The Paid Companion

This was one that just fell in my lap. I was meeting a friend to lend her a book, and she surprised me by bringing one to lend me.
This is my first Amanda Quick, and I’m adding her to my winners list. I absolutely loved the characters—Arthur and Elenora, as well as Margaret and Bennet. A couple things that stood out as different in this one—the sex scenes lacked the hyperbole that some of these books (it’s O.K., books, I still love you) have, and the sweet young things in London on the hunt for husbands are defended for once instead of just being props to contrast the heroine’s intelligence and depth. In fact, it’s Elenora who stands up for them!
The mystery was pretty good too, and it was balanced nicely with the romance. show more The villain is what dropped my rating down a star, though. He was a little too mustache twirly for me.
Everything else was right up my alley, so I’ll be adding Quick to the romance rotation. show less

I enjoyed this. Arthur and Elenora were likable characters and the plot was interesting. I always enjoy historical romances more when they have a mystery or some action. In this case the mystery was slightly more periphery but the romance was sweet and I liked the mutual respect the main characters had for each other. And it was funny.

Not my usual type of book (I don’t know that I’ve ever read Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick before), but I really enjoyed this. It was a romance without being really heavy-handed with the LOOOOOVE, and it was a light historical mystery to boot! You pretty much know how it’s going to end, but that doesn’t lessen the enjoyment of the journey.

A lot of friends loved this book but I just could not connect to the couple. You know the way that a lot of people feel about Lillian from Kleypas' It Happened One Autumn (I personally like her)? That's the way I felt about this heroine, she just rubbed me the wrong way. She's great with her take charge attitude and confidence but there was a "I'm doing it my way because no other way could be right" that made me jerk back. I love me some strong independent women but in romance books, I do tend to like them to come with a hint of vulnerability, which I didn't feel here.

Our hero had a great dry wit but I felt it bled over to his personality too much, he was dry as toast. It's obvious he likes the heroine but it was in a dry way, I show more needed some sweeping romance that wasn't provided. The romance didn't connect for me and this couple didn't provide me with the joy that keeps me reading this genre.

The mystery with trying to find the villain, second coming of Newton, and the Jove's Thunderbolt was a bit scattered for me and I never truly bought in to it. So, yeah, not a lot worked for me on this one, lol. It's Amanda Quick so the writing is of course good and like I said, many others have loved this, I'm just not one of them. show less

A pleasant surprise. Leaving personal preferences aside, I've done my best to read at least one book by each of the twenty or so ladies who dominate the romance best-seller lists. The experience has been disappointing. There seem to be, if anything, more bland formulaic lemons among the best-sellers than there are among the thousands of books by less successful authors.

Which is why [b:The Paid Companion|367747|The Paid Companion|Amanda Quick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309285907s/367747.jpg|1040916] by Ms Quick/Krentz/Castle came as a surprise. It wasn't the first book I've read by this prolific author, but it was the first that got me hooked.

As other reviewers have noted, almost every element of the plot has been used and re-used show more by generations of romance authors. Even the Newton-Alchemy theme is not new (my personal favorite is Ciar Cullen's [b:Love's Alchemy|8543575|Love's Alchemy|Ciar Cullen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328742803s/8543575.jpg|8651620].)

However, the bits and pieces of the story are held together with intelligent dialogue, and although Elenora and Merryn start off as painful stereotypes, they soon come to life and their interaction is a joy to follow.

There's also much not to like about this book: when Ibbitts, the first of the de rigueur villains, makes an appearance, I almost stopped reading. Sure, heroes and heroines need to confront and overcome obstacles for reader catharsis, but I wish the baddies didn't all come from the same plastic model factory.

I might just give this book a second read, my ever-growing stack of to-be-reads permitting. show less

So... What can I say here? A strong bossy man and a smart and independent woman - the best couple ever. I loved them both from the very beginning. The minor characters were lovely too, especially Margaret and Bennett. And the other thing I liked about this novel is the mystery line. It intertwined closely with the love line and made the romantic atmosphere tenser.

Somehow candyfloss is somewhat moreish... Entirely predictable, in one sense, in that you just know that the two lead characters will end up together. A few interesting twists on the way, although the idea of a laser powerful enough to kill being created in the regency period, is frankly, laughable. But if you suspend disbelief at this point, the rest of it is entertaining enough.

Edited 2014
Another re-read. It is entertaining enough, but don't take it seriously.