Mass Market Paperback, 345 pages
Published
August 7th 2012
by Zebra
Genre: historical romance novel, Regency England
Rating: 4.5 stars
Bound by their common love of
adventure, Millie, Aimee, and Jennelle decide to seal their friendship with a
pledge: they will never get married unless they each meet a man who will accept,
appreciate, and share their unusual interests
and spirit of independence. Daughters of earls, they are uncommonly smart and
bookish to be members of the ton, and they each pursue hobbies that good
society doesn’t consider suitable to young women of their high station: to
Millie, Aimee, and Jennelle, exploring a cave and reading a philosophy treatise
seem to provide more excitement than the social gatherings usually attended by
debutantes eager to land an advantageous marriage and secure a respectable place in society.
They will marry for love, or they won’t marry at all. Of The Daring Three, Lady
Millie Aldon seems to be the most adverse to the idea of shackling herself into
marriage, but when her childhood friend (and Aimee’s brother) Charles Wentworth
comes back to his ancestral home after years of military training and war
missions, Millie will need to revise her priorities…loving Charles, now a
dashing man, will be for Millie the most daring and exciting adventure of all.
This was a good historical
romance novel. It read smoothly and was enticing enough to keep me turning page without putting it
down too often. I always appreciate a certain degree of historical accuracy in
a HRN and Michele Sinclair added her own touch of fictional fabrication (in
reference to some real historical events) that sounded plausible and certainly helped
structuring the plot and interlacing the romantic element with a solid thread
of suspenseful mystery. The events unfold at a nice pace and the Sinclair’s
writing style treats us to an elegant and historically consistent prose. Right
from the start, the novel features an engaging plot, a good storyline structure,
lively dialogues, sultry sensuality, and well developed characters, both main
and supporting cast.
The characterization of the lead
couple is effective and convincing: Sinclair delivers an interesting take on
the friends-to-lovers trope, predictable at times, but enjoyable all the same,
with a good balance of angst, light-hearted tones, and suspense. Millie is a spitfire
of a young woman, and yet likable with her brave temper and good heart:
“She had sworn never to marry, and of the Daring Three, she believed
most strongly in her pledge. Or at least she had. Now, Millie wanted so very
much to break it. Who would have thought a man’s kiss could ruin such a
well-intentioned promise?”
As for Charles (identified as
Lord Chase most of the time), his
transition from the emotionally detached, poised, stoic personality of a born war
spy to the man in love, passionate, protective and possessive beyond redemption,
is believable, but I had to wrestle a bit with the idea of him exposing Millie
to the dangers of his undercover mission in order to "protect" her and unveil a
political conspiracy.
An engaging and gratifying read,
A Woman Made For Pleasure, is the first installment in the Promises Trilogy. I
look forward to Aimee’s and Jenelle’s stories.
*The publisher graciously offered a complimentary copy of this book in exchange of an unbiased opinion.
*The publisher graciously offered a complimentary copy of this book in exchange of an unbiased opinion.
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