Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

Rowena’s review of In Total Surrender by Anne Mallory.

Hero: Andreas Merrick
Heroine: Phoebe Pace

Andreas Merrick is the king of London’s dark underworld, having amassed unimaginable wealth and power . . . and a fierce reputation that leaves even the bravest men quaking in their boots. Yet one person is maddeningly unintimidated by his fearsome presence: the persistent Miss Phoebe Pace.

And one kiss always leads to another . . .

Equal parts honey and steel, Phoebe will stop at nothing to find her missing brother and save her family. Though associating with Andreas means peril and scandal, she never expects to experience a passion so intense that it threatens to consume her. But enigmatic Andreas is no ordinary man to love. He brings dangers from all sides— without and within—while tempting her beyond her wildest dreams . . .

It was hard to get into this book because the book is mostly told through the hero’s POV and that’s different from what I’m used to. Another thing that made it so different is the hero is a killer. He’s the lord of the underworld and taking peoples lives is something he does without thought. I’m used to that when I’m reading a paranormal but not really when I’m reading a historical. It was kind of unnerving, reading Andreas’ thoughts. He’s so dark but he was compelling as well.

One thing that jumped out at me when I was reading this book was, “Why isn’t Phoebe scared of him?” Hell, I was scared of him but over the course of this book, I softened toward him and then fell in love with him. We got a lot of page time reading through his thoughts and it took some getting used to but it wasn’t bad.

I will say that I spent a great deal of this book confused as all get out. There was just so much going on. You have quite a lot to keep up with, there’s the business with the debt, Phoebe’s brothers disappearing and everything with Andreas and Phoebe. It did make the reading experience fly by because I wanted to find out what happened next and so I kept turning the pages but my enjoyment of this book suffered just a tiny bit while I tried to make sense of what I was reading and keep everything straight in my head.

The romance between Andreas and Phoebe was entertaining and I enjoyed watching them go at it. After I got over the fact that Phoebe wasn’t scared of Andreas as any woman with sense would be, I felt that Mallory did a wonderful job with this pairing. There wasn’t another woman in this book who was as perfect for Andreas as Phoebe was. The romance built slowly but I liked it. I thought the way that Mallory dragged their romance out made the story that much more enjoyable because the tension is definitely there in spades.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and that’s saying something because throughout most of the book, Andreas is a dick but I never hated him. Phoebe was one of those heroines that took some getting used to with the way she was and the easy way she fit into Andreas’ life. He was like a historical mob King and she was his old lady.

This is one of those historical books that you should definitely check out. It’s interesting to get so much page time with the hero and I found that it was enjoyable. The romance between Andreas and Phoebe was slow but it felt right and I appreciated Mallory’s efforts with this book. I liked it.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here.

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

Rowena’s review of One Night is Never Enough by Anne Mallory.

Hero: Roman Merrick
Heroine: Lady Charlotte Chatsworth

From the first glimpse he knew he must have her — even if only for a single night . . .

Powerful, ruthless, seductive—the lord of London’s underworld—Roman Merrick gets anything he wants . . . and he burns for Charlotte Chatsworth, a polished jewel in the glittering ton. So he engages her debt-ridden gambler father in a game of chance, wagering ten thousand pounds against one night with the man’s exquisite daughter. And Roman Merrick never loses.

But one night is never enough . . .

Charlotte is devastated to learn that her reprobate father has lost her in a card game to the most dangerous man she’s ever met. With the threat of ruin behind every corner, Charlotte embarks upon a perilous path with the man she cannot forget. But in truth, it’s Roman who has everything to lose—for a game undertaken for pleasure alone soon has him gambling his heart. And love and passion unleashed could bring his great, dark empire tumbling down . . .

I’m trying to remember if I’ve read anything by Anne Mallory but nothing is jumping out at me. The thing that drew me to this particular book was the cover. I love the colors, so soft and inviting. The blurb did a great job of making me curious and when I flipped to the last page of this book, I was glad that I finished it.

This book follows Roman Merrick and Lady Charlotte Chatsworth down their road to true love. Roman is not of the ton, he’s like the historical mob leader and he’s a man of shady character and he won Lady Charlotte’s company for a night from her father. Yep, you read that right. Charlotte’s father gambled his daughter away for a night and lost. Roman collected and that night set off the story.

There were a lot of things going on in this story and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t feel like I connected with either Charlotte or Roman very much throughout the story. There was a lot of game playing going on and from time to time, it got a bit tiring.

Charlotte was a hard character to get a handle on. She was good to her sister and you could see her fighting her feelings for Roman and I enjoyed getting to know her but I didn’t really connect with her character. I felt bad for her because she had a horrid father but I think her relationship with her sister Emily made up for having such a rotten father and the way that her mother came around in the end was nice but overall, Charlotte wasn’t a very memorable character.

Roman was a much more colorful character and I enjoyed getting to know him. He spoke in riddles, he crept behind draperies and he was a fun character to get to know. I will admit that it was his brother Andreas that I was more intrigued by but Roman wasn’t a bad sort (no matter what he’d have you believe). There were a time or two that he would make me crack a smile and get all excited but for the most part, I was confused by what he was doing with Charlotte.

I’m interested to see if this book will be turned into a series because there were a lot of things that were left unsaid and a lot of questions rose after I closed this book. Who exactly is Andreas family? What about Emily? I’m curious enough to want to read more from these characters. I did enjoy the book but I didn’t exactly love it. All of the games, all of the riddles and all of the sneaking around dampened my enjoyment but still, it’s good.

Grade: 3 out of 5.

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.