Red Roses Mean Love [Mass Market Paperback]

Someone had hired thugs to assassinate Lord Stephen Barrett. The second attempt almost succeeded. Hayley Albright finds Stephen close to dead in the woods and takes him to her home to recover. Stephen pretends to be a tutor. With the help of his brother-in-law, Stephen decides to lay low at the Albright house for awhile and recover in hopes the culprit can be found.

Hayley's parents were years dead. Her father had died without leaving the family with much funds. Hayley, being the oldest, took control. She had to take care of five siblings and a staff. As Stephen recovered, Hayley had unknowingly shown him all that was missing in his life. Hayley's love of her family showed in everything she did. The entire family treated Stephen as one of them, instead of as a stranger. But soon, Stephen would have to return to his own world and face a killer. Hayley had her own secret: how she paid the bills.

***Everyone simply HAS to read this one! I chuckled all the way through it! I laughed out loud several times and twice had to stop to wipe the tears out of my eyes from laughing so hard! This is Jacquie D'Alessandro's debut novel. Dell Publishing was wise enough to quickly snatch up the rights to this author's second novel. With this one book, she has hit my tiny list of authors which I automatically purchase without reading the back first. If it has the name Jacquie D'Alessandro on it, it's guaranteed to please!***

This book was one of the best romance novels I've read in a while (and believe me I've gone through quite a few during my career as a romantic novel reader).

Key words to describe this novel: touching, heartwarming, romantic, genuine and sweet.

I loved how the heroine, Hayley, was such a down to earth person, genuinely kind and intelligent - we were not TOLD all the time how innocent or unlike the ton she was but is rather showed through how she speaks and acts towards those around her. The hero, Stephen, and Hayley were not stuck in the typical rake-innocent lady relationship which was really refreshing. Because of this, they were more equal in that aspect, making their interaction more believable. The chemistry between them are sweet, and slow and good (and not overly electric and steamy with the heroine blushing at every turn, as it is 90% of the time in regency novels). And the novel concentrated on not only their relationship but also each of their relationship with the other family members of the Albright family.

Stephen was also a breath of fresh air in the rake-role, though his background was very much the same as every other rake out there - he's never really known love and has had a fair share of mistresses, all of which was beautiful, sophisticated and rich ladies from the ton. But him as a person is what made me fall in love with him. The way he learned to love through Hayley's six year old sister was a nice and touching twist and how he came to find his place in the chaotic yet loving family of the Albright was so endearing and exciting to read - I didn't want to put the book down or have the story end. It was written in such a way that I just wanted to continue being part of Stephen's and the Albright's everyday life after 'the end'.

The other characters was also well rounded, and I loved that the author let us get to actually know them instead of just giving them typical lines indicating that the author just wanted to have background characters just so that the main couple wasn't the only people in the book...if that makes sense.

My last words will be of a good thing and a bad thing. I'll say the bad thing first. The big misunderstanding that weren't really a big misunderstanding....the whole novel was so lovely until that point. You know, the point where something dramatic has to happen before the main couple can finally be together. Well, I must say, in contrast to the rest of the novel, the big misunderstanding was unimpressive and not very original...and it had some logical holes...I won't describe the whole thing, but you'll probably get it when you read it. Anyway, let's just say the everything is Stephen's fault (it's all due to his needs to be the drama queen really, but thankfully he gets over it real quickly). Thank God the big misunderstanding takes only takes a tiny-tiny bit of the novel. And credits to Hayley for reacting (fairly) realistically without making the misunderstanding bigger or blowing it out of proportions (like a lot of heroines...). The bad thing isn't really that bad though, because Stephens gets over it and they have their awesome, fulfilling (for both them and me) happily ever after. I'm just a tad bit confused as to why the author took that particular 'big misunderstanding' with the plot as it all seemed so...unnecessary.

Now the good thing - the flowers. It was a nice surprise that the title actually had a purpose - as most regency novels titles is all about ravishing/scoundrel-ing/seducing highly titled people of both sexes (i.e. heiresses/heirs, marquesses/marquises, duke/duchesses etc.) Red roses means love indeed. You'll get it when you read it, and trust me, you'll probably like it.

Now, buy this book, read it, love it and review it five stars while I take a closer look on this brilliant author.

Happy reading!

This book will capture your heart! I'll be looking for more from Jacquie D'Alessandro.