AUTHOR: Jackie Barbosa
PUBLISHER: Cobblestone Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 14k)
GENRE: Historical erotic romance
COST: $3.99
Being stood up at the altar doesn’t stop Lady Louisa Bennett from admitting her desire for her groom’s best friend, Alistair de Roche, especially when he professes his own needs to have her. Their clandestine meeting in the chaos after the aborted ceremony has to remain a singular event, however. Societal demands ensure Louisa’s marriage will still take place, and Alistair has his own fiancée waiting in the wings. What do they do, then, when their passion and feelings prove too fierce to deny?
I don’t let bad covers stop me from buying a book if a blurb and excerpt look interesting enough (look at Jorrie Spencer’s The Strength of the Pack), but when I see a cover that catches my eye, I tend to be a lot more forgiving. The cover for this e-book completely enchanted me. I think it’s elegant and seductive, without being cheesy, and though the cover model didn’t match the plus-sized description of the heroine or feel very period, I was okay with that. I just really liked the composition, the sepia tones, and the look in the model’s eye. It said, “Buy me.” So I did.
It’s a shame, then, when the story doesn’t live up to the packaging’s promise. Louisa seems like a typical historical heroine, until she starts to bemoan how fat she is and that she’s been stood up because her fiancé can’t possibly desire her. This is all well and good as something different, especially when Alistair steps up and says he finds her more than desirable, and I had high hopes going into the first sexual encounter. I was a little taken aback then, when in an attempt to maintain her virtue, Alistair suggests anal sex instead. Not that anal sex isn’t hot, but the author expects me to believe a woman in 1816 – a virgin and a member of society with no previous sexual experience other than masturbating a little bit – isn’t going to balk even a tiny bit at this suggestion? That stretches credibility far too much for me, especially when used in conjunction with verbiage such as, “weapon of pleasure,” in regards to Alistair’s penis.
I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for awhile, but ultimately, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the whole story. Throughout most of the book, both Louisa and Alistair go on and on and on about how they can’t marry each other, in spite of being in love. How they absolutely have to marry the others they don’t want. They’re adamant about it. Very adamant. So when a final resolution is reached, I literally stared at the screen in shock. Lame doesn’t even begin to cover it. I literally cannot understand why they didn’t come to that conclusion after the very first chapter, which makes me question why I had to waste the time to read the story anyway.
Walking away from this story, I’m left with a feeling of, Why did I bother? It wasn’t bad, but in the end, I don’t feel it offered anything entertaining enough to make it worth heartily recommending.
| Readability | 6/10 – The erotic scenes were a touch on the purple side for my tastes. |
| Heroine | 6/10 – A tad flat, though at least she’s not as dumb as most heroines |
| Hero | 6/10 – Left me feeling meh in the end |
| Entertainment value | 5/10 – Very middle of the road, I wasn’t bored, but I wasn’t hugely entertained, either |
| World building | 5/10 – Honestly, if it wasn’t for their worries about social standing and Louisa’s clothes, this could almost have been set any-when |
| TOTAL: | 28/50 |
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