Customer Reviews

Surrender to Sin

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

 

 

Heiress, Abigail Ritchie flees London after jilting her despicable fiance. Wanting to leave all the scandal behind, in the country she assumes a the new identity of Miss Smith. Her wealthy father rents a home for her and her entourage. They include Abigail's senile old nurse maid, a nasty old hypochondriac chaperone and her depressing widow nurse. And lets not forget the chaperone's vicious macaw bird who would like nothing better than to pluck Abigail's eyes out. Things seem to go from bad to worse when she finds out that the 'distant' cousin of hers, Cary Wayborne (who saved her from an embarrassing situation with her betrothed in London) is in fact in residence. He it not in fact married as he led her to believe. And has no idea who she really is and assumes that she is some other cousin in his large family tree. Then he attempts to put the moves on her (rather aggressively), so she rebuffs him. So the cad goes after the next best thing, the pretty weepy widow. This of course infuriates Abigail because she can't seem to keep her mind off him. But things have a strange way of working out and on one cold night things go much further than either of them anticipated. But then dawn arrives and realization hits and its not good. This is the last thing Abigail wanted. She rejects Cary's less than stellar proposal. How things have gotten this far, she really doesn't know. How can she possibly marry a man she may be in love with when its obvious that he doesn't love her and how can she possibly face her father again knowing that she is ruined?

Lord I thought that the prequel 'Simply Scandalous' was ridiculous, but this one takes the cake! DO NOT attempt to read this book while sleepy. There is so much going on here, a mass of misunderstandings is not an exaggeration and to keep up with who thinks what about whom really puts those concentration parts of your brain to use. Its funny and crazy at the same time. Everyone seems to be talking circles around one another. Just when one thing is resolved Lejeune (author) throws in another. It could make your head spin if it were not written so well.

Once it gets going, the romance is very good. Lots of good love scenes, some of which were quite funny. His 'Mr. Prime Minister' couldn't wait until her 'Queen' opened Parliament (LOL!).-OK, so I'm easily amused. But it really doesn't stop there. Cary believes Abby to be a bit of a drinker considering she knows so much about spirits (well her dad is a liquor merchant but he doesn't know that). He also has a wild dog, a corgi that's not particularly fond of the macaw and gets into a lot of mischief. Once his sister, Juliet shows up in the country, things really get out of hand. At one point he believes that Abigail is a thief and sends Bow Street Runners after. And there is so much more when they return to London, but I don't want to spoil it for you. But you'll be shaking your head thinking that some of this could not possibly be happening.

*semi-spoiler below*
And for those of your that read the prequel, you'll be happy to see that Juliet and her fiance Ginger(LOL!) have a pretty big part in this one. She jilts him! Yes, I couldn't believe it either! But its just another example of how Lejeune keeps you on your toes.
*end semi-spoiler*

So, its not a deep emotional tear-jerker with the Alpha male. He wears purple waist coat for goodness sakes! Its more of a romantic comedy type that's just plain crazy, chock-full of assumptions, misunderstandings and miscommunication. You'll like it or hate it for its stupidity. Not for the serious seeking reader.

A great break from the heavy emotional drama of romance. You'll laugh and shake your head at this one.

I'm not sure why I bought this book but I suspect it's because of the price. And the first thing I realized when I started reading it, is that the cover, the blurb and the title are completely misleading. In fact, the only words that are really accurate in the tagline are "wicked" and "fun".

I didn't even realize it was connected to a previous title, Simply Scandalous, until I read certain allusions in the relationship btw Ginger and the hero's sister. Now I plan to get that book, especially since it's only $3.99!!!

I won't recap but I loved it. I kept laughing out loud, in spite of myself. This is even more amazing when you consider that English is my 3rd language and I am not in the US, either! I think the humour is very well done and *that* is why the book had me laughing so much and so often.

There is a lot of action, but, judging from reviews of bk 1, SS, this is a trademark of the author. If you love movies like Some like it Hot or Bringing Up Baby (the one with the pet Panther, IIRC), you'll love this book.

