Customer Reviews

Lord Sin (Book One: Rakes of London)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I liked this book quite a bit. The only problem I had was with the dialogue between the hero/heroine. Where was it??? the author spent most of the time going on about what was going on in their heads. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I know, but please I do need some spoken words between the characters once in a while. Looking forward to her next book with hopefully more dialogue.....

This will be the first book I have ever reviewed, only because I have never hated a book more.

I bought this because of the great price and the other 22 reviews that mostly celebrated this book. I can assure you after reading thousands of romances over twenty years this is the worst piece of work that I have ever read.

The thought of the heroine was provoking but I never really got to like or know her. The main characters never spoke to each other and when they did there was no substance to any of it. I was tired of reading about lust in the characters heads and not hear them speak the words to each other. There was no romance, no real emotion. I never really understood how they could have possibly fallen in love, it just made no sense.

Where the heck did the title come from.........

This book will be a fire starter in my Chimenea......

I bought Lord Sin after reading the reviews posted below, and I must say that I wish I hadn't! This is VERY far from being "historical romance at its best" (although it's a great example of why romance novels have gotten a bad rap).

In the first chapter alone I thought I was going to scream if Kalen Hughes used the word "humanity" once more to describe a crowd. She's also fond of throwing in what appear to me to be random vocab words of yore in order to validate the historical time frame, but it fails miserably (and I have no idea what she's talking about). Furthermore, there are little details that don't line up that drive me nuts. For example, the heroine and the hero share a steamy kiss on the stairs as she's heading to her rooms. Shortly thereafter, bathed and dress, she come down the hallway from her room (which is on the first floor)...um....OK.

As a lover of romance, I have to say that this one is weak. There's simply not enough backstory and not enough depth.

Zebra's debut author program continues to release fresh voices that delight and entertain thoroughly. Kalen Hughes and her first novel are no exception. With a breath of scandal, a whiff of devil-may-care lust, Lord Sin introduces the tale of two people who were never meant to be apart. But it takes a bit of blackmail, the perseverance of a bulldog and the heart of a man in love to see it through. He's found his match for sure, for never was there a woman so willing to play dirty in turn.

Ivo Dauntry is back from six years in exile, time spent in humiliation for coming to the defense of the hoydenish Mrs. Georgianna Exley. Though he vows she is no business of his, she's in the same circles as he almost as soon as he returns home, her lush figure and daring, wild ways inducing him into a firestorm of wanton need. Despite the disappointing blow dealt his family, he will have her again, as recompense for his long sacrifice away from home. Meanwhile, George, as she's known to her inner circle of admirers, enjoys a life less ordinary as one of the most daring women in London, hosting an almost nonstop house party of men ever since she came out of mourning for her husband. It is this reputation that Ivo returns to, and one that emboldens him further into her life. Despite her resolve to give Ivo no more time than she would any of her lovers, the man wrestles a much grander bargain from her--six nights of sensual engagement to appease his six years spent in exile. Ivo will use those nights to gain all he wants from her and so much more. When danger sets its sights on Mrs. Exley, Ivo will find himself in a precarious spot, one in which George might not let him come to her defense this time. But he's waited too long to make her his, and Ivo has even more iron will than she imagined.

I loved this book. From the first page, when it hints of Ivo's love for a married woman, to the grand country house party at Christmas, Ivo and George sweep the reader along in their tale of lust driven love that turned oh so sweet and tender along the way. A little dismayed at first for his revenge driven reasoning, Ivo in turn surprised me with his depth of feeling. It was almost as if he and George had a reversal of roles from the traditional setup in similarly written romances. Ivo displays all the tender, sincere emotions of love, while our daring Mrs. Exley has fairly flown in the face of society with her less than lady-like ways. The rake, by an interesting twist, is not Ivo, but George. From her expertise with a firearm, to her impeccable seat in the saddle, she can give as good--and often better--than any man around her. And it works beautifully. Without a doubt, she is one of the most interesting heroines in historical romance for me. Ivo was almost as intimidated by her as her puppyish circle of male admirers, but he resolves to make her his own. It's the iron willed resolve of a man in love and he does whatever he has to in order to make her his, a pursuit that was heart fluttering a sigh worthy. There was a time or two (as we often see with the MEN in romances) where I wanted to slap some sense into George for her less than gracious treatment of Ivo and in turn I wanted to smack him on the rear a time or two to get him moving along a little more forcefully. The role reversal and combined push and pull of the hero and heroine made for a delightfully suspenseful atmosphere of will they or won't they already. My one gripe about the storyline was the role of the villain. It's so underdeveloped that the story almost could have done without it and been fine. There was not much effort made into unveiling the reasoning behind the villain's pursuit of George and those intrusions into the story felt just like that--intrusions that took away from Ivo and George. And the second gripe was the almost uncaring attitude about the six years--six!!--spent in exile by Ivo, no small amount of time to pay for what wasn't even really a mistake on his part. I wished over and over while reading the book that George would recognize that sacrifice in some other way than the agreement of six nights with Ivo. It was almost as if, since he'd gotten to return home, that it was done with and in the past, when in fact it hung over them like a bad mark. Other than that--this is a definite keeper and very good reread material. It wraps up, despite the few problems, very well and the author even provides a wonderful little look into the history of the time in her Author's Note at the end of the book. In conclusion, I cannot wait to see what is next from this author--and in fact we already have a new release forthcoming. Lord Scandal, about George's close friend, Gabriel--aka Brimstone, will release in June of 2008.

