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Mistress by Mistake
Dutiful and dashing Lord Dashford decides to ward off the marriage-minded ladies of the ton by convincing the world he's throwing away his fortune on gambling and courtesans. But what to do when his mother throws a swooning heiress at him?
Heiress Evaline Pinchley has made a few mistakes in her life. One was letting her aunt drag her to the Dashford estate, where long-hidden secrets could ruin her. Another was believing she could sneak out to the garden—alone—to toast her birthday. But her biggest mistake of all? Not recognizing her host when he begins to seduce her.
One full moon and an empty Madeira bottle later, Evaline wakes to find herself in Dashford's bed. Now rumors and passions are sure to run wild—unless Dashford and Evaline realize that what happened in the moonlight was no mistake...
Heiress Evaline Pinchley has made a few mistakes in her life. One was letting her aunt drag her to the Dashford estate, where long-hidden secrets could ruin her. Another was believing she could sneak out to the garden—alone—to toast her birthday. But her biggest mistake of all? Not recognizing her host when he begins to seduce her.
One full moon and an empty Madeira bottle later, Evaline wakes to find herself in Dashford's bed. Now rumors and passions are sure to run wild—unless Dashford and Evaline realize that what happened in the moonlight was no mistake...
335 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 28, 2009
7 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Susan Gee Heino
39 books37 followersSusan Gee Heino began her writing career in the theatre. After several years of poverty and obscurity, her love of the English Regency time period led her to writing historical romance. In 2008 she won Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award (R) for Best Regency Historical and has become a national bestseller. Today she resides in rural Ohio with a menagerie of pets, her minister husband, and two frighteningly creative children. She loves to hear from readers!
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 14, 2010
Excerpt:
Lord Dashford has decided to ward off the marriage-minded by convincing the world he's throwing away his fortune. No matter, since heiress Evaline Pinchley, dragged to the Dashford estate, has no inclination to marry him.
Unfortunately, she fails to recognize her host when he begins to seduce her. An empty bottle later, Evaline wakes to find herself in Dashford's bed. Now rumors and passions are sure to run wild-unless Dashford and Evaline realize that what happened by moonlight was no mistake.
How many of follies can be summed up to a night of too might drinking and to be left in the morning with a feeling of “what the hell did I do last night”. This is pretty much what happens to Heiress Evaline Pinchley. Evaline, who has playboy bunny blood flowing through her veins, indulges in bunny hood for one glorious night with the help of some wine. Too bad she can’t remember who her Hugh Hefner is in the morning when she wakes up in a stranger’s bed.
Lord Randolf Dashford was in a bind. In his grief over his father death years ago he got himself engaged to marry a Miss. Claudia Graeley. Now he will do anything to get out of the engagement. His grand plan for this, made when he was drunk, was to make himself so wholly undesirable that Miss. Graeley would call off the engagement. He spends years making himself appear a first class rouge, womanizer, and a very money poor one at that. Unfortunate for him his plan is not working too well and his fiancée still wants to marry him. {Imagine what he could have come up with if he was sober when I was thinking off how to ditch the girl without getting shot}. Lord Dashford’s mother calls him back home for an “emergency” which he later learns is “up to her ears in shame and here is a nice young lady to marry” lingo. Dashford, in an effort to avoid the new heiress his mother has caught for him, decides to take a trip to the gardens where he meets a very drunk and what he believes servant. The servant being no servant of course, but Miss. Pinchley. Thus the story truly begins.
I will have to admit this book was quite an effort to read. The author had me hooked at the beginning, but the never ending talk of sex got old. Fast. I can’t help but believe the author was horny when she wrote this book. There is no other way to explain sex, thoughts of sex, or anything to do with it showing up in almost every single chapter. I don’t see myself as a prude, but it was too much for my taste. Bring in Miss.Graeley, an ex fiancé of Miss. Pinchley, Miss. Pinchley’s grandmother being a courtesan, a book about sex that was repeatedly found in the library, and another young man that we later learns has eyes on Miss. Graeley and you got a lot of it. It really dragged down the main story in such a way that you get annoyed with all of the talk of sex that you get tired of reading the book.
