Not bad, not great, though I will continue with the series, having skipped the first two books in it. I began with this one, due to the poor reviews of the first two.

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2009/10/d... ( )

This was interesting - Harriet, a widowed duchess, agrees to go to a notorious lord's house with a friend, but in order to fit in, Harriet disguises herself as a man. Delighted with the freedom she has dressed as such, Harriet gives herself over to riding, fencing, and discussions over port. But when the man of the house, Lord Strange, shows an interest in "Harry," as unsettling as it is for Lord Strange, Harriet soon finds herself in a tricky situation...

This was VERY steamy - not for the shy. The characters are intriguing ( both main characters and supporting) and are well-developed. The insight Harriet gains into the differences between rules for women and for men was fascinating both for her and for me as the reader.

Recommended. ( )

Another of James's fun, sexy Georgian romances. Harriet is tired of being a widow. For reasons of friendship, she winds up at one of Lord Strange's disreputable houseparties, disguised as a man. She loves the freedom it gives her. Meanwhile, Lord Strange is trying to figure out why he's so attracted to his new male guest. Hijinks ensue. ( )

Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, has been at a loss ever since her husband killed himself. She has found herself playing the role of dumpy country widow at all society gatherings and she realizes that she’s tired of it. She wants to be more than that. When the opportunity to attend Lord Justinian Strange’s house parties presents itself, Harriet goes for it. She dresses as a man to hide her true identity, but when she meets Jem, Lord Strange, she certainly feels anything but manly.

I’m a little torn about this book. I enjoyed it a lot more than I did the last book I read by Eloisa James, Desperate Duchesses. The focus was definitely on the couple and I enjoyed their love story to a certain extent. I cared about most of the characters, especially Jem’s daughter, which was a little odd because normally I prefer my romances without children in them. I don’t have kids and have trouble relating when they’re involved; they’re important to relationships, but I’m not reading these books for real life. I liked this one, though.

I could easily understand Harriet’s love of freedom in her men’s outfit. She could fence, ride like a man, and enjoy freedoms women couldn’t imagine at the time. It was also very amusing when all the female house guests developed crushes. I couldn’t really get on with Jem, Lord Strange, though. His personality isn’t really revealed until the end of the book and I found it hard to reconcile his behavior with his back story.

I’m torn mainly because I found the ending unrealistic. Jem basically changes to please Harriet and I don’t find that satisfactory at all. I know that I’m supposed to be suspending disbelief, but I just can’t do that here. A relationship will not work if you force someone to give up their former life to be with you. While he chose it in the end, I didn’t see it as a viable relationship, and that bothers me in romance novels. I want to at least imagine a happily ever after. This one had an epilogue, but I still felt that such a change would breed resentment.

So, I liked it up until the end, really. Eloisa James isn’t going to be my favorite romance author, but her books are still providing me with entertainment I need when I can’t focus on much else.

http://chikune.com/blog/?p=684 ( )

Eloisa James is hit or miss with me, I don't like all her books. This one worked for me, I liked how Jem floundered, wondering how he could be so interested in the very young Harry. I enjoyed Jem and Harry a lot. What I didn't like was the forced fight at the end, I felt like the last 50 or so pages were only there because the book had to be X pages long. I was really disappointed with them and actually didn't need the daughter (Eugenia? something like that) to fall dramatically ill at all. Jem felt wretched enough and had learnt his lesson, it felt like over kill to me. I also hated the epilogue which made no sense either. So bulk of the book worked well, ending, not so much. ( )