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Fool for Love

Fool for Love

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I liked the characters, Henrietta and Simon. Henrietta is not the perfect heroine, she has a weak hip and thinks she can not bear children ie. never marry. Simon may lose an inheritance from his uncle who died because his estranged wife is now pregnant. He meet Henrietta when he travels to the country to see if his aunt is pregnant and if his uncle seems to be the father. This part of the novel seems undeveloped and maybe will be a sequel. It is great to read a book where the characters have misunderstandings, but don't last half the book. Sometimes I like the love/hate thing, but this formula can get old. I did enjoy this novel and is a fast read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FABULOUS SUMMER READ!
Review: I loved this book. It was sexy and sweet at the same time -- it seems as if I am always reading books that are really really sexy (but the hero is a jerk) or really really sweet (and there's nothing more than a kiss). This was a great book!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but it didn't end?
Review: I really like Eloisa James' writing. Each of heroes and heroines has a distinct personality and the love stories are really amazing! However, the plot was totally unresolved. The whole book builds up to what will happen to the secondary character, Esme Rawlings, and then there's nothing. We don't know what happens to her, and what happens to her affects the lives of the main characters as part of the suspense during the first half of the book is whether she will have a girl or a boy or twins, etc., and whether or not the main characters will inherit a title and have little cousins. What is that? Did she die? Did she get married/? 3/4 of the book talks about this woman, and then we don't know what happens to her! This book would have been a five-star book, if only it had ended or we were given some clue that there would be a sequel (as in "to be continued"). We are made to care about Esme all throughout the book and then she just drops off the face of the earth (or the pages). The main characters, Simon and Henrietta, were totally likeable. It's a nice change for a romance novel not to have people who are constantly fighting or a hero who is bad-tempered and surly. Anyone who has ever been married knows that there is nothing sexy about a crabby husband! So for that, bravo!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another Captivating Novel for Eloisa James!
Review: I was very excited to run out and purchase this book after finishing Duchess In Love. James creates strong characters by giving the reader glimpses into parts of them that most writers overlook, leaving their characters flat and devoid of personality or likeability. Not so with Eloisa James - you will LOVE ALL her character, even the secondary ones! One of my favorite parts of this book and Duchess in Love are the characters of Esme and Sebastian. They are the underlying current in both books that will leave you hungry for the next novel. Some would say they they steal the show, but I think all of her characters have a storyline that everyone wants to know the ending of. It's just that she leaves us hanging on for the next book for any more information... isn't that what season cliff hangers are all about?!?!?!

I won't give away any details about the books plot, but i HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to anyone interestd in Regency Period romance. If you don't read this one or her others, you are missing probably some of the best books on the market in this genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: strong heroine
Review: I'm not really a fan of "Regency" type novels anymore. I read this book based on a little "preview" in the back of another book I had bought. I loved the heroine because she wasn't typical. She was considered ineligible for marriage based on a deformity of the hip that caused her to limp and that doctor's had told her she would be unable to bear children. I took away a star on this book for two reasons. The hero just wasn't "all that" so to speak. His manner of dress was a turn off for me and his character seemed 2 dimensional to me. And the ending seemed rushed - in the extreme! (and ended very abruptly as well I'd like to add) But other than those annoyances, the book flowed rather well. I wouldn't put it up there with the best of them, but it would make a good beach read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delightful Read
Review: Illicit love letters, interesting secondary characters, and rich story telling pack this heavy hitter by Eloisa James.

Lady Henrietta Maclellan was born with a weak hip, and told she can never bear children and therefore cannot get married. Though she is a beautiful woman she never has a debut and must accept her plight of a marriageless and childless state. She longs to have children of her own and studies up on child rearing, runs a school for children, and keeps her own passionate nature carefully curtailed.

Enter Simon Darby. Handsome, rich and about to lose his fortune to an unborn heir, he is encouraged to marry. His two siblings, Josie and Anabel, under his care after the death of their parents make up his family and are charming secondary characters. Anabel, known for her weak stomach and Josie, the hot-tempered older sister, fill the pages with delightful scenes. Simon meets Henrietta and is drawn to her beauty, wit and charms. Deciding to marry her because he doesn't want children, he is told he can never take advantage of his marital rights, as it would put Henrietta at risk. He is put off by this and decides not to propose. Henrietta soon discovers from Esme (an experienced and very pregnant friend who has her own story interwoven into this primary one) that this is not the case and pregnancy can be prevented. It is a shocking course of action; very risqué at the time, but Henrietta is determined to marry Simon.

In order to force Darby into marriage Henrietta and Esme concoct a plan - to plant a love letter so damning that marriage would be inescapable. Here the fun begins..

