Review: So disappointing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 31, 2013
I had been desperate to read this book after absolutely lovingTrials of Artemis (The Haberdashers Book One), and how disappointed I was. I had also read the teaser chapters of the second book at the end of the first and they were brilliant. There were some real laugh out loud moments at the beginning. The book soon deteriorated and became quite dark. I loved the H from his brief appearances in the first book but he was unlikeable in a weird way in this book. I believe the author was trying to show us how complicated he was because of his background. The h was feisty and forward and opinionated but she lost her light through her interactions with the H.Briefly the H is being blackmailed and he enlists the help of the h's brother. After seeing her at her brother's house, he initially thinks she is the mistress of her brother and he propositions her. She then challenges him to a duel, which she tricks him into. She falls for him when they are duelling and determines to marry him and become his duchess. She arrives unchaperoned at his house determined to win him and help him with her problems. A large part of the book involves a type of Hellfire club, to which both of their fathers belonged and a villain that was part of that group. Sounds good? Read the spoilers only if you want to be put off.***Spoilers***The H didn't have good intentions towards the h and tells her that he'll never marry her. He doesn't send her away and he takes her virginity in a very unattractive and painful way, we do find out more about the reasons later but unfortunately the awful first impression was made. To be fair she asked for it but he also was always thinking that he knew she'd be easy. It's those thoughts he has for nearly half the book that are so unromantic and it's difficult to 'see' why he suddenly decided he loved her. He is a detached kind of person and I think the author may have been trying to get us to believe that only the h could reach him effectively. The mystery part of this story explains his upbringing and his relationship with his father, which have made him the way he is. We also know why he won't marry the h and that's because of her father but those reasons were really never enough for me. He was happy for everyone (her family and their friends) to know he'd compromised her and happy to tell everyone he wouldn't marry her. The h lost her sparkle and became wimpy for a while. She then decides she's happy to be his mistress and give up respectability to be in his life. I just hate this kind of 'mistress' angle in a book. The h thinks less of herself and loses confidence and I just don't find it romantic at all. I also didn't buy his reasons for not marrying her, if he truly loved her then he'd never want her to lose her reputation. By the time the H finally does the right thing, it was too late for me and I was just left feeling sad about the way this book turned out after such a promising start. The other thing that bugs me is that the H is described as such a moral guy by everyone else and he is known as Lucifer's angel because of his morality. Lucifer is the H from the first book. If he's such a moral guy, why would he disgrace the h so publicly? It just didn't add up.+++Update to original review+++As I said I was very disappointed when I initially devoured this book yesterday but one or two things about the story bothered me, so I went back and re-read large portions of the book. I've revised my original rating from 2 stars because I think it wasn't fair based on my own personal disappointment. The author is a very good writer and the book is not littered with mistakes like so many other ebooks. However the main reason for the change in rating is because the time frame is very short and so the h was never really technically the H's mistress. I still have my doubts that such a moral guy would have done what he did by sleeping with her but she did give him the impression of being experienced. The real ray of light for me and helped me understand this book better, was about 65% of the way through the book, when the H discussed the h with her brother. I originally took it very much at face value that he was telling the brother that he wanted the h to be his mistress and that he'd never marry her. It was a more subtle conversation and because of that bit of writing, I was prepared to change my review and give the author the benefit of the doubt.At the end of the day I am still disappointed about the way the author chose to write this story but I think I understand it better now. I look forward to future books and will try to keep a more open mind when reading them.