Customer Reviews

Beauty of Bond Street: Mayfair Brides Trilogy (Berkley Sensation)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From the back cover:

After her brother's death, Lady May Hayworth discovered his secret journals, chronicling his many affairs and revealing that he'd fathered several children. Eager for a family, she decides to play fairy godmother to her unsuspecting, beautiful nieces...

Left penniless after the deaths of her cortesan mother and aunt, Sophie Temple is desperate to avoid their fate by marrying a respectable man. So when she discovers a letter addressed to her aunt from a women named Lady May, inquiring about a child her aunt had birthed some twenty years ago, Sophie seizes her chance. She shows up on Lady May's doorstep, posing as the long-lost child.

Now, Sophie's giving herself one season to carry out the deception and find the best marriage possible. Unfortunately, she never counted on meeting the roguish Gideaon Hayworth, Earl of Ashford, who's recuperating from a grave injury at Lady May's home. The dashing earl is anything but respectable, and the last thing he's looking for is a bride, but suddenly he is all Sophie's heart desires...

And my review:

After discovered The Heiress of Hyde Park (Berkley Sensation) on a discount table, I quickly snapped up everything with this author's name on it. Now, after having been disappointed by The Princess of Park Lane (Berkley Sensation) and this last book in the trilogy, I'm starting to wonder if enjoying HEIRESS was a fluke.

This story was very slow-moving. While the heroine's character was marvelous, I didn't feel like the hero deserved her. I don't mind rakes who are reformed, but this hero didn't strike me as dashing, or with a heart of gold. He just came across as lecherous. I kind of felt like he never really had any interest in the heroine apart from her body.

While sexual chemistry is necessary for a good romance novel, I needed something more; a meeting of minds, a feeling of friendship, mutual respect...something. Their interactions never struck the sparks I love to see in a romance novel. The way the hero was always using his bad behaviour as a seducer of other men's wives to hold the heroine at arm's length really grated on me after a while. I felt like I was never really able to get to know him. Okay, so the guy's a great lover. So? That's supposed to be enough for me to cheer for the heroine to be with him? Not enough for this reader. I honestly didn't think he deserved her, nor did I truly believe that he would be faithful to her in the long run.

Lady May's story, a secondary romance that runs in the background throughout the trilogy, was by far the most enjoyable part of this novel. If you've read the other books and want to know how her story turns out, then go ahead and ready this novel. Otherwise, skip it, since the primary romance isn't all it could have been.

It's an interesting idea: an earl dies and leaves behind a journal which details a number of children he's had out of wedlock, and his sister decides that the children need to be looked after.

The Beauty of Bond Street is the third book in the series on the Mayfair brides, and the first I read of the Mayfair Brides series. Navin started with the story of Michaela in The Princess of Park Lane, and continues with Trista in the Heiress of Hyde Park; I'm reading Princess right now, and it looks to be a better story than Beauty.

The plot is flawless in this book. You have the heroine, Sophie Temple, the daughter of a courtesan, who decides to impersonate the daughter of another courtesan so that she can claim that dead child's inheritance as one of the Earl of Woolrich's natural daughters. She wants to have a season, meet someone rich and titled, and become respectable.

While staying at her 'Aunt May''s house, Sophie meets Lord Gideon Ashford, her patroness' brother-in-law and a rake, and sparks fly. At the same time she is pursued by Lord Oliver Burton, which her friend Margaux is hopelessly in love with. Thinking that she can't lust after her best friend's husband-to-be, Margaux cultivates the friendship of Lord Farnsworth instead. As luck would have it, Farnsworth just happens to be Ashford's friend and also the one person who knows Sophie is not who she says she is..

The story starts quite slowly with Sophie getting to know the injured Ashford better. At every turn Navin makes sure to remind the reader that she's feeling guilty of being found out, so much so that I found it tiresome.

I felt the conversation uninspiring as well - nothing seemed quite real among the characters, at least until the last third of the book. Among other things, Ashford ends up offering for Margaux because he is caught with her in his arms after rescuing her from Farnsworth, Sophie confesses, finds her true love, and all is revealed.

There are still gems, as when Ashford persuades Margaux's mother to invite him to her home, but the pacing of the plot could have been better, as could the dialogue. Navin is definitely capable of better, as I've seen in Princess.

These books should be read in sequence, as May's story slowly unfolds across each book. I did find some things completely unbelievable though - it's possible to introduce one or two natural children into the ton, but surely not so many? And such natural children would unlikely have been considered 'good ton' - it doesn't seem likely that society would have accepted a peer marrying Sophie. Then again, romances are escapist, so what's a little more fantasy.

