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katyanaish's review against another edition
5.0
Loved, loved, loved it. The hero and heroine were both utterly fantastic. Really enjoyed this one!
Re-read Aug 2019
It was cute, but ... well, I must have been in a particularly sappy mood the first time I read this. The narrative is a bit overly flowery, and while I do like the hero, he really is a complete dumbass at the end.
Also, we never find out why Prudence's brother did what he did. Were they stealing her dowry (at one point she mentions he told her she wouldn't need it anymore), or what? And they never really pay for it. What they did was horrible, and the way they treated her made them complete monsters. They should have been destroyed at the end.
Re-read Aug 2019
It was cute, but ... well, I must have been in a particularly sappy mood the first time I read this. The narrative is a bit overly flowery, and while I do like the hero, he really is a complete dumbass at the end.
Also, we never find out why Prudence's brother did what he did. Were they stealing her dowry (at one point she mentions he told her she wouldn't need it anymore), or what? And they never really pay for it. What they did was horrible, and the way they treated her made them complete monsters. They should have been destroyed at the end.
sjb86's review against another edition
5.0
I loved the comical way Jem and Prudence delt with each other. I really like that prudence is independent and runs her own shop and is also highly sort after rather then doctors that in them times was all about blood letting and leaches.
I like that both had miss match staff but were loyal and lovely.
Jem friends the other horseman were hilarious and would like to read Lord Clun. Shame there's only two books written in this series. Great HEA and ending is hilarious.
I like that both had miss match staff but were loyal and lovely.
Jem friends the other horseman were hilarious and would like to read Lord Clun. Shame there's only two books written in this series. Great HEA and ending is hilarious.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
I generally shy away from self-published work - what I have read previously is spotty at best.
This, though, is an entertaining, well-thought out start to a new Regency series - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Intrigued?
This first book finds Jeremy Maubrey, tenth Duke of Ainsworth, waking up after a night of, well, who knows - he can't quite remember what happened - to find that he has acquired a tattoo. In a rather sensitive location ("tup a lamprey?" has got to be a catchphrase somewhere). Miss Prudence Haversham has long harbored a grudge against the Duke of Ainsworth for ruining her reputation as a teenager. Not Jeremy, but his elder brother, Phillip. Prudence doesn't know that Phillip has died and when presented with the opportunity to revenge herself on the Duke, she does. Only to take a closer look later and realize she snared the wrong man. Jeremy seeks to take his revenge for his tattoo...we all know where this is heading - it's a romance novel!
I liked both our hero and heroine. Jeremy is a man unprepared to turn himself into a pink of the ton, being used to military life, and Prudence has found her own way - as a trained apothecary - in a society that is unforgiving to women who misstep. And they have the customary trust issues and "helpful" best friends.
I really only have two major quibbles with this book:
1) Prudence's odious brother and sister-in-law aren't very well-drawn. Therefore, I really didn't understand the motivation to essentially throw a teenage girl out of her brother's house. Prudence hints that the SIL doesn't like her, but we don't see much evidence of this.
2) The falling action drags on. Very few romance novels violate convention and fail to deliver the Happily Ever After (this is why [b:On the Way to the Wedding|110388|On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8)|Julia Quinn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1274212383s/110388.jpg|1981453] delivered a heart-stopping scene before giving us the HEA - it actually seemed for about 10 pages that it wasn't going to happen). Sending Jem to London where he dithers there for several chapters followed by multiple scenes where Prudence refuses Jem's offer of marriage. Over and over. Needed a bit of tightening up.
That being said, it was as very entertaining and quick read. Best wishes to Miranda on the rest of the series!
This, though, is an entertaining, well-thought out start to a new Regency series - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Intrigued?
This first book finds Jeremy Maubrey, tenth Duke of Ainsworth, waking up after a night of, well, who knows - he can't quite remember what happened - to find that he has acquired a tattoo. In a rather sensitive location ("tup a lamprey?" has got to be a catchphrase somewhere). Miss Prudence Haversham has long harbored a grudge against the Duke of Ainsworth for ruining her reputation as a teenager. Not Jeremy, but his elder brother, Phillip. Prudence doesn't know that Phillip has died and when presented with the opportunity to revenge herself on the Duke, she does. Only to take a closer look later and realize she snared the wrong man. Jeremy seeks to take his revenge for his tattoo...we all know where this is heading - it's a romance novel!
I liked both our hero and heroine. Jeremy is a man unprepared to turn himself into a pink of the ton, being used to military life, and Prudence has found her own way - as a trained apothecary - in a society that is unforgiving to women who misstep. And they have the customary trust issues and "helpful" best friends.
