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Mésalliance (2011)

by Liz Carlyle(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

2290028576 (ISBN13: 9782290028575)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

J'ai Lu

series

Lorimer Family & Clan Cameron

review 1: I loved this one to bits, even if it took me some time to warm up to the heroine. Zoe, our heroine, is wild because she's been spoiled by her father to compensate for her illegitimacy. However, she goes a step too far when she gets caught in a compromising posion with her childhood friend Robin Rowland, and they are forced to be engaged and set out on a visit to his family home. One problem - Robin is in love with someone else. Wait, that's a minor problem - the real problem is that Zoe can't help but want Robin's older brother Stuart (whom she's also known from childhood), and the reserved, proper Stuart can't help but madly want her back. Ooops. A delicious, angsty, shippy, supremely romantic ooops. I have to confess since we've seen all our leads as kids in some earlier... more books, it's a little weird to read about steamy makeouts, but Zoe/Stuart are ridiculously and awesomely angsty-hot together.
review 2: This is one of those few times that I wished I had listened to the reviews and that I hadn't actually spent money on this book.I thought I would enjoy this book because so many reviews had mentioned how flawed the characters were, and that was what primarily drew me to this book because I'm so tired of reading about oh-so-perfect hero and heroines. I consider myself a reader that generally has a high tolerance for inherently flawed characters because all people are imperfect in some way. However, it was obvious that character motivation took a backseat to poor, meandering writing and a very contrived situation that would have been settled early on had the writer not needed to meet her word count. I guess the best place to start with are the characters, since most of my problems with the book stem from them. Robin (or Robert): If you've read the summary, you'll know that he ends up being betrothed to our female heroine, Zoe. If there was ever a reward I could give to the most childish, immature, selfish, and annoying character ever put down on paper in a romance novel, then Robert would be the one to win it. It's amazing how Carlyle has fooled readers into thinking that he's charming, bigger than life, and likable because he's anything but for a vast majority of the book. In my opinion, he doesn't do a single thing to redeem his awful behavior once. I disliked him so much that I found myself even resenting the small amount of time devoted to seeing that he also got his HEA too.Zoe Armstrong: I wanted to like Zoe even despite some of her more apparent flaws. I find that I'm mostly ambivalent about her because I don't think Carlyle did her character any real justice. From what I gathered of this girl, it didn't make one iota of sense that she would continue in that farce of a betrothal considering her rather irreverent attitude towards propriety and the way she felt about Robert. If she was so tortured by how miserable Robin was, then it was also illogical that she would have continued to hold him to their engagement. It seemed that the only reason it lasted so long was because the writer needed a contrivance to keep the book running for as long as it did. Zoe also makes several mind boggling decisions in regards to her relationship with Mercer when it was obvious she was already head over heels in love with him. Again, it was more contrived decisions that seemed out of character, but only served to prolong the book.It's nearly impossible to get a hold on the type of character she was because the author would write her one way but would have her behave in quite another way at the expense of keeping the conflict alive. Just poor writing IMO. I'd rather much have some type of silly tragedy or action bring about the conflict rather than have the characters act in ways that are illogical.Stuart Rowland (or Mercer): He's written much like a lot of the stock heroes in the genre, but he was probably the most likable character of the three. I thought his devotion and love for Zoe since childhood was quite romantic. He's a little gruff on the exterior but he has a most passionate - though well-controlled - nature.Also, the ending, *sigh*. Lest we forget, no matter how good the beginning or middle is, the lasting impression comes from the end. This book was in badly need of an epilogue. I hate, hate, hate it when writers in this genre feel it's okay to end it right after the proposal or immediately after the I love yous. I am one to rarely exaggerate my scoring. I don't like to give one, two or even five stars unless I feel like a book is absolutely perfect or totally void of some good redeeming qualities that merit a middling 3 star. Given the fact that the book was already weak in many areas, it seemed fitting that the ending would also sputter out and fall flat - hence my two star.I was also unhappy about some of the loose ends that I felt didn't get addressed. Or at the least, I would have liked to see a wedding or a wedding announcement. So much time is devoted to family and the rest of the family members that it's almost atrocious that we don't get to see any of their reactions to the happy ending. Oh, and I can't even count how often she reverted to her favorite phrase of having characters "cut" a glance or "cut" a look or "cut" a glare etc. Seeing it a couple of times was fine, but she used it almost every time a character looked at one another. Someone else mentioned it earlier, but since this was written as a childhood romance that eventually blossomed, it would have been nice to see a couple more scenes of their childhood together. We get a lot of recounting from other characters, but it would have had more impact had we actually experienced it. It would have definitely had been a nice addition to the novel over having to deal with Robert's temper tantrums and the constant waiting around for something to happen. I wouldn't recommend anyone spending actual money on this book. Get it from a library or borrow from a friend. I'm sure some may end up liking the book more than I did, but in the great pantheon of romance novels, this one falls straight down to the middle of the pack. less

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