10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, but bring on Francesca and Rochford's story!, August 31, 2008
This review is from: The Wedding Challenge (Matchmakers) (Mass Market Paperback)
Camp's Matchmakers series has been great reading from start to finish. While I thoroughly enjoyed "The Wedding Challenge" Callie and Brom's characters were no where near as interesting and as spellbinding as the secondary characters of Rochford and Francesca. As far as romance novels go, it's fairly standard in its plot line. As a youngish heroine, Callie's "impetuousness" grates on the nerves a little, and Brom lacked backbone, but their story was light hearted and easy to love. There were some cute plot twists thrown in, but for the most part I found myself wanting Callie and Brom to get on with it so I could get back to reading about Rochford and Callie. Finally at the end of this novel we get some glimpse into the tension that has been building for the past three books and frankly February can't come soon enough!! I can't wait for "The Courtship Dance" to FINALLY get the Francesca and Rochford story that we have all been waiting for!!
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
I just don't get it! How am I the only one to see these things?, November 16, 2008
This review is from: The Wedding Challenge (Matchmakers) (Mass Market Paperback)
*shaking head* HOW can I be the only one to spot such rediculous writing? Writing that makes me laugh at the most innapropriate times! I should not be laughing during sex scenes!
So, first, as usual, since I am not the first (by far) to review this book, I will save the plot recap.
Second, I will say that I agree with the other reviewer that mentioned that the sex scenes were disjointed and seemed thrown in there for the sake of having them. There was also a LOT of repetition in the descriptions. Almost as if the second scene was written first and then when she went back to add the first scene she just cut and pasted and re-worded it.
Thirdly... well, let me just cull some phrases from the book, shall I?
"And when she remembered the way he had kissed her, her loins were flooded again with heat."
"She found it difficult to think of anything but the soft, swollen tingling of her lips or the heavy achy feel of her breasts...or the insistent throbbing deep within her loins."
"Her own body was a stranger to her - her loins throbbing, and a hot damp ache growing between her legs..."
"It geysered up, shooting throughout her body, turning her skin to flame, and settled in a hot, aching mass deep in her abdomen"
"Callie thought of sleeping in one of Brom's shirts, and her loins prickled with desire."
"His body was pulsatingly aware of her hand upon his arm, now burning where it touched."
"Callie quivered beneath his touch, a soft moan escaping her lips."
"With each movement Callie felt desire curl and knot within her, her loins melting, turning her hot and liquid."
"She could feel the moisture gathering between her legs, the tender flesh throbbing."
"Callie felt as if every part of her was on fire, and the molten center of that flame lay deep in her abdomen, where she pulsed and burned with desperate need."
Maybe I object to the use of the word "loins" so much, as it makes me think of beef. Maybe all the quivering, throbbing and pulsating just makes me picture them doing a jig or being shocked or something. Maybe all the flames and liquifying type descriptions make me think of the Simpson's ("all I wanted was some time with my wife, and now the floor is made of lava"). I don't know. But the scenes are so filled with descriptions like these that I find myself laughing when I should be most interested.
I've read a few of her books. They're not usually this bad. There's always some quivering going on there, but this book was just over the top. Also, Callie was whiny, immature, and threw WAAAaay too many tantrums. Brom wasn't so bad except in his determined belief to not see the obvious (c'mon, I have siblings. No matter how much you love them you would never assume that they were telling the truth when their story didn't make any sense).
The only things that kept this from being 1 star was that there was no force (a la Catherine Coulter), and the secondary characters were pretty decent.
Please, people! Is this really what books have come to? Where are all the good authors? I'd love to find some that don't make me slap my forehead so much that I give myself a bruise.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
best of the Matchmaker series so far, August 27, 2008
This review is from: The Wedding Challenge (Matchmakers) (Mass Market Paperback)
Lady Calandra, age 23, is the sister of a Duke. Beautiful and well dowered, she is much sought after, but she has been in no hurry to accept a suitor. No one had really held her interest until the Earl of Bromwell came along. Although he would appear to be a good match and seems interested in her, the Duke orders his sister to have nothing to do with the man. Uncharacteristically, he refuses to explain his actions and much upset, Lady Calandra goes to stay with her friend Lady Francesca Haughston, the Matchmaker of the series. Lady Haughston does not know that the Duke has forbidden his sister to see the Earl, and under her watch eye, Bromwell begins to court Calandra.
Although the desire between Callie and Bromwell practically sizzles on the paper, all is not well. The Earl has a sister with a grudge against the Duke and he pretends to himself and to her that he is only seeing Calendra to annoy the Duke. He has no idea how much of a troublemaker his sister really is, however.
The plot is a simple one - a romance is building but an impediment must be resolved. The pleasure in reading the story comes from the characters themselves, the growing friendship of Calendra and Francesca, the respect between the Duke and his sister, the essentially honorable nature of the Earl. These are nice people, you want them to be happy. I appreciated the fact that the author has not exaggerated the characters to make an overly dramatic story. The Duke isn't an ogre but a concerned brother. Callie isn't a wild child but someone who carefully weighs her feelings against her brother's wishes and tries to do what is proper. The Earl doesn't set out to ruin Calandra but just to pique her brother.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.
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