A Lady Awakened (Blackshear Family series Book 1)

A Lady Awakened has a pretty interesting premise. Martha is newly widowed and about to be thrown out of her house. She and her late husband had no children, particularly no heir, so his estranged brother shall inherit. Well, Martha isn't about to let that happen, especially when she learns that the brother is a rapist. She's been given a month to make sure that she's not pregnant before moving out. She's not, but she comes up with a plan to quickly conceive. Scandalous, but ultimately super boring and at one point 100% infuriating.

A Lady Awakened started out slow and strange. Martha has zero emotions and her personality is comparable to a robot. Not a cool robot. Just a standard robot with a few pre-programmed responses, which are repeated constantly. Her neighbor, Theo, has been sent to the country by his father to teach him responsibility. He has no money out there and no fun, so he's quick to accept Martha's proposal to knock her up. However, he quickly learns that she doesn't want pleasure. At all. None. Just a wham, bam, thank you ma'am! Their sex scenes are not sexy in the slightest, obviously, but they're also not awkward. At least not awkward in a good way which develops into sexy. They're just completely unsexy and mechanical and honestly, painful to read.

Where A Lady Awakened completely lost me was in the middle. Theo and Martha just had more boring, unsexy, mechanical sex, and have gone to sleep. Well, he wakes up with a hard on and decides he'll go for round two even though he thinks she's asleep. She's not, and he's all "Can't you just sleep through it?" Are you freaking kidding me right now?! That is super gross and not okay! And this is immediately following him learning that she doesn't like sex (or alcohol) because her father would sneak into her bed at night. I can't even with that. I had to put the book down and step away to process that. None of that is okay on any level! He's starting to have sex with her without her consent, which is bad enough. But he knows that that's what her father use to do! That is sickening! And it's never brought up or addressed at all after that. They just go back to their unsexy, mechanical sex.

My other problem with A Lady Awakened was Martha's lack of personality. I suppose you could argue, that standoffish and unfeeling are her main personality traits, but she really did read like a robot. All she talks about is starting this school for her tenants' children, which is all well and good, but she has no passion for it. It's just something she's doing because. She really gives no personal reason as to why she's so adamant about starting it. Yes, education is good, and it's a good thing for her to do, but why? I don't believe in that level of selflessness. She also goes about this whole getting knocked up plan without an ounce of emotion. She talks about the possibility of conceiving like reporting on what she had for breakfast and then says if she has a girl she'll just trade it in for a boy. What?! She says this with a straight face, like it's totally normal.

As for the actual romance....what romance? Theo is the one to say I love you during a fit of passion during their boring, unsexy, mechanical sex. She says nothing because feelings are for peasants, and continues to talk about cows and her school. There's no identifiable moment for either of them for actually falling in love. He just blurts it out and that's that. She never admits her feelings for him at all. And in fact she simply tells her brother that she loves him on the second to last page. Not to Theo, to her brother. Yes, their romance is completely non-existent.

Clearly, A Lady Awakened was a total bust. There's no romance to speak of. There's no personalities to speak of. The external plot was super boring, with Theo and Martha just sitting around and talking about farming and land management. The sex was a chore to read through, and let's not even go back to that non-consent scene. Just, ew.

A Lady Awakened is Cecelia Grant's debut. Martha Russell, main character, is newly widowed. If she does not have a son, Martha will lose her estate to her brother in law who is the type to have his way with the help. Lucky for Martha, there is new blood in her country village, Theo Mirkwood. Martha offers Theo a business proposal - one month of doing it in exchange for money. You see, if she is impregnated within the month, she can pass the baby off as her husband's and keep the estate.

A Lady Awakened plays on the love-hate relationship trope. At the beginning Theo and Martha are worlds apart in temperament. Martha is severe and serious and studious. She is passionate about bringing education to her tenant's children. Theo is a dandy who arrogantly believes he is God's gift to women. Each has something to learn from the other.

This book started off slowly. I felt I had to trudge through it. It was hard to connect with Martha because she is so distant and doesn't seem to be romantic at all. I found myself rooting for Theo instead. However, I loved the ending and think that A Lady Awakened was worth reading.

There are explicit sex scenes which I don't mind, but if you prefer a clean, fade to black romance novel, then perhaps A Lady Awakened is not for you. If you think the steamier, the better, then pick this book up.

I really disliked A Lady Awakened. I hated Martha. I could not stand her and since this is a book about her it did not work out well for me. Oh she was annoying.