I will give due to where due is deserved and say that is the author is quite capable of writing humorous scenes. There were many parts in the book that I found myself laughing out loud. I will also give props that when the author was not writing about the “s” word she could write very entertaining dialog. There was also an entertaining side story about a lost “Dashford” treasure that I really wished the author had spent more time on. Instead it felt a bit rushed. All in all, “Mistress by Mistake” was not really my cup of tea. Far too much spice in it and not enough sugar. Those who like spicy tea will enjoy this book immensely though. Those who like sweeter and more subdue teas will probably not.
Lord Dashford has decided to ward off the marriage-minded by convincing the world he's throwing away his fortune. No matter, since heiress Evaline Pinchley, dragged to the Dashford estate, has no inclination to marry him.
Unfortunately, she fails to recognize her host when he begins to seduce her. An empty bottle later, Evaline wakes to find herself in Dashford's bed. Now rumors and passions are sure to run wild-unless Dashford and Evaline realize that what happened by moonlight was no mistake.
How many of follies can be summed up to a night of too might drinking and to be left in the morning with a feeling of “what the hell did I do last night”. This is pretty much what happens to Heiress Evaline Pinchley. Evaline, who has playboy bunny blood flowing through her veins, indulges in bunny hood for one glorious night with the help of some wine. Too bad she can’t remember who her Hugh Hefner is in the morning when she wakes up in a stranger’s bed.
Lord Randolf Dashford was in a bind. In his grief over his father death years ago he got himself engaged to marry a Miss. Claudia Graeley. Now he will do anything to get out of the engagement. His grand plan for this, made when he was drunk, was to make himself so wholly undesirable that Miss. Graeley would call off the engagement. He spends years making himself appear a first class rouge, womanizer, and a very money poor one at that. Unfortunate for him his plan is not working too well and his fiancée still wants to marry him. {Imagine what he could have come up with if he was sober when I was thinking off how to ditch the girl without getting shot}. Lord Dashford’s mother calls him back home for an “emergency” which he later learns is “up to her ears in shame and here is a nice young lady to marry” lingo. Dashford, in an effort to avoid the new heiress his mother has caught for him, decides to take a trip to the gardens where he meets a very drunk and what he believes servant. The servant being no servant of course, but Miss. Pinchley. Thus the story truly begins.
I will have to admit this book was quite an effort to read. The author had me hooked at the beginning, but the never ending talk of sex got old. Fast. I can’t help but believe the author was horny when she wrote this book. There is no other way to explain sex, thoughts of sex, or anything to do with it showing up in almost every single chapter. I don’t see myself as a prude, but it was too much for my taste. Bring in Miss.Graeley, an ex fiancé of Miss. Pinchley, Miss. Pinchley’s grandmother being a courtesan, a book about sex that was repeatedly found in the library, and another young man that we later learns has eyes on Miss. Graeley and you got a lot of it. It really dragged down the main story in such a way that you get annoyed with all of the talk of sex that you get tired of reading the book.
I will give due to where due is deserved and say that is the author is quite capable of writing humorous scenes. There were many parts in the book that I found myself laughing out loud. I will also give props that when the author was not writing about the “s” word she could write very entertaining dialog. There was also an entertaining side story about a lost “Dashford” treasure that I really wished the author had spent more time on. Instead it felt a bit rushed. All in all, “Mistress by Mistake” was not really my cup of tea. Far too much spice in it and not enough sugar. Those who like spicy tea will enjoy this book immensely though. Those who like sweeter and more subdue teas will probably not.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2014
I hate heroines who can´t hold their libido in check and swoon even when the hero doesn´t behave like a gentleman to them. Regrettably Evaline Pinchley the heroine of this book is such an annoying character. She´s a bit too driven by passion, behaves silly and isn´t very likeable in my opinion. Another irritating storyline is the constant interruption before our couple can "do the deed" – it´s getting old very fast. Drat, bother and blast seem to be the favorite words used by Evaline almost every page, I had to stop myself from starting to count them. Did the author think swearing would endear and make her embarrassing heroine look emancipated to her readers? Sorry, this book wasn´t for me and I will think hard about reading another book by this author.
July 3, 2022
An entertaining read
July 10, 2010
A terrific romantic romp. Fabulous independent heroine and plenty of amusing confusion over who was really whom.
