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Michelle McMaster

Autor(a) de Seducing the Bride

11 Works 84 Membros 3 Críticas

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Obras por Michelle McMaster

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A trio of short stories with winter settings - easy to read and utterly forgettable.

Snow Angel - 2 stars
Trope: forced proximity

Celia Dearing decides to go for a walk one day to get away from her unbearable uncle, and winds up walking straight into a blizzard. She seeks shelter at the first place she comes upon, stumbling into a cozy cottage, only to find a half-naked man with an amused grin on his face. He is Nicholas Newland, and unbeknownst to her (until he tells her himself), he is a notorious rake. So notorious that even a hint of their being together alone will ruin her reputation. Considering they are caught in one hell of a snowstorm, she basically has no chance to escape this little episode with her reputation intact. So, he proposes, why not do exactly what everyone will inevitably accuse her of doing while they wait for the snow to melt?

This story was completely devoid of emotion. It was a bit odd to read, in fact. The characters were very flat, and the author's outline was showing. This is one of my favorite tropes, so I was quite disappointed in the result.

Sealed with a Kiss - 3 stars
Trope: mistaken identity

Felicia Cartwright has an understanding with the Honorable Benjamin Little. They were childhood sweethearts, and she is desperate to move forward with their marriage, but he's dragging his feet. Determined to force his hand, she arranges to meet him in the conservatory of Hereford House, where they will just happen to be caught in a torrid embrace. Everything is working perfectly according to her plan - with the bonus of her staid beau being extra amorous - until they are caught, and Felicia realizes she's not netted her prey, but a very big fish instead: the Earl of Kettering.

She is distraught by the idea of marrying a stranger, but has no other choice. The two are married and move to his estate, where he leaves her on his wedding day to attend business in London. Felicia has her new mother-in-law, the Dowager Countess, for company, and the Dowager has Certain Ideas for how Felicia must now behave as the new Countess Kettering, including a surefire way to insure that her womb is fruitful - an awful concoction that "tastes like onion soup with dirt thrown in."

Felicia sees her former beau at a ball being thrown at his house, and overhears the Honorable Benjamin Little expressing his joy at the way things have turned out, as he never had any intention of asking her to marry him at all. This realization makes Felicia look at her heretofore unwanted husband in a new light, and suddenly being the Countess isn't such a bad lot in life.

This story was delightfully written, with characters exuding a bit of depth and some actual emotions on the page. The Dowager was hilarious. The dialogue was fairly witty, and there was enough oomph in the drama of the betrayal (and the consummation scene) to make this worth reading. The ending was on the cheesy side, but at least I cared about what happened to the characters.

To Love a Scandalous Lord - 2 stars
Lady Hannah Sedgewick overhears a conversation between her sister Alice and Alice's husband, George, discussing obviously terrible news they wish to keep from her. She gets it into her head that she's dying, and once she gets over the shock of this leap of logic, decides that there's no way she's going to die a virgin. She heads out that very evening to the home of James Beaumont, another notorious London rake, and tells him of her fate, and of her fervent wish to know the pleasures of passion before her time is up. As he'd previously proposed to her (only for her to turn him down), he's more than happy to assist her with doing away with her virginity.

The next morning, Hannah awakes, and Alice finally dredges up the courage to tell her the truth: Hannah is not the one on death's door - it's their ancient cat, Fluffy. This suddenly changes everything, and Hannah seeks out James to give him this imperative update, and to decide what to do next.

This was an interesting premise for a story, but there was something lacking in the execution. Both Hannah and James are prone to strident monologues that struck me as out of character (rather amazing, considering we are given just the barest character sketches to work with). The denouement and the ending were quite "meh" - this story might have benefited from a fully fleshed out novel to deliver its intended impact.

All in all, this is something of a letdown from the permafree summer collection Summer Passions.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eurohackie | Sep 29, 2018 |
This was a wonderful read - three short, distinct stories that were well-developed and well-written. The first one and the third one were actual stories, whereas the second one was more of a oneshot, but they were all lovely.

