24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hunt for a murderer, August 26, 2008
This review is from: The Edge of Desire (Bastion Club) (Mass Market Paperback)
What starts off as a rather slow book developed into something that was interesting and enjoyable, if flawed in places. Lady Leticia Randall's husband is murdered and her brother Justin is the only suspect - he was at the house that evening and has fled the scene, leaving behind bloodstained clothing at his rooms. Yet Leticia knows Justin wouldn't have killed Randall and so she goes for help to one man she can trust, her former lover, Christian Allardyce, the 6th Marquess of Deane.
Christian and Leticia's history is complicated. Everyone thought they would marry but twelve years before Christian went off to serve King and country and whilst he was away Leticia married Randall. They've barely seen each other since but Christian immediately comes to Leticia's aid.
As they begin to search for clues to the murder they discover that Leticia really didn't know a great deal about her husband. As his private affairs are slowly unpicked Leticia and Christian find that he is a man of many secrets and that it will take more expertise than they have to get to the bottom of them. At the same time as the search for the truth of Randall's murderer, Christian has to try to convince Leticia to trust him and to come to see that her place is by his side. But if they get too close to the truth of the murderer, might they not be risking their own safety?
This was a surprisingly long book and it moved quite slowly. The interest built step by step as the layers in the plot were brought to light. After the first few chapters the book settled into a rather uneasy format where we followed Christian and Leticia's murder investigation during the day and then spectated on their bedsport at night, then on to the next day. As the book made progress we spent more time on the investigation and less on the romance and this was rather an improvement. As far as the romance side went, it was understated in some ways as it was a rekindling of love between people who had been incredibly close in their past. The characterisation of both Christian and Leticia was sparse at times - Leticia has a temper, we learn, and Christian is very controlled and calm, but this reader never felt like she really got to know them.
Although I did enjoy this book I was rather dubious about some of the behaviour of the main characters in that historical context. The lead couple spending pretty much every night in bed in each others' houses, with Lady Randall a widow of just a few days and still theoretically in deep mourning, felt rather too unlikely. Where were all the servants in a Marquess's house who would normally have noticed this kind of thing. It appeared necessary for Laurens' romance side of the plot but it all felt a bit too modern for the Regency period.
Despite this the rest of the book was a good read and I didn't guess the murderer until the end when they were revealed. Although part of a series this book worked well on its own and set up the reader for the next and last in the series, featuring Royce Dalziel.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
annoying for many reasons, September 19, 2008
This review is from: The Edge of Desire (Bastion Club) (Mass Market Paperback)
Something about this book just bothered me. Whether it was the behavior and personality of Letita or the many times the author mentioned class differences or all the sex scenes that I just couldn't get into (very unusual for me!). I just don't know what it was but the book was to long for the story line and I just hope Laurens starts improving her story lines. Please I beg you have a heroine that is not perfectly annoying. Women are allowed to have imperfections-all her heroines seem to have the same characteristics-start showing some flaws.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
a downward spiral, May 19, 2009
This review is from: The Edge of Desire (Bastion Club) (Mass Market Paperback)
I've just finished reading many of the other postings. It seems like many of us are in agreement. But where to start....?????
I have read all of Stephanie Lauren's Bastion Club and Cynster novels and have the following to say:
Her books have become so predictable and irritating and I think that most of her readers simply buy the books because we feel we have to know how the series will eventually conclude. Not so much of an endorsement, huh? I got roped into the trend by stumbling on the third book in the Cynster series and I thought, "wow, what an exciting new author" The book was a fresh approach and had interesting characters and plot. The love scenes were well and thoroughly written. I immediately obtained the prior two books and subsequently read all of the remaining releases (the intital 6 or 7) and was very well pleased. I felt the other books tied up the family very neatly. Then came the Bastion Club and, again, the first couple of books were different, fresh and intriguing -- with a more mature and responsible leading man (I thought it interesting that the focus of these books was predominately from the man's point of view) Anyway..... things started to go wrong around the third book in this series (or thereabouts) Then it dawned on me that the exact woman was being portrayed in each story; that the love/sex scenes were seemingly recycled and that more and more annoying traits were popping up with regularlity..... making it very difficult to finish the book (any of them) and less able to even care about the lead characters.
As many have said about this particular story (Edge of Desire), how many times do we have the Vaux excuse? The misunderstandings, the irrational behavior, etc etc??? I think Ms Laurens is trying to introduce a different kind of heroine; a gal who stands up for herself, her beliefs, her family and who really doesn't need (or so she thinks) a man in her life. She's the "modern" woman in an era where woman truly would never be represented as the rebel, know-it-all, iron-willed, bossy creature that so many of these "heorines" are portrayed as. Why is it that so many of these ladies are dead-set against falling in love and relying on a man and settling down with one? Are they somehow less than a woman if they fall in love? (isn't that why we read romance??) Almost without fail, Ms Lauren's leading ladies (in this series) are so eager to break the mold of the typical female lead character, that they become so unsympathetic and unrelatable. In this series, I liked the men a whole lot better.
Additionally, the love scenes -- as so many have said -- have become so gratuitous and repeated that they lose their appeal. Most fans of the genre will say they enjoy a well written and steamy love scene but I am finding myself skipping over these scenes as they are getting boring and monotonous. I can't believe I'm saying that! But it's true... they are written practically word for word as in her other novels.
In a nutshull, I am sorry to say that I am losing my devotion to Stephanie Lauren's books. I will probably read the final book in the series since Dalziel seems an intersting sort. But I hope that she takes a different approach and introduces a fresh stream of characters. It's sad that this series (which started out promising) is losing it's steam -- and she's losing her creative touch if she has to keep recycling the same old prose. You can't keep going to the same well and expect to pull up a full pail of water. Same goes for the "Cynster" series. She's squeezing every last drop from that as well. Now, every person to have bumped into a Cynster has their own story. I snoozed thru Charlie & Sara's story, barely got thru the one before that (see what I mean... they're becoming forgettable!) I'm about a third thru the Barnaby Adair story but am skipping here and there. I'm a little nervous because of the number of children on the Cynster family tree.... do we have 20 more novels on the back burner....waiting for these youngsters to grow up????
I would have given this higher than a two star rating but the whole Vaux thing did me in. I liked Christian and admire him more simply by his putting up with such a woman -- he must have the patience of a saint!
It would be nice if these comments were collected and forwarded to the authors. I really don't know that they understand that their loyal readers have become so disenchanted. I'll take quality over quantity any time. If there is a quota and a deadline that authors must fulfill, then this is a detriment to the reader and the story is being sacrificed. I have boxes of books stored away in my attic. Books that are worth reading over and over again. I'm sorry to say that the last few years have not produced many books that fall into the 'keeper' category or that which I could recommend whole-heartedly.
Sorry that this is a long post. But I enjoy sharing my thoughts as much as I enjoy reading what others have to say. I have made some smart buying choices by reading the comments of other readers.
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