Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Awwwww! For some reason this is one of my favorite of Eloisa's. Next to the first one in this series. I love how much Quil fights his desire. Good stuff.
I gather the Pleasures series were among James' first novels, and that's pretty evident. While there's much to like in this one (a taciturn Quill paired with a highly verbal Gabrielle), it is overly dramatic, the heroine annoyingly dithers about who she's "in love" with, and there are the dreaded plot moppets. It also shares a flaw I found in the first two of the series: plot overload. In this book, there's international political intrigue piled on top of the hero's disability layered on top of a secondary love story, with a soupçon of Orientalism - to-oo-oo much. The inclusion of the secondary love story is a real pity, because I would have loved Lucien Boch and Emily Ewing's tale to have been a novel all its own - both were more interesting characters than the protagonists!
Amazing! I really enjoyed this book for the simple reason that the main female character was a strong, speak her mind, take no crap gal! There was no whining and repeated lines. The story was great, lots of little twists and turns that keep you wondering,moved at a nice pace and the other characters were enjoyable to learn about.
This was by far the best of the series. I think it is probably because when the potential for misunderstanding comes up, i.e. the husband saying something ridiculous, instead of getting her feelings hurt and staying silent for weeks on end, Gabby totally calls him on it. I loved it--she wouldn't really let him be too much of an idiot, which made this book a lot of fun. I also loved her quirky character and loved that Quill loved her for it. I'm also a sucker for when the "lady of the house" makes friends with the servents, although I thought this could have been developed a bit more. Oh, and I also loved her weird and wacky chaperone, Lady Sylvia! I was also glad to see that Lucien Boch finally found his woman, but would have loved to seen him get his own book!
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The last in the series. Quill was introduced in the other books. Sophie and Patrick have supporting roles.
Marriage of convenience trope. Quill has a disability.
Quill and Gabby’s fathers had arranged their marriage years ago, though she lived in India and they had never met. Gabby’s father sends her to England to marry, and Quill tells his father he won’t be able to consummate a marriage due to his debilitating injury. His brother Peter is forced to marry her instead.
Peter is not interested in her, and it is subtly implied that he is not interested in women period. As a man who values being fashionable and poised, he can’t fathom marrying clumsy and frumpy Gabby. Meanwhile Quill finds her attractive and enjoys her intelligence. He decides to marry her after all, even though sex gives him three day migraines.
Peter was a sweetheart in the other books and comes across like a jerk in this book. Everyone seems to accept too readily that Quill can now marry after insisting that he couldn’t. Gabby seems to find no issue with their passionate kisses while engaged to Peter, but then she’s full of religious prudishness after they’re married.
Gabby can’t stand Quill’s pain and wants to try more cures. He has suffered enough quack treatments and refuses to consider more. Gabby has the idea to try cowgirl position as it might not hurt him, and that works. But then he can’t help getting too active during sex and getting hurt again. Gabby feels desperate enough to secretly try a drug from her Indian village healer.
It’s quite problematic. Not only is she drugging him against his will, but they have to have sex while he’s drugged for it to work, so she has sex with him while he’s out of his mind. This would be so unacceptable if the roles were reversed, and also just makes no sense. But while drugged he confesses how he lied about loving her so she would marry him, so then they are both mad at each other for deception and have the big final conflict.
Not only is the final conflict over the top and unrealistic, it also does nothing to address their problems of deceiving each other.
The side story about Indian politics is an interesting angle. The secondary story of Lucien and Emily is cute but has no bearing at all on the main story. It should be its own novella instead of chopped up into this story.
Good spice. Full spice scenes in chapter 14, 16, 20, 22 and 23.
Marriage of convenience trope. Quill has a disability.
Quill and Gabby’s fathers had arranged their marriage years ago, though she lived in India and they had never met. Gabby’s father sends her to England to marry, and Quill tells his father he won’t be able to consummate a marriage due to his debilitating injury. His brother Peter is forced to marry her instead.
Peter is not interested in her, and it is subtly implied that he is not interested in women period. As a man who values being fashionable and poised, he can’t fathom marrying clumsy and frumpy Gabby. Meanwhile Quill finds her attractive and enjoys her intelligence. He decides to marry her after all, even though sex gives him three day migraines.
Peter was a sweetheart in the other books and comes across like a jerk in this book. Everyone seems to accept too readily that Quill can now marry after insisting that he couldn’t. Gabby seems to find no issue with their passionate kisses while engaged to Peter, but then she’s full of religious prudishness after they’re married.
Gabby can’t stand Quill’s pain and wants to try more cures. He has suffered enough quack treatments and refuses to consider more. Gabby has the idea to try cowgirl position as it might not hurt him, and that works. But then he can’t help getting too active during sex and getting hurt again. Gabby feels desperate enough to secretly try a drug from her Indian village healer.
It’s quite problematic. Not only is she drugging him against his will, but they have to have sex while he’s drugged for it to work, so she has sex with him while he’s out of his mind. This would be so unacceptable if the roles were reversed, and also just makes no sense. But while drugged he confesses how he lied about loving her so she would marry him, so then they are both mad at each other for deception and have the big final conflict.
Not only is the final conflict over the top and unrealistic, it also does nothing to address their problems of deceiving each other.
The side story about Indian politics is an interesting angle. The secondary story of Lucien and Emily is cute but has no bearing at all on the main story. It should be its own novella instead of chopped up into this story.
Good spice. Full spice scenes in chapter 14, 16, 20, 22 and 23.
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
it was very cute. quill and gabby are perfect for each other. liked it a lot.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In a reversal of the first in the series, here the hero deserves far better than the heroine he gets. Also Peter is so thoroughly unlikeable that the whole book left a sour taste in my mouth.
This was the best one of the series and it still wasn’t the strongest. Out of all of the men in these three books, he was the most tolerable since he didn’t outwardly hate his wife or his feelings.