totally cute. ( )

Una institutriz nunca debe quedarse a solas con un hombre. Su reputación no puede estar en entredicho. Nunca debe revelar sus emociones sin importar cuán provocador pueda ser su señor. Una institutriz jamás debe cuestionar sus órdenes... mientras él no la tiente con dejarse llevarse por sus pasiones. Nunca debe enamorarse... ni siquiera cuando sus besos sean lo más devastador que una mujer pueda a llegar a sentir jamás.
Alexandra Gallant es una extraordinaria institutriz y ningún desafortunado incidente puede obligarla a aceptar el empleo que le ofrece el más infame de todos los libertinos londinenses. Aunque dicho hombre sea el más atractivo y pecaminoso de todos y sus besos ardientes y las palabras susurradas sean las más seductoras que haya oído en la vida...

2.5 stars

She blinked and swiped her disheveled hair out of her face---and saw her abductor.
"Lucien!" she shrieked. "What in God's name are you---"
"I'm kidnapping you," he said calmly.
"And your little dog, too."

For 40% of this story the hero was unnecessarily rude, the saying "honesty without tact, is cruelty" needs to be written on a chalkboard 100 times by him. There was also an icky feeling to how he pursued and came at the heroine, you know, his employed, at his mercy, governess. He mellows toward the end and gets pretty gallant about working for the heroine but by then, I wanted to deuces him.
For 70% of this story the heroine was strong and leveled headed but when the hero turns the corner and it looks like he really does have feelings for her, she devolves into an angst for angst sake character denying they could ever be together. Seriously, I don't use the term muttonhead lightly, but Muttonhead. It was even more disappointed and annoying because of how good she was earlier.
Now, I don't consider myself a full on perv but for how scandalously rakish our hero was supposed to be and lingering sexual chemistry ( was more tell than show), the first sex scene especially, was over before a lip could finish being bitten. Not the payoff I was looking for (and maybe the heroine, either? I kid, I kid)
Anyway, villains being villains, and hero and heroine having late personality transplants made this more regency window dressing to me. However, the bump up to 3 stars is because Enoch has a style, tone, and emotional (not as many scenes here as in her other books) way with words that charms me. ( )

By the end of this book I couldn't put it down. However to give it 5 stars I wish I had been pulled in just a bit sooner than I had been. Alexandra and Lucien had great chemistry and I enjoyed their banter. I did find her a bit too stubborn but thankfully her stubbornness hadn't reached the ridiculous in my opinion.

This is only the second book by Enoch that I have read.. I do have to comment though that I don't find her secondary characters that intriguing... I am just starting to read the second book in this series...but not because I want to know what happened to that character.. ( )

I reviewed this novel for Romance Reader At heart website:

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:


Emma Grenville is a spinster and the headmistress of a reputable girls’ school in Hampshire.

Greydon Brakenridge, the Duke of Wycliffe, finds himself in the middle of a London Season, visiting his uncle’s estate in Hampshire and offering a solution to his money woos.

To that end, Emma is soon drawn into a wager with this arrogant Duke, and she is determined to teach him a lesson and prove to him and all his friends who invaded her peaceful corner of the world, that ‘not all men are created mentally equal’!

The education of both hero and heroine is not to be missed and the sparks that fly between the two, once ignited, couldn’t be stopped. Their sensual scenes are passionate and heartwarming, while their back and forth will have you laughing out loud.

There are so many, many things to recommend this book that I honestly don’t even know where to begin! The writing is superb; a fast paced plot filled with dialogue that is quick witted; entertaining; and characters with depth, are just a few to begin with. I enjoyed A MATTER OF SCANDAL so much! The author’s secondary characters were all drawn with perfect strokes that you couldn’t help but like everyone, especially Tristan.

This is a third book in a With This Ring trilogy (don’t despair, it can be read on its own), and the previous installments are: REFORMING A RAKE and MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT, so, needless to tell you, I will be tracking those down and adding them to my TBR.

Highly recommended, and a keeper!

Melanie
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