Customer Reviews

The Naked Viscount

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

 

 

I've read all of the series (except The Naked Laird), and this was definitely one of the best ones.

This one has to be the funniest for sure. The others have had a part or two that are humorous, or a line here and there, but this one has a recurring pattern that creates mental images that make it hard not to smile.

The heroine, Jane Parker-Roth, is the sister to the hero from The Naked Gentleman, John Parker-Roth. She has moments where she seems smart and strong, but then she has others where she is more dependent and naive. For some reason when she was first introduced in Gentleman I thought she was rather blunt and said scandalous things, but in this book she really didn't. She did several scandalous things, but she really didn't speak quite as bluntly as I expected.

The hero, Edmund Smyth, Viscount Motton, was introduced in The Naked Baron, even though he was talked about a little in Gentleman. He was the viscount who held the house party with the crazy aunt with her monkey and parrot. Both he and his crazy aunt (she was a supporting character for a good portion of this book) were true to form of how they were written about before.

In this book, he is doing some undercover spy work, which it is alluded to he has some experience in this department, but we're never really told what or how much, really why he even accepted his current mission--or what it really means to the person who asked him to do it. His past experience must not have been much if he couldn't solve any of the clues himself and the heroine could... Anyway, his character is very likable as he helps to protect Jane and slowly falls for her.

Edmund Smyth, Viscount Motton is close to going mad. His bevy of aunts has come to stay with him, including his Aunt Winifred who has a pet parrot that won't behave. If that isn't bad enough, he has to break into the estate of the late Clarence Widmore and find a mysterious sketch of French spies drawn by the deceased artist. Motton has to keep a close watch at those around him, because any member of the Ton could possibly by the elusive killer who is only known as "Satan". But Motton gets more than he bargains for when he is caught in Widmore's library by the spinster, Lady Jane Parker-Roth.

Lady Jane is in London for her eighth season, and at the ripe old age of twenty-four she is comfortable with her spinster state. Jane and her mother are renting Widmore's penthouse and when she goes into the library to grab another novel to read, she is hauled up against a male chest and kissed senseless. She is giddy over this because the man in question is one she has admired from afar. Motton has no choice but to tell Jane about his mission. She is more than willing to help him. Things become even more complicated when they figure out that there are many incriminating papers hidden in various statues of Pan all over London. And those papers have been secreted away in a very specific part of the statue, which is more phallic in nature.

Motton puts his foot down and refuses Jane's help, but seeing as she is used to being ordered around from her older brother, she has years of practice in getting around any obstacle that may come her way. Motton has no choice but to keep a watchful eye on Jane and soon she is joining him on his mission with very surprising results. He begins to see Jane in a different light, where he wouldn't mind kissing her again and welcomes those thoughts of marriage with the plucky, well bred you woman. But he must find out who Satan is, why Widmore drew so many shocking and naughty pictures of the member of the ton, and keep Jane safe while trying to keep his passions in check whenever he is around her.

Sally MacKenzie has written another delightful and funny book in her Naked series with The Naked Viscount. Sally has a such knack at writing such endearing characters. Readers will surely chuckle more than once over Motton's thoughts and actions regarding Jane. The man is smitten with Jane the moment he kisses her in a darkened library and is confounded over his feelings to the point where he can't think of anything else but seducing her. The banter and dialogue back and forth between Motton and Jane is close to slapstick, although there is an issue of too much head jumping and change in the point of view between the two that occurs many times throughout the story. This may lead to some confusion for the some.

The drama is a bit on the ridiculous side, and the way Jane channels her own investigation techniques will have you in stitches. Jane has a bad habit of grabbing specific parts of the statue Pan's anatomy to find what she wants. Every time she does, it drives Motton batty because he wishes he was on the receiving end of her touch.

The Naked Viscount is a light fun historical romance with some outlandish action on the parts of the main characters. But in all, this latest by Sally is one amusing read.

