ReadingAdventures

When Maggie Concannon, a young lady who is a glass sculptor, sells her first piece of glass, she meets her beloved father, Tom Concannon, for a drink and then they head out to the cliffs looking across the ocean towards America. When Tom suddenly dies there with only Maggie by his side, his last word was Amanda, which meant absolutely nothing to Maggie.

Fast forward a couple of years and Maggie is a moderately successful artist, but she has just caught the attention of Rogan Sweeney who is a big time art dealer, manager, connoisseur.

Maggie has a very temperamental and volatile personality that is usually ascribed to artists. She might have caught the attention of Rogan Sweeney, but it doesn't mean to say that she wants to keep it. She doesn't answer her telephone, won't respond to messages, so the suave and sophisticated Rogan decides to head to County Clare and speak with her face to face. Sparks fly almost immediately, and they are both interested, but business comes first, until finally Maggie is the one who takes the bull by the horns and starts things. Maggie is a great heroine - earthy, passionate, fiery, artistic...real. Rogan is a great catch - rich, good looking, determined, and he knows when to take what Maggie dishes out to him, and when to fight her for her own good.

Rogan realises pretty quickly that he wants more, but Maggie has never wanted the normal things in life - marriage, kids, domesticity. She leaves the domesticity to her sister Brianna, and attributes her fears about marriage to her own parents marriage. Her father loved her, but her mother Maeve, is a complete bitch who has made both of her children's lives a misery in different ways. For Maggie, she was conceived outside the bounds of marriage, of a long dead passion, and Maeve never lets her forget it! It doesn't matter that the sin was Maeve's, Maggie is the one who is blamed for Maeve's loss of her life as she wanted it.

Once Rogan has managed to get her to sign on the dotted line as far as her art goes, he starts down the path on trying to keep her interest in him, realising that he needs to play it cool before she will come to him. I really loved that there was no huge misunderstanding in this book. Yes, our hero and heroine spent time apart, but it was time apart for Maggie to realise how much she loved Rogan, time apart for her to become as comfortable as she was ever going to be with the idea of commitment to Rogan, and he was willing to wait as long as it took, but as soon as she took the first step towards him, he was there to show just how much he wanted her!

The only other Nora Roberts books I have read are the Chesapeake Bay books featuring the Quinn brothers, which I absolutely loved. The first book of the Born In series is right up there with them. I think I feel another glom coming on!!

Rating 4.5/5

This book was inspired by an actual murder in the Welsh border regions in 1763. In surviving newspaper articles from the time it is suggested that the young girl who committed the murder did so because she was obsessed with clothes. This is the basis that Emma Donoghue chooses to follow.

When we first meet Mary Donoghue she is 14 years old, and a schoolgirl living in London, at an age where most other working class girls have been sent out to work. Mary hasn't been sent out to work yet because her mother promised her father before he was executed for his part in a rebellion that she would ensure that Mary was educated. Mary's mother has remarried to a man that Mary can't stand, and who resents the fact that he is supporting a girl who is old enough to find work and assist more in the household. The problem is that Mary feels that she is too good to go into service, too good to become a seamstress, yet she wants all the fine things in life.

Early in the book Mary has an encounter with a peddler where she gives away her virtue for the price of a red ribbon. Left pregnant by the encounter she is eventually kicked out of home when her condition is discovered. She shortly finds herself in one of the roughest areas of London, and it isn't too big a leap for her before she finds herself servicing the cullies and making some money for herself. Her one friend is a fellow prostitute named Doll, who teaches Mary the tricks of the trade and how to get by, as well as warning her who to stay away from.

In the midst of a terribly cold winter, Doll convinces Mary that needs to sign up to go into a home for reformed prostitutes, if only so that she has warmth and food for the rest of the winter. When she finally rebels against the strict rules and religious environment of the home she comes back to find her only friend gone, well, dead...and then on the wrong side of one of the most dangerous pimps in London.

Mary flees to her mother's home town of Monmouth, hoping to find a new life for herself, to match with the new history she has made of her life. She is taken in as a maid for her mother's former best friend, Mrs Jones, who rapidly befriends Mary, not only employing her but also making her her confidant in her struggle to give her husband a son.

