Helpful Score: 2
Wow. Wow. Wow. This was an excellent historical romance novel.
The basics-
The Marquess of Ranelaw wants revenge. Years ago, Godfrey Demarest allegedly ruined his sister and he plans to return the favor by ruining his one and only daughter.
Miss Antonia Smith is hiding. She was ruined years ago, cast from her family, and fled to her cousins home to become her cousins companion. Antonia hides her looks so that no one will identify her for fear that she will now disgrace her cousins family.
Miss Antonia Smiths cousin happens to be Godfrey Demarests daughter. Antonia will do whatever it takes to make sure her cousin does not experience the shame and embarrassment that she felt 10 years earlier.
Doing whatever it takes, includes keeping her cousin away from Ranelaw, a man she does not trust.
Antonia might be able to keep her cousin away from Ranelaw but she is having a hard time squashing her own desire and attraction to the man.
Ranelaw, intent on destroying Demarests daughter, is quickly sidetracked by Antonia. Not because of Antonias actions but because he knows there is something about Antonia that makes him forget everything about revenge and only about his desire for Antonia.
What I LOVED-
The characters. The descriptions, the history, and the personalities of the characters made the characters come alive. The interactions between Antonia and Ranelaw were heartbreaking, tender, tough, and humorous. It was fun to watch Ranelaw transform from a heartless man bent on revenge to a caring, confused man in love. Antonia goes from a discreet, walled off, heartbroken, lonely woman to a woman full of passion and life.
Overall-
I really do not have any complaints about the book. I enjoyed in its entirety and thus, gave it 5 stars!
The basics-
The Marquess of Ranelaw wants revenge. Years ago, Godfrey Demarest allegedly ruined his sister and he plans to return the favor by ruining his one and only daughter.
Miss Antonia Smith is hiding. She was ruined years ago, cast from her family, and fled to her cousins home to become her cousins companion. Antonia hides her looks so that no one will identify her for fear that she will now disgrace her cousins family.
Miss Antonia Smiths cousin happens to be Godfrey Demarests daughter. Antonia will do whatever it takes to make sure her cousin does not experience the shame and embarrassment that she felt 10 years earlier.
Doing whatever it takes, includes keeping her cousin away from Ranelaw, a man she does not trust.
Antonia might be able to keep her cousin away from Ranelaw but she is having a hard time squashing her own desire and attraction to the man.
Ranelaw, intent on destroying Demarests daughter, is quickly sidetracked by Antonia. Not because of Antonias actions but because he knows there is something about Antonia that makes him forget everything about revenge and only about his desire for Antonia.
What I LOVED-
The characters. The descriptions, the history, and the personalities of the characters made the characters come alive. The interactions between Antonia and Ranelaw were heartbreaking, tender, tough, and humorous. It was fun to watch Ranelaw transform from a heartless man bent on revenge to a caring, confused man in love. Antonia goes from a discreet, walled off, heartbroken, lonely woman to a woman full of passion and life.
Overall-
I really do not have any complaints about the book. I enjoyed in its entirety and thus, gave it 5 stars!
I loved this book, author has a canny sense of humour and instills it in the pages of this book. Characters are witted against each other but in the end..... well you'll have to read to find out.
~ BEGINNING WAS HORRIBLE, BUT (TO MY SURPRISE) VASTLY IMPROVED AFTER THE FIRST ~100 PAGES (4 stars) ~
One of my HR friends disliked this book and having never read Anna Campbell before, I decided to skip it. It was getting so many great ratings however, that I thought I might as well check it out from the library and see what all the fuss was about. Well let me tell you, it got off to a VERY rocky start with me and I almost put the book down and didn't finish it - in the end, I'm so glad I didn't!
