Review: It's OK for a freebie **review is slightly spoilerish**
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2012
Sarah Ashley takes the money her dying mother left her and plans to open a modiste shop selling Miss Amelia Bloomer's bloomer costumes. She leaves San Francisco and her evil half-brothers behind and sails for Vancouver Island (Canada). On board ship, she had met the mother and daughters of Victoria's Governor Jonathan (Jon) Cromwell, and she's invited to stay as a house-guest until she finds a place of her own (they have no idea about her plans to sell those scandalous outfits!). Jon's a widower, and the first wife pretty much soured him on plans for future marriages, but he's not above attempting a roll in the hay with the beauteous Sarah, especially since the scandal that her evil half-brothers cooked up in San Francisco followed her north and he assumes she's a lose woman."His blood heated at the mere thought. Ever since he'd first laid eyes on her, he'd been consumed with prurient thoughts of losing himself in her soft, feminine curves. He imagined her breathless and eager in his arms, her lithe body writhing against him and sizzling with passion. He released a long, hot breath. Ah, yes. He definitely hoped it would be like that. It would be a ruddy shame if he'd misread this provocative little minx. He was apt to get his eyes scratched out."I hate to say it, but this one was a bit too silly and contrived for my tastes. I liked the strong female striking out on her own and all, but I just didn't warm up to her enough to care much. As for Jon, I wouldn't call him an alpha-male jerk, but on the other hand I have little respect for a man who is so crass as to ask her to be his mistress. He loves her, but he's so off-put to marriage that he'll subject her to being a mistress in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business. A woman who is friendly with his sister and daughters.Some of the verbiage used in this book borders on the silly side: "Fiddlesticks!", "You wouldn't have been the first raspberry tart to arrive in Victoria..." and "Poppycock". *rolls eyes* Then there are the *endearments* Jon uses when addressing Sarah: "ninnyhammer", "my precious little peagoose", "my sweet little mooncalf" and "an utter gooseberry". Granted it was a different century and all, but look up the definitions of those words. Not exactly the best words to use when addressing an intelligent, independent woman.This book was originally published in 1993, and despite the racy appearance of that cover there is only one *big* sex scene, and it's well towards the end of the book and fairly tame at that. Those looking for a sexed-up romance should keep on looking. That said, this was just an average read for me, and I've only adding an extra star for the nicely formatted Kindle edition. I've picked up quite a few of these older romances being reissued and many have been terribly formatted and not properly proofed before going *live*. I only spotted one typo ("thrned"), and it could easily have been there in the first edition. Not bad for a freebie.