The Sum of All Kisses - Julia Quinn

Mass Market Paperback, 373 pages
Published October 29th 2013 by Avon (first published May 28th 2013)
Series: Smythe-Smith Quartet #3
Historical romance
Own

Awww, a Julia Quinn book is always fun! I have read the whole Quartet now.

I liked Sarah. She was very in your face Hugh!

Hugh, aww poor guy, he made a huge mistake, and it ended up costing him so much. Now maybe he could get help, but then, I mean he is always in pain!

He is the reason her cousin went into exile. She is mad. Her cousin and Hugh have made amends. But Sarah is a bulldog.

SO a lot of interaction between these two. And I liked how it progressed and felt real. I could see them fall in love.

Fun!

Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she's long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.

She thinks he's just plain mad...

Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn't matter. She doesn't care that his leg is less than perfect, it's his personality she can't abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless ...

The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy - Julia Quinn

Sir Richard Kenworthy has less than a month to find a bride. He knows he can't be too picky, but when he sees Iris Smythe-Smith hiding behind her cello at her family's infamous musicale, he thinks he might have struck gold. She's the type of girl you don't notice until the second—or third—look, but there's something about her, something simmering under the surface, and he knows she's the one.

Iris Smythe–Smith is used to being underestimated. With her pale hair and quiet, sly wit she tends to blend into the background, and she likes it that way. So when Richard Kenworthy demands an introduction, she is suspicious. He flirts, he charms, he gives every impression of a man falling in love, but she can't quite believe it's all true. When his proposal of marriage turns into a compromising position that forces the issue, she can't help thinking that he's hiding something . . . even as her heart tells her to say yes. 

My thoughts:

Richard really was a dick about the whole secret thing. Not cool Richard, not cool. I get that he wanted to keep the whole thing a secret but...sigh..men!

Iris is pale, ok, so that is the reason why no one notices her. How freaking pale is she? I am thinking of a ghost girl now that people just see through. What is up with that? But she is nice, quiet, used to be overlooked. And when someone does notice her then she is all wtf. Who can blame her.

Richard has a secret, duh. He needs a wife, fast! We do not know the reason. He does not tell her the reason. Asshat that he is.

The reason was a good one, but, he did not go about it the right way. It was needed for the drama, but still.......

Conclusion:
Still,  it was cute, I read it fast.


Cover
I kind of like it

Mass Market Paperback, 378 pages
Published January 27th 2015 by Avon
Smythe-Smith Quartet #4
Historical romance
Library

Lady Scoundrels' Saturday: A night Like this - Julia Quinn

Over the next 3 Saturdays we will be taking on A night like this by Julia Quinn.

Lady Scoundrels Review A Night like this

Part 1 Scorn:

The revenge will be bloody

Once upon a time an English aristocrat called Daniel returned home from three years of wandering abroad. You see, he was hiding from another aristocrat who wanted to kill him. Ok, never mind.  As soon as he returned he saw a beautiful girl. "She was petite, small in that way that made a man want to slay dragons". I don't doubt she looked like this:

Oh no, sorry, wrong picture. She was of course looking like this:

Nononono, wrong picture again. Ok, I am pretty sure she looked more like this:

Here you go. She was playing the piano and, as soon as he saw her and she saw him they fell in complete insta-lust. It was as if his inner self kept whispering into his ear:

WRhawwwrrrr....Of course, being a young man and an English aristocrat to boot he had to check whether that claim was more or less true. His beloved was called Anne Wynter and she was employed as a governess in the house of his female cousins who, being unbearably shallow and sweet, all looked the same :

They tittered and quarrelled and giggled...Well, they had every right to be similar and stupid, it's not their story, right? Anyway Daniel started to visit them very often just to be in the blissful presence of their governess and...er...touch her hand from time to time.

Still the governess had her own secrets and, being very sadly experienced when it comes to the close contacts with the so-called gentlemen she wasn't that willing to let him touch her...er... anything. Daniel also had a bunch of problems on his own. 

No, dear ladies, there is nothing to laugh about. English aristocrats do have serious problems and English governesses always have a secret or two hidden in a drawer right next to their underwear. Do you want proof? Here you go, a direct quote:

"He wanted her. He wanted her completely. But his family was waiting for him at supper, and his ancestors were staring down at him from their portrait frames, and she—the woman in question—was watching him with a wariness that broke his heart.."

You see? A real problem. 

Then they go to the country together and our sweet Anne found herself falling deeper and deeper in lust because Daniel was so sweet and so pretty and SO incredibly rich...and here the problems of our governess started to emerge from her overflowing drawer:

But really, it didn’t matter who she was. Anne Wynter . . . Annelise Shawcross . . . Neither one of them was a suitable match for Daniel Smythe-Smith, Earl of Winstead, Viscount Streathermore, and Baron Touchton of Stoke. He had more names than she did. It was almost funny.

