Reviewer: Tracy The Greatest Lover Ever by Christina Brooke
Series: The Westruthers #2
Publisher: Macmillan
Publication Date: December 31st 2013
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Series Rating:
THE SWEETEST SCANDAL
Beautiful, exuberant, and stubborn Georgiana Black has more spirit than sense—which she learns when an ultimatum to the Earl of Beckenham at a London ball ends their engagement. Six years later, Georgie is less concerned with impending spinsterhood than with making sure her young sister doesn't make the same mistakes she did. But soon Georgie stumbles into a scandalous encounter with none other than her former fiancé. Beckenham is still breathtakingly desirable—and as iron-willed as ever...
THE TRUEST TEMPTATION
Beckenham's brief engagement to Georgie taught him one thing—when it comes to a wife, he wants a woman who will do her duty and cause no trouble. When the fiery Georgie falls unexpectedly into his arms, Beckenham remembers just how lushly delectable she is. Suddenly, the idea of actually marrying Georgie is irresistible. In The Greatest Lover Ever, convincing her will take more than a simple proposal, however. Georgie and Beckenham finally have a second chance at love. But in a battle of wills, can passion conquer pride?
Tracy’s review of The Greatest Lover Ever (The Westruthers #2) by Christina Brooke
Georgie is beautiful and loves getting the most out of life. She loves teasing her fiancé with the thought that she might ditch him for another man but she loves him so she would never go through with it. It’s all in good fun until her fiancé, Marcus, the Earl of Beckenham, challenges another man to a duel – a man Georgie has been teasing Marcus with. Marcus won’t back out even when Georgie begs him to so she challenges him with the thought – if you don’t call the duel off then I’ll call off our engagement. Needless to say Marcus didn’t call off the duel and the pair went their separate ways.
Now it’s six years later and Georgie is in Brighton. She heads to a masqued ball to try and save her sister from ruin. The man who is having the ball is known for having parties that are not for young maidens – more for decadence. When Georgie arrives she is accosted but throws Marcus’s name out stating that she is under his protection. Since the man is related to Marcus he heads off to find Marcus and tell him there’s a willing woman waiting for him. Georgie truly had no clue that Marcus was in attendance and didn’t expect him to walk in. She’s shocked when he tells her to take off her clothes and while things heat up between them, Georgie is sure that her disguise is one that Marcus couldn’t see through. Wrong. Marcus sees through it the minute he sees her and while he does things he shouldn’t he doesn’t let it go too far. He tries to make us for this slip by asking for Georgie’s hand in marriage but she keeps denying that she was the woman and refuses him.
Marcus’s cousin takes him on a tour of the country to try to meet a wife and at some point Georgie’s sister Violet gets in the mix and soon Marcus is considering marrying Violet. Or is he? When Violet shows up for his house party with Georgie in tow it’s Georgie he can’t stop thinking about, not her sister. He knows that Georgie is strong-willed and impetuous and all wrong as he wants a biddable wife, but he can’t seem to stop thinking about her.
This book had a great premise and I definitely enjoyed reading it. I did have some issues with several things, however and that brought my rating down.
I really liked Marcus’s journey in this book. He was pretty much a stuffed shirt at the beginning but he relaxed as the book went on and I liked him at the end. I did not like the fact that he would ever in a million years truly consider Violet as his wife. While I’d to think he was putting on a good face and just acting like he was considering marrying Violet I didn’t know that for sure and that bothered me. It was so unclear and I didn’t want a man who was in love with Georgie going after her sister!
I really liked Georgie as well but frankly I wanted to slap some sense into her a time or two. She loved Marcus but for the good of her sister and a piece of land she was willing to let them get married? Uh, no. Don’t be a martyr, chickie. I wanted her to stand tall and go for what she wanted.
In the end it all worked out but I was a bit disappointed. The big build up of the “villain” who wasn’t really a villain at all was a bit anti-climactic, I must say. It was a nice story, and I was happy with the writing style which was easy reading, but I can’t say I loved it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
This title is available from St. Martin’s Paperbacks. You can buy it here or here in e-format. The book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.