Martha is recently widowed, but if she does not produce an heir from that marriage she will lose everything to her husbands brother. She would have to go live with her brother and give up on all of her plans for a school for the girls and everything she is working for. Add to that that she finds out the brother in law is not a good person, that he took advantage of the servant girls when he lived there before, and she is determined to find a way to stay. She just needs someone to impregnate her and that will be that. This all sounds fine when I think about it, but the way she is written negated any good feelings I might have had towards her for trying to help others.

Martha is not a fan of sex. Her husband always just did it and didn't care if she was into it or not. She does not have fond feelings towards it. She pretty much thinks it is for procreation and nothing more. When she finds out Theo has moved in recently and he seems to like the ladies a lot (if the rumors are true) she goes to him with a proposition. Sleep with her every day for a month and hope she gets pregnant. She will pay him of course and then hopefully she can pass off the baby as her late husbands. Man I don't know why Theo came back after that first time. I don't think I have ever read such an awkward, painful sexy time scene. It was really realistic and I was just cringing the whole time. Martha doesn't want any foreplay, she doesn't care if she is ready for him or not, she just wants him to put his seed in her as quickly as possible. *Shudders* It was bad. And she treats Theo like garbage. I hated her.

Martha treats everyone like they are idiots who don't know what is best for them. She knows everything, she knows what is right, and if you don't agree with her well you are just wrong. She was so snotty to everyone. No wonder she doesn't have any friends. She was horrible. Always trying to tell people what to do and thinking herself better than everyone. I understand that she did not grow up with any affection, but the way she is did not make me give her a break because of that. It really made me think "well f you you arrogant judgemental know it all!" Even when I agreed with what she thought was good, what she was trying to do, the way she was written and the way she went about things made me want to rally against her. It made me want her to fail even though it would be good for others. It just made me angry and like who are you to tell these people what to do? Who are you to think so poorly of them if they don't comply with your wishes? You don't know them or their lives so you really have no room to judge them. They might be doing the best they can and even if that is not what you want that is what they can do. Screw you Martha! Can you tell she made me angry?

I am not really sure why Theo would fall for her or keep coming back. She thinks so poorly of him. Even once she starts to soften towards him she still thinks he is incapable of doing something good without her telling him to do it. She thinks so highly of herself and so lowly of others it was terrible. Especially Theo. Theo who is nothing but nice and kind and amazing. I loved him. Yes, at the beginning he didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life, but he wasn't a bad person. Through the book he didn't really change he just found something that he enjoys. He started off learning land management for his farm and everything which really bored him (and that didn't make Martha think to kindly of him - he should want to know this stuff! He should enjoy it! A real man, a good man would....ugh). He was just such a good person and he once he found out something was not so good he immediately tried to fix it. Like his tenants - once he found out how they were living, the state of their houses and such, he wanted to help them. To have such a good person end up with such a arrogant know it all...yes, by the end Martha was better, but I still didn't care for her. Oh Theo was so sweet. Oh and the end was a bit rushed. It was kind of confusing what was happening, what was going on, but at least Theo ended up happy. At least someone did.

This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland

Recently widowed Martha Russell learns that her late husband of ten months left her in a financial mess. Russell spent 90% of the ten thousand she brought into their marriage. Her brother-n-law demands she leave his estate that goes to him since she has failed to produce the heir. Martha has two choices either to live with her brother Andrew and his wife or come up with the next generation Russell.

She decides to obtain the services of a man in order to become pregnant soonest. Determined to go all the way, Martha selects her rakish neighbor Theophilus Mirkwood who has been exiled to rusticate due his recent behavior. Theo accepts her offer of brief tryst. Soon the experienced lover and his passionate widow fall in love, but that was not part of the monthly deal.

Though the theme has been used in historical tales before, Cecilia Grant keeps her plot fresh by interweaving a rousing Regency rustication romantic story line. The changing relationship comes across plausible and passionate as polar opposites fall in love. Sub-genre readers will relish the engaging A Lady Awakened by the love of a rake.

Harriet Klausner

I would characterize this book as one where the parts are better than the whole.

This is the author's debut novel and I must give my biggest praise for the writing. There are moments of absolute brilliance in the writing here. Places where Theo's thoughts are almost poetic or where one of Martha's observations (usually about male sexuality) is so dry and dead-on that I was startled into laughter.

She also created a very strong sense of place. I felt very much the poverty of the tenant farmers on Theo's land and the class distinctions that existed between the titled class, local gentry and the laborers.

