Secret Fire by Johanna Lindsey

He'd caught only a glimpse of her from the window of his carriage, but the young prince knew he had to have her. Within minutes, Lady Katherine St. John was dragged from the London street and carried off to a sumptuous town house -- for the pleasure of her royal admirer...

From the tempestuous passion of their first encounter, across stormy seas, to the golden splendor of palaces in Moscow, she was his prisoner -- obsessed with rage toward her captor even as an all-consuming need made her his slave. Yet theirs was a fervor beyond her understanding, carrying them irrevocably toward final surrender to the power of undeniable love.

I know a lot of people prolly don't like this book. After all, it's easily one of the books with one of the most chauvinistic heroes in the fictional world. Honest to goodness I wanna kick his ass for all his faults. But there's just something about this story that pulls at me. It's difficult to explain since I myself can't paint it exactly.Although I think the hero and the heroine clashed nicely.

Kate St John was following her sister in the streets of London when Prince Dimitri Alexandrov saw her and had her picked up, thinking that she was nothing more than a peasant girl. Because she refused to bend down to their will, his servants had no choice but to drug her--with an aphrodisiac, no less, so that she would be more "amenable" to her purpose. It was in that state that Dimitri saw her again and willingly "helped" her to appease her condition all through the night. And when morning came, he had no choice but to bring her back to Russia when she threatened to make known of his abduction of her. He had planned to just pay her off but with the imminent visit of the Russian czar to England, he was left with no choice.

But he unexpectedly began to like her as a person on their long journey north. He could only make her his mistress since his refusal that she was high-born prevented her from being wife material. So he installed her in his home and went searching for the Russian princess he had been planning to propose to as siring as heir had become the main object of his position as head of the family after his older half-brother had been declared dead. So he went away while Kate was left to suffer in his aunt's accusation's that she was a thief and her caned. She was beaten so badly that she was nearly crippled and after her attempted escape, she was banished to the kitchens.

Dimitri returned only to find that Kate wasn't in the room he installed her in and thinking it was another of her tricks in refusing his generosity, never bothered to sought her out--until one of the servants confessed to him what really happened. Hence my favorite scene: Dimitri humbling himself in front of his household to fetch Kate from the kitchens--begged her to believe that he never knew anything about her beating. I think that was really something of a big step for a proud person in his position to do.

So Dimitri proposed to her--for Kate to become his mistress. Despite her refusal, insisting that whatever children she would one day have would have a father (Kate had already found out she was pregnant), Dimitri proclaimed that she was not marrying, ever. And especially not to somebody else. And then decided not marry after all if he couldn't marry Kate--family heir be damned, he could always adopt any children he and Kate would have. This was Russia, not bloody England.

But then he found out that Kate was really the high-born lady she had been claiming from the start and consumed with guilt, he proposed marriage to her. She refused seeing as how knowing who she really was made any difference--after all, she had heard talks that very same evening that he was just using her to make the princess he had intended to be his bride (who had already chosen somebody else over him) jealous. Then it got even worse when he got trapped in a snowstorm, got sick for weeks, and lost track of Katherine. Until he traced her back to England, more demanding than ever even without the knowledge of his son.

Nevertheless, charm and honesty about telling her that he really loved her got him what he wanted in the end. It would have been a lot nicer if the ending didn't seem too rushed. It did tell of how many times she refused his gifts or how many times he was tunred away when he asked for an audience; and these things was causing a stir in the ton.

Final verdict: 7/10. Good read.

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.

Say You Love Me by Johanna Lindsey

Her parents' deaths left Kelsey Langton penniless - and responsible for the safety and well-being of her younger sister, Jean. Now circumstance and human frailty have conspired to leave them homeless as well, unless Kelsey can avert the disaster. But she knows only one way to rescue Jean's home, future and honor - and it means sacrificing her own. Kelsey must allow herself to be sold at auction. With fear and trepidation she enters the House of Eros - resigned to becoming the plaything of some well-heeled gentleman.

And Lord Derek Malory is the highest bidder - a dashing rakehell from a family of charming London rogues. Enchanted by the stunning, dark-haired maid with flashing bright eyes, he purchases her for his mistress - and sweeps Kelsey into a world of astonishing family secrets, perilous rivalries and unconventional loyalties. But Lord Derek is unaware of the true worth of the prize he has so frivolously acquired - never imagining that the proud, spirited miss is a highborn lady blessed with grace, wit and intelligence as well as beauty. And he certainly never expected that he would fall in love with her.


I have not read all the books in the Mallory series but I fell in love with Derek and Kelsey right away. Well, I liked Amy and Warren before this but the Derek-Kelsey tandem was unstoppable.

