REVIEW: Ten Things I Love About You

Title: Ten Things I Love About You
Author: Julia Quinn
Series: The Bevelstoke Series
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Avon Books
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 375
Source: Library
Challenge: 2012 Julia Quinn Challenge
Summary:
(from back of book)

Ten Things You Should Know About This Book

1. Sebastian Grey is a devilishly handsome rogue with a secret.

2. Annabel Winslow's family voted her The Winslow Most Likely to Speak Her Mind and The Winslow Most Likely to Fall Asleep in Church.

3. Sebastian's uncle is the Earl of Newbury, and if he dies without siring an heir, Sebastian inherits everything.

4. Lord Newbury detests Sebastian and will stop at nothing to prevent this from happening.

5. Lord Newbury has decided that Annabel is the answer to all of his problems.

6. Annabel does not want to marry Lord Newbury, especially when she finds out he once romanced her grandmother.

7 is shocking, 8 is delicious, and 9 is downright wicked, all of which lead the way to

10. Happily. Ever. After. 

Review:
Ten Things I Love About You starts off with Lord of Newbury eyeing our heroine, Annabel Winslow, as his new bride. Of course, Annabel doesn't want to be...and who would? Lord Newbury is old and fat and not at all handsome. But she must! Because it's her duty...and though she doesn't like it, she's almost certain she will end up marrying him, for the sake of her siblings. But then, she meets Sebastian Grey, our very likable hero. He is a big contrast to the fat, ugly Lord Newbury, and Annabel is certain to fall in love with him. And so the story goes. Throw in a little secret and some meddling side characters, and you've got this novel!

The characters were likable enough, though I wasn't as engaged in this love story as I usually am with Quinn's other characters. I didn't connect with them, I guess. I was interested in Lady Louisa's story more so than the main characters', and do hope that Julia Quinn decides to write a novel for her as well as Edward. The plot was so-so...the twist was not much of a twist, after all.  Also, I find Sebastian's secret quite interesting, but I'm surprised no one has ever guessed it...

As you can probably tell, this is not my favorite Julia Quinn novel by any means. I actually couldn't really get into the story until about halfway in, and then I felt like I couldn't put it down. But still, it was enjoyable to read and several times while reading, I found my lips quirking up into a smile as I laughed to myself.  I would definitely recommend this. It is a feel good novel with a happy ending, and I love reading those! Plus, Julia Quinn is one of my favorite authors. :)

Rating:
Plot - ★★★
Characters - ★★★★
Ending - ★★★★★
Overall - ★★★★

ROMANCE: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Title: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Author: Annette Blair
Genre: Paranormal Romance
# of Pages: 269

Summary: After her Nana passes away, Victoria Cartwright inherits a key that will lead to her destiny. Or so it claims. But Victoria is just not ready to accept that she may just be a witch, even when all the signs are telling her so. Such as the key actually opening the mysterious wardrobe that no one else could open, or the fact that she makes rhyming wishes that come true. One such wish bringing her Rory MacKenzie, though he does have ulterior motives other than being her "knight on a white charger." He's looking to reclaim the unicorn, which he believes is rightfully his as one of his ancestors carved it. He believes it's the key to ending his family's curse and bring honor back to his family name, and he'll do anything he can to get it back. Now she's got a unicorn (thanks to that mysterious wardrobe) and a new employee/boarder whose bones she wants to jump. And oh yeah, her and Rory have been dreaming about each other, even before they met. Plus she has 3 psychic half-sisters who she's never met, but suddenly show up. All these, and she's still trying to convince herself she doesn't have magic...see how far that gets her... ;)

Review: The story dives right in, with Victoria opening to wardrobe to find the unicorn. Rory sees the unicorn on the "telly," when Victoria gets it appraised. He believes the unicorn is the key to ending his family's curse and bringing back respectability to his family's name. He travels across the Atlantic, and voila, they meet. Backstory is told along the way, to help fill in the blanks. There's misunderstanding and laughs along the way. Plenty of sexual innuendo. This is the first book I've read by Annette Blair. I would've loved to start with the first book of the trilogy, but oh well. I liked the plotline, but the main characters...not so much. Especially Victoria. I can't really stand her. She just seems so hostile towards Rory. Well, at least half of the time she is, and the other half she wants to jump him. Plus, she seems really insecure and way too wishy-washy with her belief in magic. One minute she'll be like "I don't have magic! Horrible thing to say!" and the next she'll be like, "Oh cool!" or "Retro," as she likes to say, and then back to the first. All in all, she seems like quite the flaky character. It's really tiring, and just made me want to scream, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY!" The sex scenes were all right, though maybe a little too graphic as this seemed more like a cute read than one of those steamy ones. Also, I feel the author made it a bit unrealistic, emphasizing that Victoria could have many multiple orgasms way too many times. I think she even wrote that Victoria was the queen of mulitple orgasms. She also mentioned that Rory was the king of staying power. Yeah, it was quite unrealistic in my opinion. One thing I did like were her half-sisters, and hope to read their stories. It was a cute read, but probably not something I'd reread.

Rating: ★★