Theo was also a well developed character that didn't feel like a typical romance hero. He is a wastrel son and acts like it. But not in the dissipated, don't-give-a-damn alpha hero way. But rather in the way a spoiled heir would behave. He has no discernible skills but his father exiles him to their Sussex estate to make him grow up a little. Underneath it all he is a good person who through the book learns responsibility. He is also warm and approachable. And while you might sometimes wonder at the ease in which he enters into a bargain with a total stranger to make a baby, you are never in doubt of his sincerity in trying to connect with the heroine on both a physical and emotional level.

And therein lies what I think is one of the more problematic issues with the novel. The heroine Martha. In some ways she is a great character construct. She is somewhat of a reformer, believing in education of women and the bettering of the poor. She is high minded and somewhat of a rigid moralist (the whole conceive-a-baby-and-pass-it-off-as-your-dead-husband's-to-keep-an-estate scheme notwithstanding). I really didn't mind the more rigid aspects of her personality or even the prickliness of her nature, necessarily. But Somehow everything added up to her being a very distant person who I found to be hard to really like. I really tried to put my finger on why I found it so difficult to warm to her. In the end I think it is because her inner dialogue and thoughts didn't really let me in. Her private thoughts were just as distancing as her external actions. So as a reader I couldn't really get in sympathy with her.

There was also a layer of hypocrisy there as well. Truthfully Martha does acknowledge this, but still, I couldn't help but dislike the fact that she felt very moralistic and judgey regarding Theo's attempts to actually get her to enjoy sex. She couldn't like having sex because that would be wrong. But propositioning a stranger to get you pregnant to steal an inheritance was ok?

My other main issue with the book is the pacing. The lion's share of the book took too much time with Martha being distant & moral and judgey and with Theo trying his mighty best to thaw her out. It was sometimes uncomfortable to read about her unbending will to stay unaffected and his disappointment in his efforts. It had the effect of making the book feel like it was standing still. The bedroom scenes served to stall the forward momentum because it seems like Theo was making no progress whatsoever.

When Martha gets into the groove, begins to finally(!) enjoy herself, I noticed only about 77 pages left in the book. But it was as if that opened up a dam or something because those last 77 pages moved much better than the first 269 pages. The pace crackled, events got exciting, I couldn't wait to see how the whole plan turned out. While I struggled a bit to get into that first part of the book, that last bit became a real page turner.

I liked how things did turn out and I liked the ending. So while this book didn't work for me on some levels, I would definitely look for future books by this writer.

The book sounded interesting, started out kind of slow, but got better as the story went along. At first it was hard to like Mrs. Russell (Martha). I admired her wanting to save the Seton Park tenants from her brother-in-law and to start a school for the area children, but she was a little too cold at the start. Mr. Mirkwood (Theo) was an immature 26 year-old who had lived a rather spoiled life.

Theo had been banished by his father to the neighboring property due to his exploits in London. He thought it was a no-brainer to be offered sexual relations with a beautiful woman. He didn't even have to sleep on it, they got right to business, since Martha had to pass the child off as her dead husband's in order to stay at Seton Park. Needless to say, Martha didn't care much for her husband, as he had only been in the ground for a few days.

Martha was a cold fish to Theo and she admitted she had a hard time finding pleasure with someone she did not admire. However, Theo began to redeem himself in both his own eyes and hers. He became more mature and she became more likeable. I'm glad I hung in there to watch the changes that came to both Martha and Theo.

I would give this book 3.5 stars***

I quite liked this novel about a young widow trying to save her husband's estate from a horrible fate - her brother-in-law, a man known to abuse and rape his servants and tenants. All she needs is to be pregnant with her husband's child... and while she has a little time, she already knows it is sadly unlikely.

Her crazy scheme to enlist a nearby lordling who fancies himself a ladies' man and who is known for his lack of work ethic to get her pregnant is quite out of character. But, she embarks - and decides that the only way it will remain moral is to steadfastly refuse to enjoy it.

The characters grow on you, and of course, grow on each other. Martha introduces Theo to the unpleasant life of his tenants, and to them as fellow people. Theo turns out to be rather useful and resourceful, given something of value to do. You feel both of them breaking out of their cultural boxes and finding their way.

The novel is steamy, explicit, and intentionally awkward as the weird situation warrants. It was a quick and amusing read.