September 23, 2010
This book is the first one in a Series which the Author doesn't have a title for so I've called it Evaline and Sophie. Evaline is the Heroine of the this book and Sophie is her sister who's story we learn in book three (Temptress in Training). I only gave this one three stars because of its truly irritating bits. I do however want to read its sequel Damsel In Disguise which I fear will have the same problems.
I'm not sure I get this title because he never really made her his Mistress he didn't even ask her to be nor at any point did he think she was someone who was suppose to be his mistress which is apparently what happens in Mistress by Mistake by Maggie Robinson. The hero does make an assumption about the heroine however. He thinks she is a servant when she is actually a lady although not the kind with a title or of the evening, her father was a merchant.
The book opens on Evaline's 25th Birthday and she is outside in her nightclothes (which have seen better days) drinking a bottle of Maidera alone and she's feeling sorry for herself. I think its at this time that we learn about her circumstances and how she came to live with Aunt Bella and Uncle Troy. We never actually meet Uncle Troy because being "indisposed" he couldn't make it to the House Party. I found myself wondering if he actually exists. Aunt Bella is one of those woman designed for you to dislike very intensely. She treats her niece horribly, thinks she (Bella) is a perfect lady but in reality she is a complete cad with no manners or tact and to top it off she is a scheming liar and its all about money. Evaline receives an allowance from the money left to her by her father (which is in a Trust Fund payable either on her 25th Birthday, which by the way Aunt Bella thinks is in September but its actually in May and Evaline for reasons that become obvious does not correct the error, or her Marriage whichever comes first so Bella is trying to marry her off)but rather than spend the money to get new clothes and gowns for Evaline Aunt Bella spends it on herself which is why our heroine has such "seen better days clothing". We learn later that Bella feels she should be compensated for all the years she took care of Evaline after her father died. I think its Uncle Troy that is the blood relation but apparently he doesn't "wear pants", Bella does. Evaline has made arrangements with her Father's Solicitor to get a portion of her funds and go over paperwork in a town near the location of the House Party (Dashford's Estate) but is keeping it secret because she plans to leave now that she has reached majority and live on her own and knows that Aunt Bella would try to stop her or possibly harm her. We are given the impression that Aunt Bella is abusive and has struck Evaline on occasion but she doesn't while at the House Party. As Evaline gets drunk she believing she is alone in the garden begins musing out loud and receives a response. She then begins to converse with the handsome stranger who we know to be Dashford but she doesn't having met a man earlier in the evening who she didn't fully pay attention to the introduction and thought it was Dashford she met but it turns out it was Rastmoor his best friend. We don't learn this until later though. She and Dashford began conversing and one thing leads to another but before he can "take his pleasure" having given her, hers she goes to sleep and he can't wake her. I think it was more passed out. Based on her appearance he concludes she must be a servant but he doesn't know where her room is so he takes her to his. Dashford hopes that sometime during the night she'll wake up and they can "finish" but she sleeps through the night and he does not "have his way" with her. Evaline is a Virgin when he takes her upstairs and she is still one when she wakes up in the morning with a hangover. Long story short, not only did they not exchange names but she does not realize she has hangover and on top of it after learning that its Dashford's room she slept in is quite nervous. As a result of being nervous about her encounter and suffering from a severe hangover she thinks she's pregnant because she thinks she actually "slept" with Dashford since the last thing she remembers is they were going to although she doesn't remember doing it. Thus, irritating bit number one, I can see how you might mistake a hangover for morning sickness and if you aren't knowledgeable on either subject then it makes sense but I have never known anyone to have pregnancy symptoms the morning after. It then takes her several more days to find out she's not pregnant and still a virgin although she's not when she finds out. Let me explain, Dashford feeling they have "unfinished business" and being drawn to each other with a passion they can't seem to control they keep finding themselves in a near compromising position but they keep getting interrupted before completing what they began. They finally manage to complete what they start and realizing she was a virgin when he took her (he had been lead to believe by Bella, who is trying to get him to marry her and stoops to blackmail to achieve said goal so she can get her hands on half of Evaline's money, that there have been other men but her reputation has somehow not been ruined but will be if he doesn't agree to Bella's terms, Bella has noticed he likes her niece) they have a conversation in which she learns that she isn't pregnant (but could be now, which when the book ends including Epilogue she is still not expecting to our knowledge) and I'm guessing she now knows what a hangover feels like and knows what one is.
