Lady Wombat says:

Very different heroine, very different hero, quite different setting, from Miss Wonderful, but equally appealing. And very very funny!

Lady Daphne Pembroke has been a scholar all of her life, except when her late husband didn’t allow her to be one. She publishes under her brother Miles’s name and all her brilliance is attributed to him. When Miles is kidnapped, Daphne is frantic with concern and determined to do something. She rescues Rupert Carsington from jail and decides that he will be the brawn behind her brains on the quest to rescue Miles. As the story progresses, they find that she has more courage and he has more intelligence and resilience than either of them ever expected, and from these discoveries, respect and love grow.

This book was definitely much better than the last book I read by Loretta Chase. Here, the hero and heroine play perfectly off each other. Chase has written characters whose chemistry practically makes the pages sizzle and not only in the most obvious ways. Their minds work together very well and I loved how their personalities were gradually revealed both to the reader and each other. I was also particularly pleased with Daphne’s brilliance and that except for when her life was in danger, she never let a man get the better of her when she knew how intelligent she was.

Admittedly, the plot here wasn’t all that great. Revelations about the papyrus and the reasons Miles were kidnapped are all fairly obvious from the start. This will only disappoint those who are actually looking for a plot, though. While it’s nice for a romance to have a clever and inventive plot, it’s not really necessary, and clearly here the focus is sharply on the characters.

This was definitely an engaging and entertaining read. I’d recommend it.

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=590 ( )

This is the book which has started thousands of women who swore they'd never read romance novels (or never read them again; what? the used bookstore when I was fifteen had romance novels for 25 cents and my best friend and I read them TOTALLY TO MAKE FUN OF THEM; I SWEAR; NOT AT ALL FOR THE DIRTY BITS) on a mad quest to read everything Loretta Chase has ever written, and press those books swooningly on friends.

Chase is a damn good writer. Not just a "damn good romance writer", which carries a "relatively" with it. A damn good writer. Mr. Impossible is only my second favorite of hers, but it's such a good way to start.

I struggled a lot with this one. Becuase it was loaned to me by someone I (generally) agree with as being completely wonderful crack!fic I suspect my lack of enthusiasm is more about me than the book. It was read in a thousand and one (very small) sittings, and didn't really grab me by the throat at any point. Some amusing parts, some well written parts, but mostly I'm left feeling blah about it. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/m... ( )