Customer Reviews

Impetuous Innocent (Silhouette Shipping Cycle) (Silhouette Shipping Cycle)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

After a long absence from reading (10 years), I have been catching up like crazy...One of my favorite authors is Stephanie Laurens...she writes and my heart soars. She is very romantic/descriptive ..My kind of writer ..

I will have to say, and I see (by her reviews) most people have liked her new stuff more, I think her older books are more romantic..I also have found her recent writings more sexual, I see her old writings more heart felt and thought out more. I do not think sex in a book is all there is for romance, and I sure hope making romances more sexual and less romantic is not a future trend.

... In addition, I hope Ms. Laurens you remember... there are I am sure ... many that buy books for enjoyment.... for the artist of words...and you are that an artist. Hopefully that woman that grabbed those books, wont get published. She seemed to think woman just read the romance for sex..and thought I was crazy when I tried to show her my favorite authors.

Back to my review, I loved this book, only thing that I didn't like was her age, when I saw she was 18 I thought, oh lord she is a baby....there is no way I am going to get into this book (I like my heroines older) but it was not to bad....I would give this book a three and a half star..However, you never get half stars on here...*sigh*

I picked this book up, after barely reading the back cover, because I've read quite a few SL books and I have always really enjoyed them. However like many of the other reviewers I wish I hadn't. The book is boring. Besides the fact that there is no sex, (which I can deal with) there is also no sexual tension and no romance. Why on earth these two get together is beyond me. Georgina is supposed to be popular and vivacious but everytime she is w. Dominic she turns into a blathering idiot. Where's her backbone? And why on earth dominic would ever want to marry her is inexplicable. I would reccommend Stephanie Laurens to fans of the genre but stay away from her older stuff. I'm glad this was not the first book of hers I read, at least I know she can do better!

Laurens' writing always grabs you from the first page. Her style is easy to read and follow. This story is pleasant, neat, and tidy. The characters look for love within the typical "ton" strictures. I liked Georgie and Dominic. HOWEVER, where are Laurens' characteristic sex scenes and steamy passion that usually ignites the pages? None. None. None. I kept reading...hoping...but NONE. If you're looking for a nice love story sans sex, this is for you. If you're looking for sizzle, don't bother.

....I'd seriously wonder if the author was actually a man mascarading as a woman to sell to an almost exclusively-female audience. Every female character in this book was very weak, while the men were all-knowing. I could handle Georgiana being innocent, but many of the choices she makes (like trusting her cousin, whom she already knows to a slimeball) are indicative of sheer stupidity.
Dominic's (our hero) sister, Bella, was the worst. Despite having already given birth to one child (whom she inexplicably chooses to leave alone in the country with servants while she sits around in London, mostly bored, to be with her husband) it never even occurs to her that the chronic fatigue she suffers may stem from pregnancy. Both Dominic and Bella's husband (and every reader...I really can't see this as being a spoiler) "know" she is expecting long before she does!
I also agree with other reviewers that there was little chemistry between Georgiana and Dominic. I really didn't mind the fact that there was no sex....I would have liked some more heat though!
I really liked Devil's Bride, so I know Laurens is capable of producing strong and likeable feminine characters. However, even her better books seem to have the same flaw as other Regency authors --her lead male characters are near carbon copies of each other (i.e. absurdly handsome, intelligent and arrogant "reformed" rakes). Personally, I prefer Regency romance authors like Julia Quinn who continually provides strong, intelligent female characters and male love interests who are likeable and attractive but imperfect.
Needless to say, this book was a big disappointment. Its only saving grace, for me, is that I got it from a free book pile!

I am normally a big fan of this author but this story seemed to "short" and the characters not as well developed as they usually are. I though it was rushed.

In this story Georgiana comes to the estate of her uncle at the death of her father. Only to find out that the uncle has also passed on and she is now in the house of her cousin who is basically a lecher. She escapes to a neighbor for help (Dominic). She finds that this neighbor sends her to London to be with his sister and her husband. While Georgiana is trying to find work as a Governess she is also being presented to society. She not only finds herself with a few marriage proposals but she also finds that she has fallen in love with the one person who seems to be trying to distance himself from her.

I just finished reading this book and I think it's wonderful. I think it unfair that so many people underate it because it's not filled with superfluous steamy sex.
This is a book about LOVE, about falling in love, about building a relationship. The hero doesn't use lust, or the initiation of the heroine into sexual desire and intimacy to build a relationship.
I prefer stories where there is love BEFORE sex. Otherwise, how can we be sure that what comes after the sex is really love, and not infatuation/lust or emotional clingyness? I have read nearly four score of these books, and for this reason, this is one of my two favourites. (along with Beyond the Highland Mist)
If you are looking for lust and sex with a plot mixed through, read another book.
But if you are looking for a story where the characters experience true feelings and emotions, where the romance is true and gentle, where they truely love one another, then this is one of the best books for you!

