Cuando Madeline Prescott aceptó un empleo como profesora en la academia para jóvenes señoritas, lo hizo para ayudar a recobrar el buen nombre de su padre. En cambio, corre el peligro de arruinar el suyo propio. El diabólicamente apuesto Anthony Dalton, vizconde Norcourt, ha aceptado dar «clases sobre libertinos» a las alumnas de la señorita Harris a fin de que aprendan a eludir a caballeros sin escrúpulos, y Madeline debe supervisar las clases.
Siempre creía que la atracción es una cuestión científica, fácilmente clasificable y controlable, hasta que se ve arrastrada a un apasionado deseo que arde ferozmente entre Anthomy y ella. Nada podía ser más ilógico que arriesgarlo todo en pos de una aventura con un libertino, aunque sea por uno que intente comportarse como es debido. Sin embargo, nada podría ser más tentador...
Sabrina Jeffries is the NYT bestselling author of over 50 novels and works of short fiction (some written under the pseudonyms Deborah Martin and Deborah Nicholas). Whatever time not spent writing in a coffee-fueled haze of dreams and madness is spent traveling with her husband and adult autistic son or indulging in one of her passions—jigsaw puzzles, chocolate, and music. With over 11 million books published in print and electronically in 25 different languages, the North Carolina author never regrets tossing aside a budding career in academics for the sheer joy of writing fun fiction, and hopes that one day a book of hers will end up saving the world.
This is one of those books that spends the first half telling us how dirty, depraved and unmanageable the hero’s sexual proclivities are and then spends the second half giving us half-hearted vanilla sex scenes. Colour-me underwhelmed.
Side note: The hero calls his dick his ‘bad boy’ and I puked a bit in my mouth each time.
After her father loses his job, Madeline Prescott must take a mathematics teaching position at Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies. This will bring in enough money to keep them afloat until she can contact Sir Humphry Davey to help clear her father's name. Anthony Dalton, Viscount Norcourt, is trying to gain custody of his niece. He needs to get her away from his evil Aunt and Uncle and believes enrolling her in Mrs. Harris's school is the key. His reputation as a rake is well known. He wants to show that he can change is ways in order to take care of Tessa. Madeline comes up with a plan that could both help her father and let Tessa attend the school. If Anthony will give the girls "Rake Lessons", she will support Tessa's application to the school and he can introduce her to Sir Humphry.
This is a cute story. Anthony and Madeline were both interesting characters that you couldn't help rooting for. The story suffers from the hero and heroine keeping too many secrets from each other. There were several misunderstandings in this book, but at least they were resolved quickly. My rating: 4 Stars.
I really liked the hero but the book got really exhausting especially when the drama was dragged out. The first half was great, but the second half could have been cut by like half its length. otherwise, i enjoyed it pretty well. But, I will say this isn't really a series I'll re-read anytime soon. I like Sabrina Jeffries, but so far I haven't read a book by her except for a couple that I truly loved.
This series has been very hit and miss with books #2, #3 and #5 just not working for me. That said books #1, #4 and #6 are very entertaining.
Anthony and Madeline's romance is sweet and sexy, and they are both very likable as well. Madeline's matter-of-fact personality and her interest in natural history lead to some hilarious moments as she has virtually no verbal filter. While her determination to help restore her father's reputation is admirable, her plan to achieve this is not all that realistic or believable.
Although Anthony is a typical reformed rake, one cannot help but admire his desire to protect his niece. Moreover, the fact that he respects and admires Madeline for her intelligence only adds to his appeal.
The story is well-paced with some interesting historical detail on the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) party fad. The only minor issue with the writing is Jeffries penchant for referring to Anthony's , which is just downright strange.
Overall, a light and entertaining read that made me want to read Mrs. Harris's book immediately.
The story lacks originality and the characters, though they have potential--as does the story's premise--, aren't all that interesting. The way the romance plays out makes you think that you've seen it all before to the point of it almost being a cookie cutter romance.
Viscount Norcourt, the rogue, isn't all that bad and Madeline Prescott, the virginal teacher, isn't all that goody goody either. No real sparks here. You get the feeling you know what's going to happen and eventually it all comes to pass. The secondary story about child abuse seemed out of place almost, as if the author was trying to add something to the mundane story but it just left a bad taste for me. The letter exchange between the owner of the school, Mrs Harris, (an irritaing woman who acts like she's 70 instead of 30 something)with her cousin Michael is weird and annoying. It didn't really fit with the rest of the story some how.