The first ~90-100 pages drove me crazy and felt so, SO cliché. We have the oh-so-bad rake, out for revenge, going to take it out on an innocent society darling, sees past the ugly disguise of her chaperone (after first remarking 500 times how ugly she is), decides he'll do them both, is selfish and only thinking with his ::clears throat:: - well, not his head. And then we have the prim reformed heroine who let her passions get her into a scandal years ago, resulted in family estrangement and her having to make her way, now she's determined to be proper and never again controlled by her emotions, she hates all rakes and charmers, considers herself totally able to spot them and fend them off ... and then melts into a puddle *every*single*freaking*time* (!!) the hero is around, saying 'Oh, I shouldn't, I know better, but look at that hot bod and that smile, he makes me tingle - oh no, what am I thinking? - okay just one kiss - oh no! how could I? - well he is so sexy and the hottest guy on earth' on and on and on (this drove me *NUTS*, in case you couldn't tell).
So yes, I was really, really not feeling the beginning of the book and wish it could be rewritten, because the hero comes off as a superficial and selfish man-whore, while the heroine seems spineless, self-righteous, and wholly hypocritical.
However, it got much, much better and I ended up really enjoying the romance and the leading characters - the banter between them was delightful right from the beginning and was probably the only thing that kept me reading at first. The secondary characters were for the most part surprisingly three-dimensional, which made the book that much more interesting.
While I did end up liking Antonia and rooting for her, Nicholas *completely* stole the show for me! As I said, he really does come off like a bastard at the beginning, but one feels that he does undergo a change and that that change is authentic. The scene between him and Antonia when he's in her room, she's tired from having nursed Cassie, and he's sweet and for once taking a break from pursuing her, was so lovely (see quotes below pgs111-115). That is when he started to completely win me over and my opinion about the story firmly did a 180.
So bottom line: Great read, get it! I will be buying my own copy so I can reread in the future.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
Most of them have (ummm ... all of them?) have to do with Nicholas, whom I absolutely 100% adore (post pg~90).
He'd stared into her eyes, dark with confusion and unwilling passion, and for one stark, horrible instant, he'd wished to be that different man. He'd wished to be worthy of her.
(p98-99)
"Miss Smith, your suspicions wound me," he said with a smile. He drew her, stiff and unwilling, against his side. Immediately her warmth seeped into his veins. He'd known he'd missed her, but only now did he realize how much. "I mean no harm."
"You lie."
"Often," he agreed amiably, feeling the resistance leaching from her. "Not this time."
"I'm in no fit state to fight you," she muttered, curving into him as if created to fit his body.
"I know," he acknowledged ruefully, wondering why of all the women in the world, she was the only one who ignited any glimmer of chivalry in his soul. "But it's no fun when you just give in. I'll wait until you're up for another bout."
She hid her face in his shoulder. She inhaled on a shudder, as if she hadn't taken a full breath in days. "You're an evil devil, Ranelaw."
"Absolutely," he said softly, firming his hold as she shifted, not away as she should, but closer.
(p111)
He'd been right about her determination to save the people she loved. He wondered with a sudden pang he couldn't identify how it would feel having someone like Antonia on his side.
(p113)
He'd always loved how she fought him. He loved the crackle and spark of her wit. Now he discovered he also loved the way she lay against him in what felt like perfect trust. ...
Antonia was a tall, vital woman, no shrinking miss. Now she felt brittle and vulnerable. He tightened his hold and told himself the surge of protectiveness meant nothing. Again he couldn't quite believe it.
(p115)
He swallowed and told himself he couldn't steal her like so much contraband and rush of somewhere they'd never be disturbed. Such places only existed in fairy tales. "I'll wait for you."
(p144)
He'd been unhappy, restless, irritable since leaving Surrey. He'd lived on memories of her. Her absence slowly strangled him. The instant he took Antonia in his arms, he breathed again.
(p169)
"I want you to myself." Much as he strove to sound the assured man of the world, ragged emotion edged the words.
(p172)
One of my HR friends disliked this book and having never read Anna Campbell before, I decided to skip it. It was getting so many great ratings however, that I thought I might as well check it out from the library and see what all the fuss was about. Well let me tell you, it got off to a VERY rocky start with me and I almost put the book down and didn't finish it - in the end, I'm so glad I didn't!
