Lord St. Leger's Find (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: hero crotchets quite spoilt this novel for me
Review: "Lord St. Leger's Find" proved to be a truly frustrating read. Part of the reason was because I kept itching to hit the hero of the novel, Miles Kennestone, Lord St. Ledger, really hard; another reason was because the language was alarmingly modern; and the third was because the heroine would, at times, revert to pouting like an overwrought teen whenever things didn't quite go her way.

Miles Kennestone, Lord St. Leger, fancies himself to be a scholar and a serious archeologist. And the novel begins with Miles's and his close friend's (Ben Romney) arrival at Lowery Park, home to Sir William Lowery, a noted scholar himself. Sir William has has invited both Miles and Ben to Lowery Park in order to excavate a Roman villa on his grounds. And while Miles is excited about being part of this project, he's a bit leery about being at Lowery Park. You see, Miles is a much sought after bachelor, and the last time he was at Lowery Park, two of Sir William's daughters tried desperately to snare his interest. Only the knowledge that Lowery Park will be sans daughters has persuaded Miles to set foot on the estate again. Unknown the Miles, however, is the fact that the youngest Lowery daughter, Melpomene, still lives at home. Not only that, but Melpomene also happens share her father's interest in archeology and has forsworn her London Season in order to take part in the excavation that's going on. And when the pair first meet, sparks just fly. Miles is appalled that there is another Lowery chit who seems to have set her marital sights on him (even to the extent of pretending to be a scholar) and treats her with icy disdain. As for Melpomene, being an intelligent and dedicated archeologist herself, she sees no good reason why she should have to put up with his lordship's crotchets. That is until Sir William asks Miles to work with Melpomene. The more time he spends with her, the more Miles comes to appreciate Melpomene's beauty and intelligence (and vice versa). But he's still unsure if she's using her feminine wiles in order to snare him or if she's the genuine article...

I'll admit freely, Miles irritated the heck out of me. He spends passage after passage lusting after Melpomene, but rather than realising that he, and not she, was sending out signals of interest, decided that she was the one trying to reel him in now that she's snared his interest! This was one romance hero who was just too full of himself. And I truly began to wish for some sensible and dashing hero to turn up and sweep Melpomene off her feet. Unfortunately, this never happened. Another thing that peeved was Melpomene's tendency to become slightly overwrought whenever her father paid more attention to her older, visiting sister than to her latest archeological find, and when he forced her to go to London for her Season instead of allowing her to carry on excavating. Fortunately, at some point, towards the end of the book, Melpomene suddenly gains some maturity and actually begins to realise that both her father and her sister had her best interests at heart when they decided that Melpomene needed to have a London Season. Unfortunately, all this happened a little too late.

Truth to tell, I found both Miles and Melpomene to be a little tiresome, and had a lot more sympathy for Melpomene's much maligned older sister (she also seemed a much more interesting character in my estimation). Anyway, that's how the book struck me. I leave it to other readers to decide for themselves what to think.

Rating:
Summary: hero crotchets quite spoilt this novel for me
Review: "Lord St. Leger's Find" proved to be a truly frustrating read. Part of the reason was because I kept itching to hit the hero of the novel, Miles Kennestone, Lord St. Ledger, really hard; another reason was because the language was alarmingly modern; and the third was because the heroine would, at times, revert to pouting like an overwrought teen whenever things didn't quite go her way.

Miles Kennestone, Lord St. Leger, fancies himself to be a scholar and a serious archeologist. And the novel begins with Miles's and his close friend's (Ben Romney) arrival at Lowery Park, home to Sir William Lowery, a noted scholar himself. Sir William has has invited both Miles and Ben to Lowery Park in order to excavate a Roman villa on his grounds. And while Miles is excited about being part of this project, he's a bit leery about being at Lowery Park. You see, Miles is a much sought after bachelor, and the last time he was at Lowery Park, two of Sir William's daughters tried desperately to snare his interest. Only the knowledge that Lowery Park will be sans daughters has persuaded Miles to set foot on the estate again. Unknown the Miles, however, is the fact that the youngest Lowery daughter, Melpomene, still lives at home. Not only that, but Melpomene also happens share her father's interest in archeology and has forsworn her London Season in order to take part in the excavation that's going on. And when the pair first meet, sparks just fly. Miles is appalled that there is another Lowery chit who seems to have set her marital sights on him (even to the extent of pretending to be a scholar) and treats her with icy disdain. As for Melpomene, being an intelligent and dedicated archeologist herself, she sees no good reason why she should have to put up with his lordship's crotchets. That is until Sir William asks Miles to work with Melpomene. The more time he spends with her, the more Miles comes to appreciate Melpomene's beauty and intelligence (and vice versa). But he's still unsure if she's using her feminine wiles in order to snare him or if she's the genuine article...

