Tag: Stephanie Laurens

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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Stephanie Laurens Cover Consult

Posted October 23, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Stephanie Laurens wants your help!  She’s going to the internet for cover consultation for her next book, AND THEN SHE FELL, an April 2013 historical romance release.  It’s the next book in her Cynster Girls series and she’s doing an online cover consultation so head on over to the link provided below to give your thoughts. How cool for readers to get this insight into the publishing process.
Sounds like an exciting way to draw readers in, be sure to head on over and check it out. 
About the book:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens has returned to another utterly irresistible branch on her beloved Cynster family tree:
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 find 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…

Sounds like another good one…woot!

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Review: In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster by Stephanie Laurens.

Posted October 24, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Rowena’s review of In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster by Stephanie Laurens.

Hero: Jeremy Carling
Heroine: Eliza Cynster

The pleasure of your company is requested at the wedding of Miss Eliza Cynster . . . but not until she’s rescued from a daring abduction by the most unexpected of heroes!

Brazenly kidnapped from her sister Heather’s engagement ball, Eliza Cynster is spirited north to Edinburgh. Desperate and deter-mined to escape, she seizes upon the first possible champion who happens along— gentleman scholar Jeremy Carling.

Villains and rescues are a far cry from Jeremy’s expertise, yet he cannot abandon a damsel in distress. But danger lurks and hurdles abound in their race to escape the mysterious laird, until a final confrontation on a windswept cliff reveals what their future life could hold—if both are bold enough to seize and own the unexpected love they now share.

This is the book that follows Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue and at the end of that book, Heather’s sister Eliza is snatched from her engagement ball. This book follows what happens after that. While Heather and Breckenridge’s story spent most of the book trying to figure who was behind the kidnapping and what the kidnapper wanted with the Cynster girls, Eliza’s book spent more time dealing with her actual escape from her captors. Other than that, the books were a great deal alike in storyline.

Eliza catches the eye of Jeremy Carling and it was Jeremy who came through and rescued her and it was at times entertaining to watch these two grow closer and closer. I enjoyed the romance that popped up between these two but if I’m being honest, I’m not sure how many more books by Stephanie Laurens I can read because she’s starting to remind me of Diana Gabaldon with her three million words to describe every minute detail of what’s going on. I don’t need to read about them checking the map at every turn of the corner. I’m telling you now like I told you when I read Outlander. This book could have been just as good without so many hot damn words. They could have chopped this book in half and I think we still would have gotten a fabulous story about two people falling in love. It was just a struggle to read through every single word in this book because there were so freaking many.

My favorite thing about this book was the hero. Jeremy Carling is one of those bookish nerdy heroes that I just absolutely adored. I thought the way that he came to Eliza’s rescue despite not being a soldier or warrior was so cute and the protective way he became over her had me sighing all over the place. His character really came to life over the course of this book and I wish more words were spent describing him than on the places they were at and stuff like that.

I liked Eliza better than I liked Heather but there were times when I wanted to give her a swift kick in the arse. Must be that Cynster blood running through her. I thought that the way that Eliza and Jeremy came together, the way that they fell in love was totally believable and it felt real. I enjoyed being a part of their journey even if I wish the journey was cut a little short.

Overall, this is a good addition to the series and I’m not mad that I read it. It’s going to be interesting to see where this all ends because McKinsey is running out of Cynster girls to kidnap to keep his crazy psycho Mom at bay. I’m enjoying catching the little glimpses of him and even though I’m a little wary from all the words I’ll have to read in the next book, I think I’m going to read it just so that I can finish this out.

Grade: 3 out of 5

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

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Review: Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens.

Posted September 15, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 4 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Rowena’s review of Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue (Cynster Bride, Book 1) by Stephanie Laurens.

Hero: Viscount Breckenridge
Heroine: Heather Cynster

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Heather Cynster …but not before she encounters kidnappers, danger, and a daring rescue at the hands of Viscount Breckenridge…


Determined to hunt down her very own hero, one who will sweep her off her feet and into wedded bliss, Heather Cynster steps out of her safe world and boldly attends a racy soiree. But her promising hunt is ruined by the supremely interfering Viscount Breckenridge, who whisks her out of scandal—straight into danger, when a mysterious enemy seizes her, bundles her into a coach, and spirits her out of London.


Now it’s up to the notorious Breckenridge to prove himself the hero she’s been searching for all along…

When word got to me that Stephanie Laurens was writing a new series, I was hopeful that I’d enjoy it as much as I enjoyed (if not more) than the last series, The Black Cobra Quartet. I picked up this book thinking that it would be another wonderful start to a great series and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t absolutely love it. I will say that Stephanie Laurens knows how to tell a story that makes you want to keep with the story until the very end. She does a fantastic job of hooking her claws into the reader and not letting go because that’s what happened with this story, for me.