"A Lady Awakened" by Cecilia Grant. I loved this book! It was so unique, I don't think I will ever forget it. I could barely finish three books previous to this and had decided that maybe I was just getting tired of reading--then I read this and realized I was just needing to read a GOOD book. The Hero was young, good-looking, & wealthy and in need of enriching his life with something and someone worthwhile. He found all of this in the straight-laced widow heroine. I know that sounds familiar, but it is told in such a unique story that it separates itself from other stories. You really feel the ups & downs (no pun intended) in his life and feel exuberant when things go his way. You will want the heroine to relax her judgements a bit, but actually they and the story are perfect as is. This story should be read by 18 and over. It is very adult, and steamy at times. It is a very romantic book and the Hero is such a charmer. I highly recommend this book. I also read and loved Ms Grant's other book "A Gentleman Undone". As far as I can tell, those are the only books she has written thus far and they are both 5 stars in my opinion.

I received "A Lady Awakened" by Cecilia Grant inn a First Reads Giveaway from Goodreads.com recently. A historical romance novel, it tells the tale of Martha Russell, a newly widowed young woman who, at the start of the story, has just found out that she will lose her home and everything in it unless she gives birth to a son, an heir to her husband's family fortune. His brother is anxious to inherit; he is a hard man, an immoral man whom her servants fear.

Martha devises a plan to hire her new neighbor, Theo Milkwood for a month to try to conceive a son. This is a purely business proposition. Martha is a serious and very practical woman. This is the story about Martha and Theo: how they came together, had sexual relations before they knew one another, and what they learned.

I enjoyed this book with it's stiff, formal language; it's icy, calculating heroine, and the man of questionable reputation who agrees to this business arrangement. I recommend this book to those who enjoy historical fiction, and a bit of spicy romance.

After I finished this novel, I mentioned to a friend that Cecilia Grant single-handedly brought me back to reading m/f romance. I had all but stopped reading it several years ago when I grew to like m/m better. M/f seemed to have a sameness about it with its stereotypical alphas and damsels in distress. And too many m/fs were wallpapery and so full of melodrama, I never felt I was reading about real people.

This novel is different. Fresh and sweet and memorably romantic. Theo and Martha (a name I thought ordinary and will now never again see in the same light) are two real people of their time period. This novel does what I adore best in historical romances; it offers a varied and vivid cast of characters led by a couple who are utterly real in their world (in fact I was already weaving a romance for Mr. Atkins in my head. He needs one!) I could visualize everyone, right down to the thoughtful footman at the end, and they were all creatures of their time, but accessible as human beings with needs and hopes I understood.

I've seen a few mixed reviews for this novel, some stating that Martha is not a likeable or sympathetic character. This is a novel that demands insightful reading. Martha's history and her situation make her complex and fascinating. She is not the bland, whiny drama queen I'd grown so sick of in m/f. She is real and iron-willed and yearning to accomplish (very believably in context with the period) a little more than the expected role of wife and mother. She's also incredibly vulnerable to the right sort of man, and that was Theo to a t. Theo is a fabulous creation, a perfect fit for Martha, but not at the start. They grow and change together as they struggle to understand each other, just the way people do in real life, and they do it in a historical context that made me feel as if I were there, living it with them.

I could go on endlessly about this book and I appear to be in danger of doing so here, but I don't think I can do it justice. The writing style itself I loved because it has a nice lyrical flow while at the same time being happily unburdened by flowery, overwrought prose or too-archaic language. The writing's just as accessible as the characterization, and it pulls you along and treats you to the loveliest tidbits of fresh non-cliched descriptions along the way. I especially liked the descriptions of the land and the interiors of Martha's home, and the way Theo and Martha saw each other, both physically and emotionally.

Another thing I loved about this book is the process of Theo and Martha's coming together, brought about by each being in possession, both personally and emotionally, of what the other desperately needs (and I'm referring to much more than the baby Martha feels compelled to produce.)

I loved the way Martha and Theo came to appreciate certain qualities in each other, invariably those qualities they themselves lacked. I loved the *way* they fell in love. It just rang so true. The way they basically rescue each other by bringing out the best in each other--God, how much I love that in stories. Both of them have their faults and they both just bloom like roses by the story's end. Even the intimate scenes, which I usually can't really get into, I enjoyed in this one. They were humorous at times, awkward, tension-filled, and later on, romantic--and a few times, oh my God, hot (especially one scene that just left me in awe with how beautifully it was written)--and just always with a true to life quality that made Theo and Martha all the more real in my head. So this book was supremely satisfying for me in just about every way.