A mi me fascinó Madeleine es una prota muy inteligente y decidida a tomar el destino en sus manos. Él, por Dios!!!, mucha energía sexualllllllllllllllllll que debe ser encausada. Yo creo que a pesar de tener cierto tono de comedia, no es tan liviana, profundiza bastante los traumas de él que no son demasiado cliché
For about 85 percent of this story, I didn’t like it. Almost DNF. I was forcing myself to continue. I disliked Madeline so much. The misandry gets old and her constant distrust of men was tedious. Madeline was conniving, dishonest, and judgmental. Being a liar is not a good character trait for a heroine. She never grew on me. The last 15 percent… the story wrapped up, but I still didn’t care much for the plot. It’s surprising because I usually really like Sabrina Jeffries books. This story would have been a 1 star, but I made it a 2 star read because of Anthony. He was sweet.
Whew I had to get that out of my system. The two characters were just scorching hot in the book.
Let’s get down to the story shall we? The hero’s father, unwilling to keep him for whatever reason after his beloved wife’s death, sends him to his aunt’s and uncle’s where he faces a lot of psychological and physical abuse for indulging in masturbation. Totally a WTF moment and definitely incites the reader to jump into the story and beat the pulp out those two devils. The hero of course grows up to have a lot of emotional scars and freely participates in the same activities that led him to be abused as a child. Tragedy strikes and his older brother dies and he’s now the new Viscount of Norcourt Hall, and has the guardianship of his 14 year old niece. Unfortunately, the diabolical aunt and uncle pair too are pursuing her guardianship and have a strong chance of winning. Desperately wishing that it doesn’t happen, he approaches the reputed school for heiresses but wait!…there are no vacancies. A timid teacher (the heroine) comes to his rescue but clearly has her own secret motives. And thus starts the extremely romantic (sigh!) and heartwarming story.
This book is a must read. the storytelling is smooth, the pace doesn’t lack at any instant, and the leads rarely seem like fools. Thankfully, it depends little on the previous books in the series, so I had a grand time reading it. Thoroughly enjoyed my time even if the lead pair left me like this.
Ik heb de Nederlands talige uitgave gelezen : Lessen van een losbol - Candlelight Historische roman 860 . Verhaallijn overgenomen van de achterzijde kaft - Anthony Dalton , burggraaf Norcourt , wil heel graag de voogdij over zijn nichtje , maar zijn imago als losbol speelt hem parten . Om zijn reputatie bij te schaven probeert hij het meisje in te schrijven op de keurige School voor Jongedames . Wat hij niet weet is dat juf Madeline Prescott , om haar vader te rehabiliteren , graag geintroduceerd wil worden in adellijke kringen . Zij wil Anthony's verzoek best ondersteunen , maar eist wel een bijzondere tegenprestatie . Niet alleen moet hij haar meenemen naar een uitspatting van de elite , ook moet de burggraaf de meisjes op school leren hoe ze de verleiding van een losbol kunnen weerstaan . Wat Madeline echter niet kon bevroeden is dat Anthony's lessen een latente begeerte in haar wakker zouden roepen .
Ook in dit verhaal heeft de schrijfster weer een interessant feitje uit die tijd verweven , nl. dat er in de hogere kringen het een tijd in de mode was om een stikstofoxidule = lachgas feestje te houden waarbij natuurlijk voor die tijd heel wat onbetamelijke dingen gebeurden . Ik vond dit een onderhoudend en leuk verhaal maar qua romantiek schoot het toch wat te kort , ik zou het 3 en een halve sterren geven als het mogelijk was .
Despite this being the kind of romance where you want to bash the hero and heroine's heads together, I couldn't help enjoying this installment in Jeffries' School for Heiresses series. For one thing, we get to see the inner workings of the school. Teacher Madeline Prescott is scientifically curious about human nature, and naturally her interest in notorious rake Anthony is strictly scientific. Well, actually she needs his help to clear her father's name, and her attempts to get it without actually revealing anything to our hero keeps the plot going. Madeline is an appealingly intelligent character, although she suffers from plot-induced stupidity. The book is saved by the hilarous scenes of Anthony instructing the students of Mrs. Harris' school on how to avoid rakes.
Madeline and Anthony are really just TOO good. Like they are good people, who are both self sacrificing for the people that they care about. It's silly how much Anthony thinks he's this beast of a man and that Madeline things she is unwanted.
