Customer Reviews

Much Ado About You

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a huge Eloisa James fan, but was not thrilled with this book and had to force myself to finish it. It is very clear even without ever knowing more books would follow that was her intention, a setup. Too much time was spent explaining each sister over and over again so we could truly get a sense of them. I felt that Tess really deserved a true story of her own, not one thrown into the mix of all the many explanations. I thought Imogen would NEVER finally run away with her love as we were told she would by reading the back cover. The story was very slow paced and instead of sitting down and finishing it the way I have done with all of her books prier it took me three days. Then suddenly when there are less than 50 pages left it grew interesting. It was truly a letdown but I hope the ones to follow will be better without all the explaining. We can only hope.

The Essex sisters are in a pickle: their improvident father is dead, and now the sisters (four in all) are penniless and homeless. But their prospects are not so dire for their father has given them a guardian in the shape of the Duke of Holbrook (a youngish and rich gentleman, even if he does seem to be perpetually tipsy); and he has dowered them each with a much prized horse. The Duke in determined to do his duty by his wards and to see them settled happily in life; while Tess, now that she realises that she can count on the Duke to do right by her sisters and her, is determined to marry as soon as possible. Fortunately, the Duke his two of his closest friends visiting: the urbane and sophisticated Earl of Mayne and the fabulously rich and rakish Lucius Felton. The earl seems all set to woo her, but it is Lucius Felton who makes her pulses race, and whose kisses thrill. Should Tess make the prudent decision of allowing the earl to propose? Or should she wait for Lucius to make his move?

With this first installment of a new series featuring the Essex sisters, Eliosa James is off to a promising start. For while the series follows an old formula (virtually penniless sisters must marry for security), Ms James' execution of this old plot gambit is anything but, especially since she's introduced a rather interesting twist involving Imogen Essex, her obsession with an unsuitable suitor and how this affects her relationship with her sisters. All this will probably only be properly "fleshed" out in subsequent installments; "Much Ado About You," focuses mostly on setting up the series premise and the characters involved in this series. And while I did enjoy "Much Ado About You" enormously, I have a feeling that some readers may not, because the developing romance/attraction that the book should have focused on (the Tess-Lucius pairing) sometimes got lost in between the many plot threads. A little more of Tess interacting with Lucius would have been very welcome. Since I've never watched Sex in the City, I'm unable to say whether or not the comparision is accurate; but I can advise though is to avoide the plot synopsis at the back of the book -- it gives far too much of the plot away.

This is my first book by Eloisa James. She is an excellent writer, and I enjoyed this novel--my favorite genre, Regency romance--but I would have enjoyed it more if the pace hadn't been so plodding throughout much of the book. Too talky at times, too much dialogue, not enough action. But I certainly plan to read at least one more book in the Essex series.

I really loved this book. This is odd, because I hated the "Duchess" series, which includes "Duchess in Love", "Fool for Love", "A Wild Pursuit", and "Your Wicked Ways". This book turned out to be way better than the Duchess series.

Tess Essex and her three sisters (the following books in the series are about her sisters) are left alone in the world after their father passes away. He loved his horses more than anything in the world and each girl has been given a dowry of a horse. The Duke of Holbrook agreed to be their ward before their father passed away. He was expecting 4 young children and did not realize that he would get 4 grown ladies, all of which are beautiful. He immediately asks one of his friends to marry Tess, and the rest of the novel is about Tess and who she marries (she has more than one guy interested in her), and what happens when she falls in love.

I liked that the wedding happened before the love (I love marriage of convenience plots). All the characters are well written. I really liked Rafe (the guardian) and if he is not intended for one of the sisters, then Eloisa better write a separate book for him.

There is an interesting side-story with her sister Imogene (which will really have an impact on Imogene's book) and I loved Annabel's character. Josie, as the youngest, slightly chubby. youngest sister was also interesting.