Martha Russel is recently widowed and is set to lose everything unless she miraculously finds herself pregnant with an heir. She decides to try and make it happenn after the fact with the delicious Theo. Theo is more than happy to help the lovely widow with her plan to have a baby - but didn't expect it to be so hard. Martha is dead set to dislike him and all the time they must spend together. He must find a way into her heart, because she quickly found a way into his.

Theo was an interesting character. Always talked about as a rogue, he had a very gentlemanly quality that he was almost afraid to let show. Martha was a bit annoying at times. She was so dead set against ever being happy, that she didn't really notice that she was. A few twists and turns to keep the reader interesting, but I wish there had been more development in Martha earlier in the book.

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant was quite a delectable novel.
I loved getting to know the main characters and the secondary characters too. I loved that the main characters were the only ones you really heard of for a while, and then both of the main characters decided to start adventuring around their property, and that is where you meet the secondary characters.
This author has a talent for writing a story that draws you in, so you don't want to put the book down.
Most books of this length do not have the content to make them worth reading. Normally after the first half I would put the others down. Not so with this book. I read it straight through and enjoyed every minute of it.

The book starts with Martha Russell husband's funeral and the reading of the will. Martha finds out to save her estate from evil new heir she needs to get pregnant. She ask Theophilus Mirkwood to help her produce an heir. There are moments that are so funny most of them are in the bedroom. The author developed the characters and story was so different than normal historical romances and it was 5+ stars for this debut author. Looking forward to her next book due out May 2012 A Gentleman Undone.

If you enjoy this genre I would also suggest; Lord Langley Is Back in Town (The Bachelor Chronicles),A Night to Surrender &To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars, Book 6).

Unlike many cookie cutter regency romances, this story focuses more on character growth than the romance itself. I found it refreshing, thought provoking, humorous, and unpredictable. The characters were well rounded. I loved how the differences in temperament between the hero and heroine inspired them to complement and push the other towards strength and maturity. The story showed the difference between propriety and true moral integrity and sacrifice. A mature reader would enjoy this more. Adult content is essential to the story, oddly necessary, unlike other stories where its inclusion is surely only to titillate. Off to read the next book by Cecilia Grant...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

The above blurb is adequate in summarizing the story, so I'll not go into it further. What I would like to tell you is how much I liked this author's prose, in spite of the plot that I found familiar of late. But above all, I appreciated the pace of the story.

The author took the characterization of both hero and heroine very seriously by making them both flawed; Regency era gave their situation, actions and feelings a believable touch of realty so they weren't turned into clichés and caricatures of themselves. I liked both characters very much because of who they were, who they wanted to be, and who they became to each other. The reason behind it is, yet again, the pace of the story. It helped me to connect with Martha in my own time and on my terms. She was not an easy heroine to like at first, but the more Theo got to know her, the more I liked her.

To Theo, on the other hand, I warmed up right away. His `devil may care' nature may have not impressed our heroine much, at first, but it appealed to me and made me like him. As the author took us in deeper, we appreciated him more, as the heroine did. It was truly fun watching these two totally opposites come to terms with each other and slowly realizing that LOVE chose them for each other.

This is not your typical cookie cutter romance, despite its trope. By choosing this plot, the author took a gamble in giving us the slower pace and fully developing her players first, main and secondary, thus making them very real and the plot easy to accept. I'd say the gamble paid off, as I enjoyed this Regency tale very much, and I'm looking forward to Ms. Grant's future tales. Welcome to my Keeper shelf, Ms. Grant!

Melanie

*Reviewed on Romance Reader At Heart*

I've actually read another romance novel set in the same time period with the same theme - getting an illegitimate heir. It was the "gentleman" in that book but same premise - limited time frame because of death, lose the inheritance unless an heir appears, try to get someone pregnant quick and then pass the baby off as the heir.........you get the picture.

Now, having said that I must say this book was pretty good for a first try.

If you like steamy sex scenes this is not the book for you. They were extremely tame and completely lacking in detail. I could almost give this book to my 17 year old daughter to read.

I did like the interaction between the 2 main characters. You could see the gradual breaking down of the walls between them. He loosens her up so she's not so anal and she encourages him to become more responsible. At the same time, she's realizing he has more depth than she gave him credit for. They complement one another perfectly - as any good couple should. I applaud how the author played the characters off one another.

When a book gets boring, I catch myself skipping pages and reading ahead to see if it's going to get any better. This gives me the will to continue. I DID NOT have to do that with this book.

The book was slow to build but I would definitely read more of this author.

