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A Lady Awakened [Kindle Edition]

Cecilia Grant (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) |
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Product Description

Product Description

In Cecilia Grant’s emotionally rich and deeply passionate Regency romance debut, a deal with a rumored rogue turns a proper young woman into . . . A Lady Awakened.

Newly widowed and desperate to protect her estate and beloved servants from her malevolent brother-in-law, Martha Russell conceives a daring plan. Or rather, a daring plan to conceive. After all, if she has an heir on the way, her future will be secured. Forsaking all she knows of propriety, Martha approaches her neighbor, a London exile with a wicked reputation, and offers a strictly business proposition: a month of illicit interludes . . . for a fee.

Theophilus Mirkwood ought to be insulted. Should be appalled. But how can he resist this siren in widow’s weeds, whose offer is simply too outrageously tempting to decline? Determined she’ll get her money’s worth, Theo endeavors to awaken this shamefully neglected beauty to the pleasures of the flesh—only to find her dead set against taking any enjoyment in the scandalous bargain. Surely she can’t resist him forever. But could a lady’s sweet surrender open their hearts to the most unexpected arrival of all . . . love?


From the Paperback edition.

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 578 KB
  • Print Length: 370 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0553593838
  • Publisher: Bantam (27 Dec 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B0053CTN1W
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #16,350 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Cecilia Grant
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Martha has been recently widowed and when details about the heir (her late husband's brother) come to light, she realises that she has to do something. 'Something' is hiring feckless Theo Mirkwood to impregnate her so that she can have a son who will inherit. They're opposites - she holds herself tightly together, repressed even and antisocial. He's an aimless, reckless boy. Martha (Mrs Russell) is determined not to enjoy fornication, and nothing Theo can do will persuade her. She's stubborn; he's stubborn and sexually experienced and believes his sexual prowess will make up for all other faults.

So far, so cliched. But the hero and heroine don't have fantastic sex their first time together and she isn't set alight by him when they touch. They both have (especially Theo) their own character arc, independent of the relationship. And when they finally do fall in love, it's explosive. There are genuine problems, no contrived 'misunderstandings' and the whole book is written beautifully - thoughtfully.

This is a very unusual romance novel and will not be to everyone's taste. The phrasing, especially the use of 'one' (as in: 'One tries not to think of him') is very much in character for Martha and isn't over-used. Subtle jokes about 'duty sex'. Sections of talk about agriculture. There's even a small hint of femdom. Martha is a strong, principled character and Theo has to find a way to work with her on her own terms, and he does this, without giving up who he is (a sociable, fun loving person). They genuinely meet in middle.

It's laugh out loud funny, touching, and I couldn't stop reading.

Wish I'd waited and bought a paper copy now, rather than giving in and buying the e-book, as this should be on my keeper shelf. Cecelia Grant has just been put on my 'auto buy' list.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Book Gannet TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Martha Russell needs a baby. More than that she needs an heir. Newly widowed, she has one month to prove she's pregnant or her home passes to her deceased husband's brother - a man with a dubious reputation. Unfortunately for the good of the household and tenants, Martha already knows she's not carrying her husband's child. So perhaps it's time to look elsewhere...

Luckily for her the neighbour's scrapegrace heir has been sent to rusticate in the country. Surely such a man would be grateful for a little diversion while waiting to return to his London life. But securing his help is only the first of many trials that lie ahead for both Martha and Theo. After all, making a baby is one thing, but love is quite another.

On first glance this book sounds likes a good old Rake and the Widow tale, but in truth it's much more than that. Firstly Theo's more of a wastrel than a rake. Adored by his mother and sisters, largely ignored by his father and chased by ladies with amorous intentions, Theo's happily drifted through life. He's not scandalous or mean, but he is very expensive, which is how he ends up in Sussex. However, while he might start off dreaming of ways to escape, he soon finds plenty more reasons to stay. Of which Martha is just one.

Serious, reserved and very, very proper Martha is not the least romantic. In fact she's quite priggish, very judgemental and not always particularly nice. But at heart she is trying to do her best. Personally I quite liked her (though I'm not sure everyone would), and I loved that she didn't turn into a harlot the second she starts sleeping with Theo. True, I did feel bad for him as he's reduced to a humiliated stud, but their lacklustre love affair is counter-balanced beautifully by their growing friendship outside the bed. And the heat does turn up eventually.

Starting out as two quite flawed characters, their personal development throughout is a delight to read. As the awkwardness and differences in their personalities are slowly worn down, it makes every major milestone in their relationship truly satisfying to read. To the point that I found the ending a little abrupt. I was definitely left wanting more.

As excellent debut, I can't wait to see how A Gentleman Undone turns out.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  83 reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
I'm stunned (but obviously not speechless) 12 Nov 2011
By Ann Elliot - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This book could not have surprised me more if it had fallen from the sky and smacked me on the head.

I chose an ARC of the book and felt some regret when it arrived. The characters are not immediately likeable and the plot is morally reprehensible.

Martha, the heroine, is prudish, judgemental and a hypocrite of great magnitude who mentally condemns a congregation member for falling asleep during Sunday service, even as she is plotting to cheat a stranger of his inheritance by doing her best to become pregnant by another stranger.

Theo, the hero, is the hapless new neightbor who agrees to help Martha in her pregnancy plot. He is 26, but his maturity level is that of a 15-year-old.