The remaining things that irritated me were all the lying and scheming that seemed to drag on forever. Lets see if I can list them all. One: Dashford has made it appear as if he's destitute hoping to get out of his betrothal to Claudia which he feels he was tricked into. Two: Bella who has already been discussed. Three: Claudia and her Father (Victor), turns out Claudia was being pushed by Victor who wants a cottage belonging to the Dashford's and rumored to contain a treasure. According to the paperwork the cottage currently lists Lady Dashford as the owner but upon the marriage of Dashford it goes to his wife. Four: Evaline not only the aforementioned secret she's keeping (which by the way I don't blame her) but also the rest of what she wants too which is buy the cottage because it was her Grandmother's who was Dashford's Grandfather's Mistress. I can also understand why she didn't mention this immediately because it became obvious that his mother was trying to find him a wife, turns out she didn't like Claudia, and Evaline didn't want him to think she wanted him for his cottage id est the wrong reasons. Five: Ellard Bristol, he's a sleeze so not really irritating to the extent of some of the others just a plot point. Six: Carrington, the one we meet is actually the son of Evaline's Dad's Solicitor and he's not really scheming just not being forthcoming about a thing or two which all have to do with Claudia and nothing to do with Evaline. He actually shows up and stays at the house due to rain and flooding caused by said rain.
Evaline's story gradually comes out although there are bits missing in my opinion like she never lets Dashford know why she stopped visiting her Grandmother. She thought for years her Grandmother had died alone but it turns out she hadn't. In actuality she may not have had someone by her side at her passing but she was loved by not only the Grandfather but by the rest of the family as well (obviously a different kind of love) including Dashford. They were of the impression that she had no family other than them (at least that they knew how to locate) and so she's buried in the Dashford Family Plot. All the other information comes out as well when Claudia and Carrington are discovered together.
I'm sure I've made it clear but in my opinion this book had too many lies and schemes. If it had only had Dashford trying to get away from Claudia and Evaline trying to get away from Bella and the twists and turns that went with those two I think it would have been fine. You could still have Bella's character as is but leave out her blackmail and you could still have Claudia but leave out Victor wanting the cottage and have him be like so many matchmaking momma's and in love with the title (he kept telling Claudia she could be Viscountess). Leave out Ellrad altogether, I think he was just there as an extra in Bella's blackmail scheme although, she did not arrange for him to be there his appearance was somewhat accidental.
My fave characters were in addition to the Hero and Heroine, Lady Dashford and Rastmoor.
Irritating bits aside it was a good book and worth reading.
I'm not sure I get this title because he never really made her his Mistress he didn't even ask her to be nor at any point did he think she was someone who was suppose to be his mistress which is apparently what happens in Mistress by Mistake by Maggie Robinson. The hero does make an assumption about the heroine however. He thinks she is a servant when she is actually a lady although not the kind with a title or of the evening, her father was a merchant.
