Customer Reviews

Temptation Of A Proper Governess (Large Print) (Romances)

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

 

 

This is my first novel from Cathy Maxwell. I thoroughly enjoy Lowell and Barton, two excellent authors. However, Cathy Maxwell seems afraid of love scenes. They're over pretty quickly with little description and seem rushed. The plot/story was good. I was wondering how she would alter a Jane Eyre-esk story and make it new and exciting. Maxwell, your readers want more love and more steaminess in a novel.


Thanks,
LILRE1

Setting - England 1804 --- When governess Isabel Halloran found that her 17-year-old wayward, promiscuous charge was missing from her bed, she roused the nanny to help her locate the chit before she did something foolish and have the staff blamed for her mischief. Finding her charge lying naked in one of the wealthy visiting gentlemen's bedroom, she and nanny hauled her off and locked her in her bedroom. When the willful teenager taunted Isabel that she purposely left her bracelet in the bed in order to effect a forced marriage, Isabel rushed back to the room to retrieve it, only to be caught herself.
Unknowingly, Michael Severson came back to his room and found an intoxicatingly lovely woman who he was immediately attracted to. He began to seduce her and Isabel who was mesmerized by him was a willing participant until his host, and her employer, came along with witnesses to barge into his room, expecting to see his daughter being compromised and not the governess.

Initially refusing but then through a series of events and good intentioned friends, Isabel is finally persuaded by Michael to marry him - innocently putting a great deal of trust in a man who she'd only just met. Unfortunately, Michael had ulterior motives in his proposal once he'd discovered that she was the bastard child of Lord Elswick, a man who ten years earlier had attempted to have him convicted for murder. A deed Michael believed Elswick's son Henry had committed and Michael was determined to prove. However, Michael soon falls in love with Isabel about the same time she discovers the real reason he married her, but too late - for although Isabel had lost her heart to him, she had also lost her trust.

Once again, Cathy Maxwell, the mistress of unforgettable and sweet romances, hits a homerun with her latest novel having all the elements I've come to expect from her - vision, integrity, fabulous characterizations and all kinds of heart. She writes with intelligence and enormous feeling as these two wonderful protagonists come to terms with each other taking a leap of faith to accept the gift of a once in a lifetime love. The mystery of the murder was deftly handled and neatly tied up at the end. Additionally, she teases the reader with unforgettable characters that one can only hope to see revealed in greater detail in future sequels to this grand beginning. Bottom Line - This goes on my keeper shelf with spaces next to it for the sequels I pray come as soon as possible. --- Marilyn Rondeau (...)---

I really enjoyed this book (it's not a keeper-shelf 5-star read, but it's close). This is the second book by Maxwell that I've read, and she's certainly going to remain a prominent feature on my "to buy" list. If you're looking for a well written, entertaining story with characters who are fully realized and not merely cardboard cutouts, I highly recommend you pick this novel up.

The heroine (Isabel) is strong and sure of herself (even when she shouldn't be, as she realizes as she grows and develops during the novel's progression). The hero (Michael) is fabulous, a real charmer (in the good sense). I love a reformed bad boy. Especially one who reformed himself . . .

Even the titular bad guy in this novel (Riggs) has serious potential as a hero for a future novel. It's so refreshing when the secondary characters have enough life of their own that you find yourself wondering what they're up to when they're not front and center in the story.

The story I'm looking forward to is that of the hero's best friend Alex. Being half Native American myself, I usually cringe when I see novels with buff "Braves" on the cover, but for Alex I'm willing to make an exception.

... I must say I was sorely disappointed by the editing of this book. Characters' names change in mid chapter, wrong words are used, wrong tenses are used. Granted, I am a copy editor and these types of mistakes usually stand out to me. Most books do contain some mistakes, but this was ridiculous. There were mistakes throughout the entirety of the novel. So, good book, bad editing.

