Customer Reviews

To Romance a Charming Rogue (Courtship Wars, Book 4)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nicole Jordan is one of my go-to authors that I buy just because she's the author. All her books up until this one have been fantastic - seriously wonderful books that I read in a day. This one was really bad though, I can't believe I didn't finish a Nicole Jordan book! I hated the characters and found the book EXTREMELY BORING!. Select any of her previous books but skip this one.

I'm not a big fan of Nicole Jodan. However, a recent newsletter from NJ about her new book, To Romance a Charming Rogue, looked pretty good. The concept was intriguing: Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham, trying to win back his once betrothed, who was currently being courted by a handsome Italian prince. The excerpt was promising, and I couldn't wait to read more!

Unfortunately, the excerpt (which was the first chapter) was perhaps the best part. From then on, I just gave up. It became boring real fast. I couldn't stop YAWNING!!! It was so bad that I was skimming and yawning at the same time.

Damon and Elle just lose me completely. The spark in the first chapter disappeared. The sexual tension--nonexistant. The passion and romance--lacking in so many ways. The sex--BO-RING!!! I used a gift card for this purchase and wish I could get my money back.

Not recommended. Please stay away. It wasn't worth all the hassle I spent going to the bookstore right after work, and reading just a few chapters--and then skimming--only to be thoroughly disappointed in the end. Never again. This is the last NJ book I'll ever buy!

Nicole Jordan's book felt rather directionless as I was reading it. The main characters were a previously betrothed couple, Eleanor Pierce and Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham, whose break-up two years before had been very traumatic for Eleanor. Damon went overseas directly after their split, caused by him being seen with his mistress, but he has now returned, just as Eleanor is trying to decide whether to respond to the advances of an Italian prince.

Damon finds he can't leave Eleanor alone, the prince isn't good enough for her, particularly when it seems that attempts are being made on the prince's life and Eleanor may be put in harm's way. Damon wants to keep close to Eleanor, little realising that she has a plan to seduce him into genuine love.

There was something rather unsatisfying about this book. It was rather unmemorable - having read it three days ago I struggled to remember the major points of the plot. The pacing was a little awkward in that at times it dragged, at other times events happened rather quickly. There were a number of predictable events and the central romance wasn't particularly engaging. However there were some good aspects to the book too, including an attractively independent heroine. The hero's motives were rather suspect and the historical accuracy suffered in order for the author to have scenes that she wanted, but overall it was an inoffensive if unmemorable read.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009

2 years ago Eleanor Pierce (Marcus's younger sister) fell in love and became engaged to Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham until she spotted him with his mistress. She broke of the engagement with lots of gossip from the Ton. Now she is being courted by the Italian Prince and Damon is back. Now Damon and Eleanor are back together because the sparks never died. I liked the love story with plot thread of mystery; I loved how the character fed off each other BUT last 1/4 something was missing. I found myself skimming and didn't get the satisfied feeling when I was done.

I will continue to read Nicole Jordon - just wasn't my favorite of hers - I guess I expected more... Looking forward to Courtship Wars Book 5 - To Tame a Dangerous Lord due out January 2010 and Courtship Wars Book 6, To Desire a Wicked Duke...

This book deserves half a star. I read To Bed a Beauty which was just OK but I decided to give this one a chance. It is so poorly written I have to wonder about the editor.

Definitely skip this one or borrow it from the library. I speed read from page 80 as I hate (like most people) to abandon a book half way through. I doubt I will buy another of Nicole Jordan's novels.

This is the type of book that makes me wonder if I have truly read all the good romance novels. I am continually scared of trying new authors for this reason Being Bored To Washing My Dishes (Tears would evoke emotion and there is none with this book)

Huhhh..... Where to start? How about save your money listen to the other reviews and do not buy this book. It is Dull, Boring and a complete waste of your time.

The characters have no personality. Elenor is in love no great secret and guess what? Damon loves her but has yet to admit it to himself. You can get all of this by reading the first chapeter.

