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Ariel, especially, made me feel for her. A very naïve young woman, unloved by her father, growing up with no brothers or sisters, she didn't have the raising to know how to act with people, what deceivers they can be. Her mother was a gypsy who died in childbirth, her father an Earl - a cold, distant man - and that gypsy taint already marks Ariel in the Ton's eyes. This sets poor Ariel up to be an easy mark to be seduced by a scoundrel who promises her something she has never known ¯ love. When they're caught in a compromising position, she's ruined, teaching a young Ariel men are not to be trusted. Two years later, she returns to London - pushed by her cousin, Phoebe. Now married, Phoebe hopes the years have made London forget Ariel's scandal. But they have not. It's heartbreaking for the reader to see Ariel's sense of always being on the outside. It makes her easy prey when Nathan Trevain, the future Duke of Davenport tries to befriend her. He proposes they pretend they're engaged. However, the reader knows Trevain is setting out to use Ariel. His reasons for using Ariel are with good purpose. He is not a cad, but is out to save someone close to him. Don't you just love it when the dark deadly alpha male is caught in his own trap?
Trevain's plans to use Ariel gets out of hand when he's forced to kidnap her. Ariel, a wee bit fed up with people using her, is not about to make it easy on the handsome man. The kidnapping quickly blows up in his face, with spunky Ariel handling her situation with a determination that has to win your heart.
What strikes me most about Britton is her gentle humor. In one instance, when Ariel escapes Nathan, falls into a pond, and nearly drowns, instead of total panic one might expect it's written with a deft handling. I won't spoil it ¯ but it's surprisingly original. Overall, it shows Britton has a style that should improve, as she grows surer of her craft, promising more novels that are delightful for readers.
First of all, the dialog was stilted. It went around and around in repetitive circles, and occassionally meandered without any point whatsoever. I suppose some of their conversation was meant to be witty reparte, but with such bad dialog, it was really hard to tell. Also, I don't define being rude or hurtfull as "witty," no matter how clever the insult--and these characters were insulting and rude to one another a lot.
Secondly, the characters. Oh, boy. Nathan, the hero, started out as your typical dark, mysterious, Byronic-type--which is great--but I quickly lost any liking or interest for him. There is really no excuse for the way he deceives and treats the heroine, and even though he suffers guilt pangs about it, he is still cruel to her. And the way he keeps thinking that all women are betrayers reminded me of a serial killer. Basically, he's like Eeyore with really nasty teeth: a little black cloud hangs over his head constantly, and he lashes out meanly at everyone else because HE has problems.
Ariel, meanwhile, is very blah. While I sympathized with her anger at being ostracized from society, she didn't seem to have a heart to me. She's simply a very angry, bitter, cold character.
As for the plot... did the author bother to think about it at all? Her book is supposed to be humorous, but humor seems like an insult when there's a man being beaten to death (a scene that was very difficult to read, and which should have been cut out, by the way). One of the things I really appreciated about Britton's earlier novel was that it was apparent a lot of thought had gone into it. Not so with ENCHANTED BY YOUR KISSES.
I did chuckle once or twice during EBYK, and perhaps by the end of the book the two characters overcome their differences, yada yada yada (though I probably wouln't have believed it), but the truth is, by page two hundred, I simply didn't care. While I would recommend MY FALLEN ANGEL without reservation, I would definitely NOT recommend EBYK. Hopefully the author's next work (which is supposed to be a sequel to MFA) will turn out better.
Two years later, Nathan Trevain seeks information about his missing brother. He feels Ariel can be of help, but decides to hide his identity as the heir to the Dukedom of Davenport. Soon Ariel ignores her vow never to give away her heart as she falls in love, but wonders if she is his lasting treasure or a moment's pleasure and, by the way, where is his sibling?
ENCHANTED BY YOUR KISSES is an action-packed Georgian romance that never slows down until the tale is finished. The story line moves forward due to the antics of the lead couple. Ariel will gain reader empathy as she suffers the wrath of the hypocritical aristocracy for her one indiscretion while her lover receives pats on the back for scoring. Nathan knows his skills and willingly uses them, but in Ariel he meets his toughest adversary, love. In just a few years, Pamela Britton has written novels like this one and MY FALLEN ANGEL that excites sub-genre fans with their originality and powerful cast.
Harriet Klausner
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