Customer Reviews

In the Thrill of the Night (Merry Widows)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is an extremely emotionally charged read. It employs one of my favorite premises: love from afar.

The heroine, Marianne, is a young widow looking for a lover, not love. The hero, Adam, her late husband's best friend, has been in love with Marianne for years and not realized it. Not until he betrothes himself to another and Marianne wants to experience true passion. Though she loved her husband, she comes to understand her sex life was lacking.

Adam is extremely jealous of all her "candidates", but has no say in Marianne's life. He is to be wed and she is free to live and love whomever she wants.

"ITTOTN" is packed with sexual tension, spicy love scenes, and strong emotion. There is no mystery sub-plot to bog down the romance.

Another addition to my keeper shelf.

IN THE THRILL OF THE NIGHT you will find the most deliciously sublime romance that will leave you with an afterglow, long after the last page is turned. Ms. Hern has concocted a lovely tale full of lively secondary characters as well as the perfectly matched duo of Marianne and Adam. The basis of this tale was five widowed friends pledging a pact to support each other in not letting family railroad them back into marriage. It was taken one step further when one very satisfied widow proposed that each consider taking a lover - just for pure physical pleasure of it! Marianne, who had been deeply in love with her husband David, was, after listening to the descriptive confessions of what physical pleasure could be, feeling that just possibly she'd been missing something in her marriage.

Enlisting the aid of her and her husband's best friend Adam, she asked that he be her guide in finding a suitable candidate for a lover. Her timing could not have been worse, for Adam had just announced his own betrothal. Adam was convinced that Marianne would never re-marry and the thought of her taking anyone to her bed, especially now that he could not accommodate her himself, was tragic beyond belief!

Wickedly good fun, this first book in Hern's Merry Widow series had me smiling from the very first page. Adam's manipulations in heading off Marianne's suitors were a pure pleasure and this author has certainly whetted my appetite for whatever new delights await the rest of the `merry widows'. With witty dialogs and an abundance of characters you can love, I most heartily recommend this for a perfectly lovely reading experience.

This is my first Candice Hern, but definitely not my last. Hern is an articulate author who doesn't waste pages with the old "I really shouldn't, he's a rake and not right for me but I really want to" ploy.

Her plot--5 widows who have decided to have affairs rather than marry again and give over their lives and finances to a husband, is provocative, to say the last.

I found Adam, the protagonist in this first story in the Merry Widows series, to be an especially appealing character, although I became very frustrated at times with his determination to do the honorable thing even after admitting his betrothed was all wrong for him and that he had always been in love with Marianne, even while her husband, and his best friend, was alive.

Hern has written a most tender, appealing yet erotic love scenes in this novel. It will be interesting to see if she can even come close when she writes about Beatrice and Grace.

i had read only one other candice hern novel up until now and now i will be pulling everything else from her back list based on the strength of this story alone. what makes this story so great?

1. the chemistry is potent and believable between the leads and it shows in the passionate intimate encounters.

2. the heroine isn't the innocent chit who has no idea of what she wants or what her man wants. she's not a teenager. she's a mature woman who might not be experienced when it comes to intimacy, is unafraid to go after what she wants. in other words...she's grown.

3. the dialogue was both extremely moving and funny. hern is especially adept at the describing of the intimate moments. she's got a flair for making it both emotional and sensual without it being flowery and overdone.

4. the ensemble of characters is awesome. the other merry widows have distinct personalities and getting to know them will have you eagerly waiting for their stories to be told. something tells me one of adam's friends is gonna end up with another one of these widows.

5. the story focuses almost solely on the hero and heroine. no spy plot. no nefarious villian working in the background. just a straight up story about a woman's discovery of physical passion and the developing love between best friends.

the only reason it doesn't get five stars is because it didn't have enough love scenes and the first one took place late in the book. by that time i was chomping at the bit, ready to see adam and marianne get it on! when it happens though...it's worth the wait.

the reason i really, really enjoyed this book was because i was able to see for myself how adam could fall in love with marianne and vice versa. it wasn't just about the superficial looks, it was also about the conversation and the shared interests along with the passion. by the end of the story i was really rooting for these two to get together.

i highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a good read without all that torture and drama and action but with alot of sensual discussion, chemistry, and funny dialogue (and let's not forget the passionate love scenes even though there were only a couple of them...)

This is my first book by this author, but I will definitely be looking for her earlier works and patiently waiting for the next one in this series. I will not go into any great details about the story as other reviews have already done this, but I totally enjoyed this story from page one. Just a plain love story without confusing plots and beating around the bush. I was captivated by Marianne and Adam and the depth of each. The story even had me laughing out loud at times. This is a keeper to be read again.

I just loved this newest Candice Hern book. Thank you Candice for writing such a wonderful novel.

