The first book I read by Laura Lee Guhrke was To Dream Again, which is still on my keeper shelf, although I haven’t read it in many years. It has a very similar plot to this one – repressed heroine learns to take chances – but I don’t remember finding the heroine as blind in that one. But romance has changed since that book came out, and a heroine thinking about the consequences of sex is out of fashion these days.
And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke
(2007, Victorian) 1/4/09
Grade: 3.5
After five years as a secretary to Viscount Marlowe, Emma Dove knows all about his mistresses and his charm. But when he refuses to even read her etiquette books, she decides to take a chance and go out on her own. And Harry suddenly sees his bland secretary with new eyes. Can she resist his sensual advances, knowing that he is determined to never marry?
This book had a lot of charm, but I found the characters inconsistent. The basic plotline (the repressed heroine learns to enjoy life) was familiar, and fairly charming, but as the book continued, I began to get frustrated with the heroine. She starts out as practical and intelligent, but she loses her brains when the hero starts kissing her. And it didn’t seem realistic for her to throw all thought of consequences aside. It seemed like the heroine “knew” she was in a romance novel, and Harry was a romance hero, so she didn’t have to think about what might happen. (The Victorian setting and focus on etiquette made this loom more largely for me as a reader than it might have in a Regency.) The hero is also inconsistent, although he shows more depth as the book goes on – he seemed more clueless than deliberately stupid. Overall, the writing was smooth and I found the book entertaining, but the hero and heroine’s attitudes kept grating on me, which spoiled the book for me somewhat.
I debated about how to rate this book, because I really did enjoy many aspects of it – but with all of the emphasis on Victorian mores, the heroine’s attitude just kept bugging me, like an uncomfortable itch. One of my annoyances in romance is Romance-itis, i.e. the hero and heroine act in ways that don’t really make sense unless the hero and heroine “know” that they’re in a romance novel (and therefore the happy ending must occur). I prefer the heroines to at least consider what might happen if the hero doesn’t have “Romance Novel Hero” tattooed on his forehead. All romance is a fantasy, but I like at least the illusion of reality in my books.
Karen Wheless
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