There are, of course, the trademark "sensual" scenes that James uses in all of her books. Watch out for the scene that take place when Tess and her husband are at the race tracks.

All in all, this was a well written book, very engrossing and a great set-up for a quartet. I can't wait until the rest of the series is released.

This is obviously the first book of a series, for much time is spent introducing not only the heroine Tess Essex, but also her three younger sisters, aged 15 to 22, and other supporting characters. The untimely death of the sisters' father, a viscount, has placed them under the guardianship of Rafe Jourdain, Duke of Holbrook. The thirty-something duke is someone the sisters have never before met, and whom their somewhat reckless father knew only slightly. Nonetheless, they leave their home in Scotland and are welcomed by Rafe at his estate in the English countryside. Tess feels guilty that the duke is burdened with four young women who are not his relations. In order to lessen Rafe's burden, Tess decides to marry quickly so that she can then take over responsibility for her sisters. She is almost instantly wooed by the Earl of Mayne, a friend of Rafe's who she likes but does not have strong romantic feelings for and vice versa. Tess does have strong feelings when around Lucias Felton, a wealthy businessman, and he seems to be interested in her as well. However, Lucias strangely acquiesces to his friend Mayne's suit and does not declare for Tess. Tess feels that she cannot afford to hold out for Lucias when there is so willing and desirable a candidate as Mayne is in the offing. How this dilemma is resolved, as well as miscellaneous flirtations, engagements and weddings, is at the heart of the novel.

The first half of this story was slow moving with too many things going on with too many different characters. Also, Tess' sisters were a little difficult to like or feel much sympathy for. The book took off in the second half and was much better. I enjoyed how Tess and Lucian related to each other in such an all-consuming way, and I liked Tess' enthusiasm and Lucias' sweetness. My one dissatisfaction is that there were many loose ends remaining around the secondary characters in the story. I do not need the presence of so many open issues to want to read subsequent books in a series.

I'm very tired of authors taking scenes or sometimes whole plots from already famous and popular books. Mary Balogh's Slightly Dangerous could easily be renamed Slightly Pride and Prejudice.

In Much Ado About You the characters are engaging and the plot interesting. However, there is one scene practically lifted from a Louisa May Alcott book. This might not be problematic except that the character is imbued with characteristics and nobility that he hasn't shown throughout the entire book. There is a description of the character given through the author's perspective that is the antithesis of every behavior the character showed. The character is unlikeable and uncharming and the author telling us otherwise doesn't make it so. This is important because it makes one of the characters who will presumably have her own book later in the series both unlikeable and unsympathetic.

There is also a bit about a sister's elopement lifted right out of Pride and Prejudice again.

I have read several of this author's previous works, so I decided to ignore the review that was disappointed because this book seemed much more of an introduction of all the characters in this sister series. That reviewer was right on. While I like the James style of having her two main characters be part of a group dynamic, in this book, they become lost in the sheer number of other characters involved. At the end of this book I really couln't recall anything special about Tess and Lucius that made me care that they loved each other. In fact, I keep wondering how it was possible. I am interested in the stories of several of the other characters, so I will probably buy other books in this series, but this book was definitely a waste of time.

I'm a huge fan of romantic comedy, and this book is one of the best I've ever read. The basic plot sounds simple, but James's execution is magical: Four sisters, aged 24, 22, 20 and 15, are orphaned when their father, a horse-mad Scottish lord, is flung from one of his horses. Tess, the eldest, has been mother as well as sister to her siblings since their mother died when the youngest was a baby. Tess is greatly worried when she discovers their feckless father has left them to the guardianship of a British duke none of them has ever met. But though 35-year-old Rafe, the Duke of Holbrook, drinks far too much, he is extremely kind, treating the sisters like family. It is obvious to Tess and her two sisters next in line, Annabel and Imogen, that they must marry since they have no money to support themselves and they don't want to take advantage of the duke. But since the only dowry their father left them is one race horse each that cannot be sold, they are afraid only undesirable men as horse-mad as their father will be likely to seek their hands. Fortunately, the sisters are all beautiful, and the duke decides he will have little trouble finding them husbands. In fact, one of his two thirty-something best friends, the Earl of Mayne, immediately volunteers to marry Tess in pursuit of a comfortable marriage of convenience. The only thing standing in the way is the duke's other best friend, the fabulously wealthy and extremely enigmatic Lucius Felton. Before meeting Tess, Lucius had no plans to marry, and he is dismayed to find himself far more interested in Tess than any man who cares about either comfort or convenience ought to be.

