Review: Sophomoric
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2014
Edward, the Duke of Hartridge, had just arrived with his mother, the Dowager Duchess, at the Estate of the Earl of Ranford.  Edward's father and the Earl of Ranford had been best friends. Edward did not understand until he arrived, that the friendship had manifested an agreement that the Duke's heir, Edward, would marry the Earl's eldest daughter, Lady Caroline.  This came as quite a blow to Edward as he had no plans to marry any time soon.  Besides, how could he marry Lady Caroline when all he could think of was her younger sister, Lady Rebecca?This is another author that takes a Regency heiress and turns her into one of the Three Stooges, getting into implausible situations, taking pratfalls, frustrating all about her, including and most especially, this reader.  I am not a fan of this type of physical comedy.  Essentially nothing happens during the first 50% of this book.  The H and h meet, and then 90% of the book is the H mind talking about his nether regions being affected by the h, and the innocent h mind talking about, "What can this tingly feeling be down there?  Oh, gee, I am so embarrassed."  The author does dialogue, but most of it is in the H and h's head.  The external dialogue is stilted and predictable as well.We are asked to believe that the H and h's families have been close friends, yet we are also told their children had never met, so the H and h are strangers to each other as adults. We are also asked to believe that the Earl's daughters know that the eldest is pledged to the Duke, but the Duke, who runs an empire, has no idea of a marriage contract?  Hello?The 3rd quarter of the book drags the reader through all the requisite Regency venues giving the h more opportunities to make a fool of herself, convincing the reader further that maybe the age of the h is 12.  The last 25% of the book gives us the  "danger makes me see the love" cliche.  The only thing that kept the book being a one star was a couple of romantic declarations  by the H at the very end.  The plot had such promise, but, sadly for this reader, the promise was empty.