Yes, dear sir, you heard it right. It was said 'funny'.

Then there is a lot of talk about food and food preferences, kissing or not kissing, strolling or not strolling and different trivial hobbies of young brainless ladies. You see, Daniel wanted to know his beloved better, to see her soul and her heart, not only her luscious body. Do guys necessarily need a woman's background history to spontaneously want to bang her or play epic-kiss-face? Yes they do. But only just a little bit. A real masterpiece of romance literature, with great, well-rounded, interesting characters don't you think, dear reader? 

After a while my eyebrows get stuck up high and I couldn't believe I was reading such a depressingly shallow book. Still a challege is a challege, right? After page number 65 I started SKIMMING.

It didn't help much. You see I kept encountering such fragments:

"Could you imagine? Telling Lady Pleinsworth the truth about her background? Well, the thing is, I’m not a virgin. And my name is not really Anne Wynter. Oh, and I stabbed a man and now he’s madly hunting me until I’m dead. A desperate, horrified giggle popped out of Anne’s throat. What a resumé that was."

I was just waiting for the main villain to appear and save the day. Silly, silly me. Instead of a villain I got a papercut bloke.

"George just shrugged, and in that moment he confirmed all of Anne’s darkest suspicions. He was mad. He was utterly, completely, loonlike mad. There could be no other explanation. No sane individual would risk killing a peer of the realm in order to get to her."

Irrefutable logic, my lady.

The ending was in perfect accordance with the rest of the book: senseless, stupid, shallow, not really resolving anything so completely redundant. But it was the end of my suffering. 

Final verdict:

After reading such a book I feel like this:

I do not recommend it to anybody. Unless you are a masochist.

Bridget/anachronist

Review: Lady of the English - Elizabeth Chadwick + guest reviewing

Genre: Historical fiction
Pages: 544
Published: September 1, 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Source: For review

Royal wives and royal widows, Queen Adeliza and her stepdaughter, Empress Matilda, are the only two women to be titled "Lady of the English," a title that does not come cheap. Adeliza, widowed queen and peacemaker, is married to a warrior who supports Stephen, grandson of the Conqueror. Matilda, daughter of the last king and a fierce fighter, is determined to win her inheritance against all odds and despite all men, including Stephen. Both are women who, in their different ways, will stand and fight for what they know is right. But for Matilda, pride comes before a fall. And for Adeliza, even the deepest love is no proof against fate.

My thoughts:

Chadwick does it again. She brings an era to life and the women that lived then. For a big book this took no time at all to read. The pages just flew by. 

Matilda was married to Henry V, the holy Roman emperor, but he died when she was still young and they did not have any children. So she came back to England and her father Henry I, and that is where this book starts. He had no male heirs, legitimate ones, and he wants his daughter to rule. The times were sure different, she was 26 when she was married to 14 year old Geoffrey of Anjou. Not a marriage she wanted. This book then follows the struggle to get England since her cousin Stephen takes the throne, and she is not a woman that gives up.

 The book is also about Adeliza, the widow of Henry I. She did not seem to be as strong as Matilda but she was strong in another way. Where Matilda was harsh and said what she meant Adeliza took her time. And I liked her story as she was married for a long time but did not get any children even though Henry fathered bastard after bastard. But then when she re-married she got a bunch of kids. 

This is then the book about two women who are both fascinating in their own rights. It was a different time and I did like when Matilda did her best since this was not a woman's world. While with Adeliza we got more about what happened on the home front. 

Conclusion:

Truly another interesting story from Chadwick. She has the magic and can bring history to life. After finishing this one I sit down and wait for her next book. I can't wait to read whatever she writes about next. So this make this book a historical fiction book that I recommend to everyone.

Rating: 

Great

Cover: 

Very nice

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I am over at Vivienne's blog Serendipity reviews today and I am reviewing Just like heaven by Julia Quinn.

Honoria Smythe-Smith, the youngest daughter of the eldest son of the Earl of Winstead, plays the violin in the annual musicale performed by the Smythe-Smith quartet. She's well aware that they are dreadful but she's the sort who figures that nothing good will come of being mortified, so she puts on a good show and laughs about it. Marcus Holroyd is the best friend of Honoria's brother Daniel, who lives in exile. Marcus has promised to watch out for Honoria, but he faces a challenge when she sets off for Cambridge determined to marry by the end of the season. She's got her eye on the only unmarried Bridgerton, who's a bit wet behind the ears. When her advances are spurned, can Marcus swoop in and steal her heart in time for the musicale?