Review: A light romance with likeable characters. Steamy. Easy to read.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2013
Grace Makepeace is the daughter of an American 'laborer' (meaning that her dad made his riches from working and is not of noble blood) she is in England because her mother is set on marrying Grace into a title.Her mother commissions the famous artist, Crispin Hawke into sculpting Grace's hands.Crispin is a 'commoner' who has been able to launch himself into becoming the most sought after artist in the Ton. He is not fatuous around them, instead he is arrogant and rude - which fans the fervor of his illusive and exclusive reputation.The story launches into their attraction and the dilemna of how Crispin, a confirmed bachelor, falls in love with Grace, whose mother is committed to marrying her off to a titled man.There are interesting plot twists and evil villains (not super evil, more annoying and rude).This story has a nice happy ending. Has many steamy scenes - lots of chemistry between these two.I loved Grace's dad. The rich American who doesn't buy into England's superficial need to elevate those that are born into a title, but don't do any work. He isn't rude, just a good guy.The mother is also not a parody of the annoying, cloying mother that will throw her daughter at anyone with a title.Crispin is a mix of the confirmed bachelor, pinch of alpha-male, hurt and insecure child, sex god and unconventional artist. He is the most interesting character of them all.Grace is independent, sometimes insecure due to her height, sexually curious and interesting.They both seem to be perfectly suited and you want to see them end up together. You can see how Grace 'chips away'at Crispin's hard exterior and eventually he gives himself completely to her.This is definitely a 'light' romance novel. The storyline is interesting, but there is not enough depth to the characters to make it super remember able. Just when you scratch the surface of the main characters (and also the other characters), the book ends. And it does end abruptly. You feel a little cheated that you invested the time to read the book, with the ending equivalent to books that are written in a series that force you to scramble to read the next book. Leaving you a bit unsatisfied as well.If I could make a recommendation to the author, it would be to have made the book a bit longer, to allow for greater character development b/c they truly are interesting. Richard almost could use his own book. Was finding myself wishing for him to get his HEA as well. The storyline of Crispin's past definitely could have been drawn out a bit more. More developed. The 'big reveal' was a bit lame and soggy.The four stars according to amazon, is "I like it". I didn't love it. I did like it. Enjoyable.