Lady of Desire

Rating:
Summary: "Enjoyable"
Review: "Lady of Desire," by Gaelen Foley is a most enjoyable read. The characters are well-developed. The dialogue fun and entertaining. And the plot a real pleaser. A very appealing combination.

John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.

Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful and touching Foley read!
Review: After meeting Billy Blade in "Lord of Ice", I was so looking forward to this book that I was a bit worried that it would not live up to my expectations. I worried for nothing. I loved this book. As others have pointed out, contrary to the title, this is really Billy's story and if Billy doesn't touch your heart either you don't have one or it's made of stone!

After fleeing his abusive father at 13, Billy eventually winds up a gang leader in London's slums. He may be a criminal, but he's got principles, taking responsibility for his people and also covertly assisting the government on occasion - that's how he knows Jacinda's spy brother Lucien. And Lucien is the only person who knows his true identity - second son of the Marquess of Truro and St Austell! That Lucien sure can keep secrets!

Lady Jacinda is the spoiled baby sister of the Knight clan. Her protective older brothers are practically smothering her and when they arrange a marriage to Ian, Lord Griffith, it's more than she can bear. Though she adores Ian, he's more like another brother to her and so she decides to flee to Paris. At a coaching inn she's pickpocketed and pursues the thief into an alley - and into the middle of a turf battle between two of London's toughest gangs. She is discovered by Billy and taken back to his headquarters refusing to tell him who she is or why she's out alone in the streets.

Over the next few hours they talk, with Jacinda sharing more than she intends about her hopes, plans and her infamous mother, while both notice a budding attraction. Jacinda is amazed to find that he actually listens to her - something no one else does. I fell in love with Billy when he says to himself in astonishment "she likes me"! How cute. But when Billy discovers who she is, he returns her to her family much to her displeasure.

Events force Billy to reunite with his father and reclaim his title, Earl of Rackford, and so Billy and Jacinda meet again. He pursues her, she tries to elude him for she has her own plans. But a relationship develops and it's very sweet and fun to watch. He evolves from street tough to gentleman while she matures after seeing Lizzie's heartbreak at the hands of her rogue brother Alec as well as learning more about Billy and his difficult past. Their mutual affection and respect make you root for this great couple!

As always, I look forward to the next installment. It's Lizzie's so we'll see if Alec can redeem himself! And once again we are teased with mention of black sheep Jack whose story I am just dying for! I love this family - reading these books is like spending time with old friends. Keep 'em coming Gaelen!

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first three.
Review: After totally enjoying the first three books in this series, I found Lady of Desire greatly lacking. The only reason I gave it two stars was because of the character of Billy Blade. Ms. Foley seems to deal better with her leading men. Lady Jacinda was perfectly awful. She's spoiled and willful, but where that could play for humor, I just found her annoying. Billy deserved far better. Hopefully Ms. Foley can make her next female subject more interesting.

Rating:
Summary: It's the sweet little sister's turn now...
Review: All Lady Jacinda Knight wants is to be free. To do what she wants, when she wants, how she wants. Is that too much to ask? Well if you live in London during the Regency era and are the daughter of a Duke, yes it is! Throw in the fact that her mother was a woman of loose virtue and that just sends society into a craze of whether or not she'll follow in her mother's footsteps. So finally Jacinda decides to run away to France. However when Mr. Billy Blade, the leader of the largest underworld gang, finds her and realizes that she's the sister of one of his noble friends, he immediatly takes her back home. Then Billy is caught and forced to come out into the society he ran away from 13 years ago, in order to save his friends from hanging at Newgate. Now that he's considered an equal to Jacinda the game begins. He must convince her that she will still be free even married to him, and that they should get married. However someone wants Billy dead. Someone back in London's underworld that he's dealt with before. Will Billy be able to defeat his enemy finally and marry the woman who believes in him? It's a romance, you figure it out...

This story was absolutly WONDERFUL!!! I highly recommend it to everyone. The characters are very well thought out, the plot is amazing, the humor is halarious, everything that makes a great book great is there! The bad guys are horrible and when Billy finally realizes he's not the horrible person his father let him believe he was, and come to terms with his father, it's a true tear-jerker!!!

