Guest Review: And Then She Fell by Stephanie Laurens

Posted July 26, 2013 by Judith in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: And Then She Fell by Stephanie LaurensReviewer: Judith
And Then She Fell (Cynster, #19; The Cynster Sisters Duo, #1) by Stephanie Laurens
Series: Cynster #19, The Cynster Sisters Duo #1
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: July 1st 2013
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 448
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four-stars

The only thing more troublesome than a Cynster man...is a Cynster lady who believes love is not her destiny. Famously known in London society as "The Matchbreaker," Henrietta Cynster's uncanny skill lies in preventing ill-fated nuptials - not in falling victim to Cupid's spell.

But then she disrupts one match too many and feels honor-bound to assist dashing James Glossup in finding a suitable bride for a marriage of convenience.

A task infernally complicated by the undeniable, unquenchable attraction that flares between James and Henrietta, who continues to believe she will never fall...

Ms Laurens has again gifted her reading public with a historical romance that continues the reader’s involvement with the Cynster group, and in this story there is a very different kind of character featured as the heroine.  It is almost as if Henrietta is an anti-heroine, a woman who really never sees herself as a love interest.  Rather, she is thought to be, and rightfully so, a woman who has a gift for keeping couples apart who really shouldn’t be in any sort of relationship.   However, she never planned to be pressured by her sister who is dying to be married, has her groom all picked out (said groom is sort of cooperating in the future planning) and yet knows that if her hopes are to come to full fruit, her sister Henrietta must marry first.  She is now the possessor of the legendary pendant whose holder will be blessed with marital bliss.  Pshaw! is Henrietta’s response to all that noise, and yet she loves Mary and agrees to somehow satisfy the demands of the pendant’s legend in order to smooth the way for her sister’s future.

This is a novel that is full of the trademark wit and humor and sparkling repartee for which Ms Lauren’s books are known and prized.  She is one of my favorite authors and I always expect her characters to be full-fleshed human beings with all their ups and downs, their positives and negatives, their opinions and their hang-ups.  So it is with this story.  There’s little in this book I didn’t like, although I get impatient when characters manage to live in denial, stubbornly waiting until the last 25 pages before they realize the potential of their relationship in spite of words of wisdom they receive from everyone from the butler to the upstairs maid.  Yet the reading is truly entertaining and I found no dead spots, found that the story developed at a steady pace, and other than skipping some of the silliness of Henrietta’s friends a time or two, found this to be another really great read.

I think this is a terrific book and recommend it to those who love good historical romance fiction.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

four-stars


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One response to “Guest Review: And Then She Fell by Stephanie Laurens

  1. I’m glad you liked this book. It was my first Laurens and it frankly made me bored towards the second half. I enjoyed Henrietta and her romance, yet it was very predictable and emotionally resolved IMO after the first half of the book. The second half seemed devoted to crafting a random plot that would allow Laurens to bring in all of her past characters. So many names were referenced and, especially as a new reader, confused me to no end. Not really sure I want to go through that again. But I’m glad it worked for you. 🙂

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