Reviews for Tempting a Proper Lady

The average rating for Tempting a Proper Lady based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-06-09 00:00:00 John Minatoya Don't be fooled by the back blurb- which leads readers to believe there may be a love triangle - there isn't, which was fine with me as am not fond of love triangle romances. What you do get is a great growing romances between two people whom been burned badly by love and have to take a chance on love again, while trying to stop one evil baddie along the way. With shades of the Count of Monte Cristo- Captain Samuel Breedlove (love his name btw) is an innocent man, left for dead- when he finds out his employer The Earl of Raventhorpe is into the slave trade, selling girls to the highest bidder, when Samuel finds out about this, he tries to put a stop to it only to be pushed off a cliff and left on a small island , not only does he live, he hits the jackpot on some hidden gold. Now two years later Samuel is out for revenge to stop Raventhorpe from evil dealings, but to stop the marriage between Raventhorpe and the woman Samuel was to marry and whom kept Samuel alive while stuck on the island. Things have changed greatly while Samuel has been away, his fiancee and her family whom felt was like the family he never have has turned their back on him- feed by lies by Raventhorpe. Samuel has a short amount of time to stop the marriage while fighting a deep and sudden attraction to the only woman whom can help him Mrs.Cilla Burke- the wedding planner. Samuel was your hero's hero, he's willing to go the extra length to do the right thing and stop the baddie. At the same time, he's had his heart broken by a mother who had a string of lovers,- some whom were not kind to the young Samuel- never knowing his own father. Samuel felt at home with Baileys, poor framers before they became rich from finding a coal mind. It's a big blow that the Baileys don't believe him after all the years they know him, he still keeps pushing in order to save Annabelle Bailey from certain danger. While time spent away, Samuel became a different person and he soon sees that Annabelle as well. This nips in the butt the love triangle angle - he still wants to protect Annabella and the Baileys and with the help of his longtime friend (and the guy whom got his off the island) John Ready, and Cilla. Samuel doesn't believe in love and has a hard time even thinking about it, so instead of embracing love Samuel tends to run away from it. While he cares, he never can bring himself to love, but Samuel has the ability to love and love greatly, and while he tries to keep his attraction and relationship with Cilla at just sexual or business, he soon sees that he can't keep everyone at just arm's length without his heart somehow involved and he feels a deep connection to Cilla whose had to own share of heartache and pain. Cilla married for love only to have her dreams shatters but a man whom only wanted her money to gamble. After the death of her husband, Cilla doesn't want to rely on another man for her happiness again, so when she meets up with the Baileys she offers to help them deal with English ton and plan the wedding, she feels will start her one a new career as a wedding planner. Her plans go awry when Samuel Breedlove comes into the picture telling stories of almost being killed by Raventhorpe, not knowing whom to believe but seeing the deep pain in Samuel's eyes after he tries to tell this to the Baileys, this starts to put doubts into Cilla mind making her seek the truth. When Samuel asks for her help, she sees her dreams of being a wedding planner going up in smoke, with her only opinion getting married again. With the attraction between her and Samuel red hot, she decides to have him teach her about men, starting an affair between the two that nether knew would lead to love. Cilla still believes in love unlike Samuel, being hurt by her husband has made her leery of men and maybe love. It's her faith in love that makes Samuel see he's able to love and it's Samuel being truthful and up front with her that makes her trust and love again. Both Samuel and Cilla are kindred sprits in a lot of things and their relationship starts off with attraction, lots of heavy lust and finally love. Now I didn't have any trouble with the leads. I really liked both leads and even Baileys whom were really good people but were blinded by an evil man. But they two have their blinders taken off. There was a lot of room to grow in TAPL, with humor and many side characters I hope get their own book later on in this series like John Ready with his past shaded in mystery and the highwayman Black Bill out to get even with Raventhorpe. The trouble I did have was the attraction between Samuel and Cilla while was hot (sometimes smoking!) I felt the true romance between the two was very slow going, I felt that between the two was just plain lust, more often then not. Although given the history of the two, it was given to understand why they were leery of getting into a true relationship with Samuel saying he wouldn't be able to fall in love with Cilla and Cilla looking for a man whom would love just her. I wanted the "love" to come in a tad sooner. I also felt the villain was a tad OTT at times and two-dimensional, but he may get a little more smoothed out later in the series. (Cause am a bloodthirsty girl and want to see him get his! Heh!) Overall: My first time reading Debra Mullins and I really enjoyed her writing and her great characters. A amazing start to this series and looking forward to more!

