Sunday, April 15, 2007

Yawn

Supremely sensible Emmaline Dove wishes to share her etiquette expertise with London’s readers, and as secretary to Viscount Marlowe, Emma knows she’s in the perfect position to make her dreams come true. Marlowe might be a rake with a preference for cancan dancers and an aversion to matrimony, but he is also the city’s leading publisher, and Emma is convinced he’s her best chance to see her work in print…until she discovers the lying scoundrel has been rejecting her manuscripts without ever reading a single page!

As a publisher, Harry finds reading etiquette books akin to slow, painful torture. Besides, he can’t believe his proper secretary has the passion to write anything worth reading. Then she has the nerve to call him a liar, and even resigns without notice, leaving his business in uproar and his honor in question. Harry decides it’s time to teach Miss Dove a few things that aren’t proper. But when he kisses her, he discovers that his former secretary has more passion and fire than he ever imagined, for one luscious taste of her lips only leaves him hungry for more…

Cheesy!!! Yeah, I said it. This book was cheesy and silly and the heroine annoyed me with her guilt trips. I wanted the hero to go find some other woman..there were plenty in that story to interest him. Ugh! Didn't like it at all and it was more than the fact that we didn't see any real action (read SEX) 'til the end of the book. The author tried really hard to get us to know and understand the characters (the book is very character-driven) but she missed something along the way...a little something like 100 or so pages. What's the point of getting to know the characters if we're then treated to a WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAMN type of "courtship?" Can I get a chance to get used to the characters as a couple? Can I please see them truly falling in love?

I loved the hero, a stubborn and cynical divorced aristocrat (and did I mention very very sexy?). The heroine, on the other hand, was depicted as a whiny guilt-ridden prude with some serious fucked up family issues. Ugh!

The book felt rushed. I was still getting used to the heroine asserting some independence for herself and then WHAM love blossoms and they're a friggin' couple. I am so thoroughly disappointed by the author's latest effort.

Now, it wasn't terrible. It was not! But for Guhrke to write a book like this...well, then yeah..for her, it was terrible. I would expect this from a newbie writer. I was bored and yes, I yawned several times during the course of reading the story.

No reader puts an amazing book down every half hour. I did, therefore book wasn't good IMO. End of story.

Do what you must with this review. The folks at AAR gave it a great review.

7 comments:

Lori said...

Too bad. I liked her last series. Oh well, I have too many other books to read to miss this one too much. Thanks for the heads up!

Holly said...

LOL! You crack me up. Crossing this one off my list.

Nicole said...

Oh this sucks! I love LLG. I'm gonna have to give some real thought before I pick up this book, I don't want to be let down.
His Every Kiss is one of my all time favorite books!

Mailyn said...

I tried one of her books and was so stupid and simple and boring I gave up on her.

Holly said...

Hey, where are you???? you can't disappear like that...did you SEE my news? Sheesh.

MISS YOU! :(

Kristie (J) said...

Like Holly said! Get yourself back to us. We miss you you know! It's Maaayyyyy

CrankyOtter said...

Janet W sent me to your blog, but I *just* finished reading this book, given to me by a friend who also liked it, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if I've read LLG before or not, if I did, I don't remember the story particularly. And when I started this one, I groaned thinking about the secretary falling for the boss.

But I wound up enjoying it! It was the secretary-boss plot turned on its ear, played by grownups without the unequal relationship. I'll give you the fact that "I'm interested" to "Do me stud" seemed a bit quick but I figure she's making a big life change and she's 30, not 18, and should know a little of life and what she wants out of it.

So to you LLG fans in the comments here, do not despair! You may yet like this gem. I did. Not that you know me from anyone.