Customer Reviews

More and More

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

 

 

In the past, I have read a number of Ms. Cameron's contemporary novels and enjoyed them. Preferring historicals, I picked up More and More, but I just could not get into the plot. There were many times I was so frustrated with the writing style that I was tempted to not finish the book at all. I persevered, hoping it would get better, and it didn't. There was very little cohesion between paragraphs, let alone chapters. I found myself jumping from place to place, trying to figure out what happened or was currently happening. The relationship between Finch and Ross also confused me. Hot, cold, professional, lovers and all within a few days. True, they had known each other for a few months, but only in passing. Their relationship only grew in the few days which the story takes place. Virtual strangers who partake in some pretty hot, explicit sexual preludes, but when the time comes to make love, he carries her off to his room....and awaken the next morning. From what preceded this scene, I was vastly disappointed.

One redeeming feature to the story is the structure of the characters themselves. Finch and Ross are fairly well developed and we get to know each one, their motivations and indecisiveness. Finch is refreshingly open about herself and her feelings, though I can't help to feel that she is a late 20th century woman plunked into the early nineteenth century. Her behavior is not well suited for the setting of the story. Although we learn what makes Ross "tick", I never feel like I get to know him. Whereas in most books I feel like I know the lead characters, am somehow become their friends, that feeling of familiarity is lacking. The secondary characters, those at number 7, number 8, and Hayden add spice to the story and compliment it well.

I thought our narrator of the story quite an interesting twist, but once again, disjointed and uncomfortably written. You never quite knew what was going on until the end. Who was this disembodied voice? The author, a character, and how did they know what was going to happen? Though a fascinating literary device, I did not like its execution. All in all I do not recommend this book, stick to some of Ms. Cameron's other novels.

At 29, Finch More is considered "on the shelf" in Regency England. She is a spinster whose time for love has come and gone. She has made a life for herself as the co-owner of a shipping firm with her brother, and has rooms in a former glorious mansion located at 7 at Mayfield Square and finding simple pleasure helping him run an import business. As the book opens, however, Finch finds herself in trouble, accosted by a strange man issuing oblique warnings. From the moment Ross forces her to tell him about the encounter, their fate is sealed. Ross's work may have instigated the danger, but Finch and her brother are right in the thick of it, and Ross and Finch will have to work together if they want to keep Finch's brother, and themselves, alive.

Ross, Viscount Kilrood, a mysterious and handsome troubleshooter who takes on commissions for foreign Sultans and the like. He's sworn his allegiance to a cause that allows no room for family or love, no matter how interesting he finds his neighbor's sister. He becomes a customer Finch has no idea how her simple spinster's life will change. Suddenly, mystery, intrigue and a passionate romance are on the horizon.

More and More is a quirky, passionate historical romance which Cameron fans should adore. Ross and Finch are sharp, intelligent and funny. The dialogue is crisp and witty, and the passion is fiery. The addition of a meddlesome ghost is quite funny, as are some of the predicaments in which Fitch finds herself. A charming and funny romance which fans should love.

I have enjoyed Ms .Cameron's contemporary romances so much, I finally decided to try one of her historicals. Although I like historicals, this one was a great disappointment. The characters had no depth, the same sex (not love) scene was recycled over and over, and so was the dialog! Very little seemed true to the period; servants were the intimates of the "gentry," the heroine was sexually curious and liberated; in fact, there seemed very little sense of period at all. If the author hadn't identified the date, I doubt I could have placed this in any particular pre-industrial revolution era with any accuracy. I highly recommend True Bliss, Sheer Pleasures and Pure Delights--skip this one!

The dialog was more than I could handle. The interchange between the characters was so esoteric it was like reading another language at times. Stella Cameron is so talented, but there are a few of her books that go beyond imagination. I was looking forward to this one, especially after French Quarter. What a disappointment.

I found the story implausible. The sexual intimacy reached much too early in the book to be believable -- especially for the time period. The dialog was repetitious and vague. This seemed to be deliberate to add mystery to the plot, but instead it seemed boring.

A mysterious personage wishes to rid his/her family home of *gasp* boarders so he/she devises a plan to have the young people married off and out of the house. The first in this series involves Finch More, who, along with her brother, runs an antiquities business. Viscount Ross Kilrood is the next door neighbor who has retained the services of More & More to secure some packages that, when united, comprise an artifact very valuable to a small foreign municipality. Both the interference of this mysterious personage and the villains who wish to secure the artifact for their own purposes complicate this matter.
Although this plot seems quite straightforward, the various personages involved do not always act with cohesive motivations. It seems the characters change their behavior in order to advance the plot, and not in a way that one would expect from the established qualities of their personalities. Also, the final climactic scene was confusing, as motives and connections were revealed that I felt had not been at all hinted at. For instance one individual who had acted quite villainously was revealed to have been a good guy all along, which didn't really play for me. However, the intrigue did wrap up at least satisfactorily with few ends still loose.
In addition, Stella Cameron writes some of the best sex scenes I've ever read. As I've gotten older, I've tended to skip those parts, but I read straight through every one of hers.
To address the aforementioned `mysterious personage:' Cameron has employed the device of revealing this person's thoughts to the reader through a series of italicized chapters written almost in the style of a letter. This was confusing as I thought this person was employing other people, possibly another character in the story, to assist him/her in his/her goal. However, I currently believe the missives are directed at us, the readers, although I am still not sure. Also, Cameron includes some `historical' information at the end designed, I believe, to induce us to regard this series of tales as `true.'
I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series, especially as the identity of this mysterious personage, as that was not revealed in this first volume.

Wow - this book was so boring, the heroine so childish and the hero, well, what was he doing with her?? I could not finish this book!! I tried so hard but this whole mess of a book, outside of some of the renters, was bland and silly. Don't waste your time with this wreck. Perhaps the book would have gotten better but really, who cared anyway? If the h/h do not grab your attention early on, than it does not matter if one finishes or not.

I have loved all of Ms. Cameron's Mayfair Square books and highly recommend the series as a whole, but I had to work to finish this one. In her other stories she creates passion that is also romantic, but this time the sex scenes ( I cannot call them love scenes, as that emotion is notably absent) felt forced on the reader, and the characters hardly more than lustful strangers. And after wading through all the foreplay, she glosses right over the true consumation. Badly done, Stella!

I thought that this book was pretty good. It had a developed plot and I could easily tell what was going on. The characters also had a visible personality, it's easy to fall for them. I found myself reading the book a couple of times. True, the love scenes are all alike, but there is more to the book than that. I enjoyed the conversations Finch had with her friends at Mayfair 7. They were always worried about Ross taking advantage of her, which she always denied.

This is the best Stella Cameron book I've read so far. I recommend the other books in the Mayfair series.

I had not read any of Ms. Cameron's novels before but now I am hooked. This novel was surprisingly sensual for the time period (1800's) but not implausible. At the same time, it was very funny in a natural and realistic kind of way. After reading this book, my spirits were uplifted but I didn't want it to end. (Four hundred and some pages are not enough.) I hope Ms. Cameron continues with stories about the other tenants of Number 7.