Also living in her home are the slave Abi, originally from Africa, via the Caribbean, who works for no wages. There is also Mrs Ash who was originally employed as a wet nurse but has been living with the family for many years, now in the guise of a governess for the one surviving daughter. Finally there is Daffy, and intense but likeable young man who is trying to make a life for himself away from his hypocritical, cleric father, who also runs one of the village pubs.

Once Mary is living with the Jones, this story becomes several things - firstly a study of extended family as defined at the time to include servants and slaves, secondly, a story of empowerment as Mary encourages Abi to try and get some wages for her toil. Finally, this is a story about whether Mary can take the chance that she has given to live a life away from the prostitution that she has previously undertaken. At one point it appears that Daffy and Mary may marry, but that is shortlived as Mary realises that if she does marry Daffy she will be stuck in a little town in the Welsh Marches for the rest of her life.

As Mary goes through life, pretty much destroying the peace of mind of the people around her, the author gives us a character who is almost totally unlikeable. What makes her so greedy, so convinced of her elevated worth in her own mind, and yet so able to rationalise that choosing a life of prostitution is okay for her. Mary in effect lives hard and fast and dies early without ever seemingly being happy, or at the very least unable to realise when she has a good thing going - a precautionary tale if nothing else.

Whilst Mary, and many of the other characters are unlikeable, and this is in many ways a story without much hope, it is nonetheless well written and compelling. I have had it on my TBR list for ages, so I am glad to have finally read it! Even where there are glimpses of hope, for example, for Abi, to me the suggestion for the future was not really one of happiness.

Within that though, there are glimpses of humour, such as when the ultra religious and judgmental Mrs Ash gets her comeuppance, but those moments are few and far between.

When rating this book, I hovered between 3.5 and 4, mainly because the characters are pretty much unlikeable, but the writing was compelling, and I was completely drawn into the story on more than one occasion.

Rating 4/5

The second of the Travelling Pants books by Ann Brashares, this book opens on the first day of summer, with Bridget, Lena, Carmen and Tibby getting together to perform the ritual of the pants. Last summer they all went away except for Tibby. This year she is the only one who is going away (to film school), whilst the other girls are all staying home in Washington.

However, Bridget somewhat impulsively decides that she needs to go to Alabama, after finding letters from her grandma that her father had not given her. Bridget is much changed from the girl that we met at the beginning of last summer. She no longer plays soccer, long her first love, and she has dyed her blonde hair brown, and gained some weight. Through her journey over the summer she learns a lot about her family, and that she was trying to hide away from herself. Interestingly, when she goes to Alabama she chooses to not reveal her true identity to her grandmother, but instead pretends to be someone looking for a job and therefore helps her grandmother clear out her attic. Eventually she meets some of the other kids she knew when she was a little girl, and begins to come back to herself, even if it takes facing and dealing with a traumatic memory from her past to get back to herself.

Since last summer Lena has been in love with a Greek boy, Kostos, who she met on Santorini. Before the summer started, she broke up with him, and if anyone asks why she goes along with the "long distance relationships are too hard" routine. When Kostos unexpectedly turns up at her door, Lena is terrified. How can she allow herself to love him when he is going to leave again so soon. And he does leave after a blissful week, but not for the reasons that Lena expects, and she is hurt in so many ways. He only tells her that he has a situation but will explain everything later. With Lena's story we get to see the effects of heartbreak, in a romantic sense, but also in a familial sense, when her grandfather falls critically ill and her family have to race to Santorini. There she meets Kostos again, and finds out the truth about his circumstances. All through this time, Lena is trying to find out about a story from her mother's past that she would rather not talk about, causing problems between the remaining mothers of the four girls (Bridget's mother having died years earlier), but eventually all is resolved, but it is a reminder to the girls that there mothers are human too.

Carmen is also about to learn that her mother is human, when she starts dating a work colleague, and Carmen suddenly discovers that she is not ready to give up the close, exclusive relationship that she has with her mother, even if it makes her mother upset to lose the man that she loves. Carmen is also trying to date Porter, but has to work out why she is doing this, and come to a realisation about relationships with boys.

