Heroine is no shrinking violet
585097
Delightful characters, with real substance behind what could easily have been a clich-driven story. Loved the male lead-- who wouldn't?-- and the female just gets better and better the more you get to watch her evolve. She has depth and caring beyond the expectations, and she makes the story work, If you like strong females (as opposed to the damsel in distress types) you will enjoy this story.
2915878
The plot is very fast paced.  But, the characterizations take their time.  The heroine is not a victim.  The hero has a backstory.  And the clash of classes is well played.  Clean, good romance.
4431454
I enjoyed this. However it is not like many of her other books that I have read. There is no time travel,genetic memory, or paranormal isuues in this novel as previous. I enjoyed this element of her previous books. But it is a good mystery with 2 historical mysteries resolved as well.
4208096
I love Iris Johansen. I am hunting for her old Loveswepts because I enjoy each and every one of her books. She's capable, within a few paragraphs, to pull you into a story and make difficult people come alive in such a way that you care for them.
 Not here. These people remain distant and in a way cold. Bess, the heroine, is constantly demanding unreasonable things and getting her way. She's hurt by the whole situation, but that doesn't make her unreasonableness right, and there's just not enough depth to make it realistic. Kaldak, the hero, works on the intellectual level, but not on the emotional one. The supporting characters are, at least for Johansen, formulaic.
I really liked the idea for a thriller, it is an excellent plot, but it would need more meat on those bones to "pull you in", to make you feel and believe. I wasn't afraid for the heroine, I didn't share her sudden need to go to bed with the hero, I didn't hate the villain (although he was truly bad).
 I hope Iris Johansen will get better with her next book, both her last two thrillers and her romances were good (although I would have preferred more relationship in the thrillers, I regretted her switch from romance) - I am definitely going to wait for the paperback with her next novel, this quality is not worth the money for a hardcover.
3986280
There is a definite charm in a romance where no body parts throb, pulse or swell, where the heroine behaves within the limits of acceptable behavior for the period and hero is not an incipient rapist.  It's not that I dislike books with more sexual content, I'm not the least prudish, but sometimes a book like Victoire just hits the spot.
Victoire is daughter of an officer who was killed fighting Napoleon when she was about 13.  After her father's death her mother who was French remarried a Frenchmen who sent Victoire to live in Normandy with his mother.  However, following Napoleon's abdication, the old lady had become delusional and it was necessary to send Victoire to her father's cousin, an Irish scoundrel.
But the Irish scoundrel has plans for Victoire that involve trying to separate the family of the Marquis of Tarn from a substanial sum of money.  When Tarn unexpectedly returns to England and scotches this plan, the scoundrel hatches one that is even more dastardly and tries to draw Victoire into it.
A fast paced fun read with a hot tempered (uh, definitely not feisty) heroine and a young and engaging hero.
2187390
I liked this book. I'm not hung up on it and am kind of "over" the weak heroines that are becoming a theme through these books but they do feel real.

As a reader, I want the characters to be just believable enough to understand them but unbelievable enough to be entertaining and to pull me from my own reality. In this case I feel like I'm not being drawn in enough.

I am not raving about this series but if you like this author it is a fun departure from her usual work.
3043044
Our heroine Maggie lives in a relatively standard "split world" (standard if you read much contemporary fantasy!) where the Earth we know has no magic and the other dimension does. All the cool creepy crawlies and hot elves come from the magic side. Maggie's job, as a child of both sides, is to drag people who are magic, or monsters who are magic, back to the magic side so they can't cause trouble and eat humans. She can do this because she has the ability to cross when she wants or needs to while other people have to go through an approved transfer point. This is a focal point in the story as it progresses and it is explained well.

The heroine is fun to "listen" to as she narrates her dimensional-hopping adventure. That makes it sound SF, but it's pure urban fantasy, on the light side. The hero is an elf who is assigned to hire her to do a job for the elf queen, and at first she doesn't want to work with him. But of course she grows to depend on his presence as he does hers. I expected him to be stronger or more alpha than he turned out to be, since that's what one generally encounters in this genre, but he remained in the back seat to the heroine's plot. Romance-wise, if that is a trope you like in a book, the hero and heroine's interactions have the blossomings of a future romance but not yet an "HEA".

