Goddess of the hunt by Tessa Dare

   

Lucy Waltham has grown up on her brother’s estate, riding, fishing, and shooting. A highlight of the year has always been the fall, when Henry’s three dearest friends – Felix, Toby, and Jeremy - arrive for weeks of outdoor activities. Henry’s marriage and subsequent fatherhood only meant that Lucy couldn’t enjoy a London Season, as it seems her sister-in-law is continually pregnant.  Now Lucy is 19 and determined to marry the man she loves: Sir Toby Aldridge, whom she’s loved since she was a child.

There is a slight problem. Felix has arrived with his new wife and her sister, Sophia, and Toby has fallen head over heels for her. Sophia is pretty, ladylike, and also wealthy – in short, everything that Lucy is not. So Lucy decides to use Jeremy Trescott, Earl of Kendall, to practice her seductive wiles and make Toby jealous. Surely Jemmy, whom Lucy has also known since childhood, will help her out?

Jeremy is outraged, though he can’t quite figure out why. He tells himself that he doesn’t want Lucy to make a fool of herself and have her feelings hurt. But why is he spending so much time thinking about her delectable beauty and enchanting body? Toby would be all wrong for Lucy.  Jeremy, of course, isn’t interested in marriage, but he’ll do whatever it takes to, um, protect Lucy.

These two are a hoot. Lucy is about as unpretentious a heroine as they come, which is an absolutely delightful breath of fresh air. She fumbles and makes mistakes, but never dwells on them, only pushes ahead to her next idea. Jeremy finds her joie de vivre to be infectious, though he tries hard to hold onto his staid, proper demeanor. Their chemistry is explosive, which ultimately leads to an unexpected marriage and a chance for an equally unexpected love. And the author does it all with a writing style that is as fresh and unpretentious as her characters.

Jeremy has a painful family past, when is presented here as rather matter-of-fact. He’s stuck with the sins of his father, which he accepts, though he’s not quite sure how to get past it. This was an excellent touch as it allows readers to understand him without making him seem like he’s wallowing in victimhood. Jeremy isn’t exactly opposed to love; he’s just not sure he’d recognize it if it hit him in the face. And now it is up to Lucy to enlighten him...

Intellectually, they are well-matched. Lucy is bright and sharp-witted, and has a great sense of humor. Jeremy’s just as quick-witted, making their conversations a treat for the reader. Seeing them banter and wise crack makes this a very realistic tale as opposed to the fairy tale like quality some stories have.

The secondary characters play out in unexpectedly stereotype-free fashion. Henry is a loving brother, and his neglect of Lucy’s introduction into Society is presented as an oversight as he has little need of Society himself. Sophia could easily have become the villainess, but she and Lucy forge an unexpected friendship. Everywhere you look in this novel, the characters are doing unexpected things.

There is a thin line between humor and flippancy, the author weaves in and out of humor without slipping into flippancy, she makes tragedy seem realistic so that the characters tackle the problem and move on instead of wallowing in it, and the most lovely part of this story is the element of surprise you can never quite guess what they are going to do next!

Lively, funny, with a twist of tragedy and a sizzling love story at the heart of it all! One cannot help but fall a little in love with Jeremy and Lucy.

A 10/10 for Ms. Tessa Dare....eagerly awaiting her next one!

Proof by Seduction by Courtney Milan

Madame Esmeralda, Jenny Keeble, a fortune teller in London is once visited by Ned, a young lord prone to depressive throes, who walks up to her one fine day and says “Give me one reason why I should not end it all.” Madam Esmeralda cannot see the future, but she wants to save a youth bent on the path of self destruction and hence convinces Ned that his future would be happy. A lie that in addition to lining Madam’s pockets, gives Ned a new hope to live, to make something of himself….And an unlikely friendship develops between the young lord and the fortune teller who cannot tell the future….A friendship that Ned values because it once gave him a reason to live, and one that Madam Esmeralda values simply because she has no friends, no family, no one to call her own.

Two years later….Ned’s cousin Gareth is determined to rescue Ned ….In addition to the distance from ordinary feelings arising from his rank, Gareth Carhart, Marquess of Blakely is a scientist, a man whose entire approach to the world is based on reason and proof.  Thus, when he discovers that his young nephew and heir is in the thrall of a fortune teller, Blakely sets out to demonstrate to Ned that this woman is a fraud.  Ned, firmly believes in Jenny’s prognostication skills and wanting to prove them to Blakely.

