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jackiehorne's review
2.0
I love that Jewel gets so many of the details of Regency life (and particularly, the work life of an actual duke) correct. But I hate that her writing so often feels as if it has been thrown out on the page, with little thought to how scenes hang together, or how pace and flow should work to draw a reader in. The depiction of the sudden, inexplicable fall of a rake into love for a spinisterish, glasses-wearing woman is compelling, but Anne as a heroine is rather wet, constantly saying how awful it will be if she falls in love with the man she's been forced to marry, yet having wild sex with him on the very same page. The murder subplot seems grafted on, popping up at moments when we need something more than Anne and Ruan's sexual doings to keep a the story moving, but not integrated in any meaningful way to either of their character arcs, or the romance arc. A disappointment.
ssung's review
1.0
i honestly didn't think a story that starts with the hero raping the heroine while drugged could get much worse, but it sort of does!
while on a serious regency bender lately i've encountered any number of tropes that i deeply dislike, ranging all the way from the "rake reforms for love" to "boring spinster with no personality landing a hot shit for no discernible reason whatsoever," but i've actually managed to successfully avoid the "sexing someone until they love you" trope until now. and wow, there is spades of that here. it serves as character AND plot development, because seriously, you actually have no flipping clue as to why anne is otherwise a spinster if not one but several men think she's hot as shit. extremely poor self-esteem aside, anne has a magic crotch, folks.
the rest of the story had a mystery that i actually didn't think served the overall story that well, but it may just have been i basically gave up 2/3rd of the way through, irritated at anne's issues and ruan's inability to proceed more than a few pages without making anne lift her skirt.
while on a serious regency bender lately i've encountered any number of tropes that i deeply dislike, ranging all the way from the "rake reforms for love" to "boring spinster with no personality landing a hot shit for no discernible reason whatsoever," but i've actually managed to successfully avoid the "sexing someone until they love you" trope until now. and wow, there is spades of that here. it serves as character AND plot development, because seriously, you actually have no flipping clue as to why anne is otherwise a spinster if not one but several men think she's hot as shit. extremely poor self-esteem aside, anne has a magic crotch, folks.
the rest of the story had a mystery that i actually didn't think served the overall story that well, but it may just have been i basically gave up 2/3rd of the way through, irritated at anne's issues and ruan's inability to proceed more than a few pages without making anne lift her skirt.
star_tbr2020's review
3.0
Not really a fan of the "Oops, sorry I mistook you for a willing participant when we had sex last night, but glad we're ok because there's just something about you that I can't live without".
Then I felt bad for Devon through a lot of the story and that's not right if you kind of want him to be the hero instead of the guy who is the hero, right?
I had some confusion about the romance (which I can't even really explain what I found confusing) and the hero always seemed to just handle everything by having sex with the heroine. I never felt like they really communicated with each other and made a connection.
I did like that there were several mentions of the hero's job and him actually working. For some reason it stood out because most historicals just state the hero is at Parliament but not really stating what kind of things he is actually out there doing.
I also liked the mystery aspect and trying to find out who the killer was.
Despite the fact my cons outweigh my pros about this book, I really enjoy the author's writing voice so will try other books from her (I previously read Scandal which I did enjoy).
Then I felt bad for Devon through a lot of the story and that's not right if you kind of want him to be the hero instead of the guy who is the hero, right?
I had some confusion about the romance (which I can't even really explain what I found confusing) and the hero always seemed to just handle everything by having sex with the heroine. I never felt like they really communicated with each other and made a connection.
I did like that there were several mentions of the hero's job and him actually working. For some reason it stood out because most historicals just state the hero is at Parliament but not really stating what kind of things he is actually out there doing.
I also liked the mystery aspect and trying to find out who the killer was.
Despite the fact my cons outweigh my pros about this book, I really enjoy the author's writing voice so will try other books from her (I previously read Scandal which I did enjoy).
mothgirlie's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
gonturans's review
1.0
The only reason I kept reading this is because I was stuck on an airplane and had nothing else to do but eventually DNF
CJ is fond of telling us about our characters and their relationship rather than showing, and the way all of the men talk about women is fucking gross lmao. “I fucked her while she was drugged because she was so hot” “well I wanted to marry her because I knew she was hot five years ago” “I may have married her sister but look at those legs, they sure tempted me” like shut the fuck up
CJ is fond of telling us about our characters and their relationship rather than showing, and the way all of the men talk about women is fucking gross lmao. “I fucked her while she was drugged because she was so hot” “well I wanted to marry her because I knew she was hot five years ago” “I may have married her sister but look at those legs, they sure tempted me” like shut the fuck up
dumblydore's review
4.0
I'm reading as much of Carolyn Jewel's backlist as I can. I enjoyed this, even though it lacks the "urgency" and depth that I thought made [b:Scandal|5082951|Scandal |Carolyn Jewel|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lBwAnNmQL._SL75_.jpg|5149669] really stand out for me. Still, it's great to see how far Jewel's writing has evolved. The eloquence of writing and the hot, but not gratuitous, love scenes shows a keen eye for showing just the right amount of detail without overdoing it.
altheodorou's review
2.0
Utterly forgettable, to be honest. The "ravishment" scene is handled with much more finesse than I've seen of other authors, but I felt disconnected from much of this. I wasn't really sure why Ruan really finds Anne all that amazing in the early days of their marriage, and we aren't really given a solid introduction to the mystery B-plot which ends up making it confusing. Jewel does write some great dialogue though.
nononanette's review
3.0
I liked a lot about Lord Ruin. The characters, the detail and some of the complex plot. Jewels tendnacy seems to be picking some --have to finish this later!
taisie22's review
4.0
Anne Sinclair is in love with another man who is about to offer for her when she is ruined by Lord Ruan Bettancourt, the Duke of Cynssyr. It was a mistake due to her having taken laudanum for a sprained ankle and him showing up to find her in his bed, mistaking her for a 'gift'. They must marry, for once to save his reputation as he basically forced her; because she's poor, no one seems to care about her future. Things don't look good for their marriage, but Anne is intelligent and Ruan needs her help to find a group of men who are kidnapping and abusing young women.
I like Ms. Jewel's writing. She writes steamy romances with interesting characters. Anne is sensible, determined not to fall in thrall to her new husband who is arrogant and earned the title of 'Lord Ruin'. I had some trouble with Ruan. There's an attempt to explain why his character is so bad as a result of the Napoleonic wars, but it didn't really work. It aggravated me that he was supposed to be in love with Anne and wooing her, but still hanging with several of his former mistresses. I really didn't like the scene where Anne pretty much caves to him even though he's asking his former mistress to take him back. It seems he still has quite a way to go to rehabilitate his character. I'm willing to give him a chance and hope he'll do better in the next two books.
I like Ms. Jewel's writing. She writes steamy romances with interesting characters. Anne is sensible, determined not to fall in thrall to her new husband who is arrogant and earned the title of 'Lord Ruin'. I had some trouble with Ruan. There's an attempt to explain why his character is so bad as a result of the Napoleonic wars, but it didn't really work. It aggravated me that he was supposed to be in love with Anne and wooing her, but still hanging with several of his former mistresses. I really didn't like the scene where Anne pretty much caves to him even though he's asking his former mistress to take him back. It seems he still has quite a way to go to rehabilitate his character. I'm willing to give him a chance and hope he'll do better in the next two books.