Man Of My Dreams by Johanna Lindsey

MAN OF HER DREAMS
The most desirable beauty in the land, wildly unpredictable Megan Penworhty has set her amorous sights on Ambrose St James, Duke of Wrothston--a man she has never net but has every intention of marrying. No other suitor will satisfy her--especially not the common, if uncommonly handsome, horse breeder Devlin Jefferys.

WOMAN OF HIS DESIRES
Posing as lowborn Jefferys to escape a potentially fatal confrontation, Ambrose is enthralled and infuriated by the brazen, duke-hunting redhead. Without revealing his true identity, the notorious rogue vows to foil Megan's plans to wed the man of her dreams--never imagining the enchanting schemer would turn out to be the only woman he would ever dream of marrying.


I can't believe I still have the energy to sit in front of the computer and write in a book review after staying up until 130AM to edit the template of my home blog. (Check out the new look here.) But I finished rereading this JL book just earlier today and since I didn't have to go in to work, I'm making good use of what's left of my free time.

I first read this book close to ten years ago and after the nth reread, it still manages to make me laugh. JL books were among my very first historicals and although I may now think some of her stuff could be juvenile-ly simple, this book remains to be one of my personal faves.

I enjoyed reading about the sparring of words between Megan and Devlin. Megan was always unconsciously picking fights to stem off her attraction with the horse breeder--she was hellbent on marrying the Duke of Wrothston. And Devlin acted always out of turn as if he didn't know what hit him. In fact, he didn't. He went so far as to prove the Duke (him!) was a cad by proposing incognito that she become his mistress. All he thought was that she was a gold-digger, unaware that she really wanted to fall in love with the Duke--and him her--before marrying him.

But Devlin had gotten her pregnant and she didn't have a choice but to wed the horse breeder. Imagine her surprise when she found out she was actually married to the man of her dreams--and she was now Duchess of Wrothston. She might have wanted that but she never expected it would happen the way it did--and she believed she was duped into marrying him. Add the fact that she overheard Devlin telling his bestfriend that he had been miserable since he got married. Since he met her, more likely.

But what Devlin really meant (and what Megan didn't hear) was that loving his wife and not have her love him in return was making him miserable. So she cooked up a plan to set him free and told him that she had lost the baby. But before she could make her point, Devlin had already "comforted" in the oldest way possible. By the time the word annulment came up it was already too late since she could very well be pregnant again.

But what Devlin didn't tell her was that he wasn't about to hand her an annulment, baby or no baby.

My most favorite scene was when Devlin got wind of Megan's plans to dye what he called, when he was masquerading as a horse breeder, "the most unfashionable hair in creation."

"You may not dye your hair."
"But you don't like it."
"It's grown on me."
"But it's not fashionable."
"The Duchess of Wrothston makes her own fashion. She doesn't have to emulate it...If you dye one lock on that beautiful head of yours, I'll put you over my knee again, and you know bloody well that's not an idle threat!"

They might have managed to reach a truce but Megan saw the wisdom of confessing her love for him just might make him un-miserable. But first she had to tell him that she was pregnant. And then he walked out on her when he found out that it was the same child and that she had asked for an annulment while still carrying the same baby.

Unaware that he had drunk himself to sleep that night, Megan decided to complete her mission and told him she loved him--with him half asleep and fully drunk. Silence was all she got and that was when she made her statement the following day.

"I'm moving into the stable."
"You're what?"
"I'm going to stay here until I have my horse breeder back."
"Thought you couldn't stand him."
"You thought wrong."
"He doesn't exist."
"He does. You're just keeping him buried beneath all that ducal haughtiness."

See? I love the book so much I can't even do a simple review on it. I just have to go on and on and on...Devlin and Megan made such a cute couple and their story is such a smile-inducing read that there is no helping loving it.

I want me some Dev!

Final verdict: 8.5/10. Great read, must have.