The book is full of tiresome inconsistencies and weak-willed characters, but readers who enjoy dark sex scenes may find it...
Two Georgian-era noblemen, a duke and a marquess, spur each other to ever greater depths of depravity, until the duke falls in love with one of their victims.
Hawkins (Twilight with the Infamous Earl, 2013, etc.) returns with the first book in her Masters of Seduction series. Tristan Rooke, Duke of Blackbern, has been friends with Cason Brant, Marquess of Norgrave, since they were children. The two have spent their formative years wenching and brawling like most gentlemen of their class, with perhaps a bit more ruthlessness in their sexual exploits. But when they wager over who can seduce Imogene Sunter, the virgin daughter of the Duke of Trevett, Tristan begins to resent his friend’s competitive nature. Still, they enter into the bet even though Imogene is a lady, unlike the women they usually use and discard. More than once Tristan wishes that Imogene didn’t share his social class. If she had been a servant, “he could have enjoyed her company for a time, and eased her disappointment with a few dresses or a piece of jewelry.” For her part, Imogene quickly figures out that the two men are competing over her, but she prefers Tristan from the beginning. Eventually, due to some shocking lack of supervision on the part of her parents, she manages to start a full-blown affair with Tristan. Tristan conceals his success from his friend because he is smitten with Imogene and knows he’s being a blackguard by sleeping with her. But the villain of the piece is much smarter than either the hero or the heroine, and he figures out that the two have become involved. His revenge is swift and vicious.
The book is full of tiresome inconsistencies and weak-willed characters, but readers who enjoy dark sex scenes may find it entertaining.Pub Date: June 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-06472-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Michaels’s cluttered style has been noticeably trimmed this time around, which keeps the over-the-top plot moving right...
Good brother, bad brother.
It’s 1984: Rick, a wild young Hollywood star and all-around stud, is boozing heavily and secretly doing drugs—but he’s been warned. His controlling, money-mad, hyper-responsible older brother Philly isn’t going to bail him out next time, or square things with that dated entity referred to only as “the studio.” Skip to 1999: Rick’s sobered up and he’s still going strong. “He had a tinge of gray at his temples these days, but the studio expertly covered it up.” (The prolific Michaels may have been too busy churning out bestsellers to notice that studios haven’t kept actors under contract for decades, but never mind.) Rick skips the dye job, however, when Philly dies in an accident and leaves most of his estate to his ne’er-do-well brother, who gives up acting and takes over the resorts-for-the-rich that Philly was developing, though Roxy, Philly’s trashy wife, resents him for it. Ditto Reba, Roxy’s plastic surgeon daughter: Philly was like a father to her but he didn’t leave her much money. Well, what the hell, Rick wants to make everyone happy and redeem himself, so he lets Roxy take over the Crown Jewel, their flagship island resort—and he makes peace with Max and Tyler, the grown sons who never knew him (Philly paid off their mothers), then befriends tough but cute reporter Gracie Lick, and investigates the mystery of Philly’s parentage. Gee, Philly was adopted! Can it be true that Philly’s real mother, 14 when he was born, is now married to aged billionaire Armand Farquar? And did the young Lorraine rescue her newborn son from a Dumpster when her heartless lover tossed him in and then bravely give him up for adoption? She did! And is her lover, Philly’s father, now the Vice President of the United States? He is! Will reporter Gracie Lick take this unlikely story and run with it? She will!
Michaels’s cluttered style has been noticeably trimmed this time around, which keeps the over-the-top plot moving right along. For the fans.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2003
ISBN: 0-7434-5779-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2003
Not Woods’ best, but a smoothly written, beach-themed story with a happy ending helps forgive the weaknesses.
When Samantha, an established-yet-struggling actress, comes home to act as maid-of-honor in her sister’s wedding, the family unabashedly tries to pair her with the best man, Ethan, her teenage crush and now a local war hero.
Samantha is the oldest Castle, and while her two sisters found true love in quick succession, she’s in New York with a struggling acting career and no Mr. Right on the horizon. Coming home to Sand Castle Bay, N.C., for youngest sister Emily’s wedding, Samantha is continually thrown in the path of Ethan Cole, local football champion–turned–war hero. Samantha had a huge high school crush on Ethan but is surprised to learn he lost a leg in Afghanistan, and his then-fiancee abandoned him soon after. Spending time with him now, Samantha realizes what a wonderful man he is, but the association is tainted by the humiliating lengths her family is going to in order to get them together. And while Ethan is a great and honorable man, his post-war romantic experience has left him gun-shy and determined to avoid relationships. At a crossroads in her own life, Samantha has to decide whether she’s going to stay in Sand Castle Bay or go back to her sputtering career in New York—and what her hopes are with Ethan. The two navigate insecurities and misunderstandings as they fall in love and fight for their happily-ever-after. Woods' latest is slightly off-key. Great writing and deft characterization can’t save a thin romantic conflict, and the more Ethan clings to his “I’ve given up on love” position, the less heroic he becomes. Some secondary storylines offer similarly shrill undertones that denote a disturbing lack of communication, unrealistic expectations and waffling with annoying justification. Still, in the end, love conquers all in satisfying ways for everyone concerned, and this ties up a few loose ends for the trilogy.
Not Woods’ best, but a smoothly written, beach-themed story with a happy ending helps forgive the weaknesses.Pub Date: May 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7783-1446-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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