Oh so disappointing.
I read a reader's review about Loretta Chase once, and she said something about how it used to take her forever to come out with books, but when it came out, it was an absolute gem. Then, maybe at the behest of her publisher, she was forced to churn out more books, and some of them turned into real duds.
This book is one of those duds.
Forget Lord of Scoundrels or Lord Perfect -- both of which were extremely well-written. Even the first book of this series, Silk is for Seduction, reads so much better. This book blew.
I appreciate that Loretta Chase was trying to center a plot around a dumb jock (Longmore, who made his first appearance as Clevedon's friend in the first book) and a literary genius (Sophy, Marcelline's younger sister). That worked only in theory.
The reason is because Longmore didn't come off particularly dumb in the first book. I personally didn't feel he was that stupid, except that he didn't spend a lot of time thinking about little details, but he wasn't particularly slow on the uptake when there was something major to be understood...HOWEVER, everyone in the book calls him stupid, including himself. Well, I suppose he didn't feel especially stupid to me because he was pitted against Sophy, and she felt like a really dumb person -- but one who calls herself super smart and comes up with these really stupid ideas without thinking it through. She's one of those characters who gets these ideas and then calls herself brilliant for thinking up these ideas, and it just so happens that some of those ideas pan out, BUT they probably wouldn't have. So honestly, it didn't seem like Longmore was any dumber than she was.
Perhaps because Longmore is made out to be a dumb block without sensitivity and feelings, there's not much angst going on within him before he figures out he's in love with Sophy. While that's okay, it's sort of stupid because you're left wondering how there was even love in the first place. Even stupid people think about their feelings. But Longmore is made out to be a person who doesn't think about anything at all...so it was hard to be touched when he blurts out that he loves her, and then laughs.
Also, there's the fact that their conversations are pretty bird-brained. The chemistry is exceedingly forced, and whenever they are talking or arguing, to get the couple into a lovey-dovey frame of mind, the author has Sophy laugh and dimple, which then makes Longmore lust for her. That's the extent of their bonding.
Some reviewers found Sophy irritating, and I must admit I did too. She wasn't charming like Marcelline, and even when she calls the shop the greatest, or whatever, it was bragging rather than stating a fact (especially since the shop wasn't doing so well, otherwise why would they have to embark on this mad scheme to "save" Clara). The whole trying to save Clara scheme was pretty lame, because she has to go after Clara and it has to be with Longmore, alone (even though Clara has like 5 siblings, at least of which are males) and Sophy keeps on talking about how "independent" she's had to be and how she's had to face a multitude of "tough" situations and apparently she carries a hatpin for that very purpose. But then at a crucial moment in a hostelry where she's set on by 5 drunk youngsters, Longmore has to save her, and then when he's trying to go after them to beat them to a pulp, she then sits there in the middle of the corridor, pounds the floor, and cries. Seriously??? Loretta Chase, what happened?!?!
It is a huge pity that I read this book immediately after reading Silk is for Seduction, because the characters seem to have just changed from who they were in the first book to be these people in the second book: irrational, stupid, and totally irrational.
I felt like the author wrote herself into a corner when she outlined her plot and characters. If maybe she hadn't tried so hard to make a stupid guy into the main character, the chemistry would have flowed more easily. I know that some (better) authors try to vary their characters a bit, but this case was a sad failure. Her male protagonist in Viscount Vagabond, for example, was a dumb, lazy, rebellious sort of person, but so much more charming than Longmore. Catherine Pelliston of the same book also had some ideas and initiative about carrying out those ideas...but she wasn't half so irritating as Sophy.