Sunday, June 29, 2008

To Pleasure A Lady by Nicole Jordan


To Pleasure A Lady: Courtship Wars
Book 1

Nicole Jordan
Ballantine Books
400 pages

I vow the new earl will drive me to distraction, thinking to marry us off like so much breeding stock. - Letter from Miss Arabella Loring to Fanny Irwin
~ First sentence, Chapter One, To Pleasure A Lady ~

Marcus Pierce, a strikingly handsome aristocrat with a wicked reputation, inherits guardianship of Arabella Loring and her two younger sisters–and immediately declares his intention to marry them off. But gorgeously defiant Arabella sparks frustration–and something deeply erotic–in Marcus. After matching both wits and swords with her, Marcus concludes that this beautiful and formidable foe must be his.

Having sworn off marriage and men, Arabella wishes to be left alone to run her finishing school for young ladies. To that end, she boldly accepts Marcus’s intimate challenge: If he can woo and win her within two weeks, she’ll take her place in his bed as his wife. However, if she can resist his considerable charms, the Loring sisters will be granted their independence. Thus an extraordinary game of seduction begins. . . .

Before we go any further I'm invoking the Reader's Bills of Rights, #5, 6 and 10.
#5 - The right to read anything
#6 - The right to escapism
#10 - The right not to defend your tastes

I wanted something that would provide me with a distraction before starting in on the July Book Blowout. I have a bunch of books lined up but can't start any of them until July 1st. This isn't my usual reading fare. In fact I've read only one other author who writes books in this genre, whose work I enjoy, so I thought I'd give someone else a try. I knew what I was getting into before starting this book so no surprises. While it did provide the needed distraction and, at times, I found myself starting to enjoy the predictable story line there was one scene, in particular, that I was thinking OMG! this would never happen in proper English society in 1817. It actually bordered on pornographic ~ I can't think of any other way to put it. Somewhere down the road I'm sure I'll read the other two only because I'm curious to know which sister ends up with which friend and how they get there. After that I'll probably drop this author and give someone else their fair chance to win my reading affection.

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