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The Most To Lose (2012)

by Laura Landon(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1612184782 (ISBN13: 9781612184784)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Montlake Romance

review 1: My edition had 283 pages. I received a free copy from the goodreads first reads giveaway. I was honored to receive a signed copy. My first ever signed book. I loved the majority of the book. The characters were easy to fall in love with, including the secondary characters. I think the secondary characters helped the story develop and Amanda was funny. Sterling wasn't the nicest character, but his actions were understandable. Cecelia and Jonah were adorable.Now, my issues were that the love scenes weren't developed fully nor was the ending. I felt like there should have been more detail to both. I did like this book better than any historical romance I've read before. It didn't ever get boring or difficult to understand.
review 2: My goodness, I really hate havi... moreng to do this. I've actually been putting off writing this review for the past several days because I was dreading having to write it.But I have to be honest, and this was not good. Good points: I really do enjoy historical romance. I have actually read quite a few of them. So I did like the setting. I also tend to like feisty, independent main female characters.Bad points/constructive criticism: (i) THE RELATIONSHIP: In the beginning of the book we are told that the two main characters grew up together and that she followed Jonah (the male main character) and her brother Hadleigh everywhere as the two were great friends growing up. Soon after we are told that the main female character (Cecelia) has been in love with him her entire life. They eventually meet again a few years later and go for a carriage ride during which he is touched by her sensitivity, notably with regard to his recent experiences in the Crimean war. We are then told (but not shown) that they spend much more time together and fall in love (or perhaps more in love, on her part). Anyways, the point is that we are never SHOWN what these two characters have in common, so we never get a feel for why they would be together in the first place. Instead, as is the issue in all too many romance novels, various body parts keep tingling and wanting to merge, etc, etc. This is featured heavily in lieu of actually taking the time to show the gradual building of a *relationship* between the two characters.(ii) THE CHARACTERS: We also never get a good sense for what makes these characters distinctive human beings. Instead, they feel somewhat like cardboard cutouts or generic character 'types'. For instance, Jonah is The Wounded Soldier/Wounded Soul. Cecelia is The Independent Young Lady of the English Nobility. Her brother Hadleigh, in this book at least, fills the role of Evil (or at least Nasty) Character Bent on Keeping Our Two Main Characters Apart. One important reason for this is the fact that we are mostly TOLD and not SHOWN about these characters and little information is provided about them. Cecelia's brother Hadleigh's attempts to be an evil mastermind are also rather laughable, to be honest, in large part because his fundamental problem seems to be that he is still incapable of thinking with his big (i.e. rather than his little) head. (I apologize for my crudeness here, but really.) I mean, when you've been best friends with someone all their life, wouldn't you at least *try* to give them the benefit of the doubt, even if it was the woman you loved who was telling you stories about them? I mean, I understand that you love her, but he's your best friend. He later compounds his stupidity by attempting to arrange the financial ruin of his former friend. This made this character so detestable and the plot so silly that I wished someone would just put Mr. Stupid out of everyone's misery by conking him over the head so that he could grow an actual personality.(iii) THE PLOT: The plot was problematic.In particular, one plot line was completely dropped: we eventually learn that the mother of Hadleigh's former fiancée is crazed when she tries to kill Jonah (i.e. she blames him for her daughter's death). Earlier in the novel some mysterious figure had evidently waited quite some time to try to shoot Cecelia (possibly because she and Jonah were seeing each other). However, after the crazed mother is taken away by her husband, nothing further is ever said about trying to find out/make sure that she was behind the earlier shooting attempt. I mean, wouldn't a normal person want to make SURE that there wouldn't be another murder attempt, as well as to find out who was behind it? And if it was strictly the work of the crazed woman in question, what guarantee did they really have that she would never try again? Especially since it wasn't clear that her husband was aware of the shooting attempt (I mean, wouldn't his knowing everything his wife was capable of help him keep her from offing anyone)? Yet nothing is mentioned regarding any investigation after the crazy lady is taken away willy-nilly. In fact it is as if nothing at all ever happened. (???)The rest of the plot consisted of Hadleigh being so bamboozled by his former fiancée that, years later, he is still incapable of forgiving his former friend for events that were not his fault (events which led to the woman's death). And... That's it. That's the entire drama and plotline of this novel. Oh well. I guess the drama had to come from somewhere. (??)(v) THE WORLD BUILDING OR SETTING: Another interesting touch would have been to add some historical elements to this in order to have a bit of 'world building', as it were. What was English high society like in this time? It is really not possible for the reader to get any sense of it from this book, which indeed could almost have been set today/written as a contemporary romance and have the main character go to Afghanistan, for instance. Hadleigh could have been some wealthy fellow whose fiancée died and accused his best friend of untoward advances. See what I mean? The setting is quite thin, here.(vi) ADDITIONAL COMMENT(S): A final element refers back to my discussion of the plot. Another element that was unfortunate in this novel was its reliance on romance novel clichés. (I say this as someone who has read hundreds of them.)-The feisty heroine who is 'unconventional' and strong-willed: check.-The main male character who is a 'wounded soul' who has returned from battle and is in need of healing: check.-Nebulous plotline featuring murder attempt(s) on one or both of the main characters: check.-Ridiculous misunderstandings of the type (he loves me! he doesn't love me!): check. I would also add that I find it rather unlikely that a young woman of the time would have been so insistent on having sex before being married. I understand that she loved Jonah, that she had indeed loved him forever, but there is such a thing as cultural conditioning. At the time this would NOT have been acceptable behavior, so to have her insisting on this seems rather unlikely to me.All in all I was disappointed in this one. And so saddened to have to write such a negative review.**Disclosure: I received a free copy of this novel as a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. less

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