I really only have two major quibbles with this book:
1) Prudence's odious brother and sister-in-law aren't very well-drawn. Therefore, I really didn't understand the motivation to essentially throw a teenage girl out of her brother's house. Prudence hints that the SIL doesn't like her, but we don't see much evidence of this.
2) The falling action drags on. Very few romance novels violate convention and fail to deliver the Happily Ever After (this is why [b:On the Way to the Wedding|110388|On the Way to the Wedding (Bridgertons, #8)|Julia Quinn|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1274212383s/110388.jpg|1981453] delivered a heart-stopping scene before giving us the HEA - it actually seemed for about 10 pages that it wasn't going to happen). Sending Jem to London where he dithers there for several chapters followed by multiple scenes where Prudence refuses Jem's offer of marriage. Over and over. Needed a bit of tightening up.
That being said, it was as very entertaining and quick read. Best wishes to Miranda on the rest of the series!
ash_chooses_pikachu's review against another edition
2.0
Read upto 60% and skipped ahead to the last few chapters
When I saw both the fmc and mmc had already realised they loved each other (even though neither admitted it yet) by this point, and there was still about 40% of the book left, I decided to skip ahead.
This book is suuuuper slow, the MC's met properly at 26%. And now that the hero is going back to London after sleeping with the heroine, I can tell there's going to be about twenty thousand more dramatic situations in a sloooooow pace. So might as well cut my losses. While there are *some* funny scenes, the writing style made everything very clunky to read. Maybe I have issues with historical romance at times, cause sometimes the writing style feels too modern and jarring, and this time it was written in *such* a historical manner that it was kinda difficult to read as well. For a book where not much was happening after the initial tattoo incident, it sure was long. And the hero was such a ho, that all I could think about was how many STDs he would pass on to the heroine while he had bareback sex with everyone of his lovers. Blech.
When I saw both the fmc and mmc had already realised they loved each other (even though neither admitted it yet) by this point, and there was still about 40% of the book left, I decided to skip ahead.
This book is suuuuper slow, the MC's met properly at 26%. And now that the hero is going back to London after sleeping with the heroine, I can tell there's going to be about twenty thousand more dramatic situations in a sloooooow pace. So might as well cut my losses. While there are *some* funny scenes, the writing style made everything very clunky to read. Maybe I have issues with historical romance at times, cause sometimes the writing style feels too modern and jarring, and this time it was written in *such* a historical manner that it was kinda difficult to read as well. For a book where not much was happening after the initial tattoo incident, it sure was long. And the hero was such a ho, that all I could think about was how many STDs he would pass on to the heroine while he had bareback sex with everyone of his lovers. Blech.
tinkrbe1l3's review against another edition
4.0
Such a charming story! Vividly told with tons of wit and heart. I’m rushing to read the next since the author is clearly talented.
setaian's review against another edition
4.0
"His erection swayed with each step, his heavy sac hung pendulous between his thighs."
Disgraced many years earlier by the Duke of Ainsworth, Prudence Haversham has resigned herself to living as a spinster, but she's not averse to exacting her revenge on the man who sullied her reputation. Her co-conspirators drug and kidnap him and put a ribald tattoo on his private parts.
The Duke of Ainsworth is determined to track down the culprits and exact his own revenge, but the only clues he has are Prudence's startling blue / green eyes which he saw through the opium haze and a jar of medicinal cream.
When he finally tracks her down he sets his plans to ruin her into motion, but she isn't at all what he expected and as they clash wits he comes to value her and then love her. But his carefully laid plans are coming back to haunt him one by one.
I don't really read historical romance. I've tried a few times and I just can't get into them. Until now. This book is great fun...it works on nearly every level. I even started to enjoy the language which admittedly took a little getting used to. It's a game changer, one of those books that can introduce people to a new genre of fiction.
(Oh...sorry about the quote. I just thought it was funny)
veronian's review against another edition
4.0
This was much less wild than the premise suggested and the tattoo was weirdly underplayed (could have been replaced by an innocuous prank like pushing someone into a lake with no difference to plot). However the second half of this book surprisingly turns into idiots-to-lovers light romcom and worked for me, I ended up reading this in one sitting.
svw89's review against another edition
3.0
I quite enjoyed parts of this. It's not the best I've ever read, and there were chunks of the writing that didn't quite sound right in my head but it was nice enough and parts regarding the tattoo did make me laugh out loud. It was so ridiculous, I loved it.
The last half was a bit lacking and I wanted to bash the two main characters heads together constantly.
It was a quick and easy read.