Story #1, Cupid's Dart, is very cute - I greatly enjoyed the main characters and their boldness towards each other. There was no brooding lord or retiring miss here. Daphne Summerville shoots the Sebastian, the Marquess of St. Clair, in the leg with an arrow. It is but a flesh wound, but Sebastian insists that she act as his nursemaid while he recovers. This includes some steamy scenes (not the least of which is Daphne forced to bathe Sebastian the day after his accident) and some innuendo that is as hilarious as it is heated. I liked this story because of the humor. It would've been fun to see more of their sparring.

Story #2, Lady Aston Takes a Lover, is straight up erotica. It's all about the habit of the ladies of the ton in taking lovers to pass their time (why should the men have all the fun, after all?). Clarissa, Lady Aston, has no wish to take a side piece because she loves her husband desperately, but unfortunately, he's never around because of his job. She reluctantly gives in to her friends' pressure and attends a masquerade with the express purpose of finding herself a lover. This story had a hint of sadness, because of the distinct lack of love between the other spouses in the story. It's hot, but also completely predictable when it comes to the identity of Lady Ashton's lover. I liked it because I like romantic cliches, LOL.

Story #3, The Wedding Party, is an ugly duckling story with a side serving of revenge. Lady Althea Ramsay once had an understanding with the Viscount Wyndham - until he broke off their engagement and then pretended not to even know her during the following Season. She is hurt by this, of course, but has been invited to a wedding party where the Viscount will be present, along with his new fiancee. Althea doesn't want to face him alone, so she turns to her brother's friend Hayden, Duke of Wakefield, and persuades him to accompany her and tell everyone they are betrothed. Hayden takes Althea's plan one step further, having her made over so that Wyndham will rue the moment he decided to dump her. The plain-jane Althea is transformed into a beautiful woman, whom even Hayden can't resist. They are the toast of the wedding party, and together conspire to make Wyndham's life completely miserable.

All three stories are capsule romances with the standard HEA, and are total fluff, but I genuinely enjoyed them all. The character and plots were surprisingly well-developed, considering their length. I was quite impressed, and am seriously tempted to buy the next two books in this quartet, which are currently 99c.

The samples in the book included one of the shorts from the next book in this series, as well as one of the author's full-length novels. The full-length novel sample was for a book that's actually free right now in the Kindle store, but the sample was patently ridiculous (hero collects a menagerie of strays and decides to add an unconscious woman, the heroine, to it), so I will be passing on that one. This might be an author who's better taken in small doses - good thing she has several other novellas out there =)
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
eurohackie | 1 outra crítica | Sep 29, 2018 |
3 short stories starting with CUPID’S DART. Shooting the Marquess of St. Clair in the leg with an arrow was not part of Daphne’s plan. She just wanted to beat him at something. Now she must pay for her sin by nursing him back to health. I liked Daphne. I could see her eyes rolling constantly as he teased her and as she watched the parade of ton women visit him. I could feel his need to harass her by being outrageous. The story was too short and I felt like I was dropped into the middle of it when things come to a head between Daphne and the Marquess. I would like to see this developed into a novella or full length novel.

Next is LADY ASHTON TAKES A LOVER. Often left alone by her husband, Clarissa finally accedes to her friend’s advice to taka a lover for the summer. Clarissa meets an Adonis at the ball but he disappears. Going into the garden he reappears and becomes her lover while her husband is knocking at the front door. I liked this story. Clarissa takes matters into her own hands. She finds the lover she wants and appeases her neglecting husband.

The final story THE WEDDING PARTY has Lady Althea Ramsay taking a letter from her late brother to his friend the Duke of Wakefield asking for help. Invited to the same wedding as her former fiancé, she wants Wakefield to go as her escort. He attends as her fiancé and puts a plan in action to show the former fiancé what he has lost. I enjoyed this story. I liked Althea. She seems a mouse but has a backbone. I liked the scenes between her and Wakefield. They are an evenly matched couple.

I look forward to reading the other seasons in this series.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Sheila1957 | 1 outra crítica | Apr 28, 2017 |

Estatísticas

Obras
11
Membros
84
Avaliação
½ 3.6
Críticas
3
ISBN
3

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