How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long - A Review(-ish)

Miss Phoebe Vale has a bit of an obsession with the peerage. She's a schoolteacher at Miss Endicott's School for Young Ladies, but avidly reads the social papers for information about what the ton has been up to, and often jokes with her friend Mr. Postelthwaite, a local shopkeeper, about being a member of the ton. In particular, she jokes that she has made Lord Julian Spenser, Marquess Dryden fall in love with her. So imagine her shock when during a visit to Postelthwaite's to pick up a letter, the man himself, Lord Ice, walks in. Dryden is accompanied by Waterburn, himself a member of the ton. And soon Phoebe overhears Waterburn bet Dryden that he would be unable to score a kiss from the "unkissable schoolmistress". Phoebe leaves Postelthwaites crushed and determined to turn down the invitation contained in the letter to join silly heiress Lisbeth Redmond for a house party in order to act as chaperone. But as fate would have it, Dryden is also in town to look at Miss Endicott's School for Young Ladies as a possible landing spot for a recalcitrant niece who has recently been caught smoking a cigar at age 12.

As Phoebe tours Dryden around the school, they banter and challenge each other, forming a connection that makes Phoebe think that perhaps she might be a little in love with him. She decides to accept Lisbeth Redmond's invitation, and soon finds herself at the same party as Dryden. For his part, Jules is not the man that the ton imagines him to be: frivolous and daring. In fact, he's spent his entire life attempting to restore his family's good name and standing after his father gambled away almost everything. He is brilliant, hard working, and is mystified as to why the ton seems determined to emulate him. He is also determined to find a wife, and has decided that Lisbeth Redmond is just the woman for him. So he's shocked when he arrives at the house party and finds the "unkissable schoolmistress" in attendance. He's even more shocked by his attraction to her. She's witty and smart, and challenges him at every turn. Yet, she is completely unmarryable. The two share a passionate kiss, but nothing more can happen. Phoebe is determined to tour the world and Jules must find an appropriate wife.

Phoebe's fortunes change when a pair of silly sisters, who are very highly placed within London society invite her to visit them in London to take part in the Season. Lisbeth, who is now a bit disconcerted by Phoebe's supposed popularity, is passive aggressively supportive of Phoebe joining them. Phoebe decides to accept the offer before her departure on a mission trip to Africa, the first country in her world tour. Soon, to everyone's shock (including her own), Phoebe is the toast of the Town. She is receiving bouquet after bouquet of flowers, invitations to all sorts of social events, and has even garnered a nickname, The Original. No matter her popularity though, she continues to be drawn to Jules, and after an extremely hot encounter with him, he offers to become her protector. Phoebe is again crushed, knowing that becoming a man's mistress is just not the answer. She knows that any small bit of social standing she has garnered will disappear, plus, she's going to Africa. A Protector/Mistress relationship just isn't possible. Will Phoebe still go to Africa? And really, where DID this popularity come from?

This is another wonderfully entertaining entry into Julie Anne Long's Pennyroyal Green series. While I wasn't as captivated as I was by What I Did for the Duke (the best in the series, IMHO), Jules and Phoebe had lovely chemistry. Their passion for each other was evident, and I quite enjoyed their banter. What I like about Long's books is that there tends to be no ancillary events to the stories to detract attention from the primary love story, and this is true here as well. The focus remains squarely on the couple, who have delicious chemistry. Miss Long has a brilliant hand with dialogue making every interaction sparkle with warmth and humor. Her historicals are always among my favorite reads of each year, and this book is no exception. While I can't grade it as highly as I did What I Did for the Duke, I gladly recommend this book as a diverting and highly entertaining love story.

Final grade: A-

A galley of this book was generously provided by Net Galley. Thank you!

Where the Heck Has Kati Been?

Getting Married!

Scott & I tied the knot on 12/27/11

Immortal Rider by Larissa Ione - A Review(-ish)

I have an on again, off again relationship with Larissa Ione. I loved her first few releases in the Demonica series, but then gave up as the world expanded to exponential sizes that I struggled to keep track of. Then, I picked up the first in her Lords of Deliverance series, which takes place in the same world as Demonica. In fact, many of the characters from Demonica show up in this series.

Immortal Rider is the story of Arik, who readers of the series will remember is the brother of Runa from Desire Unchained. Arik is human and a member of the Aegis, a human group dedicated to fighting the coming apocalypse. At a party, Arik meets Limos, the female Horseman (one of the four riders of the apocalypse). She's gorgeous and nubile and he's instantly attracted. What he doesn't know is Limos is betrothed to Satan. While she can flirt with other men, she must save her maidenhead for her husband. So, when he caves to impulse and lays a really hot kiss on Limos, he's swept to hell and tortured. While Arik is in hell, Limos and her remaining brothers, Ares and Thanatos (her third brother's seal broke and he is now Pestilence - the Big Bad of the story), work to try to get Arik back. Arik breaks free of hell himself and is found by Limos, who takes him to her home. He doesn't think anything he sees is real. Slowly, he begins to believe that Limos is real. And they begin to fall for each other.

Meanwhile, Pestilence is working to claim all of earth for Sheol, and there are many other shenanigans going on. But as Limos and Arik connect, she realizes that she must come clean to those she loves about her past, the lies she's told, and her past machinations. Will her brothers, or Arik, for the matter forgive her?

What to say about this book? I liked it. But it's freaking COMPLICATED! As with Demonica, the pantheon for this series is huge and it's difficult to keep track of. There are many moving parts, tons of conspiracies, many players and it gets really confusing. For this book, I had a hard time differentiating between Arik (the hero) and Ares (the brother). My feeling is that this book, while well written just had too much going on. The result was that the love story suffered. Often, I felt that when Arik and Limos were together their connection felt forced. The sex scenes were very hot, but overall, I felt like this story was more about the action propelling the final resolution of the series than the couple. Since I read for the romance, not the action, it didn't work very well for me.

Readers should note that this book is absolutely not the place to start. If the set up interests you, I'd start with Pleasure Unbound, the first Demonica book and read the entire series. If you just want to read about the Horsemen, start with the first book, Eternal Rider. Overall, I'd say that this book is action filled, but to the detriment of the romance.

Final grade: C-

A galley of this book was received from Net Galley.