Theo's sense of worth derives from his only skill--pleasing women in bed. Martha's sense of worth derives from her image as a morally upright pillar of rectitude. Their daily "exercises" in bed are doomed. He is duty bound to give her pleasure; she cannot let herself feel pleasure or she will cease to be a "good" person.

The daily bedding contains some of the most awkward, frustrating, funny, miserable sex scenes ever written.

After a chapter or two, like the moment in "Wizard of Oz" when the screen goes from black and white to color, the author's marvelous writing style kicks in and the story is transformed. Every word is chosen with care to make the tale feel authentic and often to make the reader smile. Even Martha is careful about word choice as she constantly stumbles onto double entendres and corrects herself.

The characters, like real people, are much more than they seem on the surface. They have faults, strengths, childhood difficulties to overcome and opportunities for growth.

The two find tolerance, affection and then love as they face difficulties together, not the least of which are their attempts to improve the indigent Weaver family, including a taciturn mother, large brood of children, incessantly squalling baby and a huge pig determined to move into the family living quarters.

Readers looking for a standard romance novel will be disappointed by this book and would do well to read a few reviews to know what to anticipate.

Readers looking for a charming, well-written gem of a romantic book will find this one a stunner.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Grant's writing is exquisite. 9 Nov 2011
By Old Latin teacher - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
When you set down on paper the plot to this HR, it doesn't look all that appealing and might even seem offensive to some persons' sensibilities. Newly-widowed Martha Russell wants to retain control of her late husband's estate and can only do so by producing an heir within the appropriate number of months of her first year of mourning. Unfortunately, she was not pregnant when her husband died. What to do? Hire the stud services of newly-arrived neighbor Theo Mirkwood, whose father has exiled him to their nearby Pencarragh estate as punishment for his wayward ways. She has one month to conceive or it's off to live with her brother and his wife and her brother-in-law will come to take over the Russell property.

Well, she's not as mercenary as that sounds. Said brother-in-law is not a good person. He seduces helpless women, wastes money, neglects his wife, and would care not at all about the welfare and education of the tenants at the estate or even about the condition of the estate itself. Martha wants desperately to protect those people who have been relying on her during her time as mistress of the Russell property.

Since there's a deadline for getting pregnant, we have sex scenes early on in the book, but it's business-arrangement sex for a good part of the story. Martha is bound and determined not to have any pleasure in their encounters and encourages Theo to just do it and get it over with every time they have sex. No dawdling around with unnecessary kissing and foreplay. Enjoying the experience would only add to the guilt she's already feeling about what she is doing.

Well, the rest you just have to read. Theo isn't into necrophilia so he's working towards getting some response from her in bed, while she is blocking his attempts at all cost. And at the same time, out of bed they are becoming acquainted with each other as real people, not just sex partners. Martha begins to see the goodness and responsibility hiding in Theo's fun-loving persona. Theo sees the real caring and feeling woman that cool and aloof Martha works so hard to hide from others.

The best thing about the book is the beautiful writing. I venture to say I enjoyed the way the story is written much more than the story itself. This is polished, flowing, wonderful writing and was a joy to read. Very few authors of mass market paperback HRs write this well. IMO, Grant is in a class with Joanna Bourne and Meredith Duran, two exceptionally talented writers of HRs.

Other books and movies have tried variations on this theme of using or hiring someone, not a lover, to procreate but this one by Grant is by far the best HR with that theme that I have read. Other recent attempts have been Lorraine Heath's Waking Up With the Duke (London's Greatest Lovers) and Anna Campbell's My Reckless Surrender but Grant's is better than those. Perhaps comparable in romance and poignancy to the Grant book is the movie Firelight (Le lien secret)- Sophie Marceau (Import - All Regions), a beautiful movie set in the 1800s.
18 of 22 people found the following review helpful
A tough read for me. 7 Nov 2011
By Nikki W. - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
Well, I thought long and hard on writing this review. What would normally take me only a day or two to read took me almost three weeks. For the first 170 or so pages I despised Mrs. Russell. Actually, I think it went on longer than that. I'm not sure at what point my opinion swayed, and only slightly so.

I don't know what to say. Basically, recently widowed Mrs Russell has to give birth to a male heir or she loses her land to her deceased husbands brother. After learning some disturbing news regarding him she sets out to hire someone to ensure her pregnancy. A lot happens and a lot doesn't.

I'm not sure if I would call this a romance at all. The first encounters were so difficult to read. They really didn't get better from there until nearly the end.

The one thing I found myself looking forward to was the pig. He had such a small part but every time they referred to him I got a little smile. I could almost picture him.

This read a little differently then most novels I read and that may have added to my disappointment. I guess I just didn't find the heroine very likeable or nice. I was happy over the outcome of the ending. It did start to pick up more than halfway through and Mrs. Russell gained some of my respect. All in all it was a tough read for me. I did enjoy the supporting characters as they were all very likable.
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Popular Highlights

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&quote;
Such tricky business, being a husband. Knowing when to be your wifes champion, and when to stand back that she might be her own. So many large and small skills to master beyond simply pleasing a woman in bed. &quote;
Highlighted by 5 Kindle users
&quote;
I understand you to have just proposed to engage me as your whore. He gave one last cough. Is that correct? Disapproval thinned her lips again. The better analogy is to a stud animal. My concern is only with the issue. I have no expectation of pleasure. &quote;
Highlighted by 5 Kindle users
&quote;
I only want to look. I promise well fornicate face-to-face like Christians. &quote;
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