As for sensuality, there is one full love scene at least and several degrees of making out. Our hero Cary is a bit of a bad boy but they are just in keeping with the general tone of the book, fun. And the "dirty" talk I thought was cute too!

Now, I do have a rant or two. First, I think the villains got off a little two easily, especially if you stop to consider what happened to the fall-guy, the maid. But my main rant is about the fact that this author does not exist online. No website, no blog, nothing. If Ms Lejeune or her editor is reading this, do something about it. Fans want a mailing list, back blurbs, excerpts, SOMETHING!!!!!

Mix together scandal and ruin, desire and passion, mistaken identities, run down estates, thievery and even a bit of kidnapping and you are bound to have some fun. All I can say is that I laughed out loud so many times my family began to wonder what I was reading. This is a story guaranteed to tickle the funny bone of even the most stoic, as a passionate kiss in a wardrobe is mistaken for a bat fluttering in the face and a dog that likes to eat watches and parrots causes an all out search and arrest. Abigail Ritchie, the daughter of a rich merchant, is engaged to the horrible pompous Lord Dulwich. She breaks the engagement in scandal, as she is accused of replacing the diamonds in her engagement ring with paste. She remembers a brief run in with a handsome distant cousin who has a house to rent in Hertfordshire. Believing him to be married and safe, she flees London in disguise as Miss Smith in order to hide from the scandal. But she is not alone, as she is traveling with a hypochondriac and her chaperone, dog and parrot. Lord of the Manor, Cary Wayborn has no idea what is in store for him when Miss Smith and her party arrive. A storm has caused a tree to fall on the house they are to rent and they are forced to stay in his estate manor. Cary is drawn to the beautiful Miss Smith, who he recognizes from a bookshop in London, believing her to be some distant cousin. He desires her for her unique beauty and personality and when Abigail discovers him to not be married and is drawn to him as well, she eventually surrenders to one night of pleasure and sin. Cary offers her marriage and unexcpectedly, she rejects his offer and returns to London, but in her absence, there are several items of worth missing. Not wanting to believe she is a thief, he searches for the Miss Smith, not realizing she is really Abigail Ritchie. The real thieves are loose and want to get away by kidnapping her and blackmailing Abigail's rich father. In the meantime, Cary's sister and future brother-in-law get into the act with a broken engagement and mistaken identity with a group of actors that are all part of the theft. A real plot twister with a strange, unique cast of characters that is fun and sexy and does make you think why be good when being wicked can be so much more fun!

It is indeed, a rare thing to have a good chuckle from a romance novel even rarer to enjoy the love story too but that is exactly what happened when I read Surrender to Sin.

Abigail Ritchie is forced to leave London when she breaks off her engagement to her odious titled fiancé, who then accuses her of stealing the diamond from his engagement ring and replacing it with a fake. Abigail travels to Cary Wayborn's dower house that he has deigned to lease because he is absolutely broke. Her traveling companions are such a mismatch. There's her nurse that is quite senile, an old chaperone who is incredibly rude and blunt (she made me laugh every time she said "I shall vomit") and her obnoxiously funny macaw, and the chaperone's companion who seems rather nice but is somewhat harried.

Instead of staying in the dower house, the party must stay in the manor as a tree has fallen on the house and now Cary is at the gatehouse. Cary Wayborne is too too cute. I loved his wry wit and his circular arguments and his charming nature. He has absolutely no idea that Abigail is an heiress but believes she is a very distant cousin and he goes after her like gangbusters.

The one small fault I had with Abigail is she runs away like a frightened rabbit when confronted by Cary or even her chaperone. She allows timidity to rule her life but fortunately she gets past this, or rather, Cary helps her past her shyness by the middle of the book.

There are a lot of subplots here but I loved them because they were zany, kind of like a Lucille Ball sketch, but they worked because the characters are eccentric. At the middle of all this mayhem are Cary and Abigail. They are both in love but thinks the other does not really have the same feelings for them. Cary is so wonderful acting upon his feelings, better than Abigail for that matter. He can make almost any situation better with his quick humor.

