Rating: 
Summary: Very Well Developed Characters
Review: This is the first Katherine Kingsley book I have read and I will make sure and read the rest. The characters were very well developed. I felt like I understood each one of them. Meggie is like a Cinderella who has endured much pain in her life. Raised in an orphanage,sent to work in an Sanitarium for the insane, She finally meets her Prince Charming who is not so perfect. Hugo Montagu-Notorious Rake,out to swindle Meggie of all the money she will inherit by seducing her into marrying him. Meggie's wonderful outlook on life, her pureness of character causes him to question his values and to fall in Love with her. Thru a series of misunderstandings(including him thinking she is insane) they find that true Love will forgive almost anything. I did think Hugo needed to suffer a little more for his misdeeds. Ms. Kingsley let him off light.
Rating: 
Summary: More like 3 1/2 stars...
Review: This is the sequel of Once Upon A Dream, story of Hugo Montagu, brother of Raphael in OUAD. Even in the prequel, Hugo was described as irresponsible, immature, rebellious & constantly in trouble. He gambles excessively, have had many duels from angry husbands who their wives he caroused. His brother always bails him out of trouble & he was eventually exiled to Paris. When he finally returned to London, he supposedly have changed or wanted to change, at least. He wanted his mother and his brother to be proud of him. He wanted to buy his own estate, settle down and live a simple life. His mother was still of course skeptical about all his ideas of the so called "change" and there is yet a lot that remains to be seen.... Everything seems to be looking good for him until Hugo got lured back to the gambling table and lost everything he's got. He was even considering marrying an ugly but rich heiress who is quite taken by him when he was in Lonson. Then he saw Meggie Bloom in a mental institution when his mother sent him to stand for her while she recuperates from her flu. He also found out that Meggie was about to inherit a large sum of money from her long lost father. Better a beautiful crazy looney heiress than an ugly one, right? so the scheme begun... I specially like Meggie Bloom, the heroine of this book. She is not only attractive but tender hearted, well educated, witty & saucy when needed to be. Since she lived in an orphanage then the Sanitarium all her life, Meggie is innocent and somehow quite naive about the outside world. It's so amusing when Hugo believed her daft, meanwhile she continues to act or talk like one thinking this is how Hugo or husbands prefers their wife to be. I enjoyed the secondary characters: the wolf, Sister Agnes, the Aunties and the overall plot. However, sad to say, Hugo, the hero isn't too likable inspite all the reasons and excuses given... I kindda understand his character and somehow, i felt a bit sorry for him. He tries so hard to change yet he keeps getting himself in trouble. Meggie is the only one who seems to see his good sides. In fact, that is all she sees. To her, Hugo is an angel. Her savior, her Prince. She sees his potentials & this encourages him to try even harder. Kindda sad yet irritating and frustrating at the same time... Oh well, this is probably the reaction Katherine Kingsley wanted the readers to have. Hugo might not be all too likable compared to the other heros in all the historical romance I've read but he is quite realistic. I guess, his flaws makes him more real and if you have read ONCE UPON A DREAM, his character is actually consistent to his role there as well. My disappointments about this book is the very short appearance of Rafe and the no appearance of Lucy at all. Rafe and Lucy is the H/H is the first book, OUAD. They are actually the main reason I've gotten this book. I wanted to read updates of the two. I also wondered what happend to Lucy's two stepsisters. I know that they were from another book story but it would have been nice to read updates about them anyhow. And lastly, this book didn't have any epilogue... so then what happend to them after they had their confession, pledge love and devotion? children? It would be nice to read what happend to them in few years after that... perhaps a mention of whether Hugo was true to his word and really did changed or not... It just ended a bit abrupt in my opinion. There should have been more proof that Hugo is a changed man. He said his gambling days were over. Ummm, but this is what he said once before yet he was tempted back so easily.... there should have been an incident towards the end of this book to proved that his word of promises is acted upon or perhaps in epilogue. (I hate for Meggie to end up broke due to his gambling, considering it's all her money to begin with. ugh! lol) <--- see, to think this way at the end of a book? i say, this is how unconvince I am. sorry. The book also mentioned introducing Meggie to the London Ton and how they would go about it. But the plans was just told and never acted upon... Wouldn't it be nice to read about that part too? The Ton's reaction and so on.... I felt so sorry for Meggie in the beginning. She's such a lovely character (inside and out) that you just can't help wishing her childhood was different... and towards the end, Hugo just wasn't convincing enough for me to feel he deserves Meggie at all. Well, despite my above complaints, the book overal is a good read. There is some humor, some love and some romance.... but I liked ONCE UPON A DREAM way better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: More like 3 1/2 stars...
