Customer Reviews

Lady in Red

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the only one in the series I would give 4 stars to, as
oppossed to 4 1/2 stars for her other 4 books.

It was very good, don't get me wrong, but I was disappointed in
a few things. The biggest diasppointment I suffered was the
place in which Marcus decides to deflower Honoria. His behavior reminded me of how a teenage boy might act in this same situation.
He couldn't even wait till they reached their 'honeymoon' destination (such as it was). That was another complaint I had --
they had only ONE night on the outskirts of town for their
'honeymoon'.

Another thing I didn't like, was the way Honoria teased Marcus
with dangling the ring under other prospective buyer's noses.
During the scenes where she does this, she makes the reader feel as though she could not care less about his family's most precious heirloom. Very disappointing, with her being his
love interest & all. I wondered if she could be trusted. As it
turned out, she could, but I did have occassional, momentary
doubts at different times throught the story.

Now, the pluses to this book -- there were a lot of them -- my
favorite character, from the second book (Confessions of a Scoundrel), the butler turned coachman, Herberts - puts in an
appearance here. He is everybit as funny here as he was in
Scoundrel.

Other characters I liked were Cassandra, the eldest Baker-Sneed
relative after herself, and George, the youngest Baker-Sneed son.
I have not yet reviewed "Taming Rafe" by Suzanne Enoch, but I
can tell you, Karen Hawkins & Suzanne Enoch should get together & write a book for George Baker-Sneed and May Harrington. It would
take place several years after this book & Taming Rafe, and I
would purchase it without a second thought! George was great!
And, the French chef in this book added something special to
the end.

I will now attempt to try to rank these 5 books in my favorite order: 1. Confessions of a Scoundrel 2. An Affair to Remember 3. The Bride Wore Plaid 4. How to Treat a Lady 5. Lady in Red. 1st & 2nd place are tough, because I loved these 2 books
the most. Overall, I think An Affair to Remember has the best
story, but Confessions of a Scoundrel (and later, Lady in Red)
had the best character - Herberts.

One last thing -- this is one series that I believe should most
definitely be read in order of publication, because of the way
each story ends, it ties directly into its successor.

Eventually, I'll read another Karen Hawkins book, but for now,
I'm taking a breather. (Marcus, the biggest hold out brother
of the bunch, wore me out. Evidently, Honoria eventually wore
him out, too, because he finally came around in the last few
pages of the book).

I won't go into the plot because that's already been covered by other reviewers. I really enjoyed this book for a lot of reasons. It reminded me of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series (and not many books can compare to that) in the sense that there was interaction between various family members throughout the course of the book. There were some scenes with Honoria's family that made me laugh out loud, such as her family's use of "sea language" that they picked up from their brother Ned. Also, George's frog and the problems it causes when it goes missing is the focal point of a very a cute scene in Marcus' home. Marcus and Honoria have a lot of chemistry and the romance between them is very *ahem* heated.

The writing is excellent and kept me engrossed in the story. The reasons I have to give it 4 stars instead of 5 are minor. I hated Honoria's name. Her sister's names were Cassandra, Olivia, and Portia. ANY of those names would have been better than Honoria.

** SPOILER ALERT**

Secondly, I felt that it was odd that Marcus and Honoria didn't acknowledge their passion for each other in any way. They would meet, he would want her badly, and then he'd go his merry way. She comes up with all these things that she wants in return for the ring (including him courting her sister) and never comes up with a plan that has something to do with their attraction? And neither does he? The "battles" were amusing, but somewhat unrealistic, I thought. Considering how much they make out in public places (his carriage, her house, the museum) it seems very rushed when a small kiss and horse accident in the park is what makes them get married. And that, too, near the end of the book. I would rather have had their "forced" marriage to take place earlier and not have to deal with her trying to force him to court her sister. (This seemed rather creepy since he was 39 and her sister was 18 and Honoria was so obviously attracted to him.)

But, overall, I felt that even if the plot didn't always take the direction I wanted, it was a well-written, sensual romance and a fan of Julia Quinn, Sabrina Jeffries, etc. would be happy to give up a few hours of sleep to read this book.

Karen Hawkins have done it with this book! I read nothing but regency romance and I hate it when there's not one book on the shelf worth reading. I still buy because I love to read but after a few chapters of NOTHING, I end up picking another book hoping it would be IT. Well, this one's special enough to encourage me to write a review. The hero and heroine seem too real they'll make you get in touch with your romantic side. They made me feel like I was in the same place they were in as they bantered with each other. They came alive as I read the book, which is really what I look for. This book doesn't drag and it's full of emotions and witty repartee even from the family and the coachman. I could not put this one down and I read it overnight! Marcus and Honoria's story will be placed among my collection of keepers and I look forward to the time when I think I've forgotten their story and read it all over again. Hurry up Ms. Hawkins and write another one just as excellent as this.

Unbeknownst to me when I picked up the book, this book is the fifth in a series. Sigh. It stands on its own quite nicely, but I do rather wish I'd read the books in order. Oh well, too late now, and not the first time I've done this sort of thing.

The heroine, Honoria, is intelligent, capable, and not terribly anancronistic. The hero, Marcus, is like a more well rounded (character-wise, not in girth) version of the young Ebeneezer Scrooge. He's all work and no play and bah humbug.

