pmatch1104 > Recent Status Updates

She proposes that Marcus come to town and mingle with society and oversee the courtship of Louisa and Foxmoor. The viscount only agrees on the condition that Lady Regina allow him to pay court to her at the same time. What young lady of quality of that day and age would do all this … even on behalf of her brother?

I’m not sure the opening scene of this book was very believable. Lady Regina Tremaine, sister of the Duke of Foxmoor and touted as “le belle dame sans merci” (woman without mercy), shows up at Castlemaine uninvited and forces her way into the library to demand that Lord Draker allow her brother to court the Dragon Viscount’s younger sister, Louisa.

So far, I’m finding the story very slow and a little boring. Too much is taken up with excessive descriptions of food, fireworks, and why Garrett and Ransom shouldn’t get involved with each other. Makes me want to shout, “Move it along!”

Lud! Egad! Zounds! I finally finished this book!

Lud! Egad! Zounds! I finally finished this book!

I've come to the conclusion that Emily is TSTL and that has nothing to do with her handicap. I keep hoping this story will get better but it just continues to drone on and on. I'm also getting sick of Ashley feeling sorry for himself and bemoaning his "darkness." MB is so repetitive that I want to scream, "I got it the first 20 times you told me." She must think her readers are really forgetful or just plain stupid.

WTF! I'm so close to DNFing this one. After taking Emily's virginity, Ashley internal dialogue is ... "He did not want her as his wife, his woman. He loved her too dearly. Sexual passion and marriage were foul things." This is one messed up character. I don't think it is possible to redeem him in my eyes.

ACK! I hate it when authors contradict themselves. Earlier MB says that after Ashley's wedding night with Alice, they fell out of love because Alice loved another man. Now, just a little later she says that "Ashley had been loved unconditionally and he had selfishly squeezed the life and the joy out of that love." What she has told the reader prior to this does not bear that out. Very confusing as a reader.

I liked Ashley in the first book of this series; however, in this story I find myself disliking him. I get that he is a troubled individual, but Mary Balogh has turned him into a self-centered, self-pitying jerk in my opinion. What took place at the end of chapter 8 just sealed my dislike of him and showed him to be a weak person who took advantage of someone he knew had a tendre for him.

Just finished the Prologue and I'm praying to God that the entire book isn't as repetitive as the first 41 pages were.

Read the first chapter and could not get interested in this book. DNF for now.

I'm a little over a third of the way through this book. One of the things that stood out to me so far were the lack of mention of having the banns read or obtaining a special license. Both Grace and her friend, Eliza, get engaged right out of boarding school and are getting married within days.

So far I've finding this story has a little too much slap-stick comedy to be taken seriously. A lot of the events are just a little too far fetched to be believable. I've read other books by this author and liked them so I'm hoping this one improves.

Checked out via OverDrive app. Had to return before finished. Got as far as Part 3: On the Road. So far, I'd give this book 2 stars. While it is well written, the pace to me is extremely slow. The dialect that is used is sometimes difficult to read too.