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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Winner by Ms. Lee, September 5, 2001
This review is from: Once A Mistress (Paperback)
He won, he lost, he wondered. Four years later, wonder turned to wonderful. Andrew Ramsey is now the sixteenth Marquess of Templeston after the untimely and unexpected death of his father; a man he loved very dearly. Drew is to follow the directives firmly set in his father's Last Will and Testament and its codacil regarding the care of his many mistresses. One such mistress, Kathryn Stafford, is living at Swanslea Park, the family's private estate. Drew finds this totally unacceptable. He travels to Swanslea for the sole purpose of evicting her. Drew finds Kathryn dangling from a tree branch, in the throws of rescuing her pet fox from the dreaded hunters. When their eyes meet it is magical. Four years earlier they were deeply in love and betrothed to be married. Kathryn left Drew standing alone a the alter. He was so devastated he joined the war effort never knowing the reason why. Kathryn now stands in front of him more beautiful than ever. Was his Kathryn really one of his father's mistresses? Did Kathryn and his father really have a son together? What is the feeling he still has in the region of his heart? Drew and Kathryn play no games. They still love each other fiercely. As they face many obstacles and unanswered questions, their love is rekindled and has no limitations. There love is gentle and touching but also sizzles with passion. This tender and truly wonderful love story is incredibly written with characters you fall in love with. As ONCE A MISTRESS is the first book of Ms. Lee's regency trilogy, it is a triumph! Read it slowly and savor every word. Now we must patiently wait for EVER A PRINCESS, the second Templeston tale coming out in the Spring of 2002. I'm already looking forward to it.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Truly rivting, but flawed with some inaccuracies, February 24, 2002
This review is from: Once A Mistress (Paperback)
When Andrew Ramsey loses his father in a tragic accident, he discovers that his father has left very specific instructions as to how he is to care for his father's various mistresses and bastard children. One of these mistresses appears to be living on the estate, and intending to bring an end to this scandalous situation, Andrew hastens to the estate. Only to discover that the mistress in question is his former fiancée, who left him standing at the altar four years ago. And that she has a child who looks remarkably like him who is clearly recognized as his father's illegitimite son. Is it possible that his fiancée jilted him to become his father's mistress? So begins Andrew's journey into a nightmarish past, that causes him to question the character of his father and the woman he himself had planned to marry. As incredible as it seems, Kathryn had borne a son and the father of that son was his own father! Any man would be angry to discover this situation, but how many would be angry that his father had not MARRIED her! After getting over his initial anger at Kathryn's faithlessness, Andrew wonders how his father could be so crude as to make her his mistress instead of his wife. It is only a small step from there to realize that he still loves Kathryn and wants to be her husband and the father of her son, his half-brother. But there are still many unanswered questions. Why did she jilt him and then refuse to see him or explain why? Why did his father never tell him about her? Why does Kathryn--in spite of being a mother and a scandalous mistress--seem as innocent as ever in the lovemaking department? It is truly amazing that Andrew is willing to marry her without finding out all the answers to these questions first, or that Kathryn waits so long to tell him the truth. Frankly, I devoured this book. I cried several times while reading this book. It's fantastic! I'd give it five stars, except that there were some flaws. For example, the assumption that the father's bastard child could be Andrew's heir. The father's willingness to subject Kathryn to scandal seems out of character. Kathryn insists that she can't bear any children for fear of an inherited disease and then she expresses the desire to have children with Andrew. But even though not all of the t's were crossed, this book is exceptional and I strongly recommend it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great; too convoluted 3 & 1/2 stars, July 11, 2004
This review is from: Once A Mistress (Paperback)
Some needless repetition and a highly convoluted situation with Kathryn as a mistress (both interesting and irritating) create some problems in this otherwise interesting tale. Lee makes the 15th Marquess's many mistresses seem like a virtue; in the end, the reader has to like him. Drew is even more complicated in some ways than his father; he is still understandably angry with Kathryn for leaving him at the altar, but he still loves her. She has never stopped loving him, but circumstances do not look good. It takes almost the entire novel to sort out all the various misunderstandings, secrets, adn half-truths. In fact, not all of them are revealed in this book; more are revealed in book 3 (Always a Lady), and I recommend reading it immediately after this one. Both the hero & the heroine are strong characters, and there's a excellent cast of secondary characters. Drew & Kathryn are faced with an extremely difficult situation and must struggle with numerious complications to resolve things. If it were all a little less confusing, it would be a better book; more needed to be revealed to the reader earlier. I am still not convinced about Kathryn's reasoning for leaving Drew at the altar and never telling him why; I suppose she didn't know him well enough to trust him with it, but she should have tried. It's a good book, just not Lee's best.
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