I have already forgotten my 4 item review format and have to
go look it up. It’s probably a good thing my children are loud and obnoxious or
I might go around forgetting them too.
The Blurb, from Goodreads:
He thinks she's an annoying know-it-all...
Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she's long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.
She thinks he's just plain mad...
Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn't matter. She doesn't care that his leg is less than perfect, it's his personality she can't abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless ...
New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn's enchanting third novel in the Smythe-Smith quartet is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud and tug at your heartstrings in equal measures.
Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she's long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.
She thinks he's just plain mad...
Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn't matter. She doesn't care that his leg is less than perfect, it's his personality she can't abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless ...
New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn's enchanting third novel in the Smythe-Smith quartet is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud and tug at your heartstrings in equal measures.
The Short of It: I think this is one of the best Julia
Quinn books in recent memory. The plot takes a fairly contrived turn near
the end, but that is balanced out by Hugh and Sarah being so enjoyable.
All the Rest: The last four or five Julia Quinn books
had really lost some of the charm that made me a Julia Quinn fan. It was to the
point where I decided I was going to have to stop seeking out her new releases.
Then for Christmas I got a Barnes and Noble gift card, so I went ahead and
bought this one and I'm glad I did. The humor from the previous books is back,
and I didn’t feel like the situation between them was completely contrived, not
once you accepted that there was a duel in Hugh’s past. The attraction
between them is terrific even when they hate each other, and Hugh’s despair
over what he’s done to his life is heartbreaking. The only thing keeping
me from recommending it wholeheartedly is the turn the plot takes about ¾ of
the way through. This twist depends entirely on the book before it (A NightLike This) and seems a bit over the top. I told myself to accept that everyone
really does feel the way they say they do about the situation, and was still
able to enjoy it in the end. (Sorry to be so vague, but it’s a pretty big
spoiler.)
I especially enjoyed one small moment with Sarah and her cousin Iris,
where Sarah is forced to consider how she’s always treated Hugh, and everyone
else, and instead of just being angry she really looks to change her actions
and attitude. This one little bit makes Sarah much more than a flighty
girl looking to get married and gives her the chance to grow. Hugh is interesting in that he's not a perfect specimen of manhood. He's got a ruined leg and thinks that he's just not worth anything, what with the leg and the duel and all. I love seeing him begin to think of himself as a man again. While it’s
not a five star read, it was satisfying, and worth spending my money on.
Source: I bought it.
. Recommended for fans, but don't expect it to make your "Best of" lists.
by Piper Kerman is yet another memoir style book where the author spends a certain amount of time doing something unusual. In this case, the author is in prison for a decades old crime related to drugs. She chooses to turn her experience into a book about prison life, which is good for her, and is somewhat interesting for the reader. She manages to keep it from being all about gossip and it's not overly condescending towards her fellow inmates who are all less educated than Kerman and from a lower economic background. She talks about how different prisons are completely different in terms of how they treat prisoners and what things are available at different places, for example, at one prison they did not even have underwear for her. It's a quick and easy book to read, but I found Kerman to be annoying and to maintain the attitude that she was somehow better than everyone else, that she didn't belong there. (Despite never denying her guilt.) I picked this one up based on a 
by Julie London. If you recall, I just read 
by Christie Craig made my TBR list due to 
Ten Things I Love About You
by Justin Cronin but since I thought Mike and I might both enjoy The Passage, I started with the Quinn and gave the other to him. If you're a reader of historical romance at all, it's a pretty good chance that you've read something by Julia Quinn, so you have a pretty good idea what to expect going in. Ten Things I Love About You certainly fulfills that expectation.
