One of my HR friends disliked this book and having never read Anna Campbell before, I decided to skip it. It was getting so many great ratings however, that I thought I might as well check it out from the library and see what all the fuss was about. Well let me tell you, it got off to a VERY rocky start with me and I almost put the book down and didn't finish it - in the end, I'm so glad I didn't!
The first ~90-100 pages drove me crazy and felt so, SO cliché. We have the oh-so-bad rake, out for revenge, going to take it out on an innocent society darling, sees past the ugly disguise of her chaperone (after first remarking 500 times how ugly she is), decides he'll do them both, is selfish and only thinking with his ::clears throat:: - well, not his head. And then we have the prim reformed heroine who let her passions get her into a scandal years ago, resulted in family estrangement and her having to make her way, now she's determined to be proper and never again controlled by her emotions, she hates all rakes and charmers, considers herself totally able to spot them and fend them off ... and then melts into a puddle *every*single*freaking*time* (!!) the hero is around, saying 'Oh, I shouldn't, I know better, but look at that hot bod and that smile, he makes me tingle - oh no, what am I thinking? - okay just one kiss - oh no! how could I? - well he is so sexy and the hottest guy on earth' on and on and on (this drove me *NUTS*, in case you couldn't tell).
So yes, I was really, really not feeling the beginning of the book and wish it could be rewritten, because the hero comes off as a superficial and selfish man-whore, while the heroine seems spineless, self-righteous, and wholly hypocritical.
However, it got much, much better and I ended up really enjoying the romance and the leading characters - the banter between them was delightful right from the beginning and was probably the only thing that kept me reading at first. The secondary characters were for the most part surprisingly three-dimensional, which made the book that much more interesting.
While I did end up liking Antonia and rooting for her, Nicholas *completely* stole the show for me! As I said, he really does come off like a bastard at the beginning, but one feels that he does undergo a change and that that change is authentic. The scene between him and Antonia when he's in her room, she's tired from having nursed Cassie, and he's sweet and for once taking a break from pursuing her, was so lovely (see quotes below pgs111-115). That is when he started to completely win me over and my opinion about the story firmly did a 180.
So bottom line: Great read, get it! I will be buying my own copy so I can reread in the future.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
Most of them have (ummm ... all of them?) have to do with Nicholas, whom I absolutely 100% adore (post pg~90).
He'd stared into her eyes, dark with confusion and unwilling passion, and for one stark, horrible instant, he'd wished to be that different man. He'd wished to be worthy of her.
(p98-99)
"Miss Smith, your suspicions wound me," he said with a smile. He drew her, stiff and unwilling, against his side. Immediately her warmth seeped into his veins. He'd known he'd missed her, but only now did he realize how much. "I mean no harm."
"You lie."
"Often," he agreed amiably, feeling the resistance leaching from her. "Not this time."
"I'm in no fit state to fight you," she muttered, curving into him as if created to fit his body.
"I know," he acknowledged ruefully, wondering why of all the women in the world, she was the only one who ignited any glimmer of chivalry in his soul. "But it's no fun when you just give in. I'll wait until you're up for another bout."
She hid her face in his shoulder. She inhaled on a shudder, as if she hadn't taken a full breath in days. "You're an evil devil, Ranelaw."
"Absolutely," he said softly, firming his hold as she shifted, not away as she should, but closer.
(p111)
He'd been right about her determination to save the people she loved. He wondered with a sudden pang he couldn't identify how it would feel having someone like Antonia on his side.
(p113)
He'd always loved how she fought him. He loved the crackle and spark of her wit. Now he discovered he also loved the way she lay against him in what felt like perfect trust. ...
Antonia was a tall, vital woman, no shrinking miss. Now she felt brittle and vulnerable. He tightened his hold and told himself the surge of protectiveness meant nothing. Again he couldn't quite believe it.
(p115)
He swallowed and told himself he couldn't steal her like so much contraband and rush of somewhere they'd never be disturbed. Such places only existed in fairy tales. "I'll wait for you."
(p144)
He'd been unhappy, restless, irritable since leaving Surrey. He'd lived on memories of her. Her absence slowly strangled him. The instant he took Antonia in his arms, he breathed again.
(p169)
"I want you to myself." Much as he strove to sound the assured man of the world, ragged emotion edged the words.
(p172)
