Scoundrel

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable tale!!
Review: Emily Maitlaind is getting near that death sentence: spinsterhood - worse, her parents have decreed she MUST marry immediately, so her younger sister can finally announce her engagement. She hates the fancified fops of the ton, so she decides to marry Major Sheridan Blake. Tall, blackheaded, as handsome as sin, fearless, dashing and head over heels in love with her, Sheridan Blake is everything every woman dreams of - and that is because he is a dream. Emily, with a little help from her aunt, has invented Sheridan Blake to make her family leave her alone. She thought it the perfect solution. Her family would stop pressuring her and her sister could finally get married.

Only, things begin to spin out of control when her parents insist on holding a wedding reception to announce Sheridan and Emily's marriage. She does not enjoy lying to her family, but feels it the only solution.

The turn of the Screw comes when Sheridan Blake walks into the ballroom to claim his bride!!! Emily KNOWS this man is NOT Sheridan Blake - NO ONE IS for he does not exist. Yet, if she denounces him, she must confess her charade, which will put her right back where she started with her family.

She is flustered because the man is everything and more than her imaginary husband, but she is determined to play this game of cat and mouse, wear the masks of deceit to discover what purpose this impostor has for claiming to be a man who does not exist.

This Sheridan obviously has his own game running and his own set of rules, with much deadly and dangerous circumstances.

I loved Emily and 'Sheridan', loved the concept of the imaginary husband suddenly appearing in the flesh. Great fun!!!

Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable tale!!
Review: Emily Maitlaind is getting near that death sentence: spinsterhood - worse, her parents have decreed she MUST marry immediately, so her younger sister can finally announce her engagement. She hates the fancified fops of the ton, so she decides to marry Major Sheridan Blake. Tall, blackheaded, as handsome as sin, fearless, dashing and head over heels in love with her, Sheridan Blake is everything every woman dreams of - and that is because he is a dream. Emily, with a little help from her aunt, has invented Sheridan Blake to make her family leave her alone. She thought it the perfect solution. Her family would stop pressuring her and her sister could finally get married.

Only, things begin to spin out of control when her parents insist on holding a wedding reception to announce Sheridan and Emily's marriage. She does not enjoy lying to her family, but feels it the only solution.

The turn of the Screw comes when Sheridan Blake walks into the ballroom to claim his bride!!! Emily KNOWS this man is NOT Sheridan Blake - NO ONE IS for he does not exist. Yet, if she denounces him, she must confess her charade, which will put her right back where she started with her family.

She is flustered because the man is everything and more than her imaginary husband, but she is determined to play this game of cat and mouse, wear the masks of deceit to discover what purpose this impostor has for claiming to be a man who does not exist.

This Sheridan obviously has his own game running and his own set of rules, with much deadly and dangerous circumstances.

I loved Emily and 'Sheridan', loved the concept of the imaginary husband suddenly appearing in the flesh. Great fun!!!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: Some people don't seem to understand that women in historical novels tend to seem "weaker" than modern women because back then, 200 years ago and more, they WERE. Women of past ages were strong in other ways than women today might be (but it doesn't mean they were weak or that portraying a historical heroine that way means she's a "wimp"). Women haven't always been so super-liberated and self-sufficient. If that's what you're looking for, go read a contemporary romance. This writer should not be punished because her heroine happens to be true to her time period. That's reality. Hey, women's liberation truly got underway in the 1960's. That's about 150 years AFTER the time period of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Author, Great Hero, but Tasteless Heroine
Review: The author's writing talent and style get 5 stars, but the story gets 4 because of the (...) heroine. About half way through the book the heroine did something so incredibly stupid, thoughtless, and selfish that I decided that I no longer liked her as a person, and she was unable to redeem herself in my eyes. If I knew someone like her in real life I would really not like her. No matter what this heroine did after that point, she could not get me to feel sorry for her or care about her own thoughts and troubles. Now, the hero, on the other hand, was a wonderful dream man. Sexy, gentle, caring, and intelligent...what a great man. Made me wish men were really like this hero, in real life. By the time the herione FINALLY comes around, the story is over and the hero's heart has been trampled on so many times it is exasperating, and you wonder what the man saw in the heroine. Ms. Dier's writing style is flowing and creative, however, and you can see everything she describes in the story. You can smell, see, and hear all the details. It's a great book worth reading, if just for the delicious hero.