Confessions of a Scoundrel (Talisman Ring) Review

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Confessions of a Scoundrel (Talisman Ring) ReviewAt the close of An Affair to Remember an unhappy Brandon St John discovers the dreaded Talisman ring in his piece of wedding cake nearly breaking a tooth! The holder of the ring is destined to meet his true love, but Brandon doesn't believe in such legends. All the same, he'll palm it off on one of his brothers if the opportunity presents itself! It seems like bad luck is all the ring has brought him when his brothers give him the unpleasant task of buying off Chase's latest paramour, worried the gold-digger will trap Chase into marriage. Family head Marcus warns Brandon that "Lady Westforth is not a milquetoast female . . . I advise you to approach her carefully". Truer words were never spoken!
Widowed Lady Verena Westforth has been relegated to the very fringe of society by her vengeful father-in-law. He never approved of her - her parents are charlatans for heaven's sake! - believes her responsible for his son's death and has done his best to ruin her reputation in polite society. And so, she exists in the demimonde supporting herself by some low-key card sharping in gaming hells. But she's no man's mistress and, unbeknownst to Brandon, has already let Chase down easy and sent him on his way. But that does not stop her from having a little fun at the overbearing Brandon's expense. Soon all of society is giggling behind his back - intolerable! And when Verena's brother is blackmailed, Brandon's friend's freedom is threatened and the solution to both is finding a list of British agents abroad, are Verena and Brandon adversaries or allies? One thing is certainly clear - they are extremely attracted to one another!
So why only 3 1/2 stars? SEMI-SPOILERS! Well, first, why would Brandon stick his neck out for a school chum who sounded more like an acquaintance? And while there's plenty of lust and even camaraderie between Brandon and Verena, I didn't feel like they were in love. No love is declared until the last chapter when he is suddenly, out of the blue, planning a wedding! And lastly, the whole blackmail scheme seemed ridiculously convoluted to me. I guess I'm being picky, but I gave An Affair to Remember 4 stars and, though I enjoyed this book, it's not as good as that one in my opinion and I just could not rate them the same. Still, all in all, an enjoyable read.Confessions of a Scoundrel (Talisman Ring) Overview

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Lady in Red (Talisman Ring) Review

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Lady in Red (Talisman Ring) ReviewThis is the only one in the series I would give 4 stars to, as
oppossed to 4 1/2 stars for her other 4 books.
It was very good, don't get me wrong, but I was disappointed in
a few things. The biggest diasppointment I suffered was the
place in which Marcus decides to deflower Honoria. His behavior reminded me of how a teenage boy might act in this same situation.
He couldn't even wait till they reached their 'honeymoon' destination (such as it was). That was another complaint I had --
they had only ONE night on the outskirts of town for their
'honeymoon'.
Another thing I didn't like, was the way Honoria teased Marcus
with dangling the ring under other prospective buyer's noses.
During the scenes where she does this, she makes the reader feel as though she could not care less about his family's most precious heirloom. Very disappointing, with her being his
love interest & all. I wondered if she could be trusted. As it
turned out, she could, but I did have occassional, momentary
doubts at different times throught the story.
Now, the pluses to this book -- there were a lot of them -- my
favorite character, from the second book (Confessions of a Scoundrel), the butler turned coachman, Herberts - puts in an
appearance here. He is everybit as funny here as he was in
Scoundrel.
Other characters I liked were Cassandra, the eldest Baker-Sneed
relative after herself, and George, the youngest Baker-Sneed son.
I have not yet reviewed "Taming Rafe" by Suzanne Enoch, but I
can tell you, Karen Hawkins & Suzanne Enoch should get together & write a book for George Baker-Sneed and May Harrington. It would
take place several years after this book & Taming Rafe, and I
would purchase it without a second thought! George was great!
And, the French chef in this book added something special to
the end.
I will now attempt to try to rank these 5 books in my favorite order: 1. Confessions of a Scoundrel 2. An Affair to Remember 3. The Bride Wore Plaid 4. How to Treat a Lady 5. Lady in Red. 1st & 2nd place are tough, because I loved these 2 books
the most. Overall, I think An Affair to Remember has the best
story, but Confessions of a Scoundrel (and later, Lady in Red)
had the best character - Herberts.
One last thing -- this is one series that I believe should most
definitely be read in order of publication, because of the way
each story ends, it ties directly into its successor.
Eventually, I'll read another Karen Hawkins book, but for now,
I'm taking a breather. (Marcus, the biggest hold out brother
of the bunch, wore me out. Evidently, Honoria eventually wore
him out, too, because he finally came around in the last few
pages of the book).Lady in Red (Talisman Ring) Overview