I personally like a book that will make you feel some emotion be it laughter, heartache, suspense heck anything!! This gives you nothing!!! The story continues to move like my dresser draws from ikea after that. One boring Drawer (Chapter) after another

Save your money it is worth 50 cents with free shipping if you are completely bored out of your mind and do not mind spending your precious time reading this book. You will know how the entire book plays out in every DULL detail from reading chapter one. (Only reason I even bothered to finish this book is because I am a little OCD in finishing anything I start)

FYI ....

I put this book down many a times to read and complete other books that were way more intriguing.

Two years ago, Lady Eleanor Pierce was madly in love, betrothed and looking forward to a life with Damon Stafford, Viscount Wrexham. Unfortunately, after seeing him with his former mistress only weeks before the wedding, Eleanor ended their engagement. Hurt beyond belief by his blatant disregard of her feelings Eleanor was happy when Damon removed himself from London and traveled to the Continent and remained these last two years; but now he was back. Damon was back and doing his best of interfering in her life and plans of bringing an Italian Prince up to scratch.

Determined to stop her from marrying the `wrong' man, it didn't take Damon long to realize that the only man Eleanor should be marrying was him. All Damon had to do was rekindle the passion he knew laid close to the surface, and all Eleanor had to do was tame the rake before she capitulated to the love she'd never lost.

*** Once more the author tackles the plot line of a `reformed rake' who doesn't know his days of bachelorhood are almost at an end. One of the issues that have kept Damon from commitment was the fact that he was becoming too enamored of Eleanor and that simply would not do. He simply could not let his heart become so engaged that the trauma of losing another person he loved would completely destroy him. Consequently, Damon engineered a scenario with his ex-mistress knowing that Eleanor would have to break their engagement in order to save face. But alas, Damon is not the rake everyone thinks, especially when what he's been up to these last two years is revealed.

In keeping the action flowing along with the highly sensual assignations that Damon engineers in order to seduce Eleanor, the author treats us to a bit of a mystery as the many `accidents' that seem to plague Eleanor's Italian prince. The author uses these accidents to drive the story along as well as offering Damon the opportunity and time he needs to work his seduction. As usual my hat is off to Ms. Jordan for making good use of Eleanor's distraction from her Prince to focus on Damon - her `prince of sensual delights'.

Bottom line: Fantastic sensuality, marvelous dialog, fine tuned characters and you can chalk up another winner for Ms. Jordan's Courtship Wars! Recommended!

The leads in Nicole Jordan's tale To Romance a Charming Rogue never really got off the ground for me until literally they were off the ground in a balloon ride but this happened nearly halfway through the novel. For the first half of the story, I was not interested in their past, present or future.

Hero Damon Stafford, the Viscount of Wrexham is back in London after a two year absence and who should feel his presence the most but his former fiancée Eleanor. She was devastated when Damon was seen about town with his former mistress during their betrothal. Now Eleanor is determined to make her next suitor fall in love with her and to assist her she has been reading a kind of how-to-win-a-faithful-husband pamphlet written by a Cyprian friend. She plans on capturing an Italian Prince with her new found knowledge.

Damon is quite affected by Eleanor and desires her company and kisses. They have a heated kiss in the beginning of the book then the sexual tension fizzles only to resurface much later. Eleanor wants to forget Damon ever existed and he is there to remind her he is going nowhere, especially since he believes that the Prince is nothing but a Lothario and will make Eleanor miserable in a marriage.

These two play a kind of cat mouse game with each other but there never seemed to be a lot of emotion between them other than Eleanor and Damon getting into some lukewarm arguments which Eleanor claimed to be stimulating. Eleanor does have a bit of a vindictive streak where Damon is concerned but she also has very little willpower when he is around too.

Of the two leads Damon is the more complex and full bodied character. The deaths of his parents and brother haunt him and he is noble minded when it comes to the less fortunate. The reader for much of the book does not see Eleanor in any other light than an aristocrat trying to snag a husband.

