Thursday, May 03, 2012

The Kiss of a Stranger by Sarah M. Eden

When Crispin, Lord Cavratt, thoroughly and scandalously kisses a serving woman in the garden of a country inn, he assumes the encounter will be of no consequence. But he couldn't be more mistaken--the maid is not only a lady of birth, she's the niece of a very large, exceptionally angry gentlemen, who claims Crispin has compromised his niece beyond redemption. The dismayed young lord has no choice but to marry Miss Catherine Thorndale, who lacks both money and refinement and assumes all men are as vicious as her guardian uncle.

Trapped between an unwanted marriage and a hasty annulment, which would leave his reputation tainted and Catherine's utterly ruined, Crispin begins guiding his wife's transformation from a socially petrified country girl to a lady of society. Their unfolding relationship reveals encouraging surprises for both of them, and privately each of them wonders if theirs may become a true marriage of the heart. But their hopes are dashed when forces conspire to split asunder what fate has granted. As a battle of wits escalates into a life-threatening confrontation, will it be possible for Crispin and Catherine to live happily ever after?

I'm sure you are all aware of this by now, but I love Marcia Lynn McClure books. If you are not familiar with them, they are CLEAN romance novels (which are hard to come by these days!). Imagine my excitement when I discovered a new author, Sarah M. Eden, who also writes clean romance. This book happened to be our book club pick for this month, and I was so excited to read it!

Now that I have, in fact, read it.... I was a little bit disappointed. I liked the story, and it had the romance factor, but I really struggled with the story being told from both perspectives. Normally it seems like these kinds of books are told from the damsel-in-distress's point of view. It was a strange to have an insight into the "hero's" insecure thoughts and his doubts about Catherine's ability to fend for herself. In fact, I was a little annoyed at the fact that he thought Catherine was in constant need of rescuing.

Other than that, I quite liked the writing style and would read more from Sarah M. Eden. And I would highly recommend her books (along with Marcia Lynn McClure novels) to anyone seeking a good love story without the heaving bosoms and bodice-ripping and such. :)

Happy Reading!

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