The last half was a bit lacking and I wanted to bash the two main characters heads together constantly.
It was a quick and easy read.
melissad75's review against another edition
5.0
This book has one of the craziest premises I've ever encountered in a historical romance. Prudence Haversham is a genteel spinster in her late 20s, who at 16 was cast out by her brother when he accused her of wanton behavior with their house guest, the Duke of Ainsworth. The truth is, the duke accosted her and she was innocent, but none of that mattered to the brother. So for years Prudence has been living in Bath with two loyal servants, working as an apothecary and healer.
When the story opens, Prudence's longtime, half-serious dream of having her revenge on the duke has come true. With the aid of her servants, she has drugged the duke and had him painfully and humiliatingly tattooed in a most sensitive place -- a place that will mock him for the way he assaulted her. There's only one problem; she's gotten her revenge against the wrong man. The duke who attacked her is dead, and his younger brother, war hero Jem Maubrey, is now the duke.
When he wakes from what he later angrily terms "That Night," Jem is not a happy man. Aside from the horrible shoulder wound from Waterloo which still plagues him, he's also pretty sore in other places, thanks to his vicious but pretty-eyed assailant. Plus, it's hard on the ego to engage in bed sport with lusty widows with a mortifying tattoo around his you-know-what. When he figures out who it was who did this dastardly thing to him, he plots his vengeance and takes himself off to Bath to get back at the horrible miss who did him wrong. There's only one problem; the monstrous woman he's been envisioning for months turns out to be charming, witty, lovely, and everything he wants in a woman.
So begins this delightfully odd and completely hilarious Regency novel. Imagine Georgette Heyer -- balls at Almacks, visits to Bath's Upper Rooms, colorful Regency-era cant, wry, arch narration -- but much bawdier and more sexy. This book is truly witty, with cleverly turned phrases and sparkling dialogue. The hero is endearing -- a man of action who struggles with putting his feelings into words; a burly, brave warrior with a gentle side and a great sense of humor. The heroine is wonderful -- kind, strong, funny, and intelligent. The book really takes off when Jem and Prudence finally meet in person and sparks fly. There's a well-drawn cast of supporting characters, too, from Jem and Prudence's servants, to Prudence's elderly godmother, to Jem's three best mates and fellow Waterloo veterans, to Jem's huge but friendly dog, Attila.
I was torn on whether to give this 4 or 5 stars, because the story lost some steam and dragged out the misunderstandings between the hero and heroine a little too long in the last part of the book. In the end I had to give it five stars, however, because I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a book. A really enjoyable debut novel. I can't wait to read more of this series.
When the story opens, Prudence's longtime, half-serious dream of having her revenge on the duke has come true. With the aid of her servants, she has drugged the duke and had him painfully and humiliatingly tattooed in a most sensitive place -- a place that will mock him for the way he assaulted her. There's only one problem; she's gotten her revenge against the wrong man. The duke who attacked her is dead, and his younger brother, war hero Jem Maubrey, is now the duke.
When he wakes from what he later angrily terms "That Night," Jem is not a happy man. Aside from the horrible shoulder wound from Waterloo which still plagues him, he's also pretty sore in other places, thanks to his vicious but pretty-eyed assailant. Plus, it's hard on the ego to engage in bed sport with lusty widows with a mortifying tattoo around his you-know-what. When he figures out who it was who did this dastardly thing to him, he plots his vengeance and takes himself off to Bath to get back at the horrible miss who did him wrong. There's only one problem; the monstrous woman he's been envisioning for months turns out to be charming, witty, lovely, and everything he wants in a woman.
So begins this delightfully odd and completely hilarious Regency novel. Imagine Georgette Heyer -- balls at Almacks, visits to Bath's Upper Rooms, colorful Regency-era cant, wry, arch narration -- but much bawdier and more sexy. This book is truly witty, with cleverly turned phrases and sparkling dialogue. The hero is endearing -- a man of action who struggles with putting his feelings into words; a burly, brave warrior with a gentle side and a great sense of humor. The heroine is wonderful -- kind, strong, funny, and intelligent. The book really takes off when Jem and Prudence finally meet in person and sparks fly. There's a well-drawn cast of supporting characters, too, from Jem and Prudence's servants, to Prudence's elderly godmother, to Jem's three best mates and fellow Waterloo veterans, to Jem's huge but friendly dog, Attila.
I was torn on whether to give this 4 or 5 stars, because the story lost some steam and dragged out the misunderstandings between the hero and heroine a little too long in the last part of the book. In the end I had to give it five stars, however, because I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a book. A really enjoyable debut novel. I can't wait to read more of this series.