Tibby goes off to film school, and begins to make new friends, but her lessons this year are about the nature of true friendships, and that means that at some point she must look back to last summer and the death of Bailey. Luckily she has Brian around to help her with this, unless she pushes him away because he is not cool enough that is! After making a humiliating film of her mother that Brian hates, but her new friends think is cool, Tibby is forced to reevaluate after seeing her mother's reaction to the film, and to face truths about herself, and to deal with the events of last summer.

Whilst these books are light they are very enjoyable and they do deal with plenty of issues relevant to the target age group, including dealing with relationships of divorced parents, death of loved ones, teenage sex. If there is one thing that I don't get though, it is that it seems that both this summer and last summer, 16 year olds are allowed to wander wherever they like over America without anyone worrying about their safety! Bridget just jumps on a bus to Alabama, hires a hotel room and lives there by herself for several weeks before she moves in with her grandma. Last summer, Lena and her sister were coming back from Greece and Lena just flew off to where Bridget was because she was having problems. I doubt that that is how it really is, and it is but a small criticism.

I am hoping to go and rent the DVD for the movie of the first book, and get the third book in the series out soon. Only problem is the third book isn't out on audiobook at my library so I am actually going to have to read it, as opposed to listening to it!

Rating 4/5

The third book in the Perfect Trilogy.

A Wandering Duckling

Defying the terrible sense of direction that's kept her form traveling, Amy ships out as a nanny on a Caribbean cruise--and promptly gets lost when they stop on St. Bart's. Now she's stranded without any money--or even a toothbrush!

A Two-Faced Beast

Locals say that Gaspar, owner of the island's crumbling fortress, is a hideous recluse. They call him La Bete, "The Beast." But when Amy applies for a job at the fort, she meets only his charming assistant, Beaufort. In truth, the two are the same man--billionaire Byron Parks, who's desperately seeking privacy and peace.

A Perfect Fairy Tale?

Amy aches for the miserable man secluded in the fortress tower. Through e-mail, they begin an imaginative exchange of romantic fantasies. Byron is hopelessly smitten with his sexy storyteller--but will his real-life make-believe ruin their happy ending?

This is the final book in the Perfect trilogy that started with Almost Perfect and continued with Just Perfect. So was this the perfect conclusion? Unfortunately not for me! Kristie J mentioned in a comment that she could barely finish this book and I can understand that. For me the first two thirds of the book was a struggle, the last third a bit better.

So to start with the reasons why it wasn't the perfect conclusion. Firstly, the whole premise was so unrealistic and so ridiculous. Amy is scared of travelling and so in order to fulfill the challenge to her friends she decides to take a nannying job for a couple and their grandchildren on a cruise through the Caribbean. Okay so far so good. So they are at Gustavia when she gets fired from her job for bringing the children back late to meet their grandparents, and so she wanders off and then misses the last shuttle back to the ship and is left stranded on the beach with only the clothes that she is wearing. What should she do? Well she'll go to an employment agency and get a job as a housekeeper at a crumbling fort of course!

The owner of the fort is Hollywood mover and shaker Byron Parks, but he is hiding out and doesn't want anyone to know where he is, particularly the paparazzi. He has therefore told all of the town that he is a beast, hideously scarred, and so none of the locals will work for him. He also has another persona, that of Lance, who is the assistant to the beast.

Once he realises that Amy has no clothes Lance goes shopping with her at Guy Gaspar's insistence, choosing better styles for Amy than she would have chosen for herself, also buying jewellery and a computer. This is after having known her for two days tops!

So what about Amy and Byron. I guess they are okay. Amy doesn't really set the world on fire. She is nice but that is about it. I didn't sense a lot of fire or passion within her, or anything really that interesting. She likes to write and Byron and her make up a story one night during an email exchange to prove that, but really that is probably it about her.

As for Byron it didn't really feel as though we even got to know Byron until right near the very end, which is I guess is how it was for Amy as well. He was being portrayed as a poor little rich kid who was shunted between his parents, and who ended up being jaded at a very young age with the glamour of Hollywood. Meh! So what? Wasn't enough to make me want to fall in love with him.