Marianne Nesbitt is a trustee of the Benevolent Widows Fund, she and her fellow widows; Penelope, Wilhelmina, Grace, and Beatrice support each other in maintaining their wealth and independence. Well they also dish and gossip during their meetings. During one of these meetings Penelope shares her experiences in taking a lover and wisely suggests the importance of being a complete woman, one who is not only intelligent, financially independent, but confident enough to know she also needs physical fulfillment. So begins the Merry Widows Pact. The search for a suitable lover... Marianne compiles a list and asks the advice of her best friend, Adam Cazenove. Adam has long admired Marianne, but does not realize he loves her until she launches on this search. I won't spoil the rest of the story by continuing; you'll have to read it for yourselves.

I love the relationships not only between Adam and Marianne, but also between all the Merry Widows. Relationships that start out as friendship are always the best and the portrayal of Adam and Marianne's Love quite realistically. I especially loved how Adam schemed to get rid of the 'list' prospects at his hangouts.

I also love that all the Merry Widows are strong and independent women. I really liked the first chapter, where all the widows make the pact. Penelope and Wilhelmina are really interesting and I look forward to seeing whom they end up with.

Candice Hern has been a long favorite of mine but this book is one of the best.

Marianne Nesbitt is a very innocent woman for a widow. She has tons to learn and who else to help her along the way than her late husband's best friend Adam Cazenove. What Marianne doesn't know is Adam has always held a secret crush on his best friends wife but refused to take advantage.

Now she is asking him for help in the art of seduction and to help her pick just the right guy to work her new found magic on. Adam thinking she has lost her mind for wanting just a lover and should be looking for a husband but agrees to help her. Only each time he is confronted with one of the men on her list, he tells stories to mess up any type of connection.

Marianne also has a small secret. She has had a crush on the her late husband's best friend from the moment she met him. Pushing her feelings aside she always gave her whole heart to the man she married. Just when she decides it's time to put her late husband's memory to rest and move on in her life she finds it's a bit harder than she thought. Who better to help her than the notorious rake, Adam. Only he is giving up his status as a rake and has decided to marry, much to Marianne horror.

After blocking the feelings they've had for eachother for so long will they be able to admit that they only have eyes for eachother?

This is an awesome read with great humor, steamy passion and the best of all, a happy ending. This is not only a must read but one to keep on your shelves.

WOW! Considering that I laughed through much of this delightful and light-hearted comedy, the moving and romantic last several pages brought tears to my eyes - that any two people could be so much in love. The lines ending with Marianne telling Adam that David, her late husband, was her best friend and that he, Adam, was the love of her life was just perfect after what they had been to each other. I can't think of another pair of lovers that made me so happy to read their story.
Candice Hern is a terrific writer and I've enjoyed all her books. "Thrill" is especially wonderful and definitely on my keeper list.

The first half was really well done. I enjoyed the banter between the two main characters and loved the Merry Widow meetings. Then it seemed as though the relationship turned one sided. Marianne had sexual sparks with absolutely every man that came near but more so with Adam. While her mind was on sex, sex, sex, Adam's leaned more toward love and I kind of felt that he could do better by the end of the novel. There were a few parts near the end that made me dislike Marianne because she was being cruel just to make a point. The dialogue between the two became so syrupy sweet at the end that it made me cringe a few times. Like I said, it had promise but the second half failed miserably for me.

In 1813 the five wealthy Merry Widows serve as the board of trustees for the Benevolent Widows Fund. Though their late spouses were kind individuals each has vowed to not marry again as they like the freedom death provided them. One of the quintet, Lady Gosworth tells her companions that she spent the winter warmed by a youthful lover. Grace, Beatrice and Marianne are shocked while Wilhelmina just smiles. The ladies agree to consider lovers and to continue to support one another regardless.

Marianne turns to her late husband's best friend Adam Cazenove, a noted rake, for guidance. He detests the thought of Marianne with a lover though he rationalizes that the memory of David may be why he rejects the idea. She persuades him to go over her list of possible candidates, but he finds a reason to eliminate most; those he cannot cross off in good conscience he plans to stop any tryst from happening. If anyone is going to sleep with Marianne it will be him though he is betrothed to Clarissa Leighton-Blair and he fears he is not the man that David was.

IN THE THRILL OF THE NIGHT is an amusing chick lit regency due to the wild antics of the lead male. Though Adam is engaged and rejects the notion of twenty-nine years old Marianne remaining celibate the rest of her life (he assumes marriage one day), he cannot tolerate any of those pretenders sleeping with her so he performs humorous intercessions to prevent the men from doing so. Fans will enjoy his zany escapades as he eventually realizes that he loves Marianne, but doubts she reciprocates because he assumes David filled her soul.

Harriet Klausner