Review: This is the sequel of Once Upon A Dream, story of Hugo Montagu, brother of Raphael in OUAD. Even in the prequel, Hugo was described as irresponsible, immature, rebellious & constantly in trouble. He gambles excessively, have had many duels from angry husbands who their wives he caroused. His brother always bails him out of trouble & he was eventually exiled to Paris. When he finally returned to London, he supposedly have changed or wanted to change, at least. He wanted his mother and his brother to be proud of him. He wanted to buy his own estate, settle down and live a simple life. His mother was still of course skeptical about all his ideas of the so called "change" and there is yet a lot that remains to be seen.... Everything seems to be looking good for him until Hugo got lured back to the gambling table and lost everything he's got. He was even considering marrying an ugly but rich heiress who is quite taken by him when he was in Lonson. Then he saw Meggie Bloom in a mental institution when his mother sent him to stand for her while she recuperates from her flu. He also found out that Meggie was about to inherit a large sum of money from her long lost father. Better a beautiful crazy looney heiress than an ugly one, right? so the scheme begun... I specially like Meggie Bloom, the heroine of this book. She is not only attractive but tender hearted, well educated, witty & saucy when needed to be. Since she lived in an orphanage then the Sanitarium all her life, Meggie is innocent and somehow quite naive about the outside world. It's so amusing when Hugo believed her daft, meanwhile she continues to act or talk like one thinking this is how Hugo or husbands prefers their wife to be. I enjoyed the secondary characters: the wolf, Sister Agnes, the Aunties and the overall plot. However, sad to say, Hugo, the hero isn't too likable inspite all the reasons and excuses given... I kindda understand his character and somehow, i felt a bit sorry for him. He tries so hard to change yet he keeps getting himself in trouble. Meggie is the only one who seems to see his good sides. In fact, that is all she sees. To her, Hugo is an angel. Her savior, her Prince. She sees his potentials & this encourages him to try even harder. Kindda sad yet irritating and frustrating at the same time... Oh well, this is probably the reaction Katherine Kingsley wanted the readers to have. Hugo might not be all too likable compared to the other heros in all the historical romance I've read but he is quite realistic. I guess, his flaws makes him more real and if you have read ONCE UPON A DREAM, his character is actually consistent to his role there as well. My disappointments about this book is the very short appearance of Rafe and the no appearance of Lucy at all. Rafe and Lucy is the H/H is the first book, OUAD. They are actually the main reason I've gotten this book. I wanted to read updates of the two. I also wondered what happend to Lucy's two stepsisters. I know that they were from another book story but it would have been nice to read updates about them anyhow. And lastly, this book didn't have any epilogue... so then what happend to them after they had their confession, pledge love and devotion? children? It would be nice to read what happend to them in few years after that... perhaps a mention of whether Hugo was true to his word and really did changed or not... It just ended a bit abrupt in my opinion. There should have been more proof that Hugo is a changed man. He said his gambling days were over. Ummm, but this is what he said once before yet he was tempted back so easily.... there should have been an incident towards the end of this book to proved that his word of promises is acted upon or perhaps in epilogue. (I hate for Meggie to end up broke due to his gambling, considering it's all her money to begin with. ugh! lol) <--- see, to think this way at the end of a book? i say, this is how unconvince I am. sorry. The book also mentioned introducing Meggie to the London Ton and how they would go about it. But the plans was just told and never acted upon... Wouldn't it be nice to read about that part too? The Ton's reaction and so on.... I felt so sorry for Meggie in the beginning. She's such a lovely character (inside and out) that you just can't help wishing her childhood was different... and towards the end, Hugo just wasn't convincing enough for me to feel he deserves Meggie at all. Well, despite my above complaints, the book overal is a good read. There is some humor, some love and some romance.... but I liked ONCE UPON A DREAM way better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Hero prevented me from loving this book
Review: This was a very good story. It had a charming heroine, some eccentric aunties, and even a pet wolf. If the hero hadn't been such a stubborn <censored>, it would have been great. Hugo spends most of the story laboring under the misconception that Meggie is insane and/or simpleminded. But it's obvious that she's nothing of the sort! His stubborness kept me from truly enjoying this story. Well, OK -- his immaturity and his deceptions didn't help, either. I gave this book a B- at All About Romance.
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