I give this story 5 stars and it deserves every one of them!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Gaelen Foley's Best
Review: As a huge fan of Gaelen's works I was thrilled to read Jacinda Knight's story...

The fiery Lady Jacinda Knight is running from the prospect of a passionless marriage when she crosses paths with the handsome rogue and thief Billy Blade. He rescues her from the slums and offers her a passionate embrace before returning her to her brothers.

A turn of events Billy cannot predict brings him back into society's fold and company of Jacinda whom he cannot stop thinking about. While she fears falling under the control of any man, the two forge a friendship and eventually fall in love.

It is the rare romance novel that can be enjoyed for it's use of plot, secondary characters and, of course, erotica. There is nothing gratuitous in any of Gaelen Foley's works, she has a tempered hand. Nothing is overdone.

Furthermore, Foley really shines when she writes about her female heroines. Princess was the best of the Ascension trilogy and Lady of Desire is my favorite of her Knight Miscellany books thus far. Her other works are wonderful, but there is a sense of fun in this work that is missing from the Lord of Fire/Lord of Ice books.

If you like Regency Romance, this is as good as they get!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful !!!!!
Review: Billy and Jacinda are so beautiful together. Just when I thought this series couldn't get any better Galen Foley proves me wrong. I can't wait for the next one!!!

Rating:
Summary: Dull and stupid....
Review: Each book in this series has been increasingly bad. This one was barely palatable. The characters were, through 90% of the book, so shallowly drawn as to be almost completely cliched and unsympathetic. Although, with only 20 pages left, Jacinda and Billy finally show some depth of character, it was too late. By then, I had resorted to skimming to get through this boring book. Jacinda, a pampered princess who finally sees the light in the last 50 pages of the book, was childish and annoying. I think I'm going to stop reading historical novels whose heroines are under 21 years of age. I just can't stand the immaturity. Billy Blade, although slightly more interesting, was so sketchily drawn thoughout most of the book that he just seemed like a self-pitying, vain peacock. After he resumes his life in high society, the new Lord William spends more time chasing down his former hoodlum enemies in a petty fit of vengeance, instead of helping the poor that he supposedly came to care so much about. And throwing in the Lizzie and Alec subplots (in a thinly veiled effort to set up future books) was distracting. I'm very sorry I paid money for this book. I will definitely make sure that, in the future, I borrow this author's books from the library, for free.

Rating:
Summary: Dull and stupid....
Review: Each book in this series has been increasingly bad. This one was barely palatable. The characters were, through 90% of the book, so shallowly drawn as to be almost completely cliched and unsympathetic. Although, with only 20 pages left, Jacinda and Billy finally show some depth of character, it was too late. By then, I had resorted to skimming to get through this boring book. Jacinda, a pampered princess who finally sees the light in the last 50 pages of the book, was childish and annoying. I think I'm going to stop reading historical novels whose heroines are under 21 years of age. I just can't stand the immaturity. Billy Blade, although slightly more interesting, was so sketchily drawn thoughout most of the book that he just seemed like a self-pitying, vain peacock. After he resumes his life in high society, the new Lord William spends more time chasing down his former hoodlum enemies in a petty fit of vengeance, instead of helping the poor that he supposedly came to care so much about. And throwing in the Lizzie and Alec subplots (in a thinly veiled effort to set up future books) was distracting. I'm very sorry I paid money for this book. I will definitely make sure that, in the future, I borrow this author's books from the library, for free.

