge on the h's brother and has her kidnapped, all with the intent of having the ton know that she's used goods. However he makes sure that her innocence is intact at the end of her kidnapping, so even if everyone else believes her to be spoiled, she isn't really. As if that makes it all better. Worse yet, the h can't help her attraction to the H, even as she's being held prisoner in his home. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't. Even when the author makes the h's brother a tortured mean-spirited nightmare to the h, I still couldn't get behind this plot.
The character development was decent for a novella, but that alone wasn't enough to save this one.
This felt like a throw-away. It’s short and superficial, with stock characters, cliche’d plot, minimal charm, and a rushed love story. Emily Windsor can write much better than this, so she should.
I really enjoyed the first 2,5 books of the author's Rules of the Rogue series and when I found out that this series' book 3 came chronologically before book 2, I started with this book. Unfortunately it fell awfully short of the other books so far which I hope can be attributed to it being the author's first book, as far as I can tell. There were a lot of inconsistencies and the characters' reasoning sometimes didn't feel right. Nevertheless I will continue with book 2 and hope the author has soon reached her full potential. ;)
Weird. The couple have very little real interaction with each other during the book. Most of their falling in love happens before the book begins. They are mostly sick and in bed during most of the interactions. It kept me reading but I was pretty over this book near the end. There is some make out scenes but no sex scene. Still would be R if it was a movie.
Fantastic read, lots of action. Poor Lucy thank goodness she had some spunk about her as a delicate maid might not of survived being kidnapped. Lord D certainly got more than he ever bargained for, not sure he thought much of the consequences of his actions. I’m sure I would of liked aunt Augusta.
Will come back to rate later, but the grammar (mostly in incorrect punctuation & run-on sentences) is driving me up the wall too much.
Pretty please, authors, get an editor (or beta reader or three) who is very very very good at grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, proper usage of words, etc., *before* publishing your novellas. Even if they get their start as part of one of those compilations, people generally don't edit books after being published in regular media so it's kinda important to follow the basic rules of English and whatnot.
*Especially* if you're writing stories that are only loosely set in a historical setting with lots of anachronisms to start with lol.
OK that is all. I am on chapter 7 and still have mixed feelings about Jasper, but he seems to be coming around. The writing is fun. Not super historically accurate in any way whatsoever, but fun.
Focused on avenging his younger brother’s death, Jasper turns his attention to Lucy Lazenby, whose brother had been involved. Plans for revenge fall by the wayside when Jasper and Lucy fall in love with each other. Really good first effort for a writer, which I read in one sitting. Windsor’s other books, some of which I’ve already read, are equally charming, have happy endings and are all highly recommended.
Thank goodness I found this series. I read the Rules of the Rogue series first and there were a few characters that popped up who had familiarity and maybe some history that piqued my interest. Though I do wish I had read this series first, I am very happy to read it, period. Delightfully fun.
I liked this book, Lucy is a joy! Raised in the country by her spinster aunt, she is a little naive. I enjoyed her phrasing. ( thingamabob ) ☺ Jasper kidnaps Lucy to save her from her brothers schemes.
The story started right out being intriguing. The heroin was spunky and tenacious. While the hero's theories were flawed his heart was definitely in the right place.
I felt uncomfortable with Jasper's decision to kidnap Lucy, but it did turn out to save her life. Her brother was a scoundrel, but his history explained most of it.
I enjoyed the story and the characters grew on me. What starts off with vengeance and a kidnapping soon turns into something deeper for Lucy and Jasper.
What a disappointing read. I really enjoyed Emily Windsor's later books, so I was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately this book is awful. How are you supposed to root for a romance when the male lead is constantly doing morally reprehensible things? It's always a bad sign when a "romantic" scene occurs and all you can do is think "ew, gross" and skip it.
***Spoilers***
The kidnapping premise is bad enough. It's hard to write a believable romance when the heroine is supposed to fall in love with someone who was using her for revenge and had no qualms about ruining her life.
It's even worse that he is constantly on the brink of sexually assaulting her when she is injured, unconscious, terrified, angry, etc. When she says she wants to leave her reminds her that he could have raped her when she tried to run away - as if this makes him some big damn hero. He then has his way with her while she is asleep/drugged. Ugh.
Ruination and kidnap were not on Miss Lucy Lazenby´s list of planned events for that week...even if it seems to be for her own good. Caught up in the lies and passion of Lord Danbury, Lucy finds the truth can never be hidden for long.
Jasper Carnforth, Viscount Danbury is really doing the girl a favour by ruining her...if it just so happens to coincide with his own need for vengeance - all the better. However keeping the delectable Lucy in his home is more of a challenge than he´d imagined.
Retribution may have brought them together, but desire has its own agenda.
This fast paced Regency novella (34,000 words) is the first standalone story in The Captivating Debutantes Series
Hmm, this was a well written short read but a formula I’ve read so many times before… man’s brother dies, man wants revenge, man uses sister of man he blames for brother’s death, kidnaps sister then actually falls for sister, etc, etc. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the book but it just wasn’t anything new or different.
Great first effort, if fleshed out more, wow. Loved him, tolerated her. The heroine a bit too whimpy for my taste and the last ditch effort of strengthening her character didn't flow. That said, still liked it, wonderful writing, appealing hero, will buy the next one.
It's starts with a kidnapping and ends with love. Throw in a drugged brother, a jealous mistress, a very sick old man. Don't forget the second kidnapping. It won't lose your interest for sure.