A Lady Awakened fell flat for me. It started off with the best of intentions but it missed the mark in awakening the lady character. A male whore (Theo) and a frigid woman (Martha) whom remains so for 258 pages. For 258 pages out of a 362 page novel we go through scene after scene with her enduring her encounters. I love regency novels and this one had the intentions to be a good read but the author, in my opinion, failed to create spark between the characters. In addition Martha was annoying and an implausible match to Theo. When we reach the crescendo it is unremarkable and flat.

I notice Mary Balogh's endorsement on the front cover of my copy. Cecilia Grant could learn alot from Mary Balogh.

Grant has an excellent writing style, it's smoothly detailed and draws vivid pictures of flawed people. Unfortunately, I failed to care about any of them. If I am able to suspend disbelief in the service of a story, I do. A Lady Awakened left me asking "Why?" far too often to fall into the story. For example, there is an overwhelmed tenant living in disorder and near constant pregnancy. Toward the end of the book her husband is revealed as someone considerate, interested in her welfare, and open hearted. Why would his wife be in such a state? That question is never answered. Is he afraid to help her? Afraid to require his children to help her? Since he is neither neglectful nor disinterested, there has to be an explanation. (The one that is offered doesn't apply to their current situation.)

These same questions of "Why?" override everything else in the book. The heroine is completely uninterested in relationships, yet she decides to conceive a child (and if that fails buy one) to avoid living with her apparently loving family. (Later the heroine is given the excuse that the heir to the estate is unworthy, but in the initial planning only her own desire to maintain control of her home drives her.) The hero has no reason to agree to impregnate her, especially after her disinterest is disclosed, and yet he returns. Why? He's 26, he is a man of options. She decides to make a project of him, guiding him into being a better man through her feminine praise - really? I can see why people love this book. It's different, it doesn't have a typical heroine, it deals heavily with village life, it moves beyond balls and wealth to tell a deeper story. The problem for me is that like the heroine in bed, I found this book a chore. Being unable to buy into the motivations and actions of the participants (An intervention? Really?) I was unable to appreciate the careful world building underway. Try the sample and decide how you feel about the main couple. It will be the difference between loving and loathing.

This story will go on my favorites list. There were so many sympathetic and memorable characters in it, both upper and lower class. During the early part of the story, I wondered how things could possibly end well, and that caused some worry and suspense. In fact, this is one of the few stories that made tears come to my eyes. I will read more from this author.

Everyone else here has described the plot so I won't, but I do want to comment on some complaints from other readers.

The three main complaints I see in some other reviews, of the heroine's coldness, immorality, and unsexy sex must reflect readers who did not read the entire story. What I loved about this romance was that the h/h were clearly flawed, in ways readers might find distasteful. They were flaws that would barely allow them to communicate, much less fall in love or have "nice" sex. But a crack appears between them and words and thus understanding begins to flow, and they begin to grow and change. This is what leads to romance and love.

Grant takes a romance cliche and shows us the damage it could do to two people, then shows us how they overcome it and conquer both themselves and the situation. This is an entirely original romance between two very human characters, and it is the best romance I've read in years.

This debut novel by Cecilia Grant is a winner. These two characters seem so unlikely to get together, but Ms. Grant manages to draw you along on her story and have you enjoy the ride. Martha has both brains and wit, and Mr. Mirkwood is one sexy hero. The love scenes are intense and he certainly has a way with the sensual talk that would make any heroine passionate in spite of herself. Martha does not want to enjoy their bargain, but of course, can't help herself. I either pull for the characters or I don't. And I loved them both. You won't go wrong with trying out this author. She was made for historical romance.

From reading other reviews of this book, it looks like my reaction is very similar to other readers. When I started the book I didn't warm to either Martha or Theo...and the plot line seemed a little silly. I thought the book was going to be one continual sex scene after the other. But I was very pleasantly surprised that as the story developed so did my liking for the main characters, and the story developed into a lovely romance that was quite heart-rending at times, especially when Theo realised he loved Martha but could not have her. The book is probably a tad long, but otherwise, I'd recommend it...well worth persevering past the first couple of chapters.

I enjoyed a refreshing heroine who doesn't let her body rule her mind. The other reviews pretty much cover the plot, the heroine is a very stuck up, prim proper lady, totally interested in the village around her, and their welfare. The critical reviews just couldn't get over the fact that she managed to sleep with this guy without letting her hair down. I found it very believable, especially given that her husband was an alcoholic. I think it depends on what you find believable. If you can be convinced that the mind can overcome your bodies desires, then you will enjoy this book as a completely refreshing unusual plot. If not, you won't. My very proper mother in law and mom, both hated the romance in the English Patient movie for e.g. because they could not get over the fact that she is cheating on her husband. I loved that movie. So I found this very believable, especially the fact that she warmed up to him after he opened up his eyes to the world around him, of course, thanks to her interesting him in those issues dear to her heart rather than being just a worthless playboy as he starts out being. The author has an excellent command of language and is often outright funny too.