And could the author resist the triple wedding. Being aware that this is a spoiler I will put it below. Just highlight below to read!

Of course not. Even though Byron doesn't propose until one week before the already double wedding, of course Amy will have enough time to find the perfect dress and get married next week!! It will be just perfect!

There was one good thing about the epilogue though. It did reflect the fact that children are not everyone's idea of a HEA which was a good thing!

So my overall thoughts on the trilogy. I liked Almost Perfect, and Just Perfect. I thought that Just Perfect was on the verge of being exceptional until the last third. As for Too Perfect...well...it wasn't anywhere near too perfect which is a disappointment. I'm glad I have read the trilogy though because Julie Ortolon was one of those authors that I have been drawn to on numerous occasions. At least now I know!

Rating 3/5

The fourth book in the Bubbles Yablonsky series by Sarah Strohmeyer, this instalment finds Bubbles looking forward to a week's try out with the Lehigh News Time. If she is successful she will end up with a permanent job, so she is keen to do well.

However before she has even started at work, she finds prison escapee and convicted murderer Carol Weaver at her house, asking Bubbles to investigate to see what link there was between Lehigh Steel and her husband's death thereby clearing Carol of involvement. That night after Carol's visit, someone breaks into Bubbles' house and shoots at her bed, so Bubbles has to work out who is trying to kill her this time!

Luckily Steve Stiletto offers Bubbles a place to stay with him at his mansion despite the fact that they still haven't slept together even though they have been seeing each other for months!

So on only a couple of hours sleep Bubbles goes off to her first assignment, covering a meeting of the Lehigh Historical Society. When she gets there she runs into a very unhappy former client from the House of Beauty and quicker than you can say "oh my goodness your hair is falling out and it's your wedding day" Bubbles finds herself in a fight with her photographer who is also on one weeks trial. Needless to say that they both have their try outs terminated, although Bubbles manages to talk her bosses into reinstating her for the rest of the week at least.

As the investigation into Hal Weaver's death continues Bubbles goes through a variety of different scenarios including lesbian love trianges and drug related murder, and meets the usual crew of odd ball characters along the way.

What wasn't usual in this installment was the reduced amount of page time for Mama and Genevieve, and Bubbles' daughter Jane and her clueless hairdressing prodigy boyfriend G, and the book is better for it. That doesn't mean to say that they aren't there, just that they aren't as involved in the whole book!

One thing that definitely moved forward in this book was the romance between Steve and Bubbles, with the relationship finally going to the next step, in very well written and quite steamy scenes without being at all explicit.

There was a lot going on in this book in relation to the mystery, and at the end of the day we did find out who it was thought killed Hal Weaver but I'm not quite sure that everything was resolved completely.

Overall, a much better read than the last books, Bubbles Ablaze. I'll be going to the library to see if I can get the audiobook for Bubbles Betrothed either today or tomorrow!

Rating 3.5/5

The second book in the Perfect trilogy by Julie Ortolon, following on from Almost Perfect.

AN ICE PRINCESS

You have to be tough to work in the ER—but Dr. Christine Ashton's courage doesn't extend to riding a chairlift, no matter how much she loves skiing. Her challenge is to strap on a pair of skis and conquer her fear of heights. The bigger challenge, though, will be resisting the sexy ski instructor her friends have deemed off-limits.

A SKI BUM

Alec Hunter is more than just a fun-loving charmer and nothing like the users, losers, and strays Christine usually winds up with. But she's still giving him the cold shoulder, and he's determined to prove how wrong she is about him.

A PERFECT DISASTER?

After helping the victim of a snowboarding accident, the two fall hard and fast—with enough heat to melt the mountains. And everything is just perfect—until Christine must face kind of fear and choose between her dream job back home and her dream man in Colorado.

Okay, so it was a bit sooner than the eventually than I suggested in the review for Almost Perfect. As I said in the comments on Almost Perfect I was enjoying this book more than I did the first in the trilogy, that is until about two thirds of the way through the book, when it descended to more psychological analysis than love story.