Laurel Causey

I actually liked Michael and Isabel but for some reason the author lets Michael keep the real reason he proposed to Isabel a secret and of course she finds out and can no longer trust him, which is understandable. But the problem with this devise is that it is boring. The reader knows this fact and because Michael actually likes her would lead one to think that he would be honest with her about knowing her connection. So the reader from the beginning is being set up to have to wade through this garbage. I just started skimming the book at that point. Good secondary characters towards the last half of the book. I do wish, at times, that I could be the editor of these books. So many mistakes. But more inportantly, to give the author a heads up in remembering that yes, there needs to be conflicts resolved in these stories but why make the hero be less trusting that he actually needs to be? In real life, the fact that Michael so obviouly lied would make this one marriage that would probably not survive.

In 1803 Michael Severson accompanied by his blood brother Alex Haddon returns to England after spending a decade in Canada. If not for an honest judge, Michael would have hung for the murder of his actress lover Aletta Calendri; even his family believes he killed her. Now he plans to catch the killer starting with Lord Elswick who went after him with a vengeance; Michael believes Elswick felt his son Henry committed the act so diverted attention from his heir.

When a host tries to trick Michael into marrying his teen daughter, the governess Isabel Halloran intervenes, but he begins seducing her instead. Michael does the right thing when they are caught together by marrying her. Initially he saw her as an avenue to get back at her father Elswick even if she is illegitimate. However, Michael soon falls in love with his pawn; she reciprocates, but refuses to believe he cares for her beyond using her as an expendable item.

This entertaining Regency romance uses the over-killed theme of vengeance turning to love, but fans will still appreciate the fine story line due to the lead couple's struggles with their relationship and Michael's quest for who set him up to take the murder rap. Readers will admire Isabel from the moment she asks Michael if he killed Aletta and believes him when he says no. The support cast augments the prime plot as most including his beloved and his confident Alex (who has his own quest) think the worst of Michael, which makes the best for sub-genre readers.

Harriet Klausner

Michael and Isabel were interesting characters, but the plot was just so weak and predictable. VERY predictable. At least give the readers something that resembles an actual thought process. Even the simplest things- we know Michael's going to knock at Isabel's door, we know as Isabel is walking down the road that Michael's going to pull up alongside her.
The reader always knows what's going to happen next, which makes for a pretty boring book.

I enjoyed this story and read it quickly. While not perfect in several aspects, it was well written. I enjoyed the plot and characters and the development of the husband/wife relationship. The author also added a dose of morality which is often missing in Regency novels. Her love scenes were not so discriptive that they read like soft porn. I appreciated the author's use of forgiveness in the plot line. While not an inspirational novel, I found it inspiring. I would recommend this story for people who enjoy Regency novels but don't want to be loaded down with unrealistic sex scenes and bad language. Also, intimacy takes place within the bounds of marriage. How refreshing.

I like Maxwell's writing and I thought this was a good book. It was only the 2nd Cathy Maxwell I had read. I got it on sale on my e-reader and it was good enough that I downloaded 3 more in the series after the 1st few chapters. I started the 1st book 5 days ago and I am on the last one. For me, reading four books by the same author in less than a week means they must rock. Maxwell needs a new proofreader, on that I will agree. The editing is very bad but I won't hold that against the author or the story. The bad editing is consistent throughout this series so try to look past it. I disagree with the need for steamier scenes. I think too much sex in a book can detract from the story line. If you read the 1st sex scene then you have pretty much read them all. I have a tendency to skim through the sex so the lack there-of suited me fine. There is a little more descriptive sex in book 3 if you want steamier. I like humor, love and logic. I hate books where they hold grudges beyond what any normal human being would do. These people forgave, but not to the point of stupidity. There was some cost to the betrayer. I laughed out loud a couple times and that is always a plus for me. I think these are the reasons I have developed a liking for Maxwell's books. I have added her to my list of favorite authors.

This is the 1st book in the Cameron Sister series so you have to read it 1st. I gave it good marks, book #2 (the price of Indiscretion) not so, I wanted to shake the heroine most of the time but it ended ok. You still have to read book 2 (though you may want to throw Miranda out the window sometimes) because it sets up book 3. Book #3 (a duke in her bed) was much better and book 4 (Bedding the Heiress) is shaping up quite nicely. I will most likely download #5 (in the highlander bed) tomorrow. Give them a shot. They are all short, easy reads and great for a rainy afternoon.