Cecilia Grant starts off slow by developing two deep characters: widowed Martha Russell and banned bad boy Theo Mirkwood.

Their love scenes are awkward at first and prove a point: pleasurable sex is the kind we want to read about.

As their passion ignites so does their social circles. Love makes the plot complicated and instead of trying to seduce the hero it is the heroine who must learn passionate love.

Well written but the first six chapters were slow to read.

Cecilia Grant offers so much with her dazzling debut: a richly rendered 19-century countryside setting for an indelible hero and heroine, each deeply flawed, who challenge, change, and complete each other while they fall in love--straight from the playbooks of Jane Austen, George Elliot, and Charlotte Bronte. The "indecent proposal" plot is uniquely satisfying, yielding plentiful charged interactions between hero and heroine. The author's grasp of the time period's manners and mores is utterly convincing and should satisfy the most exacting Anglophiles. The narration is close third person, and the author's rendering of the cares and observations of people in that time and place is meticulously imaginative. The writing style is poetic in a remarkable way: descriptions are never gratuitous but always contribute to the emotional power of what a character is experiencing in a scene. I felt truly transported, more so than any in any other historical or romance novel I've encountered in a very long time.

Cecilia Grant offers so much with her dazzling debut: a richly rendered 19-century countryside setting for an indelible hero and heroine, each deeply flawed, who challenge, change, and complete each other while they fall in love--straight from the playbooks of Jane Austen, George Elliot, and Charlotte Bronte. The "indecent proposal" plot is uniquely satisfying, yielding plentiful charged interactions between hero and heroine. The author's grasp of the time period's manners and mores is utterly convincing and should satisfy the most exacting Anglophiles. The narration is close third person, and the author's rendering of the cares and observations of people in that time and place is meticulously imaginative. The writing style is poetic in a remarkable way: descriptions are never gratuitous but always contribute to the emotional power of what a character is experiencing in a scene. I felt truly transported, more so than any in any other historical or romance novel I've encountered in a very long time.

After reading tons of historical romances, it is refreshing that the heroine doesn't fall in lust with the handsome hero as soon as he takes off his shirt. In order to find her pleasure in bed she needs to know and admire him. He, on the other hand, is at first confused by this attitude but it's the knowing and admiring her that wins his heart.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written tasteful book. I mean, with a theme of a lady plotting pregnancy to fool the rightful heirs of her estate...well, it could have turned into a trashy novel pretty easily! As it was, it had only one raunchy scene, even though it had an abundance of sexual encounters. The actual story was quite good.

I'm always looking for new and exciting books and this one fits the bill. Loved the unique story line. Although I do admit Martha's stubborn ways were annoying at times the explanations and insights into her made sense. Absolutely loved Theo!

This is a very refreshing take on the romance genre. A hero who must earn the respect of the heroine before he earns her love and desire. WHAT?!? You mean the heroine doesn't put up with tons of bad behavior and treatment simply because the hero makes her lady part quiver with excitement? Wow! I have to admit I really liked it.

I snagged an early review copy of this book quite by accident and really knew nothing of the story or the author before cracking the cover. This turned into a unique surprise in that this was a very good book. The characters were well developed and thoroughly interesting; the plot was good and not too worn out. The interaction between Martha and Theo started out awkward and grew into a comfortable, heartening relationship. Yes, it was a bit too predictable, with good winning out and love triumphing in the end... but it's that kind of story. Worth the read!

I very much enjoyed this romance. The characters were great and you could really feel the chemistry between them. I enjoyed reading it and was sorry when it ended. You can see how two people who seem so different can still be meant for each other. Very enjoyable.

Ms. Grant's style of writing, witty wording and well developed characters is completely engaging. I found myself engrossed, amused and eager to see how it all unraveled. Unlike any other historical romance I have read.

