Customer Reviews

My Lady's Pleasure (Harlequin Historical)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It just drives me nuts when I buy a book and realize that it's part of a series so here goes. To date there are three books and My Lady's Pleasure is the second one. The first is My Lady's Trust and the third is My Lady's Honor. I hope this helps.

If you love unconventional heroines and misunderstood bad boys, this book is for you.

Valeria is a strong, self-sufficient widow. She lost her husband to a fever before their love could flower, and now she lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere, struggling to make ends meet. She's never known much pleasure, but she is determined to make her own way, and let nobody rule her life.

Teagan is a rogue, who has been forced to make his living at the tables after his mother's family cut them off because of her impetuous marriage to her father's Irish groom. He's outwardly beautiful, an untouchable harlequin figure who prowls around the perimeter of the ton, relieving shallow fribbles of their coins. Deep down, however, he's wounded and broken because no one has ever given him anything without expecting something in return. You will lose your heart to him, utterly. He's one of my top ten heroes, no question, up with those by Laura Kinsale and Loretta Chase.

And from their first meeting, Valeria and Teagan are beautiful together.

It's well-written, intense, and heart-wrenching. I recommend you grab this book on Kindle, download, and see for yourself.

My Lady's Pleasure sizzles from the very first scene, with chemistry galore between the hero and heroine. Like all of Julia Justiss's heroes, Teagan Fitzwilliams is strong, sexy, and larger than life. By the middle of the book, you will not only be in love with him, your heart will ache for him, and you won't be able to put down the book until you know he has overcome his lot in life. The heroine, Valeria Arnold, is sensible and compassionate, and I thoroughly enjoyed following her through the pages. Julia Justiss is always a "must buy" on my list!

I absolutely loved it. Great, well developed characters and a believable story line. I always love well written stories where deserving characters triumph over adversity against all odds. Ms. Justiss does this with both the hero and heroine and she does it in a totally believable way - the exception noted below. Until the final scene Ms. Justiss had deservedly earned a full four stars for this work - it would have been five stars but for the unnecessary depiction of graphic sex.

The final scene, however, blew it for me. All through the book Sir William was shown to be an honorable, moral, kind, and agreeable person. He was totally supportive of Valeria from the beginning. Believably, he showed interest in her at the beginning simply because of his friendship with Lady Winterdale. But as the novel progresses he sees Valeria for whom she really is and gradually develops honest feelings for her. In addition, he defends Teagan as being an honorable man when the bulk of society condemns him. Sir William patiently waits for Valeria as she works through her issues and finally, courageously approaches her to propose marriage. Though he is rebuffed, he kindly and patiently defers to Valeria's request to wait a while longer. Everything about Sir William is positive. His only fault is that Valeria is actually in love with Teagan, consequently there is no sizzle between Valeria and Sir William. All in all, Sir William could be an outstanding candidate as a hero in another story by revealing a little more heroic depth to his character.

All that said, Ms. Justiss elects to have this honorable man unjustly roughed up, tied up, and sent on his way by Teagan and his associates when all he was doing was escorting Valeria on a visit to Sir Williams' parents. This is simply not consistent with the just and honorable man Teagan has been demonstrated to be. Teagan, of all people, understands being unjustly handled. How much better it would have been had Ms. Justiss amended her story at the point where the coach door is flung open. Then, as Teagan removes Valeria from the coach, he displays honor and respect to both Valeria and Sir William as he pleads his undying love for Valeria and his apologies to Sir William before he allows Sir William to depart. The end result would be the same and Ms. Justiss would have been consistent with the character of Teagan. Sir William would then have been dealt with honorably and respectfully as his character deserved.

Sorry, Ms. Justiss, but that final scene blew it for you. Three stars only.