The heroine and hero, Tess and Lucius, are a great match. They are both intelligent, with a sense of humor, bone-deep integrity, and an enormous capacity for love and loyalty. Because of internal wounds they each bear, the vulnerability they experience as their relationship develops makes the love scenes not only very sexy (and they are hot!) but extremely touching. There are multiple subcharacters, every one of them adding an important element to the book, but the major ones, the tipsy duke, Rafe, and Tess's sisters, are particularly well done. Tess's relationship with each character is important to her story, and the main subplot of her sister Imogen's desperate love for an engaged man contrasts with Tess's relationship with Lucius in a particularly powerful way. I am looking forward with great anticipation to the upcoming three books about the other sisters. I'm especially hoping Rafe will recover from his alcoholism and become a worthy mate for one of the three sisters, because he's simply adorable.

Meet the Essex sisters: four Scottish ladies recently orphaned and left impoverished with no prospective husbands. Now wards of the perpetually inebriated Duke of Holbrook, their first mission is to marry off their eldest, the witty and sensible Teresa, or Tess, as she prefers to be called.

Growing up without the proper training that other ladies of their kind receive, Tess knows that she must marry in order to support her sisters. But what she didn't expect is that she will immediately catch the eyes of two very eligible English gentlemen. There is the Earl of Mayne, who seems to genuinely like her and whom she will most likely develop a nice, though not passionate, affection for; and then there is the very rich, though just a mere Mister, Lucius Felton, who unnerves her and whose very nearness makes her heart somersault. While Tess knows that either man is a good choice, she is torn when both men ask for her hand in marriage.

While the story started off with a great promise, the focus on establishing the characters of the four sisters overshadows what could have been a really delightful romance between Tess and Lucius. Just when you think we'd finally get some action going between the main characters, the heroine would be involved in her sisters' dramas and so the focus is once again taken away from the romance. However, the interactions between Tess and Lucius when we finally get to the part are rather sweet, and at times, funny. The little banter we get to see between them surely adds to the delight of the story.

Overall, MUCH ADO ABOUT YOU is a pleasant read and holds promise for the stories of the other Essex sisters. Next are KISS ME, ANNABEL (Annabel's story) and THE TAMING OF THE DUKE (featuring Imogen).

First book in the Essex sisters series.

When her father dies, Tess Essex, as the eldest of four sisters, expects to marry and provide for her siblings until they find husbands for themselves. What she doesn't expect is the clueless guardian her father chose, Rafe, Duke of Holbrook. She also doesn't expect instant attraction to Rafe's friend, Lucius Felton.

Lucius is estranged from his parents for dirtying his hands in the stock market. He's made a lot of money. A LOT of money. And he has no interest in marriage. Imagine his surprise when he kisses Tess and proposes marriage. Tess, thinking he's not serious, says no. Then she accepts a proposal from another of Rafe's friends, Garrett Langham, the Earl of Mayne.

But disaster looms when Tess's sister, Imogen, elopes, endangering the reputations and futures for sisters Annabel and Josie in the process. And there's Tess, engaged to one man when she lusts for another.

I didn't skim one page in this book. Liked everything - plot, characters, dialogue, romance, humor, and a few things surprised me. Smartly written, a real romance. Second book in the series, KISS ME, ANNABEL, is out now. I'm getting it.