Customer Reviews

On a Wicked Dawn (Cynster Novels)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Amelia Cynster, along with her twin sister Amanda, have been searching London ballrooms for six years looking for their perfect match. Each is bored with the uninteresting prospects, and both have decided to take matters into their own hands.

After seeing her sister triumphantly wed to the man of her choosing, Amelia sets out to do the same. Her choice is Lucien "Luc" Ashford, Viscount Calverton, whom she has always loved. Now she's going to do something about it. So one night she anxiously lies in wait for him to return home so she can set her plan in motion. Amelia boldly proposes to him, under the guise of how much her dowry will assist his family with their financial problems. Luc agrees, then passes out at her feet.

He actually already loves Amelia, but won't tell her because he feels it would give her too much power over him. Amelia also won't divulge her love for him. Will these two ever trust each other enough to confess their true feelings?

That is basically the whole book in a nutshell. It started out pretty good with her proposing to him, which I thought showed some originality. Well, that's the extent of the originality found here. He won't just quickly marry her, but wants to court her first. The whole plot becomes, who will seduce whom first. At first this is okay, but after so many of these scenes, plus when they start getting horizontal (which doesn't take long), the story then becomes a stream of love scenes without much of anything else to offer. I ceased to care about the characters after awhile. There was no depth of emotion, and no indication of anything between them besides lust. Of course, Luc is the rake who is the master of seduction, and she's blonde, curvaceous, outgoing, and perfect in every way, including a voracious sexual appetite. YAWN!

There is nothing unique or special here. This was my third book to read by this author, and probably my last. I cannot recommend this.

After many years looking for husbands without any success, twins Amelia and Amanda decide that instead of waiting for the men to come to them, they were going to get their men.

This is Amelia's story.

I had been looking forward to this book ever since I heard it was being written and I was not disappointed.

It was great seeing Stephanie Laurens writing about some of the Cynster women now, and discovering that in many ways they are like there powerful male Cynster cousins, they are determined to get what they want, and look-out the men who get in their way.

The story begins when Lucien Ashford has hit the jackpot and restored his family fortunes, and after a night out celebrating, stumbles home drunk. And there he encounters Amelia on his doorstep, and she proposes!

Having always loved Luc, she uses the excuse that she knows that his family is struggling and that her dowry would help re-establish them to convince him to marry her, not knowing about Luc's change of fortune. Luc accepts and passess out at her feet only seconds later.

Luc has always loved Amelia but with the state of his families fortunes, he always believed that she was out of his league and is amazed that she would want to marry him, not that he is about to try and change her mind.

There is one condition he puts on their marriage: he will court her properly, amongst the ton.

But he does not tell her right away that his fortunes have been restored, fearing that she will change her mind about marrying him. Instead he proceeds to act as though his family are still struggling as he courts her so that she will fall in love with him.

This was a very well written book and a great addition to the Cynster series.

A must-read.

I was pretty hard on the sister book "On a Wild Night" when I reviewed it but I was determined to keep an open mind about this one. As with "On a Wild Night" the book starts out promisingly enough, but it doesn't last. And it is a shame. Amelia and Luc are appealing characters, but there is no story here. And who cares who the klepto is that keeps stealing stuff from all the house parties? There is just not enough story here.

The thing that annoyed me most was that this couple seemed obsessed with who was "in control" of the relationship. How pathetic to feel the need to be so calculating and manipulative in a relationship with someone you supposedly care about. If I had to read one more line about who "held the reigns" in the relationship I'd scream! I kept asking myself what the point of this book was. These two seemed to be pretty much in love with each other from the first chapter but we have to plow through 300 more pages before they finally admit it. Why? What's the point?

I got so bored that I put this book down three separate times and read three other books in between before I forced myself to finish this one. Three FAR SUPERIOR books: Heart of the Condor by Laura Renken (excellent!), The Seduction by Julia Ross (beautiful!) and Master of Seduction by Kinley McGregor (fun!).

Do yourself a favor - read one (or all!) of these other books and skip this one!

I really do love the Cynster series - well, the ones with the male Cynsters, anyway.
The entire plot-line of this book was sex and the in-between frustration as the two main characters try to find the next location for their tryst. Basically, she asks him to marry her because she believes he's poor and its a great way to get the man she loves to marry her without saying she loves him. He doesn't really need the money, but agrees and soon realizes he loves her. They spend the whole book (when they weren't having sex or planning to have sex or thinking about the next time they would have sex or the last time they had sex) thinking about how to get the other to love them without admitting their own feelings.
Also missing from this story was the Cynster characters. I was hoping to get more of the characters from the earlier part of the series, but only got very brief snatches here and there.
I was so incredibly irritated. Ms. Laurens did, however, get pretty imaginative with the sex, though. She obviously spent most of her time writing developing sex scenes.
Not worth the read. Just avoid it - but do get the earlier Cynster books!

This book was painful - truly painful. I had such high hopes for Luc. He was so sharp-tongued and devilishly arrogant in "On a Wild Night." I expected him to lash that tongue out at everyone, but he proved to be quite a bore.

The whole premise of the book is ridiculous. He has known Amelia for 20 years, but all-of-a-sudden decides he lusts after her and has secretly loved her all along?! That's a little hard to swallow.

