I also did not like the fact that the heroine was impregnated by both ...
586234
This series had few typos in it and sometimes I had to re-read the passage to follow what the writer was trying to say.  And why were there so many instances where the writer re-wrote the exact same passage with just a few changes right behind the previous one?

SPOILERS!!!

 I also did not like the fact that the heroine was impregnated by both men during the same time period. Eew!! Nor did I like the fact that she was made a slave to the princess to perform sex acts on her and like it!!

Overall I thought this series was okay but I would not be interested in reading the follow-up story with Raina and Haythem.
3107676
This is the second book by L. Norton I have tried to finish and could not.  Her style of writing just doesn't appeal to me -- perhaps it is her Regency books that don't sit well with my taste.

Her writing in this book and the other I tried to read seem to have a too modern feel.  The heroine in this book was such a watering pot I couldn't connect with her.  The backstory of the main characters was that they had been in love, his offer for her hand refused by her father and she was forced to marry another man. Her husband was abusive and your basic lowlife.  The hero was a second son and married a woman he didn't love but cared for.  His wife died --  the heroine's husband died while in bed with his mistress.  The hero's brother died and the hero gained a title.

Every word spoken to the heroine about the past or of the hero brings tears to her eyes --  at least that was how it seemed in the chapters I did get through.  I couldn't warm up to her at all.
3686826
I enjoyed the first book in this series so much, I ran out to get Grave Consequences as soon as it hit the store.  I must admit that I stopped reading word for word about half way through the story and skimmed through to the end.  When an author creates two compelling, likeable characters who are vying for the heroine's affections, it is possible that the reader will not like the heroine's choice.  I didn't care for Cora's choice and the direction of the book from that point.  I also agree that the story bogged down in places as well and not even the historical details could capture my interest again.
4474805
This author has created a hero and heroine who are amoral. To each their own fantasy, but here we have a fluff-brained heroine who is a social worker, but still cares nothing about the moral character of her hero. Many readers find that okay, but I found myself wanting to scrub my brain with Clorox.

The 'hero' of this book stalks the heroine, hires a sleazebag to molest her so the 'hero' can save her, then he slowly pulls her into his world. I was kinda enjoying the story up to this point, because it was clear who the hero was, and why he wanted to be close to the heroine. Also thought he genuinely saved her ... not that it was a sicko setup.

Then we learn he deals drugs for a living. Holy crapoly. Seriously? Call me old-fashioned, but I kinda like a hero I can admire at least a little bit! He also gouges eyes out when he's angry, takes one of the heroine's street kids in and turns him into a drug mule and gets him killed, beats up innocent people who demand he move his fancy car from the middle of an intersection ... yeah, he's soooo sexy. Not. Ick, ick, ick.

The heroine ... I think the author was trying to channel Kristen Ashley, as we get lots of 'breathy' utterances and the heroine suddenly getting 'cute' and 'funny' at weird moments, as well as being showered with bizarre amounts of new clothes and lingerie by the hero. She is a social worker, but thinks it is just fine that the hero deals the drugs that have brought her young clients to ruin. She also stops taking the pill so she'll get pregnant ... oh, Lord, the list goes on.

This is a train wreck in so many ways. I will be staying far, far away from anything else written by this author.
4399535
This book had it's good points:  The hero is not depicted as a total rake (I hate the "Duke of Slut" heroes!); he seemed to love the heroine for her intellect as well as her beauty.  That being said, it's just unfortunate that Elizabeth's intellect was often non-existent.  Her brother is a de'r-do-well gambler and proven liar who was willing to sell her off to the highest bidder, then leaves her holding the bag when the poo hits the fan, yet she believes and trusts him implicitly when he returns, and does what he tells her to do without discussing the situation with her husband.