The first ~90-100 pages drove me crazy and felt so, SO cliché. We have the oh-so-bad rake, out for revenge, going to take it out on an innocent society darling, sees past the ugly disguise of her chaperone (after first remarking 500 times how ugly she is), decides he'll do them both, is selfish and only thinking with his ::clears throat:: - well, not his head. And then we have the prim reformed heroine who let her passions get her into a scandal years ago, resulted in family estrangement and her having to make her way, now she's determined to be proper and never again controlled by her emotions, she hates all rakes and charmers, considers herself totally able to spot them and fend them off ... and then melts into a puddle *every*single*freaking*time* (!!) the hero is around, saying 'Oh, I shouldn't, I know better, but look at that hot bod and that smile, he makes me tingle - oh no, what am I thinking? - okay just one kiss - oh no! how could I? - well he is so sexy and the hottest guy on earth' on and on and on (this drove me *NUTS*, in case you couldn't tell).
So yes, I was really, really not feeling the beginning of the book and wish it could be rewritten, because the hero comes off as a superficial and selfish man-whore, while the heroine seems spineless, self-righteous, and wholly hypocritical.
However, it got much, much better and I ended up really enjoying the romance and the leading characters - the banter between them was delightful right from the beginning and was probably the only thing that kept me reading at first. The secondary characters were for the most part surprisingly three-dimensional, which made the book that much more interesting.
While I did end up liking Antonia and rooting for her, Nicholas *completely* stole the show for me! As I said, he really does come off like a bastard at the beginning, but one feels that he does undergo a change and that that change is authentic. The scene between him and Antonia when he's in her room, she's tired from having nursed Cassie, and he's sweet and for once taking a break from pursuing her, was so lovely (see quotes below pgs111-115). That is when he started to completely win me over and my opinion about the story firmly did a 180.
So bottom line: Great read, get it! I will be buying my own copy so I can reread in the future.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
Most of them have (ummm ... all of them?) have to do with Nicholas, whom I absolutely 100% adore (post pg~90).
He'd stared into her eyes, dark with confusion and unwilling passion, and for one stark, horrible instant, he'd wished to be that different man. He'd wished to be worthy of her.
(p98-99)
"Miss Smith, your suspicions wound me," he said with a smile. He drew her, stiff and unwilling, against his side. Immediately her warmth seeped into his veins. He'd known he'd missed her, but only now did he realize how much. "I mean no harm."
"You lie."
"Often," he agreed amiably, feeling the resistance leaching from her. "Not this time."
"I'm in no fit state to fight you," she muttered, curving into him as if created to fit his body.
"I know," he acknowledged ruefully, wondering why of all the women in the world, she was the only one who ignited any glimmer of chivalry in his soul. "But it's no fun when you just give in. I'll wait until you're up for another bout."
She hid her face in his shoulder. She inhaled on a shudder, as if she hadn't taken a full breath in days. "You're an evil devil, Ranelaw."
"Absolutely," he said softly, firming his hold as she shifted, not away as she should, but closer.
(p111)
He'd been right about her determination to save the people she loved. He wondered with a sudden pang he couldn't identify how it would feel having someone like Antonia on his side.
(p113)
He'd always loved how she fought him. He loved the crackle and spark of her wit. Now he discovered he also loved the way she lay against him in what felt like perfect trust. ...
Antonia was a tall, vital woman, no shrinking miss. Now she felt brittle and vulnerable. He tightened his hold and told himself the surge of protectiveness meant nothing. Again he couldn't quite believe it.
(p115)
He swallowed and told himself he couldn't steal her like so much contraband and rush of somewhere they'd never be disturbed. Such places only existed in fairy tales. "I'll wait for you."
(p144)
He'd been unhappy, restless, irritable since leaving Surrey. He'd lived on memories of her. Her absence slowly strangled him. The instant he took Antonia in his arms, he breathed again.
(p169)
"I want you to myself." Much as he strove to sound the assured man of the world, ragged emotion edged the words.
(p172)
Anna Campbell continues to wow me with main couple driven stories that are never overshadowed by the secondary characters or plots. I loved the relationship between Antonia and Nicholas. I felt all their riotous emotions as they moved through the various stages of sexual attraction, character development, revenge, anger, forgiveness, and ultimate love. This was a deeply romantic tale that earned a solid 4.5 stars!
