Customer Reviews

Untouched Mistress (Harlequin Historical)

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

 

 

I loved Ms. McPhee's The Captain's Lady (Ulverscroft Large Print Series) and was hoping to enjoy this one but for some reason, it wasn't as interesting.

Since another reviewer already summarized the plot, I'll just jump to my critiques. There were a lot of teasers in this book. I've just read so many historical romances that I get a tad annoyed when the author employs the use of these devices to increase romantic tension and move the romance along. It's like a soap opera device. The lovers starts kissing and then something interrupts them, then start at it again and then something stops them..and on and on... I think this happened about 5 times or more and they don't join together until the end. Don't get me wrong. I don't want people to just jump into bed off the bat but to use this device so many times gets old. I could've done with less of that and more of some REAL romantic tension of some sort. I believe a great romance author can do that without this technique. I don't even mind that they did it at the very end, but for godsakes, please stop teasing the reader. It's like crying wolf. At a certain point, it stops working.

The attraction the hero felt for the heroine just didn't feel like it would have led to marriage. I couldn't see why she stood out, other than her physical beauty. It seemed like he was the knight in shining armor and was there to rescue her and that's pretty much it. He was attracted to her because she was beautiful and needed help. I can just totally see him helping her, maybe sleeping with her, and then moving on with his life. For that reason, I just couldn't get interested in their romance.

The heroine didn't seem like a total nitwit but I would've liked to know why she didn't consider the fact that the villain would've gone after her family if she escaped like she did.

Thankfully, the heroine wasn't very annoying/stupid. She kept her secrets from the hero for good reasons and revealed it at the right point (when she felt she could really trust him). I am glad for that. The whole secrets/big misunderstanding stuff gets old also but I am glad to see that it wasn't employed in this book.

Compared to a lot of popular historical romance authors today, I actually like Ms. McPhee's writing style, descriptions, characters, and stories, but this one just couldn't take off for me. It fell a bit flat, but I am by no means giving up on this author since she still shows more potential than established historical romance authors who have fallen into horrible formulaic, generic stories.

A wonderful fast, Regency Romance. In this semi sequal to the author's The Wicked Earl, in Untouched Mistress, we have Lucien's brother Guy's story. The story begins when Guy finds a unconscious woman washed up on the beach. The woman, Helena, is terrified of something and is adament about running away and hiding in London. Guy offers to bring her and there the adventure begins.
Guy and Helena are both "tortured heros" in their own way, but refreshingly, in this case, it's Helena who has truly faced some unspeakable cruelty in her life. She fears and distrusts men, and Guy find's that even though he desires Helena, he must move slowly and in doing so, falls in love with her.

The villain in this book is really a baddie.His evilness makes for a thrilling,drama filled book. The story is more about love than passion, though there are a few love scenes. A great story about overcoming abuse too.
4 stars.