But luckily for him, his ancestral (magical --- woooooooo ---) ring ends up on a cake selected by Honoria at a party. Now the fun can begin.

The two are long standing rivels for antiquities. Honoria knows full well what the ring is worth, and that it has intangible value for Marcus. Her family (absent father and brother Ned,the beautiful and sweet Cassandra, the mischievous Olivia and Portia, the pastry loving Juliet, and little 6 year old, frog-mad George) are poor, due to some poor financial dealings. She wants to give Cassandra a season but doesn't have the wherewithal to do it. So she asks for a huge amount of money, knowing that Marcus can spare it, and that he wants the ring back more than anything else. Marcus, on the other hand, knows how to make every last shilling squeak, and refuses to pay her price. So the negotiating starts.

Okay. Not a bad premise. There are many good secondary characters. Besides Honoria's amusing family, there are Marcus' relatives, all of whom have their own books. I especially liked his half-brother Anthony, who is big, appears quite lazy, and is very perceptive and quick on the uptake. There is also a crazy former pickpocket coachman who cracked my ass up. In the end of the book, he saves a very soppy scene by sticking in his two cents:

Marcus: "I will shower you with rubies and diamonds. I will flood your house with flowers and fans. I will be on your doorstep day and night, and I do not care what anyone says or thinks of it."

"Lor' love ye, miss!" Herbers added, looking impressed. "If ye won't have him, oiye will."

Ha! I also was quite charmed by the following exchange between our hero and heroine:

"Twenty is hardly old enough to engage in a civil conversation, as far as I am concerned," Marcus said dryly. "I try not to converse with anyone younger than my favorite pocket watch. That rule has made my life much more enjoyable."

Her lips quivered at that, but she didn't quite manage a smile. "How old is your pocket watch?"

"Five and twenty." He looked her up and down. "I daresay I shouldn't be speaking with you, right now."

"You are safe with me, my lord. I am seven and twenty."

"Thank God, then. I'd hate to have to toss you from the coach."

More Ha!

However, there was some ickiness. For one thing, violet eyes. Three pairs of them! However, at least none of them on the heroine. Nevertheless, her hair varies from chesnut to ebony to russet throughout the book. I found that quite distracting. And last, but certainly not least, the author mentions (thank goodness, only once) the heroine's hot and creamy juices. That one almost made me sick up my pop-tart.

All in all, this was a good one and a half-day romp. I will definitely look this author up in the future.

Again Karen Hawkins, delights us with another entrancing tale surrounding the St Johns talisman ring..(her 5th book of the Talisman Ring Series)..
Marcus St. John, the Marquis of Treymount and Miss Honaria Baker-Sneed are the perfect foil to each other, and you will enjoy this book from start to finish.....
Honaria is more than willing to sell the ring to Marcus, but will he pay the price????????...Read on, dear ones....

I don't really care for Honoria. What was Karen Hawkins thinking? The one who she thinks Marcus would love and show him how "bad" he is extorts money from him? Why the heck would he fall in love with her? The woman who is asking 70000 times what the ring is worth just because she knows its sentimental value to him and he can "afford it"? He is suppose to think woman are money hungry and manipulative and Honoria is suppose to show him their not? Honoria is worse than Marcus yet Karen wants to make her more lovable than him. She trys to portrays Marcus purchase of a nobalemans land as dastardardlly and cold harted when the man keeps drincking and gaming his fortune away yet Honoria is suppose to be a poor girl down on her luck. She does this a lot in her books. The woman say one thing is bad about the men and they are just as bad if not worse. I love her secondary characters and if you overlook Honoria actions at times then the story line is good you just wish they got together in a better way. I keep hoping when I read her books some nice woman comes and marries the hero's for I really don't care for the woman.

The St. John talisman ring is missing! Whoever holds the ring seems destined for love. Nevertheless, it isn't the ring's mystical power which drives Marcus St. John to Honoria's front door. She possesses something that belongs to his family and Marcus demands that the bauble be returned.

Unfortunately, Honoria Baker-Sneed is no milk toast young maid. Time and again, Honoria's strong spirit and pride interfere with what could be a simple exchange, but she is evenly matched. Marcus seems just as determined to win their little contest. What he doesn't count on is falling in love in the bargain.

Delightful contrast of wills from two worthy opponents - with love as the prize.

I hadn't read a real tried-and-true historical romance in quite some time, and I have to be honest - I only picked this book up because of the cover! It caught my eye and I figured, 'why not'? And I'm glad it had such a pretty cover, because it was a very enjoyable read. There was a slight supernatural slant to it (it is the last one in a series about the Talisman Ring), but it was minor and you could really ignore it if you wanted. The characters were wonderful, and the plot (though a predictable romance) was fun and engrossing. Anyone who likes Julie Garwood, Catherine Coulter, Julia Quinn, or Amanda Quick will probably enjoy this book. I'll most likely read more by this author in the future, and would recommend them to anyone who's a fan of this genre.

This book finally made it to the top of my to-be-read pile and I was happy that it did! Fast paced, kept my interest and I read it in one sitting!

I loved this book. It was a combination of "Pride and Prejudice", "Little Women", and "A Christmas Carol". I was interested by page 2 and hooked by page 10. Very good character developement and all the characters were loveable. I laughed out loud in a couple spots, which is very rare. I wasn't expecting very much from a 4 star book but I read this in one sitting.