A Useful Affair [Mass Market Paperback]

Stella Cameron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

The Marquis of Granville's deadly efficiency makes him invaluable to the Crown. But his latest mission has nothing to do with his work for England and everything to do with avenging the murder of two members of his family. Killing would be too good for Bernard Leggit, the wealthy and corrupt merchant responsible for their deaths. Granville has a better plan: Seduce the old man's young wife, Hattie, then let society know about their affair. For Leggit, living with shame will be worse than death.

Hattie Leggit married her odious husband in a devil's bargain to save her parents from debtors' prison. She has a scheme for freeing herself from this private misery, but foiling Leggit is taking too long. The opportune arrival of the dashing Marquis of Granville inspires a daring new plan: Pretend to engage in a very discreet affair with Granville and make her freedom the price for not flaunting their liaison in society.

When Hattie responds to him, Granville smells his revenge, but nothing goes as he had planned. Hattie drives him wild with need, until he finds himself forgetting his purpose. Although desire is new to Hattie, she manages to resist surrender -- until love and yearning conquer all doubts. But will they join forces in time to outwit a vicious enemy with more murder in mind?

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778320200
• ISBN-13: 978-0778320203
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 3.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,469,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stella Cameron is the New York Times best selling author of the acclaimed Court of Angels Series, the Bayou Books and many others. There are fourteen million copies of her books in circulation worldwide. She is the recipient of the Pacific Northwest Achievement Award for distinguished professional achievement and for enhancing the stature of the Northwest Literary community. She lives in Washington State.

Stella's current titles include OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF BODY and OUT OF MIND from her critically acclaimed Court of Angels series as well as her recent exclusive eBook releases BREATHLESS (contemporary romantic-suspense) and BARGAIN BRIDE: A NOVELLA (historical romance).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Would have been a good read, but..., March 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A Useful Affair (Mass Market Paperback)

...either the editor went crazy and chopped out more than necessary or the writer expected you to fill in the gaps. As much as I hate lengthy prologues, this story needed a few pages to set the stage better for the reader. The main characters would have been much more interesting with more background info. that related to the plot. For example, the author tells us Lord John Granville was a spy for the British government, but this had absolutely no bearing on any of the story. This aspect of his character could have made the pretext of how he becomes involved with the villian, Leggit, much more interesting than running from a spurned lover. The sub-story of the aunts and their enterprise just takes away from developing the story between Hattie and Lord Granville. The worst part was the ending, which seemed vague and abrupt. Overall, the plot seemed rushed and ill-explained, and the promise of the main characters and others was ruined by this. If there are subsequent stories for Lord Granville's brothers, I hope they are more well-developed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deserving of no stars whatsoever, June 21, 2005

By 

S. Reader "scibarfan" (Franklin, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Useful Affair (Mass Market Paperback)

Really, this was one of the most poorly written books it has ever been my misfortune to attempt to read. Yes, attempt, because over halfway through, I finally decided that I had wasted enough time hoping it would improve.

This book must have been accepted for publication solely on Ms. Cameron's name -- and perhaps the premise, which was not realized well at all. The writing here is so amateurish as to be not laughable, but annoying in the extreme. This is my first (and probably last) Cameron book, so I have to wonder how someone who writes so badly became a bestselling author.

Even without the deplorable writing style, the characters here are inconsistent and unlikeable. The hero comes across as weak and rarely acts according to the descriptions of him. The heroine is dull and totally unconvincing. As a reader, I could never care what happened to them, as long as they finally left me alone.

This is one of those books I definitely regret buying. The saddest thing is that I bought its sequel the same day; I don't know if I'll ever summon up the courage to crack it open.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Had Potential!, June 25, 2004

By 

Nancy Compton (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Useful Affair (Mass Market Paperback)

I rate this book 2 1/2 stars.

The storyline is good, though it was greatly underdeveloped to make it an attractive read. The characters and how they relate and/or interact certainly had more potential, but it was unremarkably written.

Getting to the root of the plot is rather exasperating and only moderately explained. Many times I was left wondering what one circumstance had to do with the other and the purpose of some characters. The writing style did not efficiently flow as I found myself having to re-read something to get the gist or understand the author's meaning.

It definitely could have been a great book.