The other bad points:  this book was WAY too long.  I don't mind a lengthy novel if the storyline justifies the length.  However, here it didn't. Also, I had a very hard time believing Elizabeth could have been that ignorant about sex on her wedding night, (to the point of believing a wife just kissed her husband in bed to get pregnant), especially after the heavy petting she and Ian engaged in at the house party.  I found this so ridiculous.  Finally, the ending was way too pat; it was wrapped up so quickly, it felt rushed, but then the author probably had to do that because the book was so long already.
3102834
The title of my review says it all, if I cannot like the heroine, that pretty much ruins a romance for me. This storyline has been told before many many times, and I always enjoy reading it or watching,  such as in the movie Pretty woman, but in this case, Grey the heroine was too reactionary to her father and certainly too self-absorbed when she was with Dawson. The part of the proposal and the back door birthday present was beyond believable and trite to the point of painfulness, pardon the pun. If the book had stopped somewhere before these things happened,  I think I might have even liked it slightly. I should have dnf-ed it at 80%.
1659264
I could have done without all the references to Isabel's and Cade's former one night stand (that serves to fuel their lingering attraction for each other). I wish the authors had used a different scenario for getting these two main characters together (as well as not having them sleeping together while secretly dating). I also didn't like that Cade seemed to turn to alcohol fairly often--something that seems odd for a race car driver to be imbibing in--though to be fair, he never drove his race car while under the influence.

I did like the two main characters: Cade, a hard charging NASCAR driver who always thought his brother would be the one to carry on the family racing legacy, and Isabel, a marketing representative who has mostly focused on her career and who has had several family disappointments that have built a fence around her heart. I liked that both had family ties to their work and that their families seemed, underneath it all, to be supportive.
417169
This was beyond me. There was no chemistry between the hero and the heroine. I didn't particularly like either one.  The secondary story was a good diversion from the shallow nature of the main story. That was the only redeeming quality in my mind.
4448943
I initially loved the verbal sparring between these two it was obvious from the start they would be an excellent match, however, I became very annoyed with all the possessiveness both the hero and the villain were showing towards the heroine. If there's one thing I can't stand in a romance it is possessive, controlling, jealous men. It takes a lot of the romance out of the story as far as I'm concerned. I did like the heroine's character, she was a very likeable person especially when it came to her sister's happiness. I also felt this story was a little bit long, towards the end I was starting to skip bits to finish the book.
2753301
This was highly unoriginal - girl finds out BF is shady, discovers she's pregnant, and decides she can't live with his morals so she disappears. The second chance part was sort of original - she stupidly gets married to a guy that she does't know is shady, but discovers it, and leaves him too, so the the original BF is hired to kill her.  I hate books where the hero - or heroine - actually think about pulling the trigger on someone they have feelings for - not negative feelings, positive feelings.  Then the typical bad guy with a good internal compass surfaces, and you know how the rest of the story goes.  It was KU - the second book included for "free" was marginally better.
911006
I was really liking this story until one thing. Reading about cheating when your significant other is pregnant with your child no matter what the reason is for is something that just bothers me.  Once I read that it ruined the story for me. So that's why I'm only rating it two stars.
3466218
I was hoping something similar along the lines of the previous story.  I did not like the father of the heroine, he seemed a little ridiculous in his extremes.
3050942
I thought the book was okay but not more. The heroine has some self esteem problems due to a broken engagement and certain comments made by her mother, who to me came across as bi-polar. So when the hero starts pursuing her, she does not believe him or trust him. And she is right at first. The hero appears to be the third son of a duke (we get to meet one older brother, a younger sister and we hear about 2 more younger sisters). He is carefree, just having inherited an estate and a town house, presumably with appropriate funds from his god father. He sees no need to tie himself down and does what most younger sons can't really afford, living the high life. The heroine is considered off limits due to her being the sister of (while not a close) school chum and a good friend of his highly pregnant sister-in-law. He enlists the help of the younger sister, we meet and their interactions are typical of siblings. The hero is quite believable, the heroine could not make up her mind.

There is kidnapping plot thrown in, which I thought was really unnecessary and only seemed to be the platform for the heroine to want to change her mind again.