The book opens on Evaline's 25th Birthday and she is outside in her nightclothes (which have seen better days) drinking a bottle of Maidera alone and she's feeling sorry for herself. I think its at this time that we learn about her circumstances and how she came to live with Aunt Bella and Uncle Troy. We never actually meet Uncle Troy because being "indisposed" he couldn't make it to the House Party. I found myself wondering if he actually exists. Aunt Bella is one of those woman designed for you to dislike very intensely. She treats her niece horribly, thinks she (Bella) is a perfect lady but in reality she is a complete cad with no manners or tact and to top it off she is a scheming liar and its all about money. Evaline receives an allowance from the money left to her by her father (which is in a Trust Fund payable either on her 25th Birthday, which by the way Aunt Bella thinks is in September but its actually in May and Evaline for reasons that become obvious does not correct the error, or her Marriage whichever comes first so Bella is trying to marry her off)but rather than spend the money to get new clothes and gowns for Evaline Aunt Bella spends it on herself which is why our heroine has such "seen better days clothing". We learn later that Bella feels she should be compensated for all the years she took care of Evaline after her father died. I think its Uncle Troy that is the blood relation but apparently he doesn't "wear pants", Bella does. Evaline has made arrangements with her Father's Solicitor to get a portion of her funds and go over paperwork in a town near the location of the House Party (Dashford's Estate) but is keeping it secret because she plans to leave now that she has reached majority and live on her own and knows that Aunt Bella would try to stop her or possibly harm her. We are given the impression that Aunt Bella is abusive and has struck Evaline on occasion but she doesn't while at the House Party. As Evaline gets drunk she believing she is alone in the garden begins musing out loud and receives a response. She then begins to converse with the handsome stranger who we know to be Dashford but she doesn't having met a man earlier in the evening who she didn't fully pay attention to the introduction and thought it was Dashford she met but it turns out it was Rastmoor his best friend. We don't learn this until later though. She and Dashford began conversing and one thing leads to another but before he can "take his pleasure" having given her, hers she goes to sleep and he can't wake her. I think it was more passed out. Based on her appearance he concludes she must be a servant but he doesn't know where her room is so he takes her to his. Dashford hopes that sometime during the night she'll wake up and they can "finish" but she sleeps through the night and he does not "have his way" with her. Evaline is a Virgin when he takes her upstairs and she is still one when she wakes up in the morning with a hangover. Long story short, not only did they not exchange names but she does not realize she has hangover and on top of it after learning that its Dashford's room she slept in is quite nervous. As a result of being nervous about her encounter and suffering from a severe hangover she thinks she's pregnant because she thinks she actually "slept" with Dashford since the last thing she remembers is they were going to although she doesn't remember doing it. Thus, irritating bit number one, I can see how you might mistake a hangover for morning sickness and if you aren't knowledgeable on either subject then it makes sense but I have never known anyone to have pregnancy symptoms the morning after. It then takes her several more days to find out she's not pregnant and still a virgin although she's not when she finds out. Let me explain, Dashford feeling they have "unfinished business" and being drawn to each other with a passion they can't seem to control they keep finding themselves in a near compromising position but they keep getting interrupted before completing what they began. They finally manage to complete what they start and realizing she was a virgin when he took her (he had been lead to believe by Bella, who is trying to get him to marry her and stoops to blackmail to achieve said goal so she can get her hands on half of Evaline's money, that there have been other men but her reputation has somehow not been ruined but will be if he doesn't agree to Bella's terms, Bella has noticed he likes her niece) they have a conversation in which she learns that she isn't pregnant (but could be now, which when the book ends including Epilogue she is still not expecting to our knowledge) and I'm guessing she now knows what a hangover feels like and knows what one is.
The remaining things that irritated me were all the lying and scheming that seemed to drag on forever. Lets see if I can list them all. One: Dashford has made it appear as if he's destitute hoping to get out of his betrothal to Claudia which he feels he was tricked into. Two: Bella who has already been discussed. Three: Claudia and her Father (Victor), turns out Claudia was being pushed by Victor who wants a cottage belonging to the Dashford's and rumored to contain a treasure. According to the paperwork the cottage currently lists Lady Dashford as the owner but upon the marriage of Dashford it goes to his wife. Four: Evaline not only the aforementioned secret she's keeping (which by the way I don't blame her) but also the rest of what she wants too which is buy the cottage because it was her Grandmother's who was Dashford's Grandfather's Mistress. I can also understand why she didn't mention this immediately because it became obvious that his mother was trying to find him a wife, turns out she didn't like Claudia, and Evaline didn't want him to think she wanted him for his cottage id est the wrong reasons. Five: Ellard Bristol, he's a sleeze so not really irritating to the extent of some of the others just a plot point. Six: Carrington, the one we meet is actually the son of Evaline's Dad's Solicitor and he's not really scheming just not being forthcoming about a thing or two which all have to do with Claudia and nothing to do with Evaline. He actually shows up and stays at the house due to rain and flooding caused by said rain.
Evaline's story gradually comes out although there are bits missing in my opinion like she never lets Dashford know why she stopped visiting her Grandmother. She thought for years her Grandmother had died alone but it turns out she hadn't. In actuality she may not have had someone by her side at her passing but she was loved by not only the Grandfather but by the rest of the family as well (obviously a different kind of love) including Dashford. They were of the impression that she had no family other than them (at least that they knew how to locate) and so she's buried in the Dashford Family Plot. All the other information comes out as well when Claudia and Carrington are discovered together.