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And the Bride Wore Plaid (Talisman Ring) Review

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And the Bride Wore Plaid (Talisman Ring) ReviewKatherine "Kat" Macdonald is not your typical Regency heroine. She's a little taller than is fashionable, has a "lush" figure, she was born illegitimate and to top it all off she has a slightly checkered past. Because she's been ruined, her half-brother's society friends seem to think she's fair game to be hit on (and pawed at), but like the self-possessed, confident woman she is, Kat has no problem fending off the unwanted advances. And they are very unwanted, because when Kat was ruined she had her heartbroken by an unscrupulous rogue.
Devon St. John has ventured into Scotland to visit a friend--and also to outrun an enchanted family ring that "dooms" the holder to find their spouse. He didn't outrun the ring, his recently married brother planted it on his person before he ran away. When he discovers it, he decides the best way to avoid the "curse" of the ring is to distract himself with a decidedly ineligible woman--and his friend Malcolm's sister, Kat, seems to fit the bill perfectly.
"And the Bride Wore Plaid" is an upbeat style Regency historical, although it's a little less funny than it could have been and comes off mostly as light-hearted. I like that Devon is instantly attracted to Kat for her slightly larger-than-life looks, and their chemistry is great. The story drags a bit until Kat gets a little competition for Devon in the form of her brother's extremely beautiful sister-in-law. There's also a nice subplot involving some marital strife between Malcolm and his wife. Kat is a fairly likeable character. Devon is likeable too, although he is a little elusive; I'm never sure that I really have a bead on him and his motivations.
I only have two major problems with this book.
First, there's an irksome attempt at a fairy tale angle (which is thankfully not terribly overused) with Kat having a "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" thing going on. All of her giant "dwarves" are unnecessary and pointless; there are plenty of secondary characters without them.
My other problem is with Kat's "past". I can't say "And the Bride Wore Plaid" is the first book that I've been bothered by something like this, but it's the first I've reviewed where it came up so I'm going to go into it. I will say that the fact that Kat is not a virgin is integral to the plot; it's pretty safe to say that Devon wouldn't have been interested in her if she hadn't had a little experience. Here's what bugs me: why do women who've had extra-marital sexual experiences always have to regret them in historical romances? I'm at the point that I'd rather an author not write about experienced women if they're always going to have either had a bad sexual experience, or a good one that they enjoyed at the time but then greatly regretted. If a heroine is going to defy the dictates of her society and willingly have sex before she's married, can't she do it for a good enough reason that it wasn't a mistake? I'd like to think that most real women who had have affairs before marriage in those days did so because they truly wanted to and felt it was worth it. Obviously there would be some who regretted it, but I tend to think there would be a higher percentage of women who didn't. Okay, I'm done with that little rant.
In the end, this book is readable, but also nothing terribly exciting, so it gets three stars. I've read the rest of the books in this series about the St. John ring, but can't really say there's one I'd recommend more than "And the Bride Wore Plaid". If you liked any of the others in the series, or if you're already a Karen Hawkins fan, you'll probably like this book.
Sidenote: If you're a big Julia Quinn fan and you haven't read any Karen Hawkins yet, you should do so immediately. I don't know anyone who loves one of those authors without loving the other. Just so you know.And the Bride Wore Plaid (Talisman Ring) Overview
Devon St John has never had a problem in his life—until now. Born to wealth and privilege, surrounded by a warm and loving family, he has pursued a life of leisure, chasing the most beautiful women London has to offer. All told, he has the perfect life and no intentions of ever settling down in any shape, form or fashion. So resolved, he heads to his friend's Scottish castle, unaware that fate is already hard at work.

