Customer Reviews

The Governess Wears Scarlet

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

 

 

Under the cloak of darkness, within the alleyways of London, roams the masked vigilante. He is a Sentinel, one of the band of brothers that keep the country safe from outlaws, prepared to take justice into his own hands.
But tonight even he is in for a bit of a surprise.

Veiled and dressed in widow's weeds, a young woman proceeds cautiously through the dark streets, seeking information about her missing brother. But information usually comes with a price and this one may be more than she's willing to pay. After being saved from a harrowing attack, she retreats. Something about the masked man scares and intrigues her. Best be getting away before more ill befalls her.

Blessedly the night only lasts so long.

And when to sun comes up, off come the disguises. Miss Abigail West is in desperate need of employment. Following a rather scandalous episode at a former employer, she's surprised to be given an interview. But Viscount Steele, Solicitor-General of England, needs a governess for his nephews and Abigail prepares to put her best foot forward. Only no one could ever prepare her for the site of this handsome aristocrat. And neither could anyone predict the surging emotions that the pretty little governess soon brings out in the guarded gentleman.

Keeping a tight reign on their attraction to each other by day becomes more difficult. Only at night do they indulge in their wicked thoughts and desires but with whom? Because neither knows the others identity. But as the ever increasing threat of danger strikes close to home, who will be the first to lose their disguise and trust the other before its too late?

This book just didn't work for me. I think that the plot is brilliant and unique. My problem falls with the believability and likability of the characters. And the editing is just horrible. But first the good stuff; the hero is divine. I loved how he is portrayed as a sexy-pseudo aristocrat who haunts the streets as a masked crusader. LOL! I'd love him to come and rescue me! And these clandestine meetings (although kind of mild for me) with the widow are the highlight of the whole book -sadly there are too few. The little nephews are little darlings and their scenes were too cute. But unfortunately that is all I really liked in this book.

The problem I have stems mostly from the heroine. What *proper* woman in their right mind would engage in sex in alleyways with a masked man she BARELY knows? (perhaps if there was more more meetings and more of a buildup I would have liked it better) And with no thought (practically anyway) to getting pregnant? And she is supposed to be a proper governess? I can see a lady doing this but a governess? What if she was caught? What would become of her? And who would hire a governess with so many holes in her references? Would you allow someone like that for your kids -especially when its not clear that their parents deaths were an accident? All these things lack credibility in my opinion.

Also I found that it was a little creepy for both the H/H to be thinking about the upcoming evenings rendezvous when they were clearly falling of each other (and they didn't know the others identity at this point). That sort of tarnished the romance for me. *semispoiler* I didn't like that there is no love scene where they weren't masked.

And I would have liked the supposedly sleazy family who caused Abigail all these problems in the first place to get their just due, but that didn't happen. The end was too abrupt as well, perhaps an epilogue would have helped.

A promising book that just falls flat. I'll try one more of Robins books before calling it quits.

This book was very, very hard to get through. It could have been a good story. But the plot was very mixed up and confusing. The hero and heroine were likable. But there was too much missing to the story. The dialec between characters was not good at all. The author goes on and on about absolutlely nothing. Trust me on this...you will be very dissappointed.

Two strangers, Abigail West and Jason Steele, each hiding their true face for reasons of their own, meet in a dark alley when he rescues her from thugs. The intensity of the situation and an immediate attraction lead them to a one night stand. Not even when they meet again, this time with their true faces revealed, do they know each other. Now, she is a proper young woman seeking employment as a governess for the Viscount's two nephews, a job she is able to attain. What she can not do is deny the attraction to her boss. However, secrets and their stations keep them apart. She is on a quest to discover the truth behind her brother's fate, and he is part of a group of masked vigilantes that keeps London safe by night. It seems to be a doomed affair, but as we all know, love can find a way where there is none.

**** If it were not for the rapidity of Jason and Abigail's romantic encounter, this would be a wholly credible story. Ignoring that, Ms. Robbins has successfully combined the classic governess/employer romance with the intrigue of the Scarlet Pimpernel type adventure, making for something sure to win her fans among historical romance aficionados. ****

Amanda Killgore

I have been reading romance fiction especially historical romance for over 40 years and I found this book to be a big yawn, not quite a wall banger, but not one I could even bother to finish, let alone recommend to friends. I liked the premise, but the characters seemed to be of a more modern contemporary period in both their dialogue and their thought processes ( ie their reactions to events).

