Lawson’s review of One Night With You by Sophie Jordan
Historical romance released by Avon December 26, 2007
Blurb:
Anything can happen after dark . . .
Tired of being treated like a servant by her own family, Lady Jane Guthrie finally has a chance to escape . . . at least for one night. Attired in a daring gown, she arrives at a scandalous courtesans’ masquerade ball looking forward to her few hours of freedom. But when she sees Seth Rutledge, her skin begins to tingle with anticipation. Many years ago, Seth broke her heart by falling for her beautiful, title-hungry sister. But now here he is, right in front of her, offering her his lips . . .
Embittered by war, Seth returns home to inherit the title that would have once won him the woman of his dreams. Though duty demands he wed, he’s convinced passion no longer has a place in his life . . . until a masked siren sets his heart aflame. Desperate to find her again, he has no idea it’s his childhood friend Jane—and that after one night together their lives will never be the same.
Read an excerpt.
I will admit my review of Jordan’s last book was pretty scathing. Maybe even downright mean. So when I saw this I knew I should give Jordan another chance. Maybe it was just the one book and this one will make me eat my words. So did it? Well. . .
Historical-wise there wasn’t any issues for me. It was more a character driven story rather than a situation driven story. Jane is a sympathetic character, and though she ends up with a consequence of her night of passion, she handles herself with grace and dignity in the face of those horrible family members of hers. She’s been bartered, used and abused and when she tries to take something for herself, it comes back to get her in the ass.
Seth is a stoic sort of hero. He’s been thrust into the title when he wasn’t raised or loved by his parents to be that sort of person. He’s been burned by love in the past, Jane’s sister in fact, and thus doesn’t want to fall in love again and loose that sort of control. Which is all fine and good, until Jane is put into the mix and he feels lust and many other things for her. Jane feels the same way about love, though she puts that aside to try to have a better life than she’s had before.
Seth spends so much time fighting his attraction and not wanting to fall in love that he, of course, looses Jane. It’s all rather ho hum and not very much chemistry either. Jane, though she has honor and admirable qualities, is eventually rather pitiful since she doesn’t seem to have much spirit after life has beaten her down. Seth has forced his emotions not to bother him for so long it’s a wonder he feels anything at all.
Seth does have one thing that makes him a worthy character, his sister. She’s blind, he feels guilty for causing it (which is mentioned, but not worked out how he overcomes his guilt) and he wants to keep her sheltered so she won’t feel pain. Julianna, his sister, does get her way and her freedom in the end, but there’s so much time spent on angst in the book, the resolution and HEA is rushed and doesn’t ring true.
The style just tended to grate after awhile, with many abrupt thoughts, short harsh conversations and a general lack of regard for the other character’s feelings. It was improved over the last story and I might be reading the next one, if the style gets better and perhaps there’s a hero that’s ok with love and understands pain is a part of life.
Grade: D+
