Customer Reviews

A Perfect Scoundrel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"The Perfect Scoundrel" by Heather Cullman is a perfectly enchanting regency historical, filled with passion and desire - just like a perfect romance should be.

Selected as a part of Signet's "Lords of Love" promotion, Cullman's delightful tale offers readers a peek into a slightly different area of Regency England. Instead of concentrating most of her story in London among the ton, Cullman sets her story in the tiny village of Little Duckington.

Sullen Lord Quentin Somerville finds himself married to the decidedly plain Jane Wentworth after an attempt to woe her step-sister goes awry. After a disastrous wedding night, he banishes her to his ramshackle estate in the country. Jane, however, thrives in the familiar surroundings and befriends the neglected townfolks, setting out to improve everyone's situation. As Quentin discovers Jane's hidden talents, her true beauty becomes apparent to him, and he finds himself falling in love with his wife.

Heather Cullman proves herself to be a talented storyteller who mesmerizes her readers with her charming descriptions and interesting characters. I look forward to reading future novels from this gifted author.

a regency with nary a dead body in sight! No murder plot, no cartoonish villain.. yay!!. In short, this book is what romance is about: a relationship between a man and a woman.

This is the story of Lord Quentin Somerville, a rake to end all rakes. He has made a living out of debauchery until the fateful day he lays eyes on the Season's reigning beauty Clarissa Edwardes. He is instantly smitten and decides to pursue her. Tired of competing with Clarissa's other titled and more wealthy suitors, Quentin concocts a plan to trap her into marriage by compromising her at a masked ball (Quent is not very nice). Quentin's plan goes without a hitch until he's found (as planned) by members of the ton. To his surprise and utter dismay the passionate woman in his arms was not Clarissa at all but her plain, boring stepsister Jane.

I know that the forced marriage thing has been done a million times but this author somehow manages to bring an interesting spin to this tired plot. The hero is as nasty as they come (think Sebastian Verlaine in Patricia Gaffney's To Have and to Hold) who even goes so far as to rape the heroine on their wedding night. I know this is terrible but the author makes his transformation into an ideal and loving husband believable. By the end of the story I was head over heels for him. On the other hand, Jane is kindnes personified, her sweet but strong personality was overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of London's nobility. Once Quentin gets to see her in her natural setting,in the countryside among peasants and nature, his frozen heart is in great danger of being thawed by Jane's sweet smile.

My only quibble: I thought Jane should have made Quentin grovel and beg and plead a lot more for his evil deeds. Otherwise this book is a great read especially for those who are heartily sick of the dead corpses and evil villains that populate every other romance today. Highly recommended. :)

Heather Cullman has written vivid, real characters in a timeless story.

Lord Quentin Somerville is an aristocratic, pompous scoundrel who can't see beyond title and status until Jane Wentworth enters his life.

Jane is everything he doesn't want, yet he can't deny his attraction to her.

To Jane Wentworth, Quentin is everything and the only person she has ever wanted, until she has him. Then she sees the person he really is.

Determined to make a good situation out of a bad one, Jane doesn't look back but instead forges ahead with her new life, determined to make life with Quentin at least companionable.

Quentin is at first appalled by Jane's ideas and actions, but soon finds fulfillment and satisfaction with the one woman he never gave a second thought to.

Witty, heart warming and, at times, emotional. I personally couldn't put the book down, so compelling and well written was this timeless story.

I highly recommend this book!

Quentin Somerville plans to trick an innocent girl into marriage for her money, winds up with the plainer cousin by accident, is forced into wedlock and rapes his bride on their wedding night. THEN, he reveals himself to be lazy, selfish, hypocritical, arrogant, small-minded and completely lacking in honor. This is the guy we're supposed to root for? When the main character is still insulting and demeaning his wife more than half way through the book, I give up! I wish Jane had shoved him in a ditch and left him there to rot. It was better than he deserved.

This book was a delight! The story revolves around how plain Jane Wentworth and rakish Quentin Somerville meet, marry and then fall in love.

Jane is in her fifth London Season, an on-the-shelf miss. She has been admiring Quentin Somerville from afar for many years. Outwardly, he is charming, handsome, and sensual. She fancies herself in love. He fancies himself in love with her beautiful and gentle stepsister.

Quentin has a plan to compromise the stepsister at a masked ball so that he will have to marry her. But it goes awry when it is Jane (in the stepsister's costume and mask) he corners instead. They are forced to marry and he is quite livid. He believes she manipulated him. Their marriage starts off horrifically on their wedding night. Afterward, he banishes Jane to his country estate. After a couple of months, he is forced by circumstances to join her there. What follows is a sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant unfolding of their relationship. Jane gets to know the real Quentin, not the perfect one she imagined him to be. Quentin slowly overcomes his self-loathing and starts to notice his wife.

A Perfect Scoundrel is a wonderfully written, beautiful love story. All the characters had personality, flaws, and layers. Quentin is very hard to like at the beginning, but his transformation is believable and wonderful to witness. This book is definitely a keeper!

Once again Heather Cullman haskept me on the edge of my seat. Personally, I think thisis her best work yet! I happen to meet Heather on one of her book signing recently. She was very kind and took alot of time with each and every person. Thank you and keep the romance coming!

If you've ever read Heather Cullman you know what great characters she creates and she doesn't disappoint us with this book.

Her characterizations are the highlight of A Perfect Scoundrel. She puts her hero and heroine in truly unique situations and you can't help but wonder how they're going to get out of this one. The heroine's naivete adds a splash of humor to not so funny situations. Poor Quinn! But by the end you can feel how deeply these characters love one another and how truly devastated they are during the black moment.

Heather offers us another great story in the tradition of her first and my favorite novel, Yesterday's Roses.

This book was utter nonsense! First off the hero is a stuck up regency style A-Hole. He was so in lust with the heroine's cousin that he planed to trick her into marriage so he doesn't have to contend with all her other more wealthy and titled suitors. So when his plans go wrong and he ends up compromising the wrong woman suddenly she is the one that tricked him into marriage? And he is really bitter about it, what a hypocrite. He has a chip on his shoulder about being the second son (Surprised? I'm not). The heroine is so in love with this guy most of the book and is for lack of a better term a doormat. This book offered nothing to the genre that hasn't been done a million times and to top it off the author's sentence structure was hard to follow at times. The hero really killed this book for me, I almost stopped reading after the rape scene. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL
Ye have been warned...

This is the story of Quentin and Jane and the growth that he goes through. While I didn't like the fact that he never admitted to what he had planned about ruining Rissa and instead blamed Jane, the story does show tremendous growth in the character of Quentin. Of course Jane and Quentin's wedding night was awful I think he truly felt remorse for his behavior. His character did start out selfish, arrogant and downright unlikeable. But this all changed and the scene near the end was very emotional and touching. This book deserves to be on the keeper shelf!

This is even better than "For All Eternity", to which it is a sequel. The characters (Nicholas' brother Quentin)and his undesired wife, Jane, are complex and enjoyable.