The first misunderstanding was so shallow and this reader had to wonder why anyone would let this kook, near children let alone teach them. The hero/heroine relationship seemed too artificial and there was no sexual tension being developed between them. There was also a lot of the mystery of the story left out in the beginning, which added to the confusing pace. Sure you don't want to tell all, but a good writer lets the reader know tidbits of the mystery, before the characters do and that didn't happen in this book. Not only did I not understand why he the kids but to be honest she didn't make me care.

This was my first book by this author and to be honest it will probably be my last. She might want to try contemporary romances instead as her voice is better suited to that than historicals. There are a lot of other midlist romance authors who are producing better stories in this period with characters who speak and act representative of the period and ones the reader can care about after the last page is turned.

Jason Dagwood has newly been made Viscount Steele because of some work he's done for the Prince. However with this new responsibility, as well as his job as Solicitor-General of England, he has a new challenge - he has to look after his two nephews, Seth and Felix. Steele and his dead wife's father believe that Seth and Felix's parents were murdered and they are trying to discover who did the deed.

The two boys clearly need a governess to help them to settle down and begin to recover from the events in their past. When Steele hires Abigail West he gets more than he had bargained for. She may look quiet and mousy at times but it's clear that when necessary she can be a strong woman who can keep those she loves safe.

Steele spends some of his nights roaming the streets of London as a Sentinel, a kind of vigilante of justice. When out one night he comes across a woman being attacked - a woman who seems able to defend herself very well. Although he helps the mystery widow it's clear that she is self-possessed and unusual. When meeting her a second night they become lovers, but neither knows the identity of the other as they are always masked or veiled.

The story is part mystery (although the murder plot section is very small), part romance (although the romantic clinches between Steele and Abigail generally seemed rather sordid to me - up against a wall in a dark alley, for example) but it's mostly about Steele and Abigail helping Seth and Felix feel important and part of their world. Steele has to overcome his grief at the death of his former wife and Abigail to realise what's important and how the errors she has made in the past don't need to shape her entire life.

The fact that this author is an American jars the reader fairly frequently in the book. Abigail's young charges ask to eat "biscuits with butter and jam" which sounds ludicrous to English ears - 'biscuits' are what Americans call 'cookies', I presume the 'biscuits' in this book refers to our 'scones'. There are also American word-forms and sentences which, although common in Regency novels such as this, are always irritating to a reader who knows about the language used in England in the 1800s. There also seemed to be unnecessary repetition of the phrase "Solicitor-General of England" which got quite annoying towards the end of the book.

This was a reasonable enough read and the characters were well drawn. However the thinness of the plot and the historical inaccuracies let it down as well.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

In 1812, appalled by the unsafe streets of London that he now is aware of due to a personal tragedy, Viscount Jason Steele wears a mask to hide his identity while he vigilantly patrols the dark roads; the Viscount and former Sentinel insures the safety of those in danger from predators though few know he is out there as a dark knight. He wants nothing from those he protects until he rescues a woman wearing a veil. Passion explodes between the two whose faces are covered so their identities remain unknown from one another, but both are shook to the core by the fervor they share. He especially since he assumed he would love no one since his Deidre died over eight years ago

The next day Jason interview Abigail West for the position of governess to his nephews over the objection of his brother-in-law who considers her "tarnished". Neither Jason nor Abigail recognizes their lover as unmasked and both behave with the mask of prim and proper decorum. Since the boys like her, he hires her. However, when they learn of an odious plot, they team up in an effort to thwart the kidnapper and unmask him; in the process they unmask their feelings for one another.

This is an entertaining historical romantic suspense that grips the audience from the moment the Regency Era "Batman" and the prey he rescued kiss and never slows down until final revelations occur. Readers will like the lead couple and admire both for risking their lives to save others; in Jason's case strangers.

Harriet Klausner

A tragic past drives Viscount Jason Steele to roam the London streets
at night as a masked vigilante. After saving a veiled woman one
evening, the disguised pair fall into each other's arms and share an
erotic encounter.

By day, Jason's priority is hiring a governess for his nephews.
Little does he realize his new governess Abigail West is the
passionately veiled woman.

Without a doubt Sari Robins leaves the reader wishing for their own
masked vigilante. Jason and Abigail have delicious chemistry and
their romance will leave you breathless! The Governess Wears Scarlet
is romantic, erotic and luscious.

Annmarie
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed