Title: Confessions
From An Arranged Marriage
The Burgundy
Club Series, Book 4
Author: Miranda
Neville
Release Date: March
27, 2012
Publisher: Avon; Harper Collins
Category: Historical
Romance
Type: Kindle/Paperback
Book Blurb:
In London after a two-year exile, Lord Blakeney plans to cut a swathe through the bedchambers of the demimonde. Marriage is not on his agenda, especially to an annoying chit like Minerva Montrose, with her superior attitude and a tendency to get into trouble. And certainly the last man Minerva wants is Blake, a careless wastrel without a thought in his handsome head.
The lights and din of her debutante ball set Minerva's teeth on edge. Surely a moment's rest could do no harm . . . until Blake mistakes her for another lady, leaving Minerva'sguests to catch them in a very compromising position. To her horror, the scandal will force them to do the unthinkable: marry. Their mutual loathing blazes into unexpected passion but Blake remains distant, desperate to hide a shameful secret. Minerva's never been a woman to take things lying down, and she'll let nothing stop her from winning his trust . . . and his heart.
Book Excerpt:
He
recovered adroitly with no more than a firmer press of his hand, warm on her
waist through her silk gown. He danced well, she grudgingly admitted, even
though she was pretty sure he was foxed. He must have shaved himself for he’d
missed a bit, on the left jaw. Fair as he was, she wouldn’t have noticed if she’d
been more than six inches away demanded by the waltz.
“Is your
valet indisposed, or were you not at home when you changed for the evening?” An
impertinent question the skirted impropriety, but there had always been
something about Blakeney that made her lose her poise and behave like an
unschooled savage.
The curve
of his lips matched hers while his eyes lit with malice. “Since you ask, Miss
Montrose, I came from Henrietta
Street and the house of Mademoiselle Desiree de
Bonamour.” He spoke in deep mocking tones. Though there was no reason fair
coloring shouldn’t be accompanied by a low baritone, in Blakeney Minerva always
found the combination incongruous. “She’s a very hospitable lady. When I
realized I was late she invited me to share – er – use her bath.”
Infuriated
with herself for blushing, she almost lost her temper. She wasn’t the least bit
interested in the Frenchwoman, universally proclaimed (though mostly out of
earshot of unmarried girls) as the most beautiful in London.
“I suppose
you seek to embarrass me by mentioning your mistress,” she said.
“No,” he
said. “Just to remind you that I have better things to do than cater to the
consequence of an ambitious miss.”
“Then we
find ourselves in perfect accord,” she retorted. “I have better objects of my
attention than a spoiled wastrel without a thought in his head except for
sports.” She favored him with a sweet and utterly insincere smile.
“Sports?
Miss Montrose. I’m not thinking of sports now.”
Minerva
wasn’t sure what the last riposte meant. He might be thinking of what could be
doing with his mistress, or, equally likely, that he’d like to kill his current
partner. With four brothers, Minerva was an expert at inciting the desire to
commit violence. The smile she’d just employed could reduce the youngest
Montrose to rabies.
She tried
to read Blakeney’s face, in case it became necessary to duck and avoid
strangulation. “I wouldn’t want to disturb your mental exertions, Lord Blakeney.
I shall remain silent until we finish the waltz and may be done with each
other.”
“It will be
my very great pleasure, Miss Montrose, never to dance with you again.”
It took
ever ounce of her considerable willpower to keep a simper on her face and her
feet off his; she was tempted more than once to stamp hard on the lout. She
might have done it, by accident of course, if not for her doubt that her satin
evening slippers would be able to inflict much pain on his big clumsy feet.
Well not clumsy exactly. Even drunk they moved with deft precision after the
one initial slip. His smile was as steady as hers, and from their expressions
an onlooker would likely believe them to be enjoying the waltz in perfect
accord.
They
completed the set without exchanging another word.
Dialogue Highlight:
Now, when
she was at last getting her chance to speak, he distracted her by sitting too
close and holding her hands and looking
at her. She’d never experienced deep blue eyes focused on her with such
intensity. Her heart beat faster and her stomach fluttered and she felt her
control slipping away, as though she might do something without forethought.
Like kissing her husband. And though she’d decided the day before that she
would kiss him again, she’d also decided that it would be at a moment of her
choice. This was not the moment and she would not succumb to her unruly
impulses.
Breaking
the lock of their gazes, she snatched free her hands and edged away from him up
the sofa. She took a deep breath to clear her head. “While you have been
jaunting around with your horse-loving friends, I have been putting my time to good use.”
“Embroidery?”
“Espionage.”
“Sounds
Hazardous.”
“No more
dangerous than drinking tea with the wife of the Austria ambassador.”
“Spilled
tea can burn badly if very hot. I’m sure the Autrians serve hot tea.”
“I made the
acquaintance of Princess Walstein.”
“How
charming for you. Does she have a firm grasp on her teacup?”
“She has a
firm grasp on her friendship with the Austrian royal family. She’s a friend of
the Empress Marie-Louise.”
“Remind me …”
Minerva
turned her head sharply. Could he possibly have forgotten the significance of
Napoleon’s widow, or was he simply being annoying? Hie features were set in
bland incomprehension but she thought she detected a glimmer of laughter in his
eye.
“The former
Empress of France.”
“Oh.”
“The mother
of the Bonaparte heir.”
“Of course.”
“Princess
Walstein is a close friend and member of the imperial household. I can guess
what she’s doing in Paris.”