I love conflict between the hero and heroine in romance novels. I think the fighting and sexual tension is great. There was barely any conflict at all. The only time Amelia got mad at Luc was when she found out he was rich (oh, what a reason to get mad-NOT). For two people who were supposedly passionate and outspoken, these two never had any conflicts. Boring.

The whole subplot of Fiona was pointless. Just more words and no meaning. Speaking of words, could S.L. get any wordier? My God, woman, just say what you want to say and spare us the 10 page long descriptions of a kiss!

I must say, the sex sizzled a little more in this one than in most S.L. novels. But they just kept doing it! And it was such flowery prose that I skipped most of it. In fact, I probably skipped 1/4 of the book because it was just too darn boring.

I may have to give up on S.L. I really liked "Devil's Bride," but have been continually disappointed since. I really cannot recommend this one either.

This is twin Amelia Cynster's story and the ninth Cynster novel. She and Lucien "Luc" Ashford have know each since childhood and Amelia has always know it was he she wanted to marry. Until she shows up unannounced at his door at 3 am and gives a reasonable account of why they should marry, he didn't know that's what he wanted too. Amelia has found out the family is on tough times and offers her dowry as a solution. What she doesn't know is Luc has bailed the family out with investments and they are now richer than ever.

Luc wants to marry Amelia because he has been in love with her for a long time. As all of the males in the Cynster series, he is afraid that admitting that love will make him weak and lets Amanda think he is marrying her for her dowry. Luc and Amelia spend the entire book trying to get the other to fall in love with them and admit it. The thing is they both have what they want, they just don't know it.

This book is a good edition in the series if you are keeping up, with the usual steamy sex scenes and has the customary Cynster mystery involved as well. Don't pass it up

There was absolutely no story in this book. All there was to it was a man and a woman making love. Many times. Too many times. So many times that it becomes totally boring.
The 'story' goes like this: he doesn't want to marry AT ALL, and thinks that only fools fall in love, but when she asks him, he suddenly decides that he wants to - because he loves her, but he can't tell her this because then she will be able to control him. She wants to marry her at once, he wants to go slow - so that the ton will think they are in love. But she seduces him (of course he can't resist her) and so they get married at once, no matter what anyone thinks. They find out that they suit perfectly - so boring, there are absolutely no issues between them to resolve, except to say 'I love you'. Oh, and there is a little thief, who dares to steal from the ton! Who the thief is is obvious from the very beginning. And it doesn't help the story.
This book was booooring... I don't think I'll waste any more of my time on Stephanie Laurens' books. There is just no romance, only endless sex scenes. There is nothing wrong with them, but there are just sooo many that I ended up skimming through them. And I hate it when the heroes are in love from the very beginning! I want to see them falling in love! I don't want to just be told that they are in love, and then read about their lack of communication. And always in Lawrens' books when someone wants to show someone he loves her/him, it is by making love to that person... Come on, is there really no other way? And then we get another boring sex scene in stead of a heart-wrenching scene where they talk or confess to each other or something... It is truth that words aren't always necessary, you can show a lot just by your actions, but then you should also be able to read other people's actions...
Boring book, don't waste your time or money on it!

As a newcomer to the Cynster series I went into this book expecting nothing more than an interesting read. What I found was a book so slow to evolve that I used it as insomnia preventive. Stephanie Laurens has definitely perfected the art of seductive love scenes, but leaves you wanting more than just a physical connection between the two main characters, Amelia and Lucien. I found myself asking, "What's the point?" throughout the book.

The plot lays out at the onset of the book with Amelia propositioning Lucien with marriage in order to save his family from dire straits. Of course, she has an ulterior motive and seeks to acquire him as a love match. What follows are intimate liaisons at various engagements and locations. I actually skipped through the majority of the love scenes trying to find something more fulfilling within the plot. Unfortunately, I think time would have been better spent creating chemistry among the characters, rather than the physical pleasure both seemed to revel in with one another. You would never guess that the two of them have been family friends since Amelia was in nappies. Where's the emotional connection?

So, in order not to waste a minute more on this book I'll leave you with this... If you are only looking for sensual love scenes, then this is the book for you. If you want something more connective then you would be better off saving your money and checking out another book.

Happy reading!

Ms. Lauren's story is 'alright' a little contrived but it could have been fun, had she not decided to have her main characters have sex every 6 pages...after a while, it's just boring and insulting to the reader who is actually looking for a story. In this case, her 'theif' was also very easy to figure out, and secondary characters drawn very shallowly. But most importantly, this woman needs an editor to teach her how to begin paragraphs and sentences with more than, 'Thought she would die...' 'Felt herself falling...' This isn't even good English!

My second Laurens book, and my last.

Stephanie Laurens's books are in general pretty good, and this one not bad, but I was hoping for better after A Wild Night. As in All About Passion, I think that she is relying too heavily on the characters' relationship inside the bedroom rather than the one outside the bedroom. We are told that they have known each other forever, but I didn't get that feel. The drama at the end helped, but I think you could easily get rid of 1/2 the 'does he/she love me' angst and some of the bedroom scenes and have a better book.