Pam's Review: His Mistress by Christmas by Victoria Alexander

His Mistress by Christmas
~Victoria Alexander

Hardcover: 352 pages 
Publisher: Kensington 
Publish Date: October 1, 2011 
ISBN-10: 0758255675 
ISBN-13: 978-0758255679 
ASIN: B005CRY7NW

From Goodreads:
For three years, Lady Veronica Smithson has been a happy, independent widow. Still, the right gentleman could provide the benefits of marriage without the tedious restrictions. And in Sir Sebastian Hadley-Attwater, renowned explorer and rogue, Veronica is sure she has found him.  

Sebastian will inherit his fortune in a matter of weeks—if his family deems him responsible enough. There’s no better way to prove his maturity than with a home and a wife. But though the lovely Veronica will share his bed, she refuses to marry.

An intimate sojourn at his new country house will surely change her mind. For Sebastian never takes no for an answer. And even in the midst of mischief-making relatives and unexpected complications, he intends to persuade his Christmas mistress that they belong together—in this and every season to come…

Veronica Smithson has decided that she wants to be a mistress, and never a wife. She had been married, happily too, but since she was widowed a few years back and got a taste of true independence she refuses to let a man control anything about her life again. She sets her eyes on Sebastian Hadley-Attwater, her friend’s cousin, at a lecture he was speaking at and decides that she wants to be his mistress. Sebastian is an author and a world traveler. It is rumored that he has been with many women during his travels. Will Veronica be able to convince Sebastian to let her be his mistress or will Sebastian have other plans instead?

My thoughts:
Ugh, this book. So Veronica decides she wants to be a mistress and doesn’t think ahead about what that would really mean in regards to her feelings. Such as what if she falls in love? What if it’s not forever, etc? She also announces how she wants to be a mistress to her friend, Sebastian’s cousin, at the beginning of the book, saying how she decided that Sebastian is who her conquest will be. She was just…annoying. I thought she would be more mature in her thinking, especially because she is not naïve; she has been married before.

I felt like Sebastian was blah too. Yeah, he definitely had his own plans for Veronica, and yes, he used have a reputation because of his traveling, but none of that is evident in the book because he changed his ways and just like that he wants to settle down. His character was a bore, sorry Sebastian. He just isn’t that memorable to me. The story definitely was not for me.

My Rating:

 Pam
Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What A Lady Wants by Victoria Alexander

This is apparently the 2nd out a series of four (?) books about young men determined not to marry. They have some sort of bet between the four of them as to whom will marry last. I did not read the first book, but after reading this one will certainly go out and find it!

Felicity Melville is a young woman of good family, she has been "out" in society for 7 seasons, which is apparently a lot, but has no desire to "catch a suitable husband"; she wants to marry for love. Astronomy is her hobby, and one night she is out on her balcony looking at the stars and hears a commotion from the house next door - a husband yellling at his wife. She turns her telescope and sees a man climbing out of the window! She is wondering if it is a burglar or if someone was seducing the wife, and she realizes she can no longer see the man. She realizes he's in her garden! He looks up at her and asks if it's safe to leave, she starts to question him as to whether he's a burglar, and then give him directions to the street. Her directions are confusing, so he climbs up to her balcony to get a view of the path to the street. He then climbs back down and loses a shoe in her trellis.

Felicity makes some inquiries and learns the man in question is Nigel Cavendish. Nigel is a from a well-to-do family and has a reputation as quite the rogue. He has a long history of scandalous behavior with married women and widows. Felicity decides she is going to marry him. Nigel finds himself attracted to her but has no desire to marry and tells her so in no uncertain terms.

Felicity approaches Nigel's twin sister, Madeline, and asks for her assistance. She doesn't want to trick him into marriage, she wants him to WANT to marry her. Felicity and Maddy arrange for Felicity to be at all the same social functions as Nigel, and they get to know each other. There is some funny dialogue about whom is stalking whom, and Felicity ends up telling Nigel she plans to marry him. He explains to her it's never going to happen.

When Maddy's birthday party is suddenly moved due to a flood in the house, she asks Nigel to stay and redirect any guests who didn't get notice. Guess who didn't get notice? Yup, that's right - Felicity. A very sweet moment ensues. They arrive at the new location together and are talked into playing cards as a foursome with an older couple. The dialogue during this card game is hysterical. Felicity and Nigel bet on the outcome of the game, and Felicity wins. She claims as her prize a painting that does not belong to Nigel, and insists on taking it home immediately. Felicity wakes in the middle of the night - there is someone on her balcony! She grabs her pistol before she realizes it's Nigel, trying to steal the painting back.

He ends up kissing her, and she drops the gun, which goes off. The bullet hits a large vase at the same time Nigel leaps away from her, through the french doors and off the balcony. Her parents burst in and quickly assess the situation and it is decided that Nigel will marry Felicity immediately to preserve her reputation.

Nigel marries her, and tells her the day after their wedding that he will continue his life as if he were not married - going out to gentleman's clubs, gambling, and staying out all night, BUT he does expect to have Felicity in bed. He does at least promise he will not sleep with other women. Felicity is devastated; she decides not to get mad, she's going to get even. She tells Nigel if he is going to go out nightly and have a good time, so is she, and proceeds to do so. In reality Maddy has set up an astronomy room in a tower of her home and Felicity is going there, but Nigel doesn't know that, he thinks she's going out. And it's killing him...he's falling in love with her.

They decide they're not going to continue having separate social lives, and Nigel accidentally finds out where Felicity has been going. He gets angry at her deception, and yells, but realizes it doesn't matter and he loves her. It's too late, though, because while he's yelling, Felicity decides she's had enough. She goes home to her parent's house, and refuses to see Nigel. He sends notes every day and she refuses him. The end of the book, when he comes to her, is sweet, tender, and funny.

I loved this book! It was laugh-out-loud funny. All the characters were endearing, not just the main couple, and I rooted for Felicity and Nigel. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Book Binge

I learned something new this week. I did not know how many genres of Romance there are. I knew about Erotica, Larissa Lyons kindly informed me there is Erotic Romance, or "Romantica", I stumbled across Highland Romance, Medival, Regency, Historical, Paranormal, Contemporary, Western, I saw one about a Pirate but I don't know what that would be called - Swashbuckler Romance? I've also run across some m/m and menage.

I've been so involved reading all these Highlander Romances that I'm very behind writing about them! I tore through Julie Garwood's Highland stories - I read one of her Regency (?) romances, Lion's Lady, but didn't care for it too much. I also read one of her contemporaries, Shadow Dance, which was pretty good, although I think there were several books in the series before it. I've also just discovered Kinley MacGregor (Sherrilyn Kenyon). I've read books two and three of her Highlander books and love them! Not a big surprise as I do love me some Dark Hunters!

I also tried to read The Virgin's Secret by Victoria Alexander but couldn't finish it. I've finally given up and will try again later. I'm surprised, because I LOVED What A Lady Wants. I'm going to do a post about it - I spent a good portion of the book laughing out loud.

I'm also looking for recommendations for a good Book Swap. I've found one or two online but don't know if it's more of a hassle than it's worth, or if they're reputable. All I know is I'm gonna have to get another job to keep myself in books!