Gideon was truly a magnificant man. He could be Alan Shore, of the TV show "Boston Legal" played by James Spader, reincarnated!! They are so much alike! This book was extremely interesting from the get go, not a boring moment anywhere. I loved Sophie, too. Not only was she lovely, she was smart. I didn't care for the drastic turn the story took-although it seemed in line with Gideon's attempt at reform, it seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly everything changed and there was much heartache. I'm of the opinion that if these people would have just spoken plainly, they would have ALL been much happier.

The Beauty of Bond Street is the third in this series of historicals about a woman, Lady May, finding her late brother's illegitimate children and launching them into society (&, incidentally, finding them spouses).

The best thing about The Beauty of Bond Street, for me at least, was the emotional development, which really rang true. All three main characters (Sophie, Gideon, and Lady May) have deep emotional wounds, and those are explored fully, without either lapsing into melodrama or sidestepping difficult issues. The more Sophie falls in love with Gideon, the more her secret weighs on her, yet the harder it is for her to tell him because his regard is so important to her. And the same goes for Gideon and Lady May. And the ending.... Heart-wrenching and satisfying.

In addition to the romance between Sophie and Gideon, there are two secondary romances, which are like icing on an already scrumptious cake.

The cover, as well, is very appropriate: The mask, hiding the characters' secrets.

Seems I can't find anything to complain about at all.

THE BEAUTY OF BOND STREET by Jacqueline Navin
August 7, 2005

Rating: 4/5 stars


THE BEAUTY OF BOND STREET by Jacqueline Navin centers on a young woman who poses as someone else in order to survive. Sophie Temple has nowhere to live after the death of her aunts, and decides to replace Sophie Kent who is a missing heiress, an illegitimate child of Aunt Millicent. After she presents herself to her new family, Sophie is invited into the home of Lady May, while Sophie lives with the guilt of having deceived this very hospitable woman and her family.

In the mean time, Lady May's handsome brother-in-law, Gideon, is recovering from a shooting accident which occurred during a duel. He is laid up at Lady May's home and Sophie decides she wants to get to know him, a man with a reputation of being a rogue. Secretly, the two forge a friendship, and unfortunately fall in love, realizing that this can never result in anything more than a flirtation. Sophie is to be presented to the ton and Gideon is deemed not suitable for marriage to someone like her, a woman of wealth and honor. Little does Gideon and Lady May know, that Sophie is not who she appears to be.

A subplot has Lady May dealing with her own romantic troubles. She loves Lord Marcus Roberts, but she is not quite ready to marry again, although her husband has been dead for many years. Lady May has a secret that she is afraid to reveal, for it will affect the family as well as herself.

THE BEAUTY OF BOND STREET kept this reader interested, especially because of the amusing characters that filled this book. But Sophie stood out as a character that the reader will empathize with, and will wish that she does find the peace of mind and the respectability that she craves. She was a woman that was born on the wrong side of the tracks, a daughter of an actress. She wanted respectability as well as comfort, and knew that her only way out was to marry a man that could bring her all this. Gideon was a man that enjoyed living the life of the rogue, a man that in the past had no qualms with having affairs with other men's wives. When the two meet, you know that both will find their lives will change for the better. But how does Sophie find a way to get rid of all her other suitors, so she can be free to marry Gideon? The reader will want to root for her. I am giving this book 4/5 stars.

With the help and encouragement of her lover Robert, Widow Lady May Hayworth continues her search for the illegitimate children of her late wastrel brother in hopes of establishing them in society. She has met with success with Michaela (see PRINCESS OF PARK LANE) and Trista (see HEIRESS OF HYDE PARK), loving both of her nieces. She has also found a third offspring, Sophie Kent, who is a bit more aloof than her two half-sisters.

Her late husband's rogue nephew Gideon Hayworth, an Earl, is badly injured during a duel. He is brought to May's home to heal. When Gideon and Sophie meet sparks fly and soon love blossoms. However, she has a secret that will leave him distrusting her and besides he fears commitment, which is how they end up engaged to others.

The third Mayfair Bride Regency romance is a terrific historical starring two delightful protagonists whose verbal battles are worth the price of admission. The return of Lady May is a reason to rejoice in of itself, but unlike the first two novels in which she steals the show from her nieces, this time the lead couple takes charge. The story line centers on the growing affection and internal concerns between Gideon and Sophie. Fans of the series will enjoy the latest "offspring" whose behavior as May has noticed is quite different from her siblings, who along with their husbands are welcomed back.

Harriet Klausner

Lady May has spent quite some time finding her illegitimate nieces and setting them up in society. Her latest find, Sophie, has as many secrets as May herself, or more. Sophie is not a lost heiress, but a woman desperately trying to avoid being a courtesan. Faking her way into society seems like her best option. Then, May's late husband's nephew, Gideon, comes on the scene and turns Sophie's world on its ear. Does she dare continue her masquerade and does she dare not?

** Multiple plots interweave in this detailed novel. Fans of the series will both rejoice and mourn as it concludes. **

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore, Freelance Reviewer.