Thus they devise a “scientific” test after Jenny predicts that Blakely will meet his future wife at an upcoming ball. Jenny devises a series of tasks for Blakely to complete on the way to finding true love. Thus we have Jenny, Ned and the veracity of fortunetellers on one side, and Blakely and science on the other side. Quite a battle ensues.

Jenny is appalled at Blakely’s determination to unmask her to Ned, not simply because she appreciates the fees but because the young man of nineteen who began to visit her two years earlier was on a path to self-destruction.  Her counsel had convinced Ned that his future would be happy and she is fearful that the sudden discovery that she is a fraud will set him off on a downward spiral. But Blakely refuses to hear her warning, so determined is he to prove Ned that he has been Madame Esmerelda’s dupe.

Blakely’s quest draws Jenny unwillingly into his world and into an effort to thwart his designs.  Blakely can see through her disguise, but Jenny can also see beyond the marquess’  cold façade to the lonely man whose position and personality have kept him from meaningful human contact.  Blakely is shocked to discover his attraction to a woman he knows is a charlatan.  Jenny is surprised that she is drawn to her opponent, both sexually and personally.

Thus we have two very strong characters, both who complete each other emotionally so beautifully and a story full of humor, emotions and a little philosophy to take home. A complete package.
A 8/10. Wonderful weekend read.

This rake of mine by Elizabeth Boyle

Miss Jane Porter, is a teacher at Miss Emery’s establishment for young ladies, a teacher of decorum, who had a fall from grace years ago. Years ago, Miss Porter was Miss Miranda Mabberly….. Miranda Mabberly, a rich London heiress, poised to marry the rich and title Lord Oxley. Although Miranda is repulsed at her betrothal to Lord Oxley, Miranda's wealthy parents regard the upcoming marriage as an entree into society. Fate intervenes when playboy Lord Jack Tremont plants a kiss on Miranda during a night out at the opera in full view of the society mavens. Having mistaken Miranda for his mistress, Jack has unknowingly plunged himself and Miranda into scandal. When Lord Oxley calls off the wedding, Miranda's reputation is in ruins and she is disinherited and abandoned by her parents. With nowhere else to go, Miranda beseeches her former teacher, Miss Emery, for a teaching position at her school for girls in Bath, England. Miss Emery agrees to hire Miranda on the condition that she changes her name to disassociate herself from the scandal involving herself and Lord Tremont. Miranda Mabberly becomes Miss Jane Porter, teacher of decorum.

Lord Jack Tremont, mad Jack, a rake beyond reform regrets one mistake from his ‘rake’ days….Miss Miranda Mabberly, the girl he ruined by kiss, and when he wants to make amends he realizes the girl is dead. Dead. Not even a chance to atone for his sins.

Nine years later,  Lord Jack Tremont arrives at Miss Emery’s school in order to transport his niece back home after she is expelled. There as fates would have it he runs in to a teacher, Miss Jane Porter….. a spinsterish teacher who is hauntingly familiar to him.

Miranda and Jack's worlds collide once again when Miranda escorts via carriage three of her students who are making the trip home to Kent. When a fierce storm forces the women to take refuge at Thistleton Park, a gloomy estate in Sussex, Miranda is shocked to discover that the owner is none other than Lord Jack Tremont. Equally shocked to have Miss Jane Porter and her three young charges as houseguests, Lord Jack attempts to send the women on their way, to no avail. Tremont is all too aware that danger surrounds Thistleton Park, as evidenced by the mysterious disappeareance/presumed death of his elderly aunt. Soon, Miranda discovers that her three charges are playing matchmaker between herself and Lord Tremont. Although Miranda knows that she has no future with a rake like Lord Tremont, she finds herself falling under Jack's spell as danger and intrigue threatens their budding relationship.

Throw into the mix a mad dead aunt, a nosy neighbor determined to hang Jack, a smuggling racquet, all the humor coming of misplaced attempts at matchmaking and you have a thoroughly entertaining story…..It would not be fair to judge the story by the character sketches of hero and heroine, it is the entire mix of secondary character and circumstantial humor and a little of the present – past shuffling that makes this a thorough entertainer. As always Boyle makes you laugh a little all the way to the end. Sort of like watching a romantic comedy like Sweet home Alabama on a Saturday afternoon.

I would give it a 7.5/10. Very very good for a light read but not exceptional.