I could not give this book more stars because one of its primary flaws was in the editing. The dialogue in particular was incorrectly punctuated, and it jerked me out of the story. The author's style was relatively facile otherwise, without an abundance of typos.
709661
This is a very simple, uncomplicated story.  It unfolds a little too slowly but I loved it just the same.  Aimee is a hard working, on her own terms, survivor in the truest sense of the word.  She's extremely intelligent about unemotional things but incredibly blind about others.  Her history of overcoming adversity is a little unrealistic.  Most people would be emotionally scarred for life; yet, Aimee is reasonably self-assured and capable.  Frankly, she is a refreshingly pleasant heroine.  The fact that she isn't a complete basket case may be the bit of fantasy that makes everything else in this modern spin on the Cinderella theme (rags to riches sans Fairy Godmother) believable.  The supporting characters (Simon, Lucy, Dottie and Cupcake) were very likable as well.
2492355
This book follows the heroine and hero on their mutual journey. It is slower paced than the first book, but just as intriguing in the complexity of the plot. I look forward to reading  the next volume.
234890
Her best yet.  I like that the female lead isn't a neurotic mess as usual.
1807814
Chilling as in fearful, not chilling as in cool.  Nora is an unusual character, not the heroine, not the wallflower, somewhere in between.  The author does a great job of keeping the reader engaged and ready to turn the page.  I recommend this if you like an escalating story.
195025
There are no life altering moments that force the characters to change.  There are a-lot of unexplained stories that make the main character behave the way she does.
4181912
This is a step up in the standard boy sees girl, wants girl, gets girl plot. Characters are not humorous in the cute, or even engaging sense. But their strategies will make you smile. Even grin. The hero is a beleaguered male who likes to live in five year plans and is very sure and fairly specific about what he thinks he wants and needs. His aunt, who raised him clearly sees those needs differently. She seems to feel she has a right to direct everyone around her in the nicest manner possible. The heroine thinks she needs independence above all else, and to avoid risk. Both hero and heroine are risk averse, but the matriarch makes it her mission to change that.
In lesser comedies she would show her hand to the reader as she deftly guides everyone else. But not in this story.

It is unclear how she feels about bringing these two together. Does she protest that her nephew is not to pursue the heroine so that she will drive him to do just the opposite? You'll have to read the book to find out. If you enjoy something above and beyond the usual historical romance, this is definitely a must read, about  a time and place in our country not often written about. It's set on the eastern shore of Virginia, and anyone who's ever spent much time there will enjoy the writer's portrait of this area and its small town denizens with big social aspirations.  This is a lush story, to be savored rather than devoured.
3821601
The author knows how to keep it moving and doesn't make it sound implausible.
4010272
After the first book in the Governess series, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. However, this second book is much improved upon the first. In fact, Dodd seems to have avoided most of the pitfalls that caused her first book in this series to fall flat.

The heroine has both wit and humor, which makes for an enjoyable read. Her interactions with Beth made the orphan plot work throughout the novel, without bogging down the romantic story. Furthermore, she's written to honestly be the hero's equal, able to stand toe-to-toe with him and give as good as she gets. She is no chess piece, to be moved around and manipulated as the hero sees fit; rather, she is very much a mistress of her own destiny. Her determination to earn money to support the Governess School causes her to compromise her scruples and make decisions she recognizes she'll regret, but even still, she remains sympathetic, and the moment of realization in terms of her regret over this moral compromise shines through.

 The hero is arrogant and conceited, but Dodd cleverly uses supporting characters (first the grandfather, then gradually the orphan, Beth, as well) to show his softer side. In doing so, the hero becomes more engaging, his romantic progression more compelling. Too often, authors write this archetypal hero as being TOO self-centered, TOO arrogant, without giving this glimpse into the softer side of him, leaving the audience to wonder why we should want to root for him to end up with the heroine at the end. Dodd deftly avoids falling into that pitfall here, so even when the hero is at his MOST insufferable, the reader is given cause to want to root for his happy ending.

That said, the story has its flaws. The sub-plot is a convenient mechanism to weave the grandfather into the story, which improves the hero's character, but isn't terribly interesting and wasn't woven throughout the novel as well as it might have been. Though in retrospect, it seems to have been mentioned fairly frequently throughout the book, the only real progress made in solving the "mystery" seems to happen very late in the book. Dodd is rather perfunctory in dealing with the counterfeit plot and wipes her hands of it as quickly as possible. However, the author cleverly takes advantage of societal assumptions and stereotypes that were prevalent at the time period this book was set.

I will say that the story does seem to go on a little longer than it should. The hero's preoccupation with a childhood embarrassment was a little ridiculous, his rush to judgment at the end seemingly done for no reason other than to add a little needless angst. Similarly, the heroine's aversion to going before the ton and the Queen was absurd - even trite, done for no other reason than to justify the hero stripping her. (She was so incredibly worried that the ton would remember her family history and use it to mock her that I was left wondering why she hadn't been using a false surname all along, to avoid ANYONE she met making the connection.) It was, again, needless angst that dragged the story on a bit longer than necessary.

There is also a suggestion of "kidnapping" thrown in at the end - which normally wouldn't have even registered with me, except that the author's reliance on it in the first novel was one thing that left a bad taste in my mouth. I would have been perfectly happy if it had not been suggested as a viable alternative (even if it was quickly shot down) in this novel.

However, all in all, it was an enjoyable read. It may not be the strongest piece of romance fiction out there (maybe not even the best work this author has done, though I'll wait until I re-read her other work to judge), but it was LEAGUES above the first novel in this series.
1154871
Not the best storyline, I think they are all equally great. But this book has a kick arse heroine in Becca. No bouts of the inconsistencies that plagued other heroines. She was who she was supposed to be. No switching between two personas. I never focus my reviews on the male characters because they are usually pretty solid, even if a little stubborn. No exception in this book. And of course there Ms Gerri...
2050746
Her leading character, Barnaby and his wife  are personable, not anti heroes. The minor characters are well delineated and the suspense and plot serves them well..