Lord Scandal

I don't know what the big deal is about this book... it was only okay. I think the premise for the book is good, but it just didn't flow right. Sometimes the sequence of events and dialogue felt choppy, like a sentence or paragraph was missing. It also annoyed me that the hero was always being called and referred to by a different name... I understand that he has titles and etc, but just pick one.

Normally I finish a romance in 2 days or less and I've been working on this for more than a week. I'd say wait till it comes to your local library....

The story was set in 1788; however, the author uses modern day slang and expressions,shaky character development and no romance. The men in the story were chasing after Georgianna as if she was in heat. Where was the romance? Not here.

Six years ago while away in Paris, Ivo Dauntry killed a man. The man was drunk and manhandling the lovely young Mrs. Georgianna "George" Exley. Ivo - who was rather infatuated with George - interceded to protect her. A fight ensued, leading to swordplay, and Ivo was forced to kill the man in a "kill or be killed" situation. It was quite scandalous, and rather awkward for George with her husband, but fortunately it was hushed up by their aristocratic relations. Ivo was nonetheless cast off by his family, and he has not set foot in England for six years. Now Ivo's cousin has died and he has been called home to assume the title of Earl of Somercote. George is now a widow and is even more alluring than in Ivo's dreams - but she is no longer the innocent girl he remembers. She is now a popular and outrageous society hostess with a hoard of male admirers. And she has a most unusual rule for those lucky few she takes as lovers - only a SINGLE night in her bed. Ivo has given up six years of his life for the only woman whose virtue he ever defended - and he is determined to get a night for every one of those lost years.

I liked this book overall, even though it could use some more details and more dialogue between the leads. It had an interesting and unusual storyline and the physical relationship between Ivo and George was well done - intense and somewhat dark. I liked how the narration alternated between them, showcasing the couple's misconceptions and vulnerabilities. However, I felt that Ivo and George did not converse enough. This put a slight drag on parts of the story and, more importantly, it made their relationship seem mostly just sexual. And the lack of sufficient background information left me sometimes adrift. On balance, though, it was a good read with good atmosphere and some good intimate scenes. Ms. Hughes has a nice sophistication and phrasing to her writing that I quite enjoy. If this is the caliber of her debut, then I will definitely be looking for her next book.

I bought this because it's a new author in a new line which is attempting to make romance novels more affordable. Terrific notion. But if these novels are just an unreadable snore-fest, then the money is wasted anyway.

This poor author could really use an editor -- preferably one who knows something about dialogue. This book is made up of a series of one or two-sentence paragraphs interspersed with a conversation about once every ten pages. Don't get me wrong -- I have nothing against narration. But this book is ALL narration.

The reader cares nothing about these characters because they never come alive. How can they? The author never lets them talk. The novel reads like it was written from memory by someone who overhead the plot by eavesdropping in a restaurant. After the first hundred pages, I tried skipping over the interminable narration to get to the sex scenes but they were just as mechanical and sleep-inducing as the rest of the novel. And this is the caliber of book which makes it to the Golden Heart finals? Who was judging that year? Gertrude Stein?

Save your money and try another press. Come to think of it, I have never read a Zebra Press book which was first-rate. They must pay their authors in Confederate script.

This author should try reading Lisa Kleyas or Julia Quinn and find out a little about dialogue before she bores us all again.

Actually I read 'Lord Scandal' before 'Lord Sin' and loved it so much I was eager to read Kalen Hughes 1st book and I wasn't disappointed. This was a fun read and apart from a few minor plot problems such as why the feisty, but lovable heroine, Georgiana ['George' to her miriad of male friends] wasn't devastated when her maid was horribly murdered while waiting for her mistress at an inn. Ms.Hughes didn't seem to delve into any details as to why the heroine seemed to accept such a happening to her loyal maid and therefore she came across as unfeeling. The hero, Ivo Dauntry, was a strong character and certainly made a good match for George, but once again, there was no thorough explanation of why he was enamoured of her in Paris in spite of the fact that she was obviously fond of her 1st husband.There was a lot of humour in the book and the erotic scenes were very well written and not heavy-handed--although a lot of modern slang words for body parts didn't quite ring true to that era for me. But, oh well, I suppose I am old-fashioned and Kalen is writing for younger readers, so go for it Kalen, I think you have a bright future!

Ivo killed a man duel 6 years ago defending Georgianna's honor and then he left the city. Upon his return he hears rumors that the honor he had defended for Georgianna was nonexistant. He vows that she will break her one night lover rule and give him 6 nights, one for each year he was gone. Georgianna, often referred to as George, agrees to Ivo's stipulation because she is drawn to him in a way that she cannot explain. While Georgianna struggles to remain emotionally seperated, Ivo plots to make her his. Will Georgianna give Ivo the full six nights? Will Ivo succeed in winning Georgianna's love? Or will the revenge of a twisted psychopath seperate them forever?

This book had the makings of a great romance novel with an interesting plot but I feel it came up way short. I thought the story lacked depth. An example...I could not understand why Ivo left after the duel. It does not state if he was forced to leave by his family, society or even the law enforcement. I thought the author jumped from situation to situation without going into enough detail to explain what happened so I constantly found myself lost and having to reread pages to try and see what I had missed, especially during the intimate parts. About halfway thru the book I stopped trying to find the missing pieces because I realized they were not there. I found most of the "TETE-A-TETE"'s at the beginning of most of the chapters even more confusing, with most of them I had no idea what they were talking about. I thought Ivo was a weak male, he referred to Georgianna several times as being masculine. I found this extremely odd and well out of place. Overall I do not recommend this book.