Anyways... their story is cute. I enjoyed them dancing around each other trying to get the truth out of each other. I also liked Madeline's thinking towards sex/scandal. It's one of those refreshing takes in historical romances. It didn't make me love it like other stories, but still a solid book.
Me gusta mucho la pluma de esta autora. Escribe historias acordes al contexto histórico, con un romance potente y una pizca de picante, sin olvidar una trama interesante. Ambos personajes tienen sus aristas, sus pros y sus contras: son personajes realistas. El pequeño plot twist no me lo esperaba y me gustó el cierre y la resolución. Seguiré pendiente de más historias de esta autora.
I liked this fine enough! I finished it in an evening and it was pretty compelling.
What stood out to me the most, unfortunately, isn't a positive point. The way the author uses women's bodies to characterize them is so ugly and sexist. The MMC has an ex-fling who's described as having a ENORMOUS chest. The narration goes out of its way to say that she has more "bosom than brains". She's sooo slutty and sooo conniving. The MMC gets her to leave by threatening to tell her husband that she's prostituting herself for gambling money. It's just so mean-spirited. Like, at one point, the FMC says that she has rhinoceros breasts. How is that in character for a woman who, textually, hates gossip and judging people based of society's standards?
It's just so disheartening. This isn't the first book I've read where big breasts are used as shorthand for villainy. Women of all sizes get body shamed for different reasons, of course. But it's so annoying that busty women get this specific stereotype attached to us. Ugh.
Anyways, this book really was a decent read. It's just that the only thing that stuck out to me is how distinctly sexist it is, even for a historical romance.
This is another one of those "school teacher meets handsome aristocrat" stories, but this one pushed my "Oh, come on--" buttons. I usually like Sabrina Jeffries a great deal, but... Heroine is a teacher at this school for heiresses. The hero is a nobleman who gets maneuvered--or perhaps maneuvers himself--into giving "rake" lessons. Lessons in rakish behavior and how an heiress can recognize it and avoid it. At the same time, the heroine is trying to get the hero to set up a party for her own secret reasons--and those secret reasons are where I got all tangled up in the "But why would she do that?" They just didn't make sense to me and made the story very convoluted and hard for me to get through. I did read it all, but I have to admit, I didn't like it nearly as well as I have liked (adored) other Jeffries books.
I really liked this story and Viscount Norcourt. I also like Madeline Prescott and how she helped Anthony not feel so ashamed of his secret childhood humiliation.
Madeline Prescott is a very intelligent, scholarly female with a particular genius in mathematics and an interest in natural science - what we call now biology. She is currently teaching at Mrs. Harris's school because she and her father had to leave their home in Shropshire. He is a doctor and a recent patient died of an abscessed tooth after he gave her nitrous oxide as an anesthetic. The local baronet, Sir Randolph Bickham, being an extremely nasty sort, was threatening to have him charged with murder. Dr. Prescott has always suffered from "melancholia" and since the woman's death, he has been so depressed that Madeline fears he may commit suicide.
Lord Anthony Dalton, Viscount Norcourt, is the nephew of Sir Randolph and has first hand knowledge of just how nasty he and his wife are. After Anthony's mother died when he was 8, his father sent him to live with the Bickhams. They physically and mentally abused him and his younger cousin for years.
Now Anthony's older brother has died, leaving guardianship of his daughter to Sir Randolph. Anthony is determined to get guardianship himself and save Tessa from their evil. The only problem is that Anthony has deliberately lived a rakehell lifestyle. So he must convince the courts that he can be responsible for a young girl's welfare, and his first step is to get her admitted as a student to Mrs. Harris's prestigious school.
Madeline is sympathetic to his pleas, but even more, she sees him as a solution to her father's problems. But she doesn't dare tell him the whole truth.
The wounded hero is a favorite trope of many romance authors, but Ms. Jeffries endows them with REAL wounds, not just plot device placeholders. Anthony's background is genuinely moving, not least because such abuse happens all too often even today.
And her heroines are smart and strong and feisty, yet behave with manners and sensibilities that are not anachronistic to the 19th century. Madeline is the typical bluestocking - which happens to be one of my favorite tropes.
While this series is called the School for Heiresses, the first 3 books had almost no scenes actually in the school setting. This one is different, with a great deal of it taking place in the school and it's classrooms. The scenes where Anthony gives "rakehell lessons" are really humorous.