As the illegitimate half-sister to Viscount Strathmore, Melody Macdonald refuses to reside under his roof and instead lives in a thatched house on the edge of the forest that borders Strathmore Castle. Ever since she ran off at the tender age of twelve to become an apprentice to a master of stained glass, Melody has been deplorably independent and wild. When Devon arrives at Strathmore Castle, he is taken aback by the rude, overbearing, illegitimate Scotswoman who refuses even to pretend to possess any feminine wiles. But Devon is determined to teach the strong-willed Melody a lesson in love ...


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An Affair to Remember (Talisman Ring) Review

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An Affair to Remember (Talisman Ring) ReviewI should have realized when I read "The Seduction of Sara" (my first Hawkins book) that I was being drawn into yet another of these family series where you feel compelled to read all the books just because! The fact that she had 5 brothers should have tipped me off. While I enjoyed "Sara", I found some of the secondary characters more interesting than Nick and Sara - primarily St John family head Marcus (whose story will likely be last as he seems to be the most interesting of them all). And I was very happy to find that overbearing half brother Anthony's story would match him with his nemesis, Sara's unconventional best friend Anna Thraxton. I was not disappointed - I liked it better than "Sara".
Anthony Elliot, Earl of Greyley has "inherited" custody of the five unruly and mischievous children of one of his Elliot cousins. As head of the Elliot family, he takes all of his responsibilities seriously and they're no different. But dealing with them is more than he bargained for and several governesses later, things are out of control - a state of affairs Greyley cannot abide. And so in desperation he seeks out Anna Thraxton who has the reputation of being the best governess in London. If only there were some other alternative since he and Thraxton cannot stand one another. He finds her impertinent, disrespectful, opinionated, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he needs her!
Anna Thraxton was not always a governess and she misses her life in society very much - the clothes, the balls, her best friend Sara. But she and grandfather must eat, and so she must work. When Greyley approaches Anna about working for him, she initially refuses. She's always found him overbearing, heavy handed, arrogant, irritating and stubborn. Too bad he's offering to pay her more money than she could make in a year for three month's work!
And so, Anna and grandfather move into Greyley House where Anna begins to bring order to the nursery - and disorder to Greyley's peace of mind. Their often heated disagreements somehow end as passionate kisses. He's helplessly attracted to her eventhough he has agreed to marry another. And Anna is just as hopelessly drawn to him, but knows there is nothing but heartache down that road for he's an earl and she's a mere governess - and certainly no man's mistress! So it may just take the mischievous children, together with Anna's equally naughty grandfather to bring this situation to the end they choose - whether Anthony and Anna like it or not!
A really fun and recommended read.An Affair to Remember (Talisman Ring) Overview

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How to Treat a Lady (Talisman Ring) Review

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How to Treat a Lady (Talisman Ring) ReviewThis is the first Hawkins book I have read, but won't be the last. Chase St. John is running from his past when he lands (almost literally) in Harriet Ward's lap. Harriet's has problems of her own as the bank is trying hard to take back her family home and only her mother's bravado keeping them at bay. Harriet's mother invented a fake fiance for the lovely Harriet -- a sea captain with a ship full of treasure and laughing blue eyes, a face stolen from a portrait the mother once saw.
At first the deception kept the bank from demanding payment right away, but when the mysterious sea captain fails to appear, they begin to demand an introduction. Thus when Chase lands in the Ward household and pretends he has amnesia so as not to reveal his own identity and bring his famous brothers post haste to fetch him back home, the Wards decide to pass him off as the made-up Captain.
This was a very funny and warm-hearted tale. I loved both Chase and Harriet and cannot wait to find the other books that went before this one. I hope Ms. Hawkins writes fast!How to Treat a Lady (Talisman Ring) Overview

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