Review: Another winner by Victoria Vane
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2013
Story Rating-4 StarsCharacter Rating-5 StarsRomance Rating-4 StarsHeat Level-3 StarsOverall Rating-4 StarsI REALLY enjoyed this book. Victoria has a wonderful way of writing, the flow, the words and descriptions are all VERY appealing to me.This story line has been done before, but Victoria added her own twist to it and I was pulled into the story from beginning to end. This is a story set around a virgin heiress, which included a very sensual seduction, betrayal, secrets, jealousy, lies, greed and love. There were also some very dark situations as the story unfolded, keeping the story interesting all the way through.The characters were well thought out. The heroine, Mary, was a very innocent and nave character. She was also smart, kind and brave and I really liked her. The hero Hadley did NOT have good intentions towards Mary at first. He was not a good hero at the beginning of this story and had done MANY shady things throughout the past 7 years of his life. I loved how Mary's innocence during his seduction of her opened his eyes and made him a better person. Yes, he became the good hero, that I so want in my romances.There were also 3 villains in this book that were very EVIL . The first one we meet is Sir Richard, and unfortunately he was Mary's guardian and had control of her money. He wanted to marry her off to someone, where he would profit the most. The second villain was Barbara, Hadley's step-monster, I mean step-mother! That woman was pure evil, and did awful things over the course of the book. The third villain was Barnesley, what a wicked man. Sir Richard and Barbara had picked him to be Mary's betrothed. He was a very dark character and added cruel element to the story!So, I rated this book a 3 for heat level. Let me explain why. The fact that the heroine was a virgin had a lot to do with it. There were plenty of sensual interludes with Mary and Hadley, but the actual deed was not done until well into the story. We only got ONE real love scene and it was FANFRIGGINTASTIC!!! and well worth the wait!! Victoria sure can write a love scene that has me squirming in my seat, page after page and she doesn't hold back!!The ending was very exciting, with the hero saving the day *sigh*. Then I turned what I though was the last page and saw the word I most want to see at the end of my book...Epilogue! I was so HAPPY to see this and I was looking forward to reading about Mary and Hadley's future only to get one of the shortest and unsatisfactory epilogues that I have ever read. I don't understand why Victoria chose to end the book that way. A few more pages in the epilogue would have gone a LONG way. There was plenty she could have written about, and it might have added an extra 1/2 star to my overall rating. This is the only complaint I have for this book, everything else was very enjoyable. I hope that Victoria will take the time to elaborate a bit more when writing her epilogues in the future. I am a HUGE fan of Victoria Vane and I really hate mentioning any negative thoughts about her book, but it needed to be said. I think she is a VERY talented writer and I plan to read EVERYTHING she writes.