As an absolute loyal fan of Stephanie Laurens it galls me to have to say it but I think she wrote this one in the Dentist's Chair. It has almost no basis in reality and the characters meet a total of three times and decide they are in love. This is one of 3 books that I have ever owned that I actually almost quit reading halfway through. But I perservered and finished the soggy thing.

This was a good read! There was no sex but a good romance doesn't always need it.
Georgiana Hartley flees the lecherous advances of her cousin to seek refuge from nobleman neighbor Dominic Ridgely. He packs her off to be helped by his married sister, Bella. Georgiana thinks she will find a place as a ladies' companion but Bella has plans to sponsor Georgiana and introduce her to society. Several likely suitors propsose but Georgiana insists she loves a man she can never have. But that man is also pining for her. It is their romance that ensues.

This is an older Stephanie Laurens book and my first by this author. I usually like a little more spice (aka sex) than that which is presented in this book. That said, this is one wonderful romance. It is one of those delightful slow builds. We know these two are ideal for each other in spite of their problems.

I'm not surprised by the ratings for this book. This book definitely has it's flaws but it depends on how much your willing to look past it, I guess, and I did so easily, even happily. Sure the heroine has her moments, you know those moments, where she needs a good hard shake until her brains rattle but I couldn't help liking this book.

Miss Georgiana Hartley has come to Candlewick Hall to to beg for assistance against her lecherous cousin, Charles. (what is it about cousins coming onto cousins in these books? Yuck!) Unfortunately there isn't a sympathetic lady in residence, but the incredibly handsome Lord Dominic Ridgely. Normally Dominic wouldn't be caught within a hundred yards of a young marriageable miss, but he knows Charles and can guess at her situation and so he takes pity on her. He sends her to his sister and her husband in London with the instructions to introduce her into the ton, sure in the fact she'll land a husband quickly so he won't have to worry about her. The second she leaves however, Dominic can't stop thinking about her. After forcing himself to stay away, he finally breaks down and comes to London sternly telling himself it's only for a brief look at Georgiana. Just to make sure she's settling in nicely.

Our hero and heroine play the game for awhile. She likes him and he likes her but they circle around each other, letting neither one know their feelings. Finally Dominic can't hide his desire from her or from his family and tells Georgiana that he wants to marry her. This declaration brings about The Big Misunderstanding. Georgiana believes he's only proposing out of pity and continues in this belief for a reaaallllyyy long time.

While this book follows the same old tired plot contrivances and I should by rights, despise it, I liked the book. I found Dominic personable, desirable and roguish while Georgie is adorable. She definitely, definitely has her TSTL moments. It seems she walks around with her head in the clouds, unable to see things until they leap out at her, dancing and screaming, "Look At Me!" She refuses to believe Dominic loves her or feels desire for her to the point of ridiculousness that makes you feel that Stephanie Laurens must have needed to keep writing to meet a set page quota. I rather found Georgie's naivety endearing but at times unbelievable, especially when the author makes her a sophisticated, witty conversationalist, able to outwit and outfox the great Beau Brummel himself. That was a stretch of the imagination. I felt you can't have it both ways. She's either dumb as a doorknob or smart as a whip. She can't be both.

This book has the standard surprise inheritance that Georgiana didn't know she had and of course the obligatory dastardly cousin who is out to steal it. Even as I'm writing this, I really shouldn't have liked this book but I just do. I can't explain it except to say that it just worked for me, flaws and all. Georgie is just so....cute. It's a little patronizing, the feelings I have for her, and I'm sure it's not unlike the feelings Dominic felt for her. She's incredibly young and well, innocent as the title of this book suggests. I can understand the appeal someone such as her would have on an incredibly jaded creature as Dominic Ridgeley but Stephanie Laurens makes her at times childlike and so when they finally do get hot and heavy, there's a squick factor that's a little nasty. Thankfully it's not until the end of the book. Again, this book was so formulaic and so full of the ridiculous that I should be embarrassed to admit I liked it, but I do. God, as I prepare to hit Publish Review, I'm so embarrassed. Oh, well.

I like Stephanie Laurens' books, mostly (up until the cynster twins novels) because she seems to have enough juice/creativity. I liked the cynster novels up until the twins' stories where she seemed to lose her creativity ... As a result, I was glad when her early works came out. Most of the early stuff looks good (scandalous season, four in hand come to mind...comfortable wife reminds me too much of one of the twin's stories.) THIS story is truly early and very farfetched. I am glad I only checked it from the library to read it...