Cecilia Grant is a very promising writer, the story flowed and she was able to write a plot and content from an outline that was hopefully given to her by an editor. I did not like her heroine Martha Russell, she was self sacrificing and stupidly stubborn about her feelings. Theo, the hero was okay, he grew up and started maturing because of Martha's influence, but there was not enough spark between them to maintain a romantic relationship, Theo would have moved on from this relationship after 30 days because to Martha's stubbornness and all her hang-ups. Characters like Martha can be likable and interesting if they bend and crack as well a grow up, but if they remain stubborn and clueless, they become irritating and exhausting. Will I try another novel from this author, maybe and only if I get it free.

I enjoyed the novel. Why three stars? Warming up to Martha, the heroine, took a while. Happily ever after is great, but can seem contrived when it applies to everyone. (Except the villains, who of course receive their just desserts.) Age is probably a factor - I'm old enough that some of the characters fears have moved from easy to identify with into slightly adolescent.

STORY BRIEF:
Martha did not marry for love. She married to avoid being dependent on her brother. Her husband died ten months later from a horse accident. She learns that her brother-in-law James will inherit the estate and that he molested female servants when he lived there 16 years ago. She believes it is her duty to keep James away from the estate in order to protect the female workers. She also believes it is her duty to improve the lives of all tenants and workers in the area. She financed a local school and is lobbying the families to send their daughters. In order to keep James away, she must get pregnant within the next 30 days and claim that the pregnancy is by her husband. She hires her neighbor Theo to have sex with her every day for 30 days.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Each time they have sex, she refuses to show emotion and refuses to experience pleasure. She demands he perform as quickly as possible while she lies stiff as a board like a corpse. There are 11 sex scenes like this, for about 2/3 of the book. Talk about boring sex scenes. She makes comments like "I didn't hire you for pleasure. I'm not paying you to do those things. Can you just get on with it please?" In the 11th sex scene, he's still trying to talk her into letting him pleasure her, which she will not allow. She says "I've told you I don't want it. My mind rules my body. You're depraved beyond my worst conjectures."

She has no emotional interaction with anyone during the book. She is uptight, rigid, critical, judgmental, pious, and holier-than-thou. The only thing she cares about is her sense of duty to do good. Her plans are "to see the school's enrollment double, shepherd a dairy into being on the very next property and then turn her attention to all the good she could do in town. If she remained at Seton Park, the days and years ahead could be gratifying indeed." Ok, I can admire someone like this, Sister Theresa spinster for life, never smiling at anyone unless it is while she is giving them a gift. She is self-sacrificing. When she has a loss, she does not cry. When she eventually falls in love, it feels wooden. I didn't enjoy reading about her. Maybe some vulnerability might have helped. I welcome unusual and different character creations from authors, but I need to be able to enjoy reading about them, be they good or wicked. Martha was not fun to read about, and that is the biggest problem.

Theo was interesting enough. He had a good heart. He was rich kid enjoying his life of wine, women, and gambling. His father sent him to the country for a while in hopes of providing some seriousness to his life. Of course, living next door to serious Martha definitely brought out that part of Theo. He began taking an interest in the people on his land and their lives, thanks to Martha's influence. I don't know why he falls in love with her, probably because he likes himself better as a result of her influence. It wasn't a fun relationship to read about. Maybe if she had shown some emotional desire for him I would have liked it better.

One of my pet peeves is having a character deny their feelings and take actions against those feelings. This is usually done in order to have a conflict. It's different in this book yet similar. Martha's entire life is denying her feelings. She has none and never will.

She eventually falls in love with Theo, so we are told. But after that the sex scenes were still missing sensuality and hotness. I didn't feel any desire coming from her. It might have been fun to see her shell cracking with emotions coming through and her confusion about "feelings" be they sexual, love, or other.

DATA:
Story length: 346 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words, but rarely used. Sexual language: moderate to strong, but rarely used. Number of sex scenes: 14. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 45. Setting: Around 1814 England. Copyright: 2012. Genre: regency romance.

This book was rather different than most romances. It started with sex and then went on to romance. Neither the hero nor the heroine was particularly likeable at first, but they grew on you. I really enjoyed reading it and found it difficult to put down once I had begun.

What could have been an interesting story, ends up mostly as soft porn. Too bad the more serious parts of the plot weren't developed in a tasteful way.
The author has a predilection for the word "appendage".Enough said.

First time reading this author and if all her books are this dull it will be my last. The plot seemed promising and it had a recommendation from one of my favorite author so I picked it up. Had to force myself to finish the story was so boring! Horrible!

I don’t normally leave negative reviews but I had a hard time getting through this book. The prudishness and self-loathing of the heroine was off-putting to me. Her feelings about not wanting to have feelings were maddening.