So the first half of the book was really good. Christine Ashton looks like an ice princess but actually cusses with the best of them, drinks her beer from the bottle, and she is a really good trauma doctor. She hires Alec Hunter to help her bring her skiing skills back up to scratch so that she can hopefully beat her brother Robbie in a race, so that she can prove to her father that she is as good as Robbie is at some things!

They are attracted to each other immediately, but she thinks that Alec is a ski bum with no job and no future, and she is determined that this time she is not going to fall for some loser bloke who is going to use her and then leave her like so many of her previous boyfriends. Whilst Alec did come from a rough family background, he has worked hard to achieve all her has. Alec is pretty insistent in his pursuit of her, but Christine keeps on resisting until eventually she learns the truth about him.

My favourite parts of the book were where we saw the Mountain Search and Rescue teams at work, helping injured skiers and rescuing some people who got caught in an avalanche. There was also a series of telephone conversations that I really liked between them that took place once Christine returned home, whilst they tried to fight their desire to get together and to get past the fact that they lived so far apart.

However for the last third of the book, I felt as though it got really bogged down in the issues that they both had with their families, and then with working out how they can be together and where that was going to live.

Being a romance it will be no spoiler to know that they will get married, but I really hope that Ortolon doesn't succumb to a triple wedding for the friends in the next book!! I've started the third book, Too Perfect, so we will see how it goes!

Whilst I would have rated the first two thirds of this book better than the first book in the trilogy, the last third brought it back down to the same rating as Almost Perfect.

Rating 4/5

Originally published in 1941, this book is classified as a gothic romance. It reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier in tone in several ways. Having read and loved Seton's classic Katherine, I am hoping to read a few more of her books.

Among the easy correlations to make between Rebecca and Dragonwyck are the darkness and Gothic nature of both homes where the majority of the action is set, the aloofness of both main male characters, the hint of murder and tragedy. I suppose that these are characteristics of gothic romance as a whole, however it is a genre that I have not personally read a lot of so these were quite striking to me.

Miranda Wells, an 18-year-old farmer's daughter, is, one afternoon in 1844, suddenly invited to live at Dragonwyck, the Hudson Valley estate of her distant relative, the great Nicholas Van Ryn. Falling under the strange and passionate spell of both the mansion and its owner, she becomes part of Dragonwyck, with its gothic towers, flowering gardens, acres of tenant farms, and dark, terrible secrets.

In this exquisite and compelling novel, Anya Seton, with her customary attention to detail paints a marvelous portrait of an America torn between ideals of freedom and feudal traditions. We meet not only the poor tenant farmers at Dragonwyck and the European royalty that visits there, but in finely crafted New York City scenes, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, and the Astors. Above all, Seton masterfully tells the heart-stopping story of a remarkable woman, her remarkable passions and the mystery and terror that await her in the magnificent hallways of Dragonwyck.

I wasn't really quite sure what to expect from this novel when I started it, but almost from the beginning I was drawn into the story, in fact surprisingly so, given the broad generalisations that are given to our main characters. When we first meet our heroine, the very naive and innocent Miranda Wells, she is reading a romance novel instead of completing her farm chores. Our first glimpse of our villain, Nicholas Van Ryn, is of a very charismatic, dashing, darkly handsome man, whose wife, the unfortunate Johanna is a gluttonous, extremely overweight woman. Our first glimpse of her is as she asks Nicholas if he remembered to bring her pastries for her from New York.

Miranda has just received an invitation to act as the governess to the Van Ryn's child. The Van Ryns are distant relatives on her mother's side. Her father, the dour Ephraim, is not keen for this to happen, but through a tricky manipulation of The Test, where the family bible is opened at a random page, to pick a verse and see what light it adds to the matter under consideration, the decision is made that Miranda is to go. She therefore sets out for the brightness that is New York City in the 1840's, where Miranda feels completely inept and out of fashion in what she had felt were her smartest and most fashionable clothes.

After meeting the dashing Nicholas, she is literally swept up river on a paddlesteamer, fearing greatly as the paddlesteamer races against another steamer during the trip. Here we get our first real glimpse of Nicholas, a man who appears to be extremely passionate about things like paddlesteamer racing, but who also vacillates between tremendous charisma and terrible internal darkness.