The plot of this book sounded interesting, and the main characters were likeable enough, I suppose. Yet somehow, the novel didn't quite live up to expectations. The elements were all there, but the execution was lacking. I finished the book wondering if the author had really known what story she wanted to tell before she started writing it, in fact.

The plot was so bland that I'm not sure if I can remember it well enough to write a clear review. But I will do my best. This is spoilery, but the story is so predictable that it would be difficult to spoil it.

The Romance: There's an illegitimate girl - the titular governess - and an accused (but proffesingly innocent) murderer. She's compromised, and he offers to marry her because her biological father is the father of the man the hero thinks actually committed the murder. And though she has no relationship with her father to speak of (and admits as much to him), he wants to use her to...well, he has a plan to....he thinks if he marries her, he can... Actually, I don't think the author bothered to explain what the hero hoped to accomplish. He knows the identity of the heroine's father, he doesn't tell her he knows or why he cares, but how he plans to use her in his scheme is never explained, even to the audience.

The heroine is wary of his intentions and is reluctant to marry without love. Pretty common fare for a romance novel. However, she keeps waffling on whether she'll go through with the wedding or not. She says she won't, he talks her into it. She changes her mind. He persuades her to change it back. She won't, she will, she might, she might not. Somehow, this seems to go on for YEARS. While it's not unreasonable or unrealistic that she would vacillate and have doubts, this section of the book seemed to drag. It wasn't so much a means to learn something more about the characters as it was a means to drag out the love story and add romantic tension. As such, there's less "tension" and more "needless and rather dull angst."

Once that's sorted, the author seems to suddenly remember that there's a murder mystery to be solved, and a handful of supporting characters are tossed into the book in the second half. The hero's plan is STILL unclear, but the heroine finds out that he married her for reasons other than she'd thought and feels betrayed. Which is almost the exact moment he realizes he DOES love her, after all! Not to worry, though. She realizes that he taught her to love, and so this is clearly sufficient to overcome her feelings of betrayal. ... Sigh. (I don't think the author knew how to fix it, so she whitewashed it, instead.)

The Mystery: Once the author remembers there's supposed to be one, it's fairly predictable as well. Not much to say for it that I didn't say above. On the plus side, the villain is eventually discovered. So there's that to say about the mystery. It's solved.

The Supporting Characters: I'll admit that the author is guilty of one of my pet peeves, here. The villain of the story is The Villain - an unrepentant bad guy with...pretty much not a single redeeming quality. I am sure he is even unkind to small children and helpless animals. He is a VILLAIN! That's okay, and even common enough. Every other supporting character (who was set up to POTENTIALLY have been the murderer when the author was in need of a suspect or two to justify the story's premise) is "redeemed" at the end. Going so far as to "redeem" a would-be rapist by showing that he actually LOVES the would-be victim and is so distraught that she marries another that he has to flee the country.

A guy doesn't have to be a murderer to be a bad guy, and rapists (successful or not) can still remain bad guys at the end. I don't buy the "rapists with a heart of gold" plot line. I don't know why the even bothered, unless she plans to use him as a hero in a future book...which would not be a book I would read, as it's not a trait I look for in my romantic heroes.

The main characters should have their stories wrapped up in a nice bow stamped "happily ever after" at the end of a novel. Even primary supporting characters (like a best friend who's had the B plot in the novel). It is not necessary to make EVERY supporting character do an about-face in the last 30 pages so that it's made clear they're really fuzzy wuzzies deep down, they've learned their lessons and all bad karma has been wrapped up in a big bow of "it's a happy ending, darn it!"

Bottom Line: The book had promise, but it felt like more of a chore to get through than a pleasure. But if I had to guess, I'd say the author WROTE this book as more of a chore (to start off a series, to fulfill a contractual deadline, etc.) than because she really loved and wanted to tell the story. Frankly, it didn't read like she really had a clear idea of the story she wanted to tell. The plot of this book sounded interesting, and the characters were likeable enough, I suppose. Yet somehow, the novel didn't quite live up to expectations. The elements were all there, but the execution was lacking, at least to me. I finished the book wondering if the author had really known what story she wanted to tell before she started writing it, in fact.