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Invitation To Ruin (2011)

by Bronwen Evans(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0758259190 (ISBN13: 9780758259196)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Brava

series

Invitation To...

review 1: A bit too dark and twisted for my precise liking but the plot was intriguing and the attraction between Anthony and Melissa all-consuming. After a while though the distance Anthony kept from Melissa was disappointing and unfulfilling. There was a lot of promise before Melissa and Anthony got married. It felt as though everything grew a bit hard to follow and slightly boring afterwards. Some of the banter was amusing but that was again before the wedding. Mostly I just rushed through the novel eager to finish. Melissa couldn't ever really make up her mind whether she was angry at Anthony or not. One bonus was that Anthony did remain faithful to Melissa (a huge improvement in his character). Things grew a bit dark and twisted after the arrival of the main villain-Rothsay. He... more was disgusting and inhuman to say the least. The scene with him and Melissa was nauseating and led to much of my disgust of Rothsay. One of the good things about this book is that it doesn't gloss over any of the squeamish details and Anthony's past sins. However the plot instead focuses a little too much on Anthony's past without revealing anything for much of the book, providing for slow and frustrated reading through most of it. Anthony wasn't a bad guy but I couldn't muster up any interest in his character and Melissa's started to disappoint towards the end where she didn't stand up to Anthony's behavior. After having finished the book, a fact still prickles me: Melissa keeping something from her husband-something that obviously brings her distraught. And her husband probably should have been informed of. Anyways that's what really bothered me. Keeping things from the person you love. Hopefully, she does tell him sometime in the future rather than him finding out accidentally or not knowing at all. I guess Melissa assumes ignorance is bliss in this case.
review 2: I read this book before I read the reviews on Good Reads. The reviewers who didn't like Invitation to Ruin have some valid points about the awkward way in which the hero 'ruins' the heroine and I have to admit I was feeling pretty incredulous as I read that scene. Other than that, I really enjoyed the rest of the story. The characters were great and I liked the fact that Evans used slave tradings as a historically-correct background for the hero's family. Distasteful, of course, but perfectly valid background from which he removed himself. My only other comment would be there were times when I felt the dialogue was too modern - there were definitely phrases and words that didn't feel as authentic as the setting Evans selected. Overall, it's a well-shaped story with great characters that's a step outside the usual Regency mould. I look forward to reading Evans' second book. less

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