Rating: 
Summary: Poor; could have been so much better!
Review:
As WMR-UK says in her review "waste of a great premise!" Besides the inaccuracies as stated in other reviews, there are unsolved mysteries here - the whole book seemed geared to fill us in so Johnston could lead to other books! No one even mentioned that "Beau" (Marcus) rapes Eliza twice - what kind of a hero is that? (Oh, I forgot we are calling that "forced seduction" now!) I was so thoroughly disappointed! It is rare that I am so repulsed by a book - but I was.
Rating: 
Summary: I could read it again and again and......
Review: I always thought Beauty and the Beast was a romantic story and i rate this book excellent...the writer will capture your intrest from the beginning till the end...i hope everyone who reads this book will find it as wonderful as i did.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I didn't want to put this book down! The whole story was fun--before the kiss and after. Marcus and Eliza were likeable characters. I found the secondary characters interesting too and want to read more about them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, could have been better
Review: I enjoyed this book, the first I've read by Johnston. I thought the use of the twins (Becky and Reggie) the only aspect of the story I didn't like. I don't mind when a story shifts point of view from the woman to the man, but to children is a bit much. Otherwise, this story was enjoyable, although not having read Captive, I was a little lost with the secondary characters. And I didn't like the author's note about how to deal with her titles changing in development. She basically said, "Tough luck."
Rating:
Summary: Second in the Captive Heart Series
Review: I Loved this book! It was better than the first one in the series. I just knew that Eliza would be able to help heal Marcus after he returned from the war. I felt so sorry for him because he had been so handsome, "The Beau," is what the ton called him. But after the scars healed he wasn't that bad. It was just too bad it took him a year and of course Miss Eliza to make him realize that and to embrace the world again. And of course his two nieces. I can't wait to read the next book about Marcus's brother who has come back from their Scotland holdings married but without his bride. This should prove to be interesting. This series is a must have. Highly reccommend!
Rating: 
Summary: So-so; waste of a great premise!
Review: I was going to write a lengthy review explaining all the ways in which this book, in its plot and execution, fell short of my expectations and desires, but I see that the reader from Bethesda who wrote the review of 16 March has done all that, very well indeed. Great review, and very accurate in its detailing of this book's shortcomings!There are other grating inaccuracies and impossibilities which also irritated me: for instance, Marcus travelling with his twin nieces without a maid or governess in sight?! No way. Absolutely would that not have happened. These are daughters of a duke. They would be protected and chaperoned at every turn. Marcus may have been a relative, but he was still a man; he would not have been alone with them. And then later in the book, Marcus sends someone to ride from Kent to London, to see his solicitor and a vicar and arrange for a special licence and dispensation to be married after dark, then visit Eliza's friends and get them to Kent for the wedding. All in the same 24-hour period! No chance; that's a complete impossibility. Sure, a rider on a speedy horse could get to London within a day, but do all this and get back again??? And, if I'm not mistaken, a special licence could only be obtained *in person* from the man about to be married, and only from a bishop. I do find it irritating when writers clearly haven't bothered to do the most basic research. Johnston doesn't take care with her language, either: her characters are supposed to be English, and English aristocracy at that, and yet a lot of the time they talk like Americans. Simply omitting contractions doesn't cut it, Ms Johnston. For instance, no young lady of the aristocracy - or even any English person - would talk about 'fixing' hair. One 'arranges', or - for that period and class - 'dresses' hair. That's just one example of several irritating Americanisms which leapt out at me. And Ms Johnston or her editor really needed to pay a little more attention to grammar, especially punctuation. Some of this wouldn't have mattered so much - as with the inaccuracies in Edith Layton's early books - if at any time the characters had engaged my emotions. They did not, in any way. I found them flat and one-dimensional. And when I think of what someone like Mary Balogh or Mary Jo Putney could have done with a premise like this, I feel bitterly disappointed. This premise, in the hands of a Balogh or a Kelly, would have been a tear-jerker. Johnston's book has simply left me bored.
Rating:
Summary: a heartwarming story
Review: I've read alot of Joan Johnston's books and I believe that this is my favorite. It's always fun to read "Beauty and the Beast" type stories. Joan has outdone herself again...and look for other stories that link characters together. Aloha, Kalaniku
Rating:
Summary: Interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, but...
Review: Marcus and Eliza set off sparks from day one, but I found the story more interesting when after they are caught in a compromising position and her cousin Julian is forced to marry her. He dies and Eliza is forced to support herself and her aunt by being a tutor for Marcus's twin nieces. Marcus has been taking solace in the form of brandy because his brother is dead, he's scarred and his damaged hand is constantly in pain. The story seemed to pick up once he and Eliza married, and I like the way the author managed to make Eliza compassionate towards Marcus despite what happened. She vows that each night she's going to work on his hand, get him to use it instead of turning to the bottle to dull the pain.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining read.
Review: Marcus and Eliza set off sparks from day one, but I found the story more interesting when after they are caught in a compromising position and her cousin Julian is forced to marry her. He dies and Eliza is forced to support herself and her aunt by being a tutor for Marcus's twin nieces. Marcus has been taking solace in the form of brandy because his brother is dead, he's scarred and his damaged hand is constantly in pain. The story seemed to pick up once he and Eliza married, and I like the way the author managed to make Eliza compassionate towards Marcus despite what happened. She vows that each night she's going to work on his hand, get him to use it instead of turning to the bottle to dull the pain.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - Couldn't Put It Down!!!!
Review: The old saying "Be careful what you wish for" is definitely true with Ms. Johnson's "AFTER THE KISS". The reader just KNOWS that Julian is wrong for Eliza, but has so much fun "watching" her realize that it's Marcus she wants. I definitely recommend this and all her other books. It's a page-burner.
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