The Seduction of an Unknown Lady by Samantha James
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Book Reviews of The Seduction of an Unknown Lady
Book Review: Dull.
Summary: 2 Stars
This book was dull and boring. Both h/h lacked personalities. Fionna may have been TSTL, but mostly she was a shrew. She was not a likable heroine. Aidan was a saint to stick with her. Over and over she told him to leave and she didn't want him, yada, yada, yada and I kept wishing he would just to put me out of my misery. But, no, he kept coming back for more of her tirades. Actually I couldn't imagine how they could stay together - they fought so much, yelled at each other, etc.
AND, I am getting very tired of the same old 'hero lusting over the heroine after just meeting her and he is hard every time she comes near'. While she 'gets hot and wet and achy any time he is near'. This all without them having a relationship. Sorry, that isn't romantic. Sex in the proper context adds to a romance. Sex instead of developing the story doesn't. Too many I have read lately are neglecting the story and romance for the sake of the sex scenes and all the lust! If I only read regencies like this (and the last several I have read have been) I would begin to assume men and women back then only thought about bedding each other and men only thought about how and how soon they could get a woman to sleep with them.
I have read several Samantha James books and liked them. This wasn't one of them. I read Simon Blackwell and seem to remember thinking it was ok, but can't remember anything about it, so it must not have been too memorable.
Book Review: Not a true historical
Summary: 1 Stars
The year is 1854, the height of the Victorian age. The heroine owns a book shop, lives in the apartments upstairs and is a bookish virgin. Yet she blithely goes out for midnight walks alone, has a cleaning lady in once or twice a week and goes out on dates with the hero. Is this a 21st century woman playing dress-up in Victorian garb?
As a lover of historical romances, I find myself fed up with today's publishing houses. Editors seem to have forgotten what a historical setting entails.
Shame on Samantha James for falling into that Bridget Jones' Diary trap. Women in 1850's England had real issues to confront. Not being able to own property, fear of pregnancy, knowing that your livelihood was based entirely on how your peers viewed your virtue. Not to mention the idea that any woman could manage a Victorian bookshop (as well as her warddrobe) with just a cleaning lady in once or twice a week is ridiculous. There was no electricity, no running water, no refrigerators to store food. Keeping a household clean, food on the table and clothing as well as your own personal hygiene acceptable was a full time job in itself.
As for the romance itself, it promised something never delivered. The most perilous bits came from the snippets of F.J. Sparrow's writing. The rest is a long diatribe if will she/won't she let him in the door. it had no emotional resonance. A pity since historical novels often have peril just by nature of the time they are set. In the 1850's London was an overcrowded city on the brink of epidemic disease and death. A woman alone had to be very clever just to survive.
Save yourself the aggravation of this current crop of historicals and go read some of the classic ones from a decade ago.
Book Review: Characters don't make you care
Summary: 2 Stars
I read a lot of romance novels, and I generally love them. I keep buying Samantha James's novels thinking I will like them (reading the cover and being interested) and then being completely disappointed by the book. Normally, I am engrossed in a romance novel and devour it in a few hours - reading straight through till I'm finished. I easily put this novel aside for days, and it certainly didn't keep me up at night dying to know the ending.
First, I never really cared one way or the other about the main characters. While they are both good characters in theory, they never came alive for me. None of the drama made my heart race, nothing brought tears to my eyes.
Second, the book was too predictable, the villian obvious from the first time he is introduced (very near the beginning), and the author doesn't ever really make you believe that there is any substantial problem standing in the way of the romance between the two main characters.
I'm sure the book will do well, but I don't recommend this as a fantastic example of the genre.
Book Review: I finished it one day - looking forward to Alec The Duke's story....
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like the storyline about her mother being in a hospital and the underlining evil character that was out to hurt Fionna. Fionna thinks her mother is going 'mad' - she has her mother placed in a 'hospital' in London,opens a bookstore and continues to write novels as F.J. Sparrow. Fionna keeps everyone at arms length for so many reason - until she meets Aidan and he won't be pushed away. I like this series - and will read more by this author - a good solid 4 star book.
If you like this genre you might like my summer reading list;At the Bride Hunt Ball , Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady (Harlequin Historical) , Rules For Being A Mistress (Zebra Historical Romance) , Highland Knight , A Rake's Guide to Seduction, The Trouble with Moonlight , Gentlemen Behaving Badly (Pleasure Emporium) and Lessons From a Courtesan.
Book Review: Madness and Seduction
Summary: 3 Stars
The cover of this book has a comment from author Lisa Kleypas, "A remarkable writer". This book was a pleasant enough read but hardly remarkable - in fact it seemed to bear a lot of similarities in plot and character to many other books in this genre. However, as a light read for those who like historical romance, it's a reasonable enough attempt.
Fionna Hawkes is living a quiet life as the owner of a bookstore in London. She has two secrets, one about the source of her money and the other that her mother is mad. When Fionna is noticed by Lord Aidan McBride who begins to try to woo her she knows nothing can come of it - how can a duke's brother get involved with a woman who has madness in her family. Aidan isn't so easily turned away from his attempts to get close to Fionna, however, as he has his own demons to confront and he finds Fionna is a woman unlike any other. But as they become better acquainted they discover that someone seems to be stalking Fionna and that someone may well be dangerous.
The bulk of this story consists of the interactions between Aidan and Fionna, Fionna trying to resist him and Aidan trying to get her to trust him. Fionna vacillates between encouraging him and trying to get him to leave her alone and this takes up a large portion of the book. The threat of the stalker is really a very minor part of this story, dealt with rather quickly, and the couple of twists in the plot were all predictable quite a long way in advance. However it's reasonably written and, despite a few historical glitches, feels comfortable in the world of foggy London of the 1850s.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book ? Helen Hancox 2008