His Mistress by Morning (Avon Romantic Treasure) [Mass Market Paperback]

HIS MISTRESS BY MORNING has an intriguing plot...

26 year old spinster charlotte wilmont has been in love with sebastian marlowe, viscount trent, for as long as she can remember. she has just received an inherited ring from her aunt, a ring that has the power to grant one wish of the person wearing it. charlotte doesn't know this at the time, but after seeing sebastian one day her secret longings are voiced aloud. she wishes sebastian was in love with her.

she awakens the next morning to find herself in the arms of sebastian after a night of passion and she's of course very confused because whereas the day before she was an on the shelf spinster, she is now the most celebrated cyprian in london and sebastian is her lover...and very much in love with her. however, sebastian isn't a rich lover and therefore must marry an heiress in order for him to save his family from financial ruin.

i purchased this book because i was curious to see how the author would pull this storyline out and unfortunately, i was disappointed with the results. while i found charlotte to be a tolerable heroine, her preoccupation with all things sebastian left her characterization threadbare. it seemed everything she did was for the sole purpose of obtaining sebastian's adoration, and this despite the fact that the reader learns nothing of why she loves him in the first place. i mean, we're told he's honorable and dependable and boring despite being handsome, which made me wonder what charlotte saw in him other than his looks.

in the 'wish world' where she's the cyprian, sebastian is totally different. here he's a rake, charming and engaging and enjoying life, but he's behaving in the opposite manner as he was in the 'world before the wish is made', so basically she's enamored with a totally different side of this guy.not to mention the fact that charlotte's alternate persona 'lottie' comes across as a mercenary and materlistic person, which made it impossible for me to believe sebastian was in love with her for any other reason than the fact that she was beautiful and great in bed. i will say the author did a decent job with the love scenes, although because the characters are supposed to be already intimate at the time the 'wish world' begins, there was a lack of build up, kind of like sex without foreplay.

the time the author spends in the 'wish world' is too long, so that by the time charlotte goes from cyprian back to spinster there are roughly one hundred pages left for her to get sebastian to fall in love with her. she uses information she gained as the cyprian in the 'wish world' to woo him, which seemed to me like cheating instead of her actually having an inate knowledge of her supposed beloved. i mean, if i had the cheat sheet to what pleased the man i loved, of course he'd fall in love with me, right? it made it seem as though their love was manipulated moreso than fated and took all of the romance of discovery out of the mix.

the ending was extremely rushed. it was like one minute sebastian is wondering who this new charlotte is (because of course she adopts some of her 'lottie' personality in her attempts to woo him) and the next minute he's in love with her. it really seemed to happen just that fast. again, very little build up.

so while i appreciate the author's original concept, i can't recommend this book. the characterization of both hero and heroine was sketchy, the heroine's singular purpose of getting the hero to fall in love with her left her uninteresting to me, and while the love scenes were done well, the lack of build up of the whole love story made me feel like they were strangers highly attracted to each other sexually, but with no other common interests to a warrant a long-lasting love.

But I found this book to be an unpleasant read. There is just so much "what if's" that I can handle: I can handle the "magic ring" idea; I can handle the two undefined magical entities that have powers to grant wishes. But the device that I found uncomfortable was the transforming of the main character into a different person. (Not pretending to be a different person--actually becoming a different person--different name, different social class, different morals, different family relationships and personal history). Part of the disconfort was that this person was so different from the real & basic personality that matched the character and it had the effect of being caught in a nightmare. The character wasn't comfortable in her new skin and neither was I.

Another part was the arbitrary way in which the author caused selected parts of the new peripheral reality to change to suit her purposes. Some of the people and circumstances of the "before" world changed in confusing and differing proportions and directions. Even fantasy has to have consistency.

Then there is the change back to her original persona. She is no longer exactly as she was before the experience (which makes sense), but now she is almost the person she temporarily became and didn't like being, but back as herself, which makes no sense at all. The books ending hints that other "magic ring" stories will follow. Frankly, I plan to skip this whole series!

I just adore this book! Ms. Boyle has taken the typical romance novel, added a pinch of fantasy, and come up with something very nearly approaching perfect.

Charlotte Wilmont is desperately in Love with straightlaced Sebastian Marlowe, Vicount Trent, but she is a friend of his sister, a shy spinster who fades into the woodwork whenever he comes near. Enter one magical ring, a pseudo fairy godmother and a desparate wish and overnight Charlotte becomes Lottie Townsend, London's most sought after courtesan. And, more importantly, the person Sebastian (now a rake) is madly in love with. It's a very interesting journey to see what the world is like that would turn our Charlotte into a fallen lady. How it affects her friends and the people and world around her. And while she blossoms and grows under Sebastians attentions it soon becomes apparent that her new world is not all it's cracked up to be.

The book is, by turns, funny and sad, sexy and sweet. Lots of passion, but always with great feeling. And watch out for that magical couple Milton and Quince. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of them.

I love the entire book, but I confess I've read the last third of the book about a dozen times now. This one is going on my list as one of the best books I've ever read. Bravo!