“Buying new
clothes? Meeting her lover?”
“Women do
think of things besides clothes,” she said. “And lovers.”
“Pity.”
It was time
to take control of the conversation. “I believe Princess Walstein is here to
investigate support for the restoration of the Duke of Reichstadt as emperor.”
“Or to buy
clothes.”
“I’m not
making this up. I have reasons to think so. I observed her in close – very close
– conversation with the Duke of Mouchy-Ferrand.”
“Oh yes, my
old friend Mouchy.”
“Do you
know who he is?”
“Haven’t a
notion.”
“It’s a
Napoleonic dukedom. His father was a general who managed to avoid taking sides
after Bonaparte’s escape from Elba by claiming
illness and remaining at his country estate.”
“Very sly.”
“Well, it
turns out he really was ill,” she said. “He died on the day of Waterloo. It means his son never had to state
his preference. In fact, after the Restoration the new duke was a member of the
Ultras, the Count of Artois’s conservatives.”
“Doesn’t
sound like much of a Bonapartist to me.”
“He must be
very clever. I can’t think of any reason why he’d be speaking so earnestly with
the Princess. In German too, so no one would understand. Everyone else present
was French and, as far as I can tell, very few of the French speak German.
Luckily I can. I heard them arranging a private meeting.”
“Is she
pretty?”
Minerva
gave up in disgust. He refused to take her seriously, but she knew she was
right. She had her ideas about how to discover the reason for that meeting.
“Scoff if
you want,” she said, “but I’ll get proof that the duke is a Bonapartist and you
will owe me a favor.”
Blake
leaned in and lowered his head close to hers. “I’ll look forward to it,” he murmured,
his breath warm on her cheek. “And I look forward to your favor.”
“I don’t
owe you one,” she said, disgusted that her voice was a little wobbly.
“In fact
you do, Minnie.”
Review:
Blake has always been viewed as lazy and irresponsible. A
seeming disappointment to his parents, and a poor option as a replacement for
his powerful father. But Blake has allowed these assumptions to occur and has
taken steps to see that such stereotypes remain. Blake has a secret. A shortcoming
of sorts and he would rather the public view him as lazy than the idiot he
thinks himself to be.
Minerva has had political aspirations for some time. She is
highly intelligent and dreams of having a voice of her own in the future. He
goal, when she encounters Blake at the ball given in her honor, is to secure a
proposal from a future-husband who can lead the way to making her dreams come
true. Unfortunately, a chance encounter with Blake, paired with mistaken
identity seals her fate in exactly the opposite direction she wanted to head in
– or was it?
Blake and Minerva – a couple that, against all odds,
actually ends up making sense. A couple those, if first impressions are to be
believed, were a phenomenal example of opposites. I have to admit, I initially
did not hold very high hopes for this couple. They seemed so m ismatched that I
had trouble seeing them as a couple, let alone a powerful couple in the ton with vast amounts of influence.
Minerva seemed too intelligent for Blake and he didn’t seem to stand a chance
of being able to manage such a spirited woman with near unattainable dreams for
her future. But first impressions, in this case, were completely off the mark.
Blake ends up an entirely different individual than the reader is introduced
to. Minerva as well, seems somewhat cold and standoffish as a female MC, but
ends up exhibiting raging passion within many aspects of her life –
specifically anything she sets her mind to and anyone she cares for. I feel
that the excerpt I chose is a good example of just how difficult a match the
two seem to be. And in contrast, the dialogue highlight I chose - one of my favorite
in the book - I chose because it shows so much about the characters. Those that
can read between the lines can see Minerva’s competitive spirit as well as her
political ambitions and Blake’s humor paired with a suggestion that there is
more to him than presented on the surface.
This is the first book I have read from Ms. Neville and the
fourth in this series (The Burgundy Club).
While I believe reading the preceding books would have helped endear me to the
characters sooner, I also believe that I was granted a favor in reading this
book first with these particular characters. I read a review recently of this
book in which the reader was concerned about the characters because of their
descriptions in previous books. Good point. Given this bit of information, I
may not have been interested in these characters enough to read their story. I
suppose it all depends of the type of character you prefer. For me, skeptical
as I was as I began this book, I am glad that I read it first. This is actually
saying quite a lot coming from a person who, whenever possible, is anal about
reading in order.
I have to say that I was slightly disappointed with the
intimate scenes. Rather strong language was presented fairly early in the book,
making me believe that the scenes would be steamy and somewhat dirty (dirty in
the “my cheeks are burning, but I am loving every minute of it” kind of way).
Sadly, they were not. Don’t get me wrong. The scenes were well written and
entertaining. And I very much enjoyed “watching” the passion grow between Blake
and Minerva, but I felt they could have been just a bit steamier.
Overall, I enjoyed my time spent with Confessions From An Arranged Marriage. I liked the secondary
characters enough to further explore their stories and have added them to my
TBR list. Minerva, while initially perceived as overly intelligent and
mismatched to Blake ends up being quite a lot of fun in her escapades. And
Blake, with his sense of humor and points of weakness that shake his
confidence, which he effectively shields everyone from – everyone except the
astute Minerva – makes him a much more likeable character once the reader
understands his motivations. And while these characters are not my preferred
type, I found that I enjoyed the transformation from first impressions to the
essence that truly was Blake and Minerva.
(Digital ARC provided by
author for review.)
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