As we progress through the novel we are introduced to the big issues of the day. The rights of tenant farmers to own their own land for example, the looming war with Mexico, issues of which Miranda is completely in ignorance about. Miranda is introduced into a world where she doesn't belong, feeling completely out of depth, and not being accepted by any, it seems, except Nicholas, despite her ethereal beauty and her lovely new wardrobe.

Eventually, Nicholas' wife dies, and Miranda is sent back to her home, but she goes with a secret. She is betrothed to Nicholas, and once the obligatory year of mourning is over, he will be coming to claim her, which he does, much to Ephraim Well's consternation.

So Miranda returns to New York, and during this time we see short glimpses into New York's social scenes with visits to Edgar Allan Poe, who Nicholas greatly esteems. However it seems that part of the reason that Nicholas wanted Miranda is that he can mould her into his perfect wife, a woman without her own social networks (Nicholas actively discourages her from making any friendships with anyone), her own opinions, existing only to appear to be perfect to all around her, a sign of his own power and control.

Of course, if there is a heroine and a villain, then there must be a hero, and in Dragonwyck, our hero is Doctor Jefferson Turner, the doctor from the nearby town of Hudson. Dr Turner is a man of many faces. Not only is he a doctor, he is also very involved in the movement to allow tenant farmers to own their own land, and in due course he also goes off to fight in the Mexican war. If there is a shortcoming in any of the major characters, then Jeff is probably it. Whilst he is likeable, and integral to the plot, his growing attraction to Miranda is not given a terrible lot of page time, maybe because the fact that an attraction to a married woman was something that wouldn't have really been talked about openly when the book was first written.

Another thing that is not talked about much compared to if this novel had been written today is that of the marital relations between Miranda and Nicholas. There are hints of violence at various points in the novel, particularly as we begin to see the disintegration of Nicholas Van Ryn the man as he descends into his own personal darkness with chilling results.


Overall this is an entertaining read that kept me engrossed from beginning to end, giving glimpses into both people and events from New York and America in the 1840's. I look forward to tracking down more of Anya Seton's books. Some of her more popular books are currently being rereleased with forewords by popular historical fiction author, Philippa Gregory.

Rating 4/5

Okay..this is a thinly disguised post about what I did last night!

Last night we went to athletics at the Commonwealth Games here in Melbourne, and had a fantastic time!

The events that we got to see were Men's Shotput, Women's Hammerthrow, a couple of events from the Men's Decathlon, Women's 400m semi finals, and then the semi finals and finals of the mens and womens 100m, and also a couple of 100m finals for EAD. The field in the Men's 100m included Asafa Powell, current men's world record holder.

The final event was the Men's 5000 metres and I have to say I have never been part of a sporting atmosphere like it!! Talk about electric! So exciting!

The funny thing was though, that there was a young girl sitting near me who read through most of the events. Whilst I had my book with me and read before all the events started I certainly wasn't reading during the races! It did make my heart swell though to see that there is definitely at least some of the younger generation who love to read so much that nothing will distract them!

Way down in the comments on Dreaming of You, Lori suggested reading Worth Any Price.

My question is...do you need to read the other two Bow Street Runner books, Someone to Watch Over Me and Lady's Sophia's Lover, or does Worth Any Price stand alone okay?

Lynsay Sands was chosen as author of the month for March over in Historical Romance Chat. As she was a completely new to me author I wasn't sure where to start, where better than in the middle of a series. Well actually, I got the second book in the series from the library by mistake, and by the time I realised someone else had the first book so I still have to wait for that one!

Iliana Wildwood would do anything to escape from the depraved baron who sought her lands - including marrying a barbarian. Fleeing to the highlands, Iliana was wedded to Duncan, laird to Dunbar Castle. Certainly, there was something about the virile warrior that made her weak in the knees - but something stank in the state of Scotland, and Iliana would not trust anyone until she'd discovered the source.

Determined therefore to resist her handsome husband, Iliana found a way to keep her secrets safe. Employing a belt of chastity, the spirited beauty managed to thwart the thane's advances. But then her husband changed his tactics and began a sensual assault that sent her intentions up in smoke. And as the air cleared, Iliana found it had been her heart she had locked away, and that this stubborn Scot had finally found...THE KEY

Whilst this book wasn't a bad read, it certainly didn't take off to any great heights, I think maybe because the basic premise was so silly that by the time the problem had been mentioned 10 times I was over it.

