Teresa Medeiros

This book had me at hello, great beginning. When Captain Doom says with a hand flat over his chest. "Your mistake, man," he said softly. "The little wench damn near got my heart." I do believe folks this is called foreshadowing.
I delight in stories where the characters conflict with each other and you can literately see as you read the characters change, grow, and come together. I can already sense Lucy is going to have a lot of growing up to do and I can't wait to see how Gerard pushes her show more into it.
Medeiros does a spectacular job of showing how Gerard brings Lucy alive.
Oooh loved the scene where Gerard and Lucy have supper in the carriage and Gerard's game of teasing Lucy backfires and she tells him "Why Mr. Claremont your spectacles are fogging up."
Truly heartbreaking when Lucy is confided to her room and looks out her window to see Gerard watching her window leaning against a tree in the wind. She lays her palm against the window and simply says "Good morning Mr. Claremont"
The dancing around each other is so delightful to read. Lucy constantly pushing, poking, and trying Gerard's patience in subtle ways and Gerard's constant fight to stay diligent in avoidance of any feelings for her. This is where the story really comes alive for me; Lucy and Gerard's battle to stay apart and together.
The scene where Lucy tells Gerard she loves him is completely perfect, with the cheroot falling out of his mouth to him walking away, and finally with Lucy whispering "Was it something I said?" to herself. You want to laugh but strangely at the same time your heart is bleeding for this couple.
Sometimes I was restless at the stalemate Lucy and Gerard seemed to be at. I thought it was going to be cured by the addition of Gerard's brother Kevin, and what a delight he was, but he didn't end up playing a large enough role. (Did Medeiros ever make a sequel with Kevin?)
There did come a point were I groaned with frustration, how many times can a couple be interrupted when they keep waiting so long to get together?
I couldn't help thinking "oh shit" when Lucy's father kills Gerard's man sent over to negotiate a deal. Gerard has to retaliate, even Kevin steps in front of him but to no avail, but then when Gerard kicks the door down to get to Lucy I found myself holding my breath because maybe just maybe this could be a good thing and finally something can be resolved between these two.
Now this was a story! The kind where you read the last page then sigh and sit there for a couple seconds digesting what you just read. The first part of the book had a lot of bittersweet poignancy for me and was terrific. The second part of the book did get a little long. I would have liked the courtroom scene to have come about earlier. However, even with this small complaint, this is a book you experience and savor not just read, toss away, and forget. Can you say Keeper?

A show less

Esmerelda Fine's parents died when she was 13, leaving her to care for her younger brother alone. The only family she has left is an aunt and uncle (a duke) in England, to whom she frequently writes. Now a grown woman who sacrificed her own happiness for her brother's sake, she is distraught when he turns up missing. The detective she hires tells her he was killed by a notorious outlaw named Billy Darling. Esmerelda sells her music school and all her belongings to finance a trip from Boston show more to the Wild West to locate this outlaw and bring him to justice. When she finally meets up with him (in a hilarious saloon scene), she finds out that Billy Darling is not who she thought he was and her brother might still be alive. Now in need of someone to track her lost brother, who better to ask but Mr. Darling himself? When he accepts her offer, Esmerelda encounters bank robbers, Billy's renegade brothers, and finally, love.

This is, without a doubt, one of the most romantic stories I've ever read. From the first page, I was interested in the characters. Their interactions are sometimes so hilarious that I caught myself laughing out loud at them. Esmerelda and Billy do not trust one another at first, but they are so drawn to each other that when they finally kiss, sparks fly. Billy is the perfect hero. He's been a hired gun, but he desires more--specifically, a badge. He's tired of fighting on the wrong side of the law, but his brothers' reputation has soiled his own. There is a clear turning point when Billy is wounded and Esmerelda takes care of him. She sees a gentler side to his nature, and...well, to continue would be to spoil the plot for you.

There are plenty of twists and turns along the way. Nothing comes easily to the couple, but in the end their love and Billy's persistence are rewarded. It's a most satisfying ending to a beautifully-written story. I started this one afternoon and stayed up late into the night to finish it. It's one of those books that leaves me a little sad to have to part with these characters. If you enjoy historical romance, do not hesitate to try "Nobody's Darling." show less

An excellent historical romance!

'Yours Until Dawn' is about an earl, Gabriel Fairchild, who is blinded in a naval battle, disgraced and abandoned by his family and fiancee, and Samantha Wickersham, a prim but spirited young woman who accepts the position of his nurse.

This combines two great characters and a well-written story. I was laughing at the first chapter at the banter between the two leads; banter is something that is so rarely done well and without being cliché, but here it was show more great. Their development had just the right amount of depth, and the writing was superb. Just when I thought it was getting soppy and I was feeling guilty for reading a fluffy paperback, there came such a twist that I actually gasped out loud and attracted some very strange looks. This is the danger of assuming that the plot will be totally formulaic!

There was some repetition and a few Americanisms and I felt that after the twist, the ending ran about in circles - it was obviously the author's attempt not to rush the end after such a revelation, but it didn't quite match up to the build-up: that said, it was a practically impossible task! There were obvious influences as well - 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Jane Eyre' - but they're both stories I love. This isn't the thing to read if you want something world-changing, just something that will stay with you for a while and that you can look back upon fondly.

I read this entire book with a smile and I recommend it to anyone who is secretly longing to read a romance novel to get all the warmth and cuteness, but wants one that has as well the depth, narrative skill and plot of 'literature'. show less

"Wow," I said through my tears at the end of the book. My father and my son looked at me strangely.

This book could have been so very, very hokey, and it was so very not. The key, I think, is the characters; Ms. Madeiros is particularly gifted with her people. They are well rounded, complex, and very believable.

For example, the "lustful sultan" in this book was an absolute sweetie who had to hide his need for spectacles and his appetite for fear he wouldn't seem menacing enough. Despite the show more fact that he was sort of the villain, I felt awful for him when things didn't go his way, and I cheered for his happy ending.

The hero and heroine are both adults who have made mistakes, and so their HEA is even more gratifying than if they were a charming prince and an innocent maiden, each uniformly good and true, besieged only by outside forces.

I enjoyed this book immensely, and I am eagerly looking forward to the sequel, The Temptation of Your Touch. show less