I think it was very nice of Derek to pay that much amount of money to save Kelsey from a sure fate with a creature that was more animal than human. And it was funny when he decided to keep her as his real mistress because after all, he had paid a tidy sum for her. But then, what do you expect from someone who came from a family of scoundrels? Well, most of them anyway. And I got so irritated when he practically left her in the country to fend for herself when he looked for somewhere to stash her. Granted, it wasn't his fault. A phone would have really come in handy in that situation. Hahaha!

Aside from that, the rest of the book was a very nice read. It was fun reading about Derek trying to keep their arrangement from his family--to avoid another scandal the Mallorys were famous for. I felt bad for Kelsey having to keep her family totally in dark as well about the whole thing. It was understandable, what with how society will surely look at--and talk about--things; but I just didn't get why she didn't tell her aunt about the whole thing from the very beginning. But then again, she wouldn't have met Derek.

The whole thing about Derek and his mother just made me cry. A lot. And it just showed how well he was raised by the woman who pretended not to be his mother for him to react the way he did when he found out about the truth--after being told that his mother was dead.

Now, Derek's father didn't want him to marry Kelsey because she was, after all, his mistress. But Derek was uncaring of that fact and was desperate to have Kelsey permanently with him--because he loved her (but he didn't tell her that). And while Kelsey loved him, too (but she didn't tell him that either), she didn't want to marry him for fear of the scandal that would be brought on his family on come such event. I dunno if I could be that magnanimous.

Nevertheless, I still love this book. Derek and Kelsey made it easy for me to do that because they were just lovely to read about. And I think that they put everything on the line (well, except for the "I love you" part) so there was no beating around the bush like so many other romances out there.

Final verdict: 8/10. Great read.

Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey

Abducted and sold into slavery, Chantelle Burke has been brought to the palace of the mighty Pasha. Vowing never to bow to this ruthless master's will, the young Englishwoman weakens within the silken splendor of his chambers, and after on glance into his piercing emerald eyes.

The stunningly handsome Pasha is a powerful, muscular figure yet he caresses the lovely addition to his harem with a fond tenderness that only succeeds in driving her wild. But beneath his exotic eastern garb, the cryptic Pasha shrouds his true identity -- one that he finds difficult to conceal when he wants so much to surrender his heart and soul to the irresistible Chantelle.

The more I reread this book, the more I find flaws in the hero. But it seems that in spite of that, I just couldn't bring myself to hate this story.

Chantelle Burke was an heiress but since she was underage, her fortune and future were in the hands of her guardian. Her uncle, whose family had been the "poor relations" before they got their hands on her money, then arranged for her to be married to a decidedly old but rich man. She had no choice but to run away only to be captured by pirates in her escape.

I love this heroine. I love her spirit--she actually tried to escape her captors by jumping ship. But she was never stupid. She never lost hope during her captivity and even after she was bought. And neither did she make any more escape stunts that would have had her punished, most likely raped, when she got caught.

Derek Sinclair was twin brother to the Dey of Barikah. Their mother made him leave Barikah for England when he was ten so he could continue the Sinclair line. After all, she could no longer return to her country of birth without bringing down the scandal of her enslavement on the Sinclair name. But when Jamil asked for his help, Derek had no qualms returning to the country he once called home.

One of the reasons why I like this book is probably because Derek played Jamil--so the Dey could look for the person responsible for his many assassination attempts. "Trading" places is one of my fave plots because of the thrill of not being found out. And it's always fun waiting for a slip-up. And reading about the culture of a harem is always interesting.

The whole Chantelle and Derek-as-Jamil encounters were just absolutely fun to read. Chantelle, or Shahar as all women of the harem were always renamed, did manage to hold off the advances of the Dey for the first few days even if she was attracted to him. That was a brave thing to do, especially because no woman had ever said no the Dey.

Derek was a different story. I don't get why I like this hero so much. Maybe I was impressed by the many traditions of the Dey that he broke just so he could be with Shahar. Probably too impressed as to overlook the fact that he was engaged to be married to his childhood friend before he left England for Barikah. And during this engagement to Caroline he was still dallying with the maids and had no plans whatsoever to be faithful to her during their marriage. What a cad!

So when he left Barikah, he brought Chantelle home with him so she could become his mistress. But he conveniently found out that his fiancee and his best friend were in love, making it possible now for him to marry Chantelle. And she said yes after she heard the three magic words that make fools out of people. But I would like to think that she changed him regarding fidelity. After all, he slept with her and only her the entire time he had access to a harem when he lived as the Dey.

So I love the book. I can't blame you though if you want to hit me with a pan over my head.

Final verdict: 7/10. Read at your own discretion.