Madeline Prescott sdh putus asa utk bisa menemui Sir Humphry, pakar dinitrogen oksida, ilmuwan yg bisa membersihkan nama baik ayahnya jika Humphry bersedia. Tak dinyana, Anthony, Lord Norcourt berusaha memasukkan ponakannya (yg baru ditinggal mati kedua orangtuanya) agar bisa bersekolah di Sekolah Mrs. Harris. Maka Madeline dan Anthony berkomplot agar Mrs Harris mau mempertimbangkan Tessa utk sekolah disana. Mrs. Harris keberatan krn reputasi Anthony sbg seorang mesum bejat yg hobi berganti-ganti pasangan walaupun spesialisasinya adalah meniduri para janda. Negosiasi berhasil dgn usul Madeline spy Lord Norcourt mengajar ttg mengenali pria bejat spt dirinya di sekolah. Anthony bersedia dgn terpaksa. Anthony terus-menerus penasaran dgn permintaan aneh dari Madeline sbg bagian dari kesepakatan mereka. Dan yg tak terhindarkan, mereka saling jatuh cinta... namun banyak halangan dan rintangan yg tidak memungkinkan mereka utk menikah. Dapatkah mereka bersama-sama mengatasinya?
Saat awal membaca novel ini, saya mengalami sedikit dejavu dgn dongeng Beauty and the Beast, dimana Madeline mirip Belle yg gundah dan mati-matian berusaha menyelamatkan ayahnya yg sakit-sakitan. Tentu saja Anthony adalah versi Beast yg rupawan tetapi jiwanya saja yg iblis. Saya paling suka saat "pengakuan" Anthony kpd Madeline mengapa dia enggan menikah. Anthony bukan sembarang playboy yg hobi gonta-ganti pasangan. Masa kecilnya yg suram membelit jiwanya seperti Medusa. Dan saya senang Anthony mendapatkan pasangan yg serasi pd diri Madeline yg tidak hanya cantik wajahnya, juga cerdas dan super pengertian.
Sayangnya novel ini dibandingkan yg lain dlm seri ini terlalu banyak galaunya, baik Anthony maupun Madeline. Dan saya juga kurang mudeng dgn rencana Madeline utk menolong ayahnya yg rada muter-muter jalannya. Ironisnya senjata pamungkas utk menghindari kekusutan justru datang dari hal yg tak terduga atau dipikirkan sebelumnya. Tapi masih asyik koq membaca novel seri ini. Sabrina Jeffries masih T.O.P bagi saya sbg fans beratnya.
If you’re interested in a book where two people meet and fall in love in a week despite all of the miscommunication and deception between them: this book is for you!
Madeline meets our hero and decides to blackmail him to help her father. Anthony agrees to the terms in order to help his niece and falls for a case of, “I’ve been with hundreds of women but WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS ONEEEE WOMAN?! IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE?!”
Madeline lies to Anthony a lot. And this book is a lot of Madeline trying to convince me that the reason she’s so mistrusting and deceptive is justified. And despite the dragged out drama and shoving the reasons for the continued angst, I wasn’t buying it. She’s misleading and lying the whole freaking book and Anthony loves her anyway.
Good for them? I guess?
The end is a convoluted mess of Anthony being like, “Madeline won’t marry me because of this untrue reason.” And Madeline thinking, “Anthony won’t marry me because of THIS untrue reason.” Seriously, both of you STFU and just speak words and not accusations. Oh wait, you can’t because you both have no reasons to trust each other. I take that back, Anthony has NO REASON AT ALL to trust Madeline.
Ugh. The ending. What a mess.
And the beginning too. The entire premise of a Viscount teaching rake lessons at a girl’s school is ridiculous. But I can get down with some unbelievable plot lines for love, but Madeline ruined it with her stupidity.
I swore I wasn't going to stay up past midnight to finish this book, but I did it anyway. Anthony is another tortured hero, and Madeline a very smart and clever heroine. Madeline is a teacher at the school for heiresses, trying to find a way to clear her physician father of scurrilous rumors. Anthony is trying to wrest guardianship of his niece from their horrible aunt and uncle. There are many historical characters in this book, as well as nitrous oxide parties. Who knew. This is my favorite so far. Two more to go.
2.5 stars (rounding up because today was a good day for me and I'm in a good mood LOL)
This book had a great start but then quickly started boring me. It was predictable, so predictable... and it took me a while to finish it (with a lot of page skipping). Hoping the next one in this series captures my attention better.