The Marriage Mart

Rating:
Summary: A pleasant read with a memorable heroine
Review: I read this book many years ago when it came out the first time and have kept it as a favorite ever since. Athena is an entertaining heroine, a bookworm but no shrinking violet. You know when she crosses path with John Stone, a duke who rules the Ton, things are bound to be interesting and they are. Athena, bored by the countless parties of London's elite, finds an odd friendship in the Duke, who also finds them a bore. Tossed together by circumstance and near scandal, the two attempt to fob off the gossips with a phony engagement. Athena's grandmother is no pushover and is a very likable addition to the cast of characters. Although the age difference is indeed great between Athena and John, Athena more than holds her own. Some readers will find the Duke's overt masculinity a bit much, but I liked him as he was. Watching the usually unflappable young Athena fall in love is quite a treat. And to witness the cynical Duke succumb is also fun. It's a pleasure to read from cover to cover.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the trouble...
Review: This book was so bad I don't even know how to begin to describe its inadequacies. The author was trying so hard to sound "authentic" and to have her characters speak in what she assumes is the language of the day, that they end up being unintelligible. The author is more concerned with fitting in a quaint turn of phrase than with character development or plot. The characters were thin, the plot was uninteresting and most of the the character's actions were completely unmotivated. I have never before written a book review but I HAD to warn people away from a book this bad.