Katiebabs

The Naked Viscount by Sally MacKenzie
Historical Romance - June 1, 2010
4 ½ Stars

The Naked Viscount is the story of Miss Jane Parker-Roth. Jane is stuck in London , to `catch' herself a prized husband. But after 8 seasons without success she would much rather stay home with a good book. Searching the boring London scene for prospects is extremely dull work. But to her surprise she encounters an intruder in her family's rented townhouse. One who captures her attention and her devout interest! The intruder turns out to be the infamous Edmund Smyth, Viscount Motton. He is a close friend of her brother's. And a man she has secretly admired from afar. Jane quickly finds herself embroiled in mischief and trouble after discovering Viscount Motton's true motive for being in her townhouse. He is searching for a picture that will uncover a criminal mastermind. Soon the 2 are working together to get to the bottom of this mystery, while trying to keep the enemy from getting there first.

Sally MacKenzie does a fantastic job of creating a pleasing story with a wonderful mix of romance and mystery. I found the main characters' hunt to find the picture fun and exciting. The mystery kept me guessing until the very end. The two main characters are a joy to read and each are both appealing and compelling in their own right. But I really enjoyed them the most together! I also thought the secondary characters brought cheerfulness and humor to the story and wouldn't mind knowing more about them.

The Naked Viscount is a fantastic book. If you like a solid romance story with an intriguing story this is the perfect book for you! I found it the perfect mix of romance and intrigue. The Naked Viscount is amazing book that you won't be able to put down until the very end.

Reviewed by Mary from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Miss Jane Parker-Roth is a woman who would rather read a good book than attend another pointless society ball in her eighth Season one would think she could do what she wants. But, not in London. So after begging off with a headache, she finishes her latest story and then is surprised into wrestling an intruder. Even when she figures out she is wrestling Lord Motton, a most handsome man, she doesn't give up. When their struggles shatter the statue of Pan things get even more interesting.

Lord Motton and Jane seem to work well together even though they fight it, and might be looking for different outcomes. Will they find the scandal or truth they are looking for or will their own hearts get in the way?

The Naked Viscount is a fun rump into historical London. Ms. MacKenzie seems to have a fun time writing her characters as their quirky sense of humor shows with not only the randy statue of Pan but the clues found inside. I love how a "on the shelf" woman might just be the match for the Lord Motton but how they get there will be some of the most fun you will have reading. I think The Naked Viscount is a great addition to the Naked Series.

Tanya
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I loved this book - it was fun and lighthearted. It requires the suspension of disbelief needed for historical romance, but in my mind, that is the point of reading these kinds of books. If I wanted drama and depressing angst, I wouldn't pick a historical romantic comedy. I like Sally MacKenzie's writing style and I enjoy her heroes and heroines - they are genuinely nice people without a boat load of issues that are belabored at every turn. I appreciate that since it is so different from many popular romance writers.

In London for her eighth season, Lady Jane Parker-Roth is assumed to be on the shelf. When she enters her rented townhouse from the estate of the late Clarence Widmore, she sees an intruder. Rather than flight, Jane chooses fight, swinging a candlestick at the man holding her. She misses him but knocks over a statue of Pan as Viscount Edmund Smyth kisses her.

Edmund has broken into the townhouse rented by Jane and her mom in search of a paper that could cause some nasty problems if revealed. They stop fighting the moment the statue smashed as each sees the unusual partial caricature. Jane insists on joining him on his quest to locate other statues of Pans to complete the drawing. As they search for clues, they begin to fall in love; but remain unaware that their findings lead them closer to identifying the head of the hellfire club, which means brutal deaths.

The latest "Naked" historical romance (see ... Baron, Duke, Earl, Gentleman, etc.) is another wild fun nineteenth century romp that in spite of the obvious time and place feels like a 1930s screwball comedy. Fast-paced and filled with action, readers will relish the escapades and sassy flirtatious yet witty dialogue between the lead couple as Jane joins Edmund on what was his adventure, but now is their quest. Sally Mackenzie continues to lay bare some of the more intelligent amusing historicals on the market today.

