Review: My first book with this author
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2013
I was very pleasantly surprised by this book.  I wasn't expecting to feel the (what I consider to be the defining characteristic of a "good romance" for me) heart-tug from this one.  I really did have moments where these characters drew me in and made me feel the passion.I loved that there was a very sensual, romantic man behind the staid persona of this hero.  Like Louisa, I thought he was fairly boring and unromantic at first.  But he proved otherwise - to her and to me.  There's a line in the book that says, "a man who had respect for a woman was not necessarily one who did not feel the urge to take that woman to bed."  That was Jasper.  He did respect Louisa.  And he did so enough that he waited until the ring was on her finger before doing something about that (which is something that I really love seeing in these books; it is so refreshing to have a romance where they do wait until marriage.  After that point, I like to see some steam - so this book was perfect in that area.)I was also really pleased to find that this book appears to have been pretty nicely edited.  Sadly, I'm finding more and more books that have so many grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors in them to the point that they're really hard to read and understand.  This author actually did some editing in her book.  It's sad that this has now become one of the criteria in reviewing a book, but that is a major concern.I rated this as 4 stars (actually, maybe more like 4 1/2 stars) for just one reason.  Another reviewer said this:  "this reader had a hard time imagining why he would be in love with her. She's very silly and selfish and has no regard for Jasper's dignity or feelings."  I agree.  Louisa was just about to make me want to scream at times.  Granted, she was very young and immature.  But I, too, had a hard time in understanding why Jasper would want this woman who was so all over the place.  She loved him.  She didn't love him.  She loved Nick.  She didn't love Nick.  She was running away.  She was running to Jasper.  I was exhausted just trying to keep up with her and her moods!  I think her family was feeling the same way!I'm going to have to try another book from this author.  If this is her writing style, I think I might have found a new author to follow.  I do recommend "A Gentleman and a Soundrel."  I think it's a good read that is very enjoyable.(PS:  I know this seems very petty.  But the cover of the book kind of belied what was actually in it.  I wasn't expecting the kind of romance in the book from the cover.  I do like the cover - I think it's cute and very well drawn.  But it didn't seem to match the book quite right.  Hard to explain, really.)