The Unmasking of Lady Loveless by Nicola Cornick

http://ebooks.eharlequin.com/

Oh the woe of the short story! Underdeveloped characters and an underdeveloped emotional journey made me weep – though in 50 pages its hard to use anything other than the bare basics, which makes for dull one-dimensional relationships and characters. Alex Walon (Lord Beaumont) is the second son of a duke who is forced into marriage with Lady Melicent Durham. They become estranged because of her 'cold, stiff lovemaking' (ouch!), her sick mother, and his anger. They stay apart because, well, there’s no reason to get back together and their pride won’t let them. They get back together because Alex learns that Melicent is the Lady Loveless – an erotic writer with incredibly accurate sources. He goes to confront her about her ‘infidelity’ – and seduce her with his incredi-wang bang, oh la la!

            Now let me say, I love those stories where the man and his wife fall back in love – but it requires some real emotional depth, because something really hurtful must have happened to break them apart. In this case, the story was too short for them to make an emotional journey together, to watch them build trust – so Cornick opted to use lust to heal all wounds, which upset me. I love watching these couples learn to trust and love each other by getting to really know one another and spend time together. With Alex and Melicent, it was like they were 'in love' (via lust) the moment she opened the door. It was a little out of character – or a lot out of character. I mean, females, we stay angry and hurt. Her total acceptance of him and his actions didn’t speak to me of the strong woman she claimed to be, but of a weak-willed woman instead and it contradicted a main part of her character.

            As far as the love making goes – unreal. Literally. It’s all very cliché – the guy has a huge ding dong and he loves (surprise, surprise!) how open and responsive she is to said ding dong. She, in turn, has multiple, multiple orgasms. They fall asleep, and the next morning have an enlightening conversation while she makes an attempt for modesty. One interesting thing? I’ve never heard of an author mentioning a hero’s shriveling wang – possibly because the image of his bow-wow-boner shriveling into a shelled peanut isn’t that attractive to the reader (or maybe it’s just me).

Favorite quote:

Melicent looked at him, a slight frown on her brow. “It is very hot in here.”

He knew.

“You look rather flushed, my lord. Are you developing a fever?”

He certainly was.

“Sexy”ness rating: Hot!

Overall Rating: C-

Bottom Line: This is a short, short, short sampling of a sexy couple! If you want something quick to read on the plane, here’s a sweet little treat for you!

Pages: around 50

Published: October 23, 2008

Genre: Historical