When Iliana first arrives at the keep of her intended, she is disappointed to see that it looks a little tumbledown. She is even more disappointed when she goes inside and see that is little better, if not worse. The rushes are dirty, the benches and tables are filthy, and everything needs a thorough scrubbing...starting with her husband. You see, Iliana's major problem is that her new husband stinks. Luckily she bought her chastity belt with her, which she dons and tells her husband that she will not take off until he has a bath. Duncan is appalled. It is June, and he still has another month until he is due to bathe, because he bathes every January and July...whether he needs it or not.

Dunbar castle had not always been let go so badly, but it was 20 years since Duncan's mother had died, and his father had paid little attention to his surroundings since then, and therefore neither did Duncan or his sister.

Iliana soon takes charge and gets the rushes changed, the food improved, arranges for all the village people to have new plaids, because they only get given one a year by Duncan, and generally begins a spring clean of the whole place, but Duncan is still resisting because he is stubborn.

So whilst the premise was unusual, it was beginning to stink itself when it was still being talked about two thirds of the way through the book, because it was still being mentioned even when there was treachery and betrayal all round.

As far as Iliana and Duncan went they were fine as hero and heroine, and there was a nice little sub romance plot between their parents late in the book! There was also a fair amount of set up done for the sequel which I believe is called The Chase, which is Duncan's sister Seonaid's story.

I actually also don't really think it mattered a great deal that this was the second in the series, as from what I can tell the only link between the two books is the messenger sent from King Henry to arrange both marriages. I could be wrong there though.

Overall, not bad, but not great either. I will read more from this author.

Rating 3.5/5

So it's been ages since I read a pirate romance. I read all three of Jennifer Ashley's books last year, and figured that since I enjoyed them that I may enjoy Kinley MacGregor's pirate book when I picked it up by mistake from the library. I thought I was getting Master of Desire, another Scottish romance, not this one!

No Man Could Master Her

All lovely Lorelei Dupree had in mind was helping her fiance and the city of Charleston by setting a trap for the infamous pirate Black Jack Rhys. She certainly never intended to let him kidnap her. And she most definitely had no intention of losing her heart to a man so skilled in the arts of love that they called him the master of seduction.

Black Jack Rhys had a score to settle with an old enemy. Kidnapping his adversary's fiancee seemed liked the perfect answer. But the man who'd won the hearts of a thousand women hadn't counted on falling in love himself.

This book was unbelievable, and no I don't mean that in a this was truly amazing and awesome way...just that it was completely unbelievable.

I'll skip the preamble and get to what should have been the meaty bit of the story. Jack had kidnapped Lorelei, taken her on board his ship and was sailing off over the horizon. So far, so good. Within pages of this event, we discover that every single pirate on board is a gentleman and no harm will come of to Lorelei at the Captains behest. Some of the pirates even have their wives on board with them who spend time mending clothes, doing laundry, and in the evening the crew provide romantic music as the sun sets on another glorious day on the ocean. O-k-a-y.

At first Lorelei is put in a cabin that has lovely large windows (??), but when there is a battle (or rather a few cannonballs fired in anger) she is put into a different, dingy room. Queue the Captain's son to ask her favourite colour, and voila..a whole room full of lovely furniture including yellow bed coverings, lace, you name it! Oh, and do you have a secret desire to paint Lorelei? Why yes I do...voila....easels, paints of every possible colour. What shall we have for dinner? Roast chicken, no, roast duck perhaps? A touch of playfulness turns into a pillow fight turns into a sword fight between the hero and heroine. Lucky she is such a talented swordsperson. Well of course, her Granny taught her!! The list of things that were unlikely are endless.

So what about Lorelei and Jack. Aside from the fact that pirates named Jack will forever look like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean to me, Jack was okay. So he paid people to say how badly he had treated them, but freely admitted that if backed into a corner he would fight tooth and nail to escape. There's nothing wrong wit