Now surprisingly, I did enjoy the last third of the novel. Once Eleanor really makes up her mind about Damon, she becomes warmer and her innate goodness does shine through. There are some very well written scenes like the hot air balloon ride the two share and their bumpy but memorable landing, but especially moving scenes are Damon's attempts to forget his hurt and bitterness over the loss of his family. However there just were not enough of these heartfelt moments to raise this novel above three stars.

Like the other Courtship books, this one isn't too engaging and plausible either. Eleanor is one of the more sympathetic characters in the series, but maybe because she wasn't given much story room before. She's paired off with Damon, a new addition to the cast, but not a gain by any stretch of imagination. Rather very much in the same category inhabited by the rest of the characters of this series, the Implausibles. They're all implausibly tortured and damaged simply because they lived. They're implausibly defined by one single trauma, making them some of the most artificially fragile and boring fiction people ever. There's clearly something in the water in that corner of Ms. Jordan's universe. In addition, Damon is also fickle, selfish and a bully. If he doesn't agree with Eleanor, he shuts her up with a "passionate kiss" that frankly would go better with a cave man than a romantic hero. Not so much passion as assault. This gratuitous macho approach seems to work well with Eleanor though, whose integrity, indeed entire thought process, is at least temporarily disabled by the hero's impetuous antics. And I'm not even going to touch the "love her/him yes/no" constant dilemma. Suffice it to say it creates the tension of a limp elastic band. The dialogue feels often forced and awkward. And the "mystery", well it doesn't even bear mentioning. Not much of an effort from the part of the author. Save your money and if you really need completion at this stage, check the library.

I totally agree with the 1st two opinions!!! I just finished this and was very disappointed. I was able to put it down very easily and read other things. Maybe if it was made into a movie- decent actors could give the characters more sympathetic personalities and depth.

The premise was great! I thought this was going to be about a young lady who having been burned once & was angry and devastated- would be wiser, not so gullible, and hold Damon at arm's length. That's not how the author portrayed Eleanor. She was basically a "lap dog". Bright & frisky, with absolutely no will-power. She's so lonely and desperate for love that she first ends up with two other broken engagements, and then goes after this Italian prince- a known philanderer- because her aunt's impressed with his status. And then at a party- the first real encounter she's had with Damon in two years- and even though he's deliberately had the prince lured away so he can have a secret assignation with her in the garden- she forgets everything, and falls into his arms and lets him take total advantage of her. She's there to catch the Italian prince for a husband and she's kissing the one man that almost emotionally destroyed her and is putting her reputation on the line again just being seen with him? I think not.

And I thought Damon would be a very sweet and repentant lover, so when she plies her techniques on him, would just let her corner herself into becoming his bride without losing any self-respect. Instead Damon's an arrogant, emotionally stilted, former rake, that would rather have people believe poorly of him than tell anyone of his good works and try and make up with his former friends. And he's opened his hospital in Italy, so can he speak Italian or not? Sometimes he seems to understand and other times, not. I really had little respect for either of these two characters.

I found myself- several times- having to re-read paragraphs and whole pages because I'd drifted off imagining my own take on this scene or that. More than once- I almost didn't finish it- but I kept hoping it was going to get better. No such luck. And with most books I usually pray for an epilogue. This one was a total waste of paper. They did exactly what you fully expected them to do and there was no surprises. I was hoping to hear that maybe Tess and Haviland had gotten together? Or more about Fanny's mysterious love? Or even Aunt Beatrix finding a fine older gentleman that thinks the world of her. It sounds like she more than deserves a true love. Maybe a pregnancy? Damon really making up with Marcus and explaining himself? But alas, No. Just boring frolicking around the estate and putting bad memories to rest. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

And W-H-Y did he have his rose bush wedding present for her, planted at her aunt's house instead of starting a new rose garden on their own estate?!!! What- are they going to keep going back to her aunt's house to plant a new rose bush every anniversary? How is she supposed to be able to enjoy her roses? Maybe he figures Eleanor will inherit her aunt's house in the end and they'll live there? Not. It made no sense. If you really want to read more of this series- save yourself the money, and go to the library or borrow a friend's copy. This was definitely NOT an "A-h-h-h-h" book.