General Thoughts on Some Current Reads

Today I don’t have a proper review ready, but I do have things to say about the books I’ve been reading, so you get four mini-reviews for the price of one.

***** 

Claiming the Duchess by Sherry Thomas

Romance has the bad habit of using prequel novellas as samples, which usually backfires because novellas aren’t easy to write and they end up working as samples of bad writing. But I like Ms. Thomas’ books, so I was more than happy to read this prequel novella.

I really liked most of it, but the short length really hurt the story, because at its core there’s an act of deception and betrayal that needed more than one paragraph for the climax and ending to be satisfying and to do justice to a heroine that deserved much better. On top of that, the novella (or short story) ends around the 50% mark and the rest is promotional material, so having the book unexpectedly end when you think there’s still half of it to go, doesn’t make for the best reading experience.

Review: Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas

Lately I’ve been unsuccessful finding a Historical Romance that I like enough to finish. When I heard about this book, I was so curious that I even considered pre-ordering it. Then I kept hearing more and more about how angsty it was and I became a bit wary, but after reading a couple of Ms. Thomas’ previous books, I decided to give it a try. 

This is the second book in a series featuring the Fitzhugh siblings, but I think they stand alone well, or at least well enough to enjoy them separately. I haven’t read the first book but I didn’t have any problems getting into the story.

The first time Millie saw Fitz, she fell desperately, profoundly and irrevocably in love with him. Because they were about to enter a marriage of convenience, one would thing that falling for him would have been a welcomed feeling, but in truth it was the worse that could happen because Fitz was desperately, profoundly and irrevocably in love with someone else. So when Millie discovers this, and after witnessing how miserable he was, she offers him a bargain: they will wait eight years to consume the marriage, and once the time comes, they will only have sex until she gets pregnant, then they will go their separate ways.