FOOL FOR LOVE was a delight to read from start to finish with a wonderful ending. The chapter titles were also very entertaining with a unique manner of presentation

Tara Green

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: strong historical
Review: Lord Simon Darby cannot believe the news that his Aunt Esme Rawlins is increasing though his uncle is dead and the twosome were estranged and separated for years. Simon worries that a male offspring leaves his stepsisters without a dowry and he with only income from his lace importing business. However, Simon knows the "infamous Esme" is a constant scandal so anyone could be the sire. He plans to visit his notorious pregnant aunt.

Because of her limp, Lady Henrietta Maclellan can only dream of a London season let alone a husband and children as no male would want a deformed wife. When she meets her friend Esme's nephew, she knows he is the one for her, but realizes her imperfection would never do for him. Though she hides her feelings, she writes a letter filled with passion that becomes public, scandalizing the Ton, who blame Simon. Forced to marry or else, Simon and Henrietta are falling in love, but neither trusts the other with their heart.

FOOL FOR LOVE, the sequel to DUCHESS IN LOVE, is a terrific romance that will hook the audience (as did the first tale) because of the interactions and relationships (some dysfunctional) of the powerfully drawn cast. The witty story line includes the return of characters from the previous novel, but this book belongs to Simon, Henrietta, and an infamous letter, who manage to keep the plot out of trite sand traps. Eloisa James provides a strong historical that will send the audience back to re-read the prequel keeper so set time for both in one sitting

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Read this weepie
Review: Ms James made the characters really real for me. You know how it's going to end and all, but there's a wryness to the writing that makes it really enjoyable to read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: foolish muddle from end to end
Review: This book is a complete slapdash, with none of the verve of quality Regencies.

First of all the book is riddled with errors-they are Simon's half-not his stepsisters. They are clearly related to him, though he treats the girls, and especially the eternally barfing baby, as some rare species of insect. He has as much personality as one of his fine neck cloths. I can't imagine him being a rake-he is so full of himself, leers at every pair of breasts in sight, and is so meticulously dressed all the time that one would doubt he would ever do anything so undiginfied as sweat, let alone copulate. Also, vis a vis the errors in the book, I am sure he does not go around showing his 'labels' all over the place-I am sure the author meant lapels.

As for the heroine, well, what can I say-the crippled heroine left on the shelf and rescued by the rake has been done to death, and done far better elsewhere.

The endless tantrums, dullness of the settings-a room with tall windows, a study, well gee, where is the sumptuous language we expect from a well-written book, are all too dull for words. The endless stream of vomit is also unbearbale, not at all funny.

In fact, I really wonder what people find so amusing or even romantic about adultery and the social mores that allow men to treat women as little better than chattel. Where marriages of convenience are usually only convenient for the men, who do whatever they like and treat women like doormats. Austen was highly witty and amusing, but she dealt with the real world and issues too. This is just foolishness, selfishness and hypocrisy. The heroine traps him into marriage to get hold of his sisters as children. He insists he wants to bed her and give her a bottle of an abortifacient just in case because he doesn't want kids and just in case the 'sheath fails'. Revolting.

As if all of this is not repellent enough, what on earth was the author thinking having three couple in the book if we include Rees the composer and his estranged wife. Esme's story is more interesting, but I was really disgusted with the way Simon actually sexually responds to her when her pregnant belly comes into contact with his body. and she is an adulteress, not matter how oyu tryo to dress it up as romance.

I also was appalled at the way that her hero lusts after all the other women quite openly-there is little focus on Henrietta apart from her pretty hair and nice smile. Really gross. I have no idea how the characters fall in love with each other, when they hardly know each other. And no woman in her right mind would wnat to know Simon.

I have to admit I read the books inthe wrong order, Wild Pursuit and then Fool for Love If you have not read this one, you will not care less about Wild Pursuit's couple, and again, Rees and his wife. And the final resolution to Esme's problems is in that book, but not really a problem. All of these peoole are so selfish and care so little about Regency society with its strict dictates (yes it does seem a lot more Georgian than Regency in many respects, 18th century, as one reviewer said) that nothing is at stake for anyh of the coulles-they thrive on scandal rather than avoid it. she set up the next books in her series, but failed miserably to write a single book in the series which we could classify as romance.

A romance is a hero and heroine falling in love. This is not a romance. Nor are the others.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good humor and wit and great characters
Review: This is a sequel to Duchess in Love. It would be best to read the first book, but of course, the story stands on its own, as well. She tells good stories with many interesting secondary characters in them. The only minor frustration I have is with these secondary characters. She started telling a love story with a set of characters in her first book, then continued their story in her second book. Their story did not conclude, though, and other secondary characters were introduced and left with unsolved problems so we expect more answers in a forthcoming third book. I am not happy with the length of time it takes to resolve our secondary characters' love lives. I wish they had happy endings, too.

Otherwise, the main characters are great, entertaining, sensual and fun to read. I recommend this book.


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