Finally 3 more books...

It took me 2 weeks to finish Jane Feather's A Wicked Gentleman, which surprises me as I actually liked the story. Lady Cornelia (Nell) Dagenham is a widow with 2 children, her son is the heir to an earldom, her controlling father-in-law is looking for an excuse to take custody of his grandchildren. She and the children escape life under his thumb by going to London for the Season with her are her two best friends--her SIL Aurelia and their friend Liv Lacey. Liv has inherited a falling down town house and small inheritance to repair the building--can you tell this is a three book series??

Viscount Bonham (Harry) is a code breaker for the Crown. Something has been left in the ramshackle old town house that he needs and he befriends the ladies of the house in order to find it. Thus is the set up for the growing relationship between Nell and Harry.

I liked that this is an adult story, not a debutant in sight. All of the characters are interesting and well developed. The story is very character driven. Yet the pace of the story is painfully slow, a little too meandering. I'm not sure her writing style and voice support the slow pace. It reminds me why I like Eloisa James so much, even when her plot is weak the characters are strong and fun enough to carry the story.

Overall I liked it, but would have really preferred to see it cut from 474 pages to 374+/-. (B-)

Anne Stuart!! For some readers that's all you have to say. I'm one of them. I read her books for the heros and if the heroine works too all the better. Ice Blue's heroine worked for me, not as stupidly annoying as Genevieve from Cold as Ice and not as naive as Black Ice's Chloe. Though Summer does have some inconsistencies, mostly having to do with her background (I know I'm being vague, but avoiding spoilers). I like Summer, but this is Takashi O'Brien's story, at least it was for me :)

From the Publisher:

Museum curator Summer Hawthorne considered the exquisite ice-blue ceramic bowl given to her by her beloved Japanese nanny a treasure of sentimental value—until somebody tried to kill her for it.

The priceless relic is about to ignite a global power struggle that must be stopped at all costs. It's a desperate situation, and international operative Takashi O'Brien has received his directive: everybody is expendable. Everybody. Especially the woman who is getting dangerously under his skin as the lethal game crosses the Pacific to the remote and beautiful mountains of Japan, where the truth can be as seductive as it is deadly . . .

The somebody tried to kill her for it part of the story features her La La Land mother's spiritual guru, a phony that believes his destiny is to change the world. The Committee sends Taka to the rescue, should he kill her or save her--what do you think? It's action and adventure and fun. Why else do you read Anne Stuart?

Hmmm, what to say about Kathleen O'Reilly's Beyond Daring? A book that starts with two not so likable characters. Sheldon is the Paris Hilton of the consumer product set, Daddy sells everything from toothpaste to cleaning supplies. She's a useless princess--why, it's never really explained why she behaves so abysmally. Is she acting out to avoid an up coming marriage/merger? No because she's doing this willing or so she says. Her parents are likable, her sister rather sweet, but she's icky. Jeff is a PR dream, can sell "ice to Eskimos" and sleeps with anything remotely interested in his pretty boy looks and demeanor. Jeff's sister is still using her brothers to further her carreer and honestly I think she may be even less likable than these two.

And yet, the darned thing still worked for me. Ultimately I liked where the story took me so it gets a thumbs up or a B- anyway.