I'm sure I've made it clear but in my opinion this book had too many lies and schemes. If it had only had Dashford trying to get away from Claudia and Evaline trying to get away from Bella and the twists and turns that went with those two I think it would have been fine. You could still have Bella's character as is but leave out her blackmail and you could still have Claudia but leave out Victor wanting the cottage and have him be like so many matchmaking momma's and in love with the title (he kept telling Claudia she could be Viscountess). Leave out Ellrad altogether, I think he was just there as an extra in Bella's blackmail scheme although, she did not arrange for him to be there his appearance was somewhat accidental.
My fave characters were in addition to the Hero and Heroine, Lady Dashford and Rastmoor.
Irritating bits aside it was a good book and worth reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2017
Rilettura. Letto un quinto storcendo il naso. Va bene, è simpatico, ma davvero può una ragazza che vive agli inizi dell’ottocento fare considerazioni così moderne? Si può parlarne come se fosse un contemporaneo? Per il descrittivo avrei preferito una costruzione delle frasi e un lessico più simile al parlato, ma è uno stile che l’autore decide da sé. Poi, d’accordo gli equivoci, ma per pagine e pagine questi tizi non fanno che evitarsi e nonostante nemmeno abbiano consumato pare che sia successo chissà che cosa. Non so, non mi convince più. Liberato.
July 13, 2021
Funny fast paced dialog
March 11, 2022
2 1/2 stars. Didn’t love it but didn’t hate it either
June 2, 2010
This book was all right. Not the best I've ever read, for sure...
The heroine is a woman named Evaline Pinchley, who has just turned 25 and has coming into her inheritance... Except her guardian (her aunt) is rather daft and has somehow missed that Evaline's birthday is in May instead of September, so she thinks she's still got 6 months to rule over her niece. She's not a very good guardian, to say the least. She was easily the most annoying character in the book.
The hero is Lord Randolf (worst name ever) Dashley, who accidentally got engaged to this horrible girl a couple of years previously, and who has been trying to get her to call it off by living an openly riotous life and spreading rumors about how debt collectors and unsavory types are trying to get money from him and how his fortune is super depleted and stuff. It's an interesting idea, but obviously one he thought of when he was drunk.
Anyway, so she's all like everyone-wants-to-marry-me-for-my-fortune WAH! and he's all like everyone-wants-to-marry-me-for-my-title WAH!, and they both have to get over themselves and realize DUH, they're in love! The plot just wasn't solid enough for me for a 300+ page book. It needed some tightening up.
The heroine is a woman named Evaline Pinchley, who has just turned 25 and has coming into her inheritance... Except her guardian (her aunt) is rather daft and has somehow missed that Evaline's birthday is in May instead of September, so she thinks she's still got 6 months to rule over her niece. She's not a very good guardian, to say the least. She was easily the most annoying character in the book.
The hero is Lord Randolf (worst name ever) Dashley, who accidentally got engaged to this horrible girl a couple of years previously, and who has been trying to get her to call it off by living an openly riotous life and spreading rumors about how debt collectors and unsavory types are trying to get money from him and how his fortune is super depleted and stuff. It's an interesting idea, but obviously one he thought of when he was drunk.
Anyway, so she's all like everyone-wants-to-marry-me-for-my-fortune WAH! and he's all like everyone-wants-to-marry-me-for-my-title WAH!, and they both have to get over themselves and realize DUH, they're in love! The plot just wasn't solid enough for me for a 300+ page book. It needed some tightening up.
November 24, 2010
Spoiler Alert ?? - This book would have been better if it did not have so many subplots you needed a diagram to keep track of them all. However, the worst thing was he was SO HOT for her that they were barely able to complete a conversation from the day they met. He was trapped in a flooded basement for over an hour, she was trapped when she tried to help. They slogged thru knee-deep water, down a tunnel full of spider webs (and back again), up a set of "secret" stairs where she tripped, fell down and dropped the lantern so they are in the dark. Just as they find a way out, he strips her and takes her (on the steep stairs that she tripped down) in complete darkness, soaked to the skin and dirty. He is angry when a friend finds them and tries to get them out. Come on - get real.
