Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty and entertaining, 12 Jan 2007
This is the story of the last Essex sister, Josephine. Eighteen year old Josie is not having a good Season! During her first Season in London Josie, the last of the Scottish Essex sisters, is labelled the "Scottish Sausage" by a group of malicious young bucks who think it amusing to ruin young womens chances in the marriage mart. Josie is therefore snubbed and ignored by eligible young men who might have previously thought her attractive, as they don't want to be held up for ridicule. Josie is endowed with the voluptous figure of womanhood out of a Raphael painting. The ridicule undermines her confidence in herself and she takes to wearing a ristricting corset, thinking it makes her look better. Instead, it makes matters worse.
Only after being shown by her guardian's friend, the Earl of Mayne, a sophisticated man in his middle thirties, that men like voluptuous, curvy women, does Josie shed her corset and have new dresses made which show off her figure. She then attracts men like bees to a honeypot.
However, she also attracts the lasting spite of one of the malicious young bucks, who actions will ruin her reputation. Will she be forced to marry him?
A very witty and entertaining read. I enjoyed the other Essex sisters books, but liked this the best of the lot.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not What I Expected ........31/2 stars, 3 May 2008
In the final book about the Essex sisters, James (author) has set the bar high for herself. Not only does she try to convince the reader of a romantic pairing betweeen the youngest of the sisters, sassy and outspoken Josie (18), with the familial friend (and beloved rake of her previous books) Earl of Mayne (34), but does so while proclaiming that he is in love with someone else ( and engaged!) for most of the book. While it was probably inevitable that these two would get together, it just didn't work for me and the age difference wasn't the problem.
My biggest problem was that Mayne was so supposedly in love with another woman for a good 3/4 of the book. James mentions over and over how he loves this and that about his fiance and everyone around him can see how *in love* he is with her. This distracted from the sexual tension that James could and should have exploited between Mayne and Josie earlier. There were just not enough sparks between these two and I'm still not convinced that he truly loved her in the end. Their love scenes were odd and a bit vague to me. There was no defining moment when I said -aha! - these two are in love. Maybe a grand romantic gesture/sacrifice would have convinced me.
On the other hand Mayne's sister's romance completely stole the show. Griselda trists with the dashing, but younger, Darlington added the spice and sexual tension which was sorely lacking in the book. Their love scenes were steamy. I absolutely loved the way Darlington pursued Griselda and tried to convince her that their age difference didn't matter.
So, I don't really know how to rate this book. I suspect that most readers who have been anxiously waiting for a romance for Mayne won't be dissapointed much, I just feel that James should have given him a separate book. I don't think that of all the sisters (all of whom have had romantic intentions towards Mayne at one time of another), Josie is his best match. Its more of a luke-warm pairing and not what a former rake deserves. It maybe worth it to borrow this one from the library just to read about the secondary romance, but its certainly not a shelf keeper for me.
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10 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Some people don't get this book, 30 April 2007
..but that is because they expect there to be a grand gesture the hero should make to the heroine. In real life there are no grand gestures, yet it can still be as magical and sexy as what we THINK we like about novels.
I think people should read this book properly and that the way this book is summed up, is just a fraction of this book. ( I certainly did not expect Garrett to be as fun; does any other romantic hero dress up as a woman?!)
There is absoultely no doubt that Garrett and Josie are in love with each from the start and that Garrett is not in TRUE love with Sylvie, just the idea of her mixed in with parts of her. If that makes sense?! I LOVED this book because the truly voluptuous heroine was not later on made to fit into an ideal and that the hero loved HER and she just happens to be plus size, which is also loves about her. And that the hero himself is actually a decent man who finds himself through her, he's actually quite real and not prone to stupid brooding flights of fancy like certain romantic heroes and that he KNOWS unfashionable Josie is beautiful from the start and does not need to "discover" this or doesn't just need to come to some grand conclusion.
I don't think Josie is a wallflower or annoyingly insecure as described by some reviews. She is full of life FROM THE START and she IS insecure but as she says herself, in not quite the same words as I use but the meaning is the same,!,she needs to get over this and she knows that. She is a beautifully realised character.
I have read so many novels that have similar plots, heroines, heroes etc to this but what makes this STAND OUT is that it is truly romantic. Real but not boring, so beautiful.
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