Another bright, delightful read from a queen of historical romance.
When Eugenia Snowe, owner of the most renowned governess agency in England, meets Ward Reeve, a rich inventor and bastard son of an earl, he turns her life upside down.
Ward needs a governess for his half siblings, and when even the elite Snowe agency fails him, he goes straight to the source—the owner, widow Eugenia. Ward’s life is tumultuous. His long-estranged mother has died, leaving her two legitimate children in his care—one of them is also heir to a title—so he figures he needs a governess and a wife. Tackling the governess issue first, he enlists the aid of the venerable Mrs. Snowe, but when two of her governesses don’t work out, he basically kidnaps her and takes her to his estate. Ward is the first man Eugenia has noticed since the death of her husband years ago, and she has never even considered marrying again. She enjoys her freedom and has no desire to put her wealth or the successful business she’s built into a man’s hands, as she’d legally be required to do if she remarried. But as she takes his household in hand and becomes entwined with the family, she begins to fall in love with all of them. Ward, who has lived abroad for years and not kept up with society, doesn’t realize she’s not simply a tradeswoman, but is in fact the daughter of a marquis herself. And while he’s falling in love with her, too, he deems her unworthy as a wife despite her subtle hints to the contrary. Romance star James (My American Duchess, 2016, etc.) takes a complicated conflict and infuses it with emotional depth, then heightens it with sexual tension, loss, misunderstanding, pride, and class bias with an interesting twist. Any historical romance reader will enjoy this book, but James’ fans will be especially pleased to revisit characters from the original Desperate Duchesses series titles—they’ll recognize Eugenia as Strange’s daughter from Duchess by Night (2008) and Ward (formerly known as Teddy) from Desperate Duchesses (2007).
Another bright, delightful read from a queen of historical romance.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-238945-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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