Search - Gorgeous as Sin

(WARNING: Have some SPOILER on the review)
I hate this story so much that I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I could start with the fact that the story was so predicable. One of the main problem was the hero, Fitz , is such a jerk and VERY unlikable character that at end I really didn’t believe he was sincere about loving the heroin. Rosalind. All he seems to be good at is how to pleasure woman in bed so of course he wasn’t faithful to heroin through out book because he is with other woman. I hate unfaithful heroes, that’s such a TURN OFF for me and I just couldn’t get over that. Furthermore, while the hero sleeps with the heroin, he is plotting to destroy her behind her back so he can buy her land and use it to get richer. But what got me the most was that he kept calling the Rosalind, a b*tch (I’m not sure if I can use this word in the review) and amount other things through out the book. In fact, after Rosalind gets out of jail and gets all mad at him, he thinks she such b*tch even thought its his fault that she was in prison in the first place. The fact that Rosalind took him back just made me dislike her. I just regret wasting my time reading this book. If you’re looking for a great historical author with great plot and love scene then try Lisa Kleypas, she almost never disappoints.

I normally like Susan Johnson's books and liked parts of this one but, and I hope I'm not giving anything away by mentioning this, the "hero" still sleeps with other women while he's involved in a sexual relationship with the heroine. I think that is sleazy and gross. There is another book coming out in this series titled "Sexy as Hell" which I'm most likely going to skip just based on my disappointment with this book. Really don't like man tramps in my "romance" books even if it is maybe historically accurate for the times:lol:

I have been reading Susan Johnson novels for years. When I discovered her, I read all of her historicals as quickly as I could find them. However, something about her writing changed for me with several of her newest releases. When I first learned about Gorgeous as Sin I was not sure I would read it, but then I heard that this new historical was similar to her older novels & would appeal to her disillusioned fans (apparently I was not the only one with these sentiments). So I thought, why not give it a second chance, as everyone always deserves another chance, right?
Well, in this case, wrong. I didn’t like it, at all. I thought the plot was predictable, which is not a “sin” as long as the journey with the characters is enjoyable, but I didn’t like the characters either. Fitz, The Duke of Groveland, is an enterprising, scheming, selfish, entitled aristocrat who is used to getting his way, no matter what, or how much it costs him. Money is no object for him, and morals do not exist. He uses coercion, deception, manipulation….anything, even his own body, to win.

Rosalind is a widow who is on the forefront of the suffragette movement. She is progressive, independent to a fault, stubborn and self righteous. When Fitz and Rosalind first meet sparks fly (but not in a good way). Love and Hate are definitely two sides of the same coin for Fitz and Rosalind. I was a little put off at the beginning because of this, but thought that maybe their dialogue and actions towards each other would change as they fell in love, but they didn’t. Fitz calls Rosalind a “bitch” throughout the book, and not in a playful way, but in a derogatory way. Other than their attractiveness to each other I failed to understand what compelled their almost obsessive behavior to have an affair that eventually led to their “falling in love”, and I use that term loosely.

Some reviews I read did not like Fitz because they felt that he “cheated” on Rosalind when he slept with several other women during their brief affair. This did not really bother me because I felt that it accurately portrayed who he was and the type of life he was leading prior to meeting Rosalind, in addition, he and Rosalind were not in a committed relationship (neither wanted anything from the other except sex). It also had the added benefit of leaving A LOT of room for him to grow and mature as a character.

Their entire relationship is based on sex. I failed to comprehend how two people who acted the way they did, used, and treated the other person the way they did, fell in love. Fitz has investigators break into her home to find evidence of her illegal writing, uses estranged family members to try and convince her to “do the right thing”, inadvertently has her arrested and put in jail for writing erotica, and is willing to use any means necessary, including sex with him, to convince her to sell her property to him. Rosalind uses Fitz for the sex, after all she is a widow, and uses their affair as inspiration for writing her popular erotica serial. Both characters were flawed, and their story lacked any kind of intimate passion. I felt they each had a lot of room to grow, and was willing to accept them as they were written at the beginning, hoping that they would redeem themselves by the end, but it just didn’t happen.

Does this sound like a love story to you? It wasn’t for me. After reading this book the only thing I came away liking was the cover.

Reviewed for Seductive Musings

Susan Johnson is fast becoming one of my "must read" authors. Liked this one so much that I passed it along to my sister. This is the first book in the series and I look forward to reading "Sweet Love Survive".

Mary Ruth