By the last chapter there were kidnappings, thefts, stolen jewels and under drawers, secret trysts backstage and many, many mistaken identities. The ending is sweet and all the characters and animals (there is a pet Corgi which has a funny personality too) live a happily ever life.

Whiskey heiress Abigail Ritchie must leave London to escape a scandalous broken engagement. The perfect opportunity presents itself in the form of a man, one Cary Wayborn. His country estate offers a nice cottage that would be the perfect hiding place. However, like their strange first meeting, nothing goes right from the moment she and her small party enters Hertfordshire. Scandal seems determined to follow the young miss and this time it's in the form of the very amorous Cary and an amazing cast of secondary characters. The country's never seen a young lady like Abigail and thanks to mistaken identities, an evil parrot-resembling macaw and a mysterious disappearing act of some valuables, Abigail's life has become something fit for a comedic stage performance.

Cary Wayborn is in dire financial straights, so when the young miss he rescued on the streets of London turns up, he's more than happy to rent a cottage to her...or rather, happy that he will no longer lack for female companionship. What comes on the heels of Ms. Abigail is nothing short of confounding and just when he thinks he knows the young woman he's made his wife, something tests the limits of his forgiveness. When shocking truths come to light, will the two be able to find a peace to the precarious beginnings of their relationship?

This was such an interesting read. There were many times I had to put it down, out of frustration for some of the characters' actions. Something, though, kept me coming back and I realized it was the sheer comedy that the situations produced. Cary Wayborn--where do I start? I don't think I've ever read such a MAN in a historical romance novel. He makes it quite plain early on in the book that he wants Abigail and that may be where my initial frustration came in, his lust for lust's sake attitude. I'm really glad I held on though and kept reading because his whimsical, confounding and outrageous actions and words, where Abigail was concerned, literally had me rolling by the middle of the book. Abigail is unfortunately caught up in the middle of more than one sticky situation, but she finally seems to gain some luck where Cary is concerned. She's got spirit and a honest-to-goodness backbone, which comes out on more than one occasion. She's no pansy! I have to say; these two might end up being one of my favorite historical romance couples. The tension between them is good, their dialogue hilarious and everything they did made sense (by book's end). My one disappointment with the book is that the overall plot, that really tied all the subplots well, doesn't really get enough attention till the end. But when we finally get it, we get it in spades. This was a very enjoyable read, one I'd recommend to anyone that enjoys a healthy dram of comedy with their romance.

Comedy in a romance is a refreshing change from the usual "I will never marry hero or the I won't marry I like being a spinster historical romances". There was a lot of comic moments that reminded me of movies with Cary Grant. This Cary was quick on his feet and I liked him very much. Unfortunately, Abigail was no Katherine Hepburne. She could not keep up with him and he constantly confused her. This could have been a really good story if the witty bander was not one sided.

The story was written fairly well and had the potential to be a 3 or 4 but I could not give this book more than 2 stars because there was no real chemistry between the main characters.

The other reviews have captured the plot quite well (except for one review which got it wrong, she did marry him before going to London to tell her father about the marriage) but the writing and the way the author conveys the characters to us is really what makes this book works so well. I feel like I know all of them and love all of them despite their flaws. The pace of the book is fast and the humour is really good. Abigail is a likeable heroine though I have to say Cary takes the shine out of her, being a very unique hero figure for a historical romance. He's not brooding or bothered about his attraction to the heroine, or his housekeeper's magnificent backside, for that matter. He's fun and quick with his wit, arrogant, conceited, completely useless about money, and a really smooth talker. The non-dream dream scene had me laughing in stitches, and the thought of HIS Prime Minister meeting with the french maid is a really hilarious idea (I'm smiling just thinking about it). I recommend anyone who can see the ridiculous side of things to take a crack at this book, I'll definitely be looking for her other books.

This novel is a very funny English farce - the characters are all lying to each, no one knows each others names or how they are connected, people are stealing from each other and in the middle is a very mixed-up funny couple stumble into love. Take a chance - very funny - great price - Enjoy!

I would also suggest; Rules For Being A Mistress (Zebra Historical Romance) and Simply Scandalous (Zebra Debut).