What I did like, was the age of the hero. In most romance novels we have this thirty something hero; in reality I assume that unless he came into his title late, and then he would likely be married already, people married young.

Now this has little to do with the book and is just my take on the time the story is set in. I don't doubt that most married the "legit" society wife for the legit heir and the pressure to do so was likely real. And marrying young, providing the heir, allowed both, husband and wife to live their own lives while still relatively young. However, many had their "real" families on the side (aptly shown in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/To-Wed-a-Stranger/dp/0060502177/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">To Wed a Stranger</a>). There was a "surplus" of women, because many younger sons died fighting Napoleon. Also, women (girls in today's terms) had to marry young not only because often their families could not afford to give more than one or two "seasons" but also many died in child bed. It was not unusual for a titled man to be widowed more than once.

So with all that in mind, the heroine had good reasons to believe that this younger son who did not have to take the King's coin nor did he have to provide an heir or spare was not marriage material and as she believed herself to be only of interest to fortune hunters, her actions did make some sense. It just went on too long and too often. We do see the hero changing his mind about marriage and once he does, he works towards that goal.
1161843
This was a torture to read! I felt the Hero was callus to the extreme with his disregard toward the heroine. He told her flat out in her face that "he would never love her and that he would marry her only because he want her physically" It looked as if he would honor his vows but wouldn't really mean it! he was using her for sex and so her for nothing more than a warm willing body! (his words). Its hard to like a Hero that would not even admit the love he felt for the heroine and carry the resentment of any emotional attachment for 95% of the book? Sorry but that is to little to late for my comfort!

Heroine was a weak woman by not demanding the deep commitment that she deserved from the Hero! She though that if she loved him that would be enough for both of them and I was very upset that she would settle for scrap of attention allowing the Hero using her body but not being good enough for him as a partner whom he would have emotional commitment! How come the happiness of another human being have to be reduced for another? She fully deserved to be with someone who would reciprocate her love, but the Hero was taking her love for granted for about 95% of the book and it was not fun watching her pinning after him and him being cold and callus towards her!
4513248
I wanted to enjoy this western. But the heroine was way too annoying. There were parts that were good. The hero was great and I liked his kids. I even liked the mining town they settle in along with the townspeople. And I liked the heroine in flashes. But she was one of those people who worked against her own best interests and she did it stubbornly. I just wanted to slap some sense into her once or twice
2801918
*I am voluntarily reviewing an eARC given to me by NetGalley and the publisher*

2.5 stars

I will be honest - I knew at 15% this book was not going to be a keeper for me. I dislike reading about a "hero's" previous sexscapades and I didn't really care for the hero kissing another woman (or in this case being kissed by another woman - but not wanting to hurt her, doesn't push her away - I guess that's his story and he is sticking to it).

I am not even going to get into the plot - while the writing is fine, there are so many unbelievable scenarios that I just couldn't take this book seriously. I failed to connect with either Olivia or Thorn - in fact, I really didn't like Thorn. Olivia was OK, but she was TSTL and it bothered me that she couldn't tell the twins apart - I know they were identical and even their mother had problems telling them apart - but I still wanted to see her connect with Thorn past the physical and that didn't happen.

I have no idea when Olivia and Thorn fell in love, why they fell in love or if they will remain in love and by the end of the book, I just didn't care.

This book just was not for me and I won't be reading the rest of the series.
2983795
I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I didn't for a several reasons. For one both the hero and heroine sounded the same. It was as if the were a single person. Also I got tired of the hero bragging to others as well as thinking about: how good he is in bed, how easily he can make women come, the large amount of women he has bedded,  what a sex god he is, hot he is etc.  It was not attractive and made him sound like an immature, insecure teenager when he was the one saying and thinking it. Also the heroine's humor was too much. It needed to be dialed way back both in her thoughts and in her words. What I liked about the story was how crazy in love the hero was with the heroine and how much he was willing to pursue her to have her be with him.