Harriet Klausner

This is my first book by Sally Mackenzie. This was an interesting story. Bookaholics Reviewer did a nice job summarizing the book, however I must respectfully disagree about her star rating.

The characters were well fleshed out to me, even the secondary characters. Most of the setting was vivid. The search for the Pan's was great fun and my favorite part of the book. That said I have quite a few issues with the story.

*****!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!! Read at your own risk*****

I absolutely hated the heroine(Jane). I wanted to slap her repeatedly through out the story. Both she and the Hero (Edmund) claim she is intelligent however, I much prefer the description of birdwit, featherbrain, Bedlamite, or ninny. I do believe the author used all of those and more at some point in the book. One of the reasons Jane seemed to give this impression to me was it took her more than 2/3 of the way through the book to even believe she was in any kind of danger at all. She just came off to me as a scatter-brained twit. As a tie in, why did Jane, who had been almost injured numerous times at this point and who is looking for a salacious picture hiding peer's dirty secrets think it absolutely impossible that the Oxford street scene not happen just as Edmund said? Maybe I'm being repetitive, but another thing that frustrated me-Edmund would point out to Jane facts that frightened her, hoping to make her cautious and then she would blink, scoff, and conclude Edmund was only trying to scare her(exaggerating).

Edmund I can't say was much better. Supposedly he has some spying under his belt, but I didn't get the feeling that that was all that true. He seemed competent enough, I just got a sense he might have only dabbled in spying and not for the government even, more so for his own agendas. Honestly I could not see what he saw in Jane other than a nice body. They had nothing in common, no interests, no friends, nothing. You get the feeling if Jane and Edmund had not had the run in in the study, they would never have gotten together-possibly having Jane go on to be a spinster and Edmund marrying someone else, even though Edmund was good friends with Jane's brothers. So you would assume they would meet again, just not having the same results.

An odd part not really important, but thought I would put out there any way, Why are all 10 of Edmund's aunts unmarried spinsters? Either I understood it wrong, but the book makes it sound like none of his aunts have ever been married. Especially since 5 of them were daughters/sisters to a viscount. Which seems highly unlikely at this time period.

What time period is it by the way?(1819) We know it's regency England, but we're never given a specific time. I learned the 1819 from the back of the book in the Dear Readers note.

I must also mention I found the character flipping of Jane to be annoying....meaning she's supposed to be 24 with a mother that's an artist(that paints nudes) who was very open in discussions about marital subject matter, who's not shy about grabbing Pan's male member/talking about it and yet spends balls among the potted palms, is too shy to even speak to Edmund in years prior, gets embarrassed easily, and seems to lack conversational skills in Edmund's proximity. Which leads me to my next issue...

Is it me or were there an awful lot of "Er, Em"'s in this book? The dialogue didn't seem to flow very well. Most of the dialogue seemed to be there to explain the plot to the dumb reader as opposed to part of the plot meant to tell the story.

*****End of Spoilers*****
All in all I found this book a quick, light hearted romance. Nothing really new or different. The excerpt for her next book The Naked King sounds much better. I'll give her another try, however my expectations are now pretty low. Definitely not a keeper.

the initial premise of the book, the meeting of the hero and heroine, is so disturbing to me that I don't know how to "title" a book review. Jane surprises an intruder in her (borrowed) home. They grapple, he overpowers her, then they begin to kiss and whatever. And she likes it.

In real life, when a stranger breaks into your home and sexually assaults you, it's a felony. A lifelong nightmare for the victim. Certainly not the beginning of a romantic fantasy that will sustain a book - or a marriage.

The rest of the book, as far as I could bring myself to read, was a typical pretends-to-be-a-historical-romance-because there are a few archaic words thrown in, with references to the fashions of the times and horse-drawn carriages, while the dialogue and behavior is bizarrely unusual even for a contemporary situation. But I never could get past the idea that Jane was in love with the man who assaulted her. My ability to suspend disbelief could not stretch that far. Gross and disturbing.