Price: $7.99
From the sparkling ballrooms of Regency London to the wealthy glamour of the country house – let Stephanie Laurens be your guide! Miss Georgiana Hartley, orphaned and alone, returned home to England – only to be confronted with the boorish advances of her cousin. Knowing no-one, she fled to Lord Alton’s estate, hoping that the lady of the house would rescue her – but Dominic, Lord Alton, was unmarried! Georgiana could not, with propriety, remain under his roof. She begged him to help her find a suitable position as a lady’s companion, or a governess. The scandalous viscount heard Georgiana’s request with barely-concealed disgust. The very idea was preposterous. Instead, he introduced Georgiana to his sister’s influence. Suddenly, Georgiana was transformed into a lady, charming the ton and cultivating a bevy of suitors. Everything was going to Dominic’s plan – until he realised that he wanted Georgiana for his own.
User Reviews
I'm not surprised by the ratings for this book. This book definitely has it's flaws but it depends on how much your willing to look past it, I guess, and I did so easily, even happily. Sure the heroine has her moments, you know those moments, where she needs a good hard shake until her brains rattle but I couldn't help liking this book.
Miss Georgiana Hartley has come to Candlewick Hall to to beg for assistance against her lecherous cousin, Charles. (what is it about cousins coming onto cousins in these books? Yuck!) Unfortunately there isn't a sympathetic lady in residence, but the incredibly handsome Lord Dominic Ridgely. Normally Dominic wouldn't be caught within a hundred yards of a young marriageable miss, but he knows Charles and can guess at her situation and so he takes pity on her. He sends her to his sister and her husband in London with the instructions to introduce her into the ton, sure in the fact she'll land a husband quickly so he won't have to worry about her. The second she leaves however, Dominic can't stop thinking about her. After forcing himself to stay away, he finally breaks down and comes to London sternly telling himself it's only for a brief look at Georgiana. Just to make sure she's settling in nicely.
Our hero and heroine play the game for awhile. She likes him and he likes her but they circle around each other, letting neither one know their feelings. Finally Dominic can't hide his desire from her or from his family and tells Georgiana that he wants to marry her. This declaration brings about The Big Misunderstanding. Georgiana believes he's only proposing out of pity and continues in this belief for a reaaallllyyy long time.
While this book follows the same old tired plot contrivances and I should by rights, despise it, I liked the book. I found Dominic personable, desirable and roguish while Georgie is adorable. She definitely, definitely has her TSTL moments. It seems she walks around with her head in the clouds, unable to see things until they leap out at her, dancing and screaming, "Look At Me!" She refuses to believe Dominic loves her or feels desire for her to the point of ridiculousness that makes you feel that Stephanie Laurens must have needed to keep writing to meet a set page quota. I rather found Georgie's naivety endearing but at times unbelievable, especially when the author makes her a sophisticated, witty conversationalist, able to outwit and outfox the great Beau Brummel himself. That was a stretch of the imagination. I felt you can't have it both ways. She's either dumb as a doorknob or smart as a whip. She can't be both.
This book has the standard surprise inheritance that Georgiana didn't know she had and of course the obligatory dastardly cousin who is out to steal it. Even as I'm writing this, I really shouldn't have liked this book but I just do. I can't explain it except to say that it just worked for me, flaws and all. Georgie is just so....cute. It's a little patronizing, the feelings I have for her, and I'm sure it's not unlike the feelings Dominic felt for her. She's incredibly young and well, innocent as the title of this book suggests. I can understand the appeal someone such as her would have on an incredibly jaded creature as Dominic Ridgeley but Stephanie Laurens makes her at times childlike and so when they finally do get hot and heavy, there's a squick factor that's a little nasty. Thankfully it's not until the end of the book. Again, this book was so formulaic and so full of the ridiculous that I should be embarrassed to admit I liked it, but I do. God, as I prepare to hit Publish Review, I'm so embarrassed. Oh, well. -- I liked it
....I'd seriously wonder if the author was actually a man mascarading as a woman to sell to an almost exclusively-female audience. Every female character in this book was very weak, while the men were all-knowing. I could handle Georgiana being innocent, but many of the choices she makes (like trusting her cousin, whom she already knows to a slimeball) are indicative of sheer stupidity.
Dominic's (our hero) sister, Bella, was the worst. Despite having already given birth to one child (whom she inexplicably chooses to leave alone in the country with servants while she sits around in London, mostly bored, to be with her husband) it never even occurs to her that the chronic fatigue she suffers may stem from pregnancy. Both Dominic and Bella's husband (and every reader...I really can't see this as being a spoiler) "know" she is expecting long before she does!
I also agree with other reviewers that there was little chemistry between Georgiana and Dominic. I really didn't mind the fact that there was no sex....I would have liked some more heat though!
I really liked Devil's Bride, so I know Laurens is capable of producing strong and likeable feminine characters. However, even her better books seem to have the same flaw as other Regency authors --her lead male characters are near carbon copies of each other (i.e. absurdly handsome, intelligent and arrogant "reformed" rakes). Personally, I prefer Regency romance authors like Julia Quinn who continually provides strong, intelligent female characters and male love interests who are likeable and attractive but imperfect.
Needless to say, this book was a big disappointment. Its only saving grace, for me, is that I got it from a free book pile! -- If I hadn't read other SL books...
i don't care if they didn't have sex blah blah blah or what ever else it just felt like the book was missing something..I don't know i guess if you never read the book before you should read it to judge for yourself... -- 2.5 stars (slipt in the middle)
I grabbed this up without even looking at the back because I enjoyed the steamy Laurens Cynster novel All About Love and Devils Bride. But there is absolutely NO sex in this one. I at least expected one sex scene based on what I had read in her other novels but this one had NONE. The story was also a little drawn out and I never really felt the characters had much in common. -- Dissapointing
I picked this book up, after barely reading the back cover, because I've read quite a few SL books and I have always really enjoyed them. However like many of the other reviewers I wish I hadn't. The book is boring. Besides the fact that there is no sex, (which I can deal with) there is also no sexual tension and no romance. Why on earth these two get together is beyond me. Georgina is supposed to be popular and vivacious but everytime she is w. Dominic she turns into a blathering idiot. Where's her backbone? And why on earth dominic would ever want to marry her is inexplicable. I would reccommend Stephanie Laurens to fans of the genre but stay away from her older stuff. I'm glad this was not the first book of hers I read, at least I know she can do better! -- Terrible