I'll admit freely, Miles irritated the heck out of me. He spends passage after passage lusting after Melpomene, but rather than realising that he, and not she, was sending out signals of interest, decided that she was the one trying to reel him in now that she's snared his interest! This was one romance hero who was just too full of himself. And I truly began to wish for some sensible and dashing hero to turn up and sweep Melpomene off her feet. Unfortunately, this never happened. Another thing that peeved was Melpomene's tendency to become slightly overwrought whenever her father paid more attention to her older, visiting sister than to her latest archeological find, and when he forced her to go to London for her Season instead of allowing her to carry on excavating. Fortunately, at some point, towards the end of the book, Melpomene suddenly gains some maturity and actually begins to realise that both her father and her sister had her best interests at heart when they decided that Melpomene needed to have a London Season. Unfortunately, all this happened a little too late.

Truth to tell, I found both Miles and Melpomene to be a little tiresome, and had a lot more sympathy for Melpomene's much maligned older sister (she also seemed a much more interesting character in my estimation). Anyway, that's how the book struck me. I leave it to other readers to decide for themselves what to think.

Rating:
Summary: warm entertaining historical
Review: Archeologist Miles Kennestone looks forward to returning to the dig at England's best preserved roman villa, Lowery Park. However, after dueling with his host's two oldest daughters, he warily detects that the youngest chit will participate.

Melpomene Lowery loves antiquities, but her father limits her working the field because she is first, and most important, a lady. She debuts in London in two weeks though her preference is to remain at the dig.

When Miles and Mellie meet, sparks fly but not all the fireworks occur because of the obvious attraction between them. He wants her away from the dig while she wants to prove she is as good as an archeologist as smart as any male including this arrogant Lord St. Leger. As they work in close proximity, the fearful of commitment Miles and the ambitious scientist Mellie fall in love. However, he insists she go to London as all good debutantes do though she believes she has made a major find in the field.

Jennifer Malin provides readers with a charming Regency romance starring two lead protagonists who besides love are quite compatible, but both refuse to acknowledge that. Thus, the audience observes a bit of irony as the duo shares their love of the ancient world yet cannot see the love they have for one another. Fans of a warm entertaining historical will find Lord St. Leger's Find fascinating as the archeologist learns what the true treasure is.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: warm entertaining historical
Review: Archeologist Miles Kennestone looks forward to returning to the dig at England's best preserved roman villa, Lowery Park. However, after dueling with his host's two oldest daughters, he warily detects that the youngest chit will participate.

Melpomene Lowery loves antiquities, but her father limits her working the field because she is first, and most important, a lady. She debuts in London in two weeks though her preference is to remain at the dig.

When Miles and Mellie meet, sparks fly but not all the fireworks occur because of the obvious attraction between them. He wants her away from the dig while she wants to prove she is as good as an archeologist as smart as any male including this arrogant Lord St. Leger. As they work in close proximity, the fearful of commitment Miles and the ambitious scientist Mellie fall in love. However, he insists she go to London as all good debutantes do though she believes she has made a major find in the field.

Jennifer Malin provides readers with a charming Regency romance starring two lead protagonists who besides love are quite compatible, but both refuse to acknowledge that. Thus, the audience observes a bit of irony as the duo shares their love of the ancient world yet cannot see the love they have for one another. Fans of a warm entertaining historical will find Lord St. Leger's Find fascinating as the archeologist learns what the true treasure is.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Love the archaeology angle!
Review: This book was a lot of fun to read. I really liked the unconventional heroine, and the archaeological angle was unusual and interesting. Lots of funny scenes -- the one at the Egyptian tomb exhibition particularly surprised me and amused me. It was also nice to see the characters grow as the story concludes.