March 7, 2016
I wasn't sure when I started this if I was going to like it. I don't always like the "mistaken identity" theme. This one worked only because that wasn't the key plot element.
Dashford's plan to get out of his engagement was rather ridiculous. I don't really understand how it worked for as long as it did. That was very far fetched. Actually, the entire plot was just one big farce. The longer the story went on the more convoluted it became.
Oddly enough, that actually seemed to work. But it didn't come together until the end. While I was reading I was thinking "really? That just happened?". When I closed the book, however, it was with a smile on my face.
Dashford's plan to get out of his engagement was rather ridiculous. I don't really understand how it worked for as long as it did. That was very far fetched. Actually, the entire plot was just one big farce. The longer the story went on the more convoluted it became.
Oddly enough, that actually seemed to work. But it didn't come together until the end. While I was reading I was thinking "really? That just happened?". When I closed the book, however, it was with a smile on my face.
July 18, 2011
Definitely has the feel of a first novel. Heino writes well stylistically, but spends far too little time developing her characters, and far too much time playing out multiple plot strands for this to appeal to me. Books with silliness at heart need to be light and funny to engage me; this one, with so much time spent inside the h/h's heads but with little focus on their emotions rather than their attempts to puzzle out the mistaken ideas each has of the other (mistakes that a good sitting down and talking to each other would easily fix) gave this a heavy, slow feel.
December 10, 2010
This was not what I was expecting from a pastor's wife... That being said, I really like it so far...
Now that I finished it I think it's one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read. The character development is just so-so, and the dialogue was horrendous. Since it was written by an American it sounded like the author was trying too hard to make the dialogue sound British. Too many "dash-it-all"'s for my liking.
Now that I finished it I think it's one of the most ridiculous books I've ever read. The character development is just so-so, and the dialogue was horrendous. Since it was written by an American it sounded like the author was trying too hard to make the dialogue sound British. Too many "dash-it-all"'s for my liking.
March 26, 2013
This was a light read. You have your dissolute reprobate who is not really dissolute or quite the reprobate. The heiress who is not quite the heiress. The fiancée who is on again off again and a dastardly aunt looking to get her hands on her niece's fortune.
The beginning of the novel starts with mistaken identity then descends into misunderstanding and lots of twists and turns. If you don't take this book too seriously, it's actually a lot of fun.
The beginning of the novel starts with mistaken identity then descends into misunderstanding and lots of twists and turns. If you don't take this book too seriously, it's actually a lot of fun.
April 5, 2011
This is the book! I couldn't remember for the longest time, but this is the book where the hero makes love to the heroine in the collapsed house. There is mud everywhere and he starts inserting fingers into certain orifices...yuk! You get the picture. This scene ruined an otherwise pleasant book.
March 30, 2010
Historical Romance isn't normally my favorite genre. I was surprised that this book kept my interest. It was fairly predictable but it was actually pretty good. There was some humor. There was some sexual tension. The last half of the book was much better than the first half.
March 26, 2010
I had no expectation from this book...in fact, it was under my bed for at least 2 weeks until I finally decided to read it...IT WAS SUCH A GREAT SURPRISE!!!! Great plot, hottt chemistry and wonderful writing!
March 9, 2011
Too many misunderstandings. They dislike one another, but can't stop falling onto a horizontal surface together every time they're alone. And then they get interupted before they can actually do the deed. This scenario is repeated again and again. I doubt I'll try this author again.
March 28, 2011
I thought the book was okay, somethings seemed too farfetched for me and there are a lot of subplots and back stories for all the main characters, that were repeated throughout, but it was still cute.
August 29, 2010
A decent romance, but I think I need to to get away from plots that hinge on easy-to-clear-up misunderstandings. And spineless heroines.
October 14, 2010
Clever and a true comedy of manners--with lots of sexually explicit situations that made me laugh. Heino offers a unique spin on the Regency romantic comedies.
April 8, 2011
This author makes me grin! Really enjoyed this book and look forward to more.
August 3, 2011
Long and slow going.
February 1, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyable!
October 16, 2016
C I think it was supposed to be funny - it wasn't. It was more tedious and forced humor.
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