Rating:
Summary: It's a romance right? But it's still a great book.
Review: From Gaelen Foley's last book, we pretty much knew that in this book Jacinda and Billy Blade were going to have their own book, but this was a big suprise. The title is a little misleading, although the book does involve Jacinda it's mostly about Billy Blade, about his life in the past, where he is now, and the person he becomes. I really liked how Ms. Foley showed how someone with a difficult background doesen't exactly triump but perserveres. I know that this is a romance, but honestly, it was kind of staled by Jacinda's attitude towards Billy for much of the book,that turned me off. Ms. Foley definitely showed the class separation of the aristocray and the lower class, while in telling the story of Jacinda and Billy. I gave this book a 4 because it still a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Great addition to the Knight series-not as good as the rest
Review: Gaelen Foley is one author that is in my "must read" category. I will read whatever she writes. Not only is she one of my favorite authors, but also she consistently delivers great books with fun, substantial plots, sexy heroes, and some of the most likeable heroines I have ever read. I expected a lot of Lady of Desire. I, as had many others, had eagerly awaited her next book in the Knight series. Although there was a lot of the expected Foley charm in Lady of Desire, it did not quite live up to most of her other books. Possibly I had a problem with actually reading a grown-up Jacinda. More probable though is that Jacinda appeared as a spoiled and immature heroine with more antics than common sense by far.

Lady Jacinda Knight has run away from home after her oldest brother, Robert from The Duke, has arranged a marriage for her. Robert realizes his sister is too mischievous for her own good and actually thinks he acting in her best interests. But Jacinda is not one to have her life planned by her brother or controlled by a husband she doesn't love. So lovely Jacinda runs from home and runs into a gang fight in one of London's less reputable neighborhoods. Dressed as a boy, Billy Blade rescues her and realizes she is not a he. He is quite taken with her, plans to become much closer to her, and then realizes something is not quite right. Not only is this boy actually a young lady, but Billy suddenly realizes she is probably a Lady as well. Soon he has figured out that she is the sister of Lucien Knight, a man he respects and works with occasionally as an informant. He contacts Lucien and delivers Jacinda safely home, much to her dismay. But at least she has taken care of her unwanted future husband. She settles back into her routine - ever acting outrageously spoiled and willful.

Billy Blade is actually much more than the street king he appears to be. His father is a marquis and Billy wants nothing to do with him. But Billy gets caught in the middle of a robbery and he finds himself and his gang facing the hangman's noose. Soon, his long lost father and marquis comes to the rescue, reluctantly, forcing Billy to live the life that was he was born to in exchange for his beloved gang's lives.

Billy is soon out and about as a member of the ton but he has not been raised to know all the little polite ways of this society. Furthermore, he can hardly believe the dishonesty he sees throughout the highly hypocritical upper crust of London. He embarrasses himself more than once and is even excluded because of his uncouth manner. Now it is a little difficult at this point to see how Foley will produce her signature cool hero out of this situation. But never fear, Foley is capable of such maneuvering. Soon, Jacinda believes she must teach Billy how to become a proper society gentleman. They develop a friendship that allows adequate time for romance to bloom.

The new Billy Blade, now the Earl of Rackford, evolves into quite a sexy hero by the midpoint of Lady of Desire. It is his character that carries the book. There are many dark secrets from Billy's past that make his escape to the streets as a youth quite believable. His evolvement into the Earl of Rackford is very entertaining. Jacinda sees herself as his savior and reluctantly sees him in a romantic light. Their romance developed a little too slowly in my opinion. However, once Jacinda agrees with Billy about the status of their relationship, they are definitely burning up the pages. The sensual scenes are infrequent as far as Foley books go but rate 4.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). She navigates her leads through their stories without the usual misunderstandings and her writing is an absolute delight.

This is the fourth in the Knight series. The series includes, in order, The Duke, Lord of Fire, Lord of Ice, and Lady of Desire. My favorite of the series was The Duke but all had their great moments. I did not read these books in order but I believe I would have enjoyed them more had I read them in series order. However, they function very well as stand alone books. I have loved the characters from each book so much, that I have enjoyed reading about each set of leads continued lives as the series progresses. I have even reread Lord of Fire so I could see it more within the Knight family setting. Reading books a second time is unusual for me but this entire series definitely sits on my keeper shelf. There are still at least two more brothers (maybe three) that Foley intends to include in this series . Her next book in the Knight series is however about Jacinda's best friend, Lizzie. Foley's website currently estimates the release of Lizzie's book, Devil Takes a Bride, in May, 2004. I will anxiously purchase it immediately because this is one fantastic series.