Review # 2 was written on 2021-02-25 00:00:00 Sheila Barnes ***UPDATED REVIEW*** Going through my original review of the book,I realized that this book took me a terribly long time to read the first time around as well. At the risk of sounding far too blunt...it was almost painful this time around. I had to force myself to finish it with the promise that I could read something fun as soon as it was over. The plot had SO much potential! The idea that an American heiress was being taken advantage of by an evil, impoverished English lord and the only one who can save her is her former fiancé, a dashing American sea Captain, is fun and exciting. The way everything played out felt too forced. There were good bones, but not enough substance. Everything felt like it started off great, but then it fell to the wayside for a half-baked romance between Cilla and Samuel. Their attraction was sudden, but the ease with which Cilla allowed Samuel "liberties" lost me. She wasn't all that "proper" now, was she? It was too quick. The abruptness of it all left a funny taste in my mouth. The ease with which Samuel and Cilla embark upon their "romance" did not sit very well with me. I think one of the biggest issues was that I didn't care enough about the characters. The attraction between Samuel and Cilla felt unrealistic and very superficial. Part of the problem was that we essentially knew VERY little about Samuel other than that he was born a bastard, loved the Baileys as if they were his own family, and he became a sea captain. That's it. We know none of his hobbies, no anecdotes, nothing beyond his desire to save Annabelle from a disastrous marriage to the man who'd tried to kill him. He was horribly underdeveloped. As I noticed during my first reading of this book back in 2013, I didn't fall even a little bit in love with him...and that's the downfall with any book in this genre. Readers have to care about the male leads; we have to be attracted to them; we have to have the opportunity to find things we love about them - whether a personality quirk, something they do that's sexy, or even the steamy image we generate in our own minds...I had none of that with Samuel. I don't even think I ever got a good description of him beyond that he had tanned skin and dark hair. For the life of me, I don't even know what color eyes he had. Cilla was pretty much the same. She had a bit of a better backstory; perhaps because a great deal of the book was told from her perspective. This may have also contributed to my issues with Samuel; maybe if more of the story had been from his perspective, then I might not have found his character so lacking. Unfortunately, Cilla still fell a bit short for me. She was nearly as hollow as Samuel. The fact that she'd fallen from grace by running off and marrying a man against her family's wishes, she was forced to work for wages, and yet she was still invited as a GUEST in high society was extremely unrealistic. This, and the informality which all of the characters seemed to speak and address one another felt a bit amateur. Some of the wording in the dialogue felt off as well (some of it was even too modern to suit the story). I don't know if it was an attempt to make the Americans seem different, but it was more abrasive than realistic. Additionally, there was a huge revelation about Raventhorpe in Samuel's investigations regarding the lord's underhanded business practices and possible human trafficking...and it was brushed off...almost forgotten and didn't feel as weighty as perhaps it should have. The story's pacing felt a bit wonky as well. I flew through the first part, excited to see where the story was going to go. Then...everything slowed down. No exaggeration, this book took me months to finish because of this. And then, all of a sudden, there were 20 pages left in the book and it all came about rather abruptly. Where was the development? Where was the real building of a relationship between Cill and Samuel that DIDN'T focus around bedroom antics? WHY did they fall in love?! Overall, I was a bit frustrated with this book. As I mentioned, it had so much potential, but it simply didn't live up to what it could have been. I have enjoyed books by Mullins in the past, so I don't know why I struggled so terribly through this one. ***ORIGINAL REVIEW*** I began this book about a year ago, actually. I'm ashamed to say that it took me this long to finish it. Those who have read my other posts know that I have a habit of devouring books fairly quickly. Part of what took me so long to read this book was my busy schedule and the other is the fact that the story (and its characters) were a little bit unbelievable. (The most telling thing here is that I use my busy schedule as a poor excuse, but I know deep down that nothing can really keep me from finishing a good book.) It was pleasantly interesting, but nothing that made me salivate to read more. I did not care nearly enough about the male lead in the story, Samuel. This, I truly believe, is one of the things that makes or breaks a romance novel. In order to lose herself in a book such as this one, the reader needs to fall head-over-heels for the "hero." She has to believe that this is the most wonderful (if flawed) man in the world and she has to think he is the dreamiest and most charming and passionate person she could possibly imagine spending her life with. She has to wish she were in the "heroine's" place. This book did not make me feel strongly enough for Samuel and this was perhaps where it fell most short. There was definite effort made to create sympathy for Samuel, but it was just shy of where it needed to be in order to make the book a success. Priscilla's character was along the same lines. I felt a bit more for her than I did for Samuel, but not by that much. She fell a little bit flat for me as well. Her story was a little bit sad, but could have been made tragic with a bit more effort. The relationship between these characters was too...contrived for me to enjoy. I feel like it was too obviously fictional for me to truly lose myself. Lord Raventhorp was a good villain, but he wasn't in the book very much for so much of the plot to be revolving around his nefarious plans. This is not the first Debra Mullins book I've read, but I don't recall having these issues with that one... I just went back and checked. I've read two other books by Debra Mullins and actually seemed to have really, absolutely enjoyed them... Interesting... Those books were fun and the characters had fire. I think those were the things that were missing from this book. The fire was lacking even in the most intense of scenes. The ending itself was even a bit anticlimactic. Overall, the characters were a bit on the shallow side, the plot was a bit unbelievable, and the ending was a bit hollow. This won't prevent me from reading other Debra Mullins works because I've obviously enjoyed them in the past; see the following links HERE and HERE. I realize that tastes change over the years, but not this drastically.