This story follows Heather Cynster and Viscount Breckenridge as they set about trying to figure out who kidnapped her and what his plans are after he’s got her. Heather is taken captive by two thugs and a lady’s maid who have explicit orders to deliver the Cynster girl to Scotland where the guy who hired them will take over the care of Heather. The only person that saw Heather being kidnapped is the one guy that drives Heather up the wall. He’s a rake and a scoundrel and doesn’t like girls like her even though she might have had a crush on him but she’s over that and over him so when she runs into him at a social function, she’s not all that happy about it and she’s even more unhappy when she runs into him outside but all of that unhappiness fades away when he becomes the one person that can save her from her kidnappers.

The story follows Heather and her kidnappers with Breckenridge following close behind, playing the role of weary traveler as they make their trek to Scotland to meet the guy who hired the thugs to kidnap the Cynster girl. Breckenridge thought it would be wise for him to take Heather away as soon as possible to limit the damage done to her reputation and because he could a lot more for her in England than he could in Scotland. But Heather knows that if she goes away with Breckenridge, they might not ever find out who is behind the kidnapping and what his true purpose was in the kidnapping so Heather convinces Breckenridge to play along.

This is a romance so you know what happened along the way…Heather and Breckenridge got closer and closer and then BAM! They were doing the nasty and falling in love, only Breckenridge was too stubborn to admit it and Heather wasn’t having any of this half ass proposals either. She knew that society dictated that they marry since they’ve been in each other’s company for quite some time now and she knew that Breckenridge wanted to do right by her but she’s a Cynster and there was no way that she was going to settle for anything less than love in a marriage. It was hard to fault her since she’s surrounded by all of those love matches in her family. I thought that I’d be more annoyed with her stubbornness for not wanting to marry Breckenridge but surprisingly, I was more annoyed with his stubbornness to not fess up to his true feelings because of his heartbreak before than I was with Heather for anything, period.

Overall, the story flowed well and the romance between the hero and the heroine was easy to fall into but there wasn’t much meat to the other characters in the book that I usually enjoy in other books by Stephanie Laurens. I’m mighty intrigued with the whole mysterious Laird who’s got a crazy mother and in need of a goblet to save his clan….that is proving to be a most promising storyline, one that I’m looking forward to reading.

I think what didn’t exactly win me over is that while Heather and Breckenridge are front and center throughout the entire book, at the end I didn’t feel as if I had a clear grasp on either of their characters. I knew what they went through and I knew how they felt for each other but I still didn’t quite know who they were. It would have been nice to be more clear on just who each of their characters were. It’s been a while since I’ve read a Cynster book so everything was kind of fuzzy for me and I don’t remember who Heather is and it would have been nice to know more about Breckenridge and who the girl was that broke his heart, you know, stuff like that.

This story was cute, I enjoyed getting to know both Heather and Breckenridge. Breckenridge is one sexy beast and I look forward to seeing more of him and Heather throughout the other books. I’m looking forward to reading Eliza’s story next.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

Reading Order:

This book is available from Avon and with every purchase of this book until February 28, 2012, Avon will donate 25¢ to ovarian cancer research. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Book Watch: Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens.

Posted August 14, 2011 by Rowena in Promotions | 2 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins



You are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Heather Cynster . . . but not before she encounters kidnappers, danger, and a daring rescue at the hands of Viscount Breckenridge.

Determined to hunt down her very own hero, one who will sweep her off her feet and into wedded bliss, and despairing of finding him in London’s staid ballrooms, Heather Cynster steps out of her safe world and boldly attends a racy soiree.

But her promising hunt is ruined by the supremely interfering Viscount Breckenridge, who whisks her out of scandal—and straight into danger, when a mysterious enemy seizes her, bundles her into a coach, and conveys her out of London.

Now it’s up to the notorious Breckenridge to prove himself the hero she’s been searching for all along . . .

And coming next month, more unforgettable romance in the Cynster Sisters Trilogy.

I’ve had my eye on this series for a while now. I read the last Laurens series and enjoyed it a great deal so I’m looking forward to seeing what she brings to this new branch of the Cynster family, I remember the girls from previous books so it’s good that they’re finally getting their own stories and I’ve already started this book and I’m pretty stoked with it so far.

This book comes out at the end of this month, August 30, 2011 so mark your calendars ladies, this series promises to bring more historical romance goodness to us and I can’t wait!

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