Reviews for Heartless

The average rating for Heartless based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-27 00:00:00 Diego Lopes Kat Martin's Heartless is a fun, escapist historical romance. There's plenty of high drama and it's pretty extra, mostly in an enjoyable way. It feels pretty old school, featuring some literal bodice ripping, which is maybe why the playlist I made for it features a lot of '80s tunes: (Justin and Ariel's quintessential song to me is "Lucky Ones," the final track. Yes, I'm addicted to making playlists on Spotify now for historical romances. Don't @ me.) With Heartless, you're clearly in the hands of a seasoned romance writer, and I look forward to reading more by Kat Martin, including the next book in the Fire Trilogy. When Ariel Summers was fourteen, she made a deal with the much older Earl of Greville to escape her hardscrabble life as a tenant farmer's daughter. If the earl would pay for her schooling so she could learn to be a lady, when she came of age she would become the earl's mistress. Ariel goes off to finishing school for four years. Unbeknownst to her, the earl dies two years in, leaving his title and fortune to his bastard son Justin. Justin was legitimized on his father's deathbed but that doesn't stop him from resenting the father who never loved him. For two years he receives the letters from Ariel about her progress at school which she thinks she's sending to his father. When Ariel arrives at Justin's townhouse in London, she's in for a rude awakening. Justin decides he wants to hold Ariel to her bargain and have her become his mistress. Ariel just wants to be a lady and to repay her debt in any other way. But she can't fight her attraction to the formidable earl. Ariel is a little Demelza and a little Gigi. She's resourceful and determined to rise above the poverty and abuse that she came from. Naive though she may be, she's empathetic and astute at picking up on other people's suffering. Speaking of Gigi, Justin reminded me of Gaston from that movie when he literally says, "To be truthful, I find most of life dull and boring." I felt his pain and felt bad for him, even when he's behaving badly. He has a cruel streak and he's one of those cold aristos whose heart has to be melted. There are a lot of elements I love in this story. I loved Justin and Ariel's painful, tortured backstories and how they're united in pain and sympathy for one another. It reminded me of one of my favorite shows The Spanish Princess, with the reading letters and falling in love with someone before first sight/thinking you're penning letters to one guy and it's really someone else. Justin gave me some Thornton vibes from North and South with his whole successful businessman deal and his factory owning endeavors. Both he and Ariel have a head for business and bond over their interest in it. And Justin and his nemesis reminded me of Wickham and Darcy with their conflicting reports about the past and the question of who's the honorable one and who's the dishonorable one. Heartless is fast-paced, with good plotting. It has a strong start, setting things up nicely with great economy. It takes some turns I didn't see coming. The hero fucks up BIG TIME and that sets a lot of things in motion. Sometimes Martin glosses over incidents, recapping things that would have been more impactful recounted firsthand. The characters can behave in a way that strains credibility for the Regency Era. They can feel pretty brash/forward/indiscreet. Some of the things they'll do/say in front of other people are unbelievable and had me all Justin and Ariel can be stupid and infuriating, I must admit. One of the villains is cartoonishly evil and OTT. There's no subtlety to this villain at all. It's a dark and stormy night with suspicious frequency, especially whenever the hero and heroine hook up. The writing and descriptions can veer off into purple prose at times. Things can get repetitive, especially with lines about the hero being heartless. It's a pet peeve of mine when the title of a work is overstated in-text. (*cough* Can anyone say Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? *cough*) It feels like overkill, hammering us over the head with it, and to me it dilutes the power of the title. Despite some issues, Heartless is a sexy and diverting romp. It will keep you engaged until the happily ever after. This is a good one if you're a historical romance fan.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-25 00:00:00 Rich Boi Okay This story about a teenage girl who makes a bargain with the Earl on the estate where she lives to pay for her education and make her a lady in return she would become his mistress is a bit bland. I got bored at times when Ariel overthinks just about everything. She actually gets married even though she has gut-wrenching fear. Too much angst ruins a story for me. Another tiresome and overdone aspect of the story is the man who is unable to love. How the heck would he know?!! He broods and mopes around so much it's a wonder he has even one friend let alone is appealing to the ladies. There are some good things about the plot that kept me reading, though. Take out the over thinking angst and the lack of human feeling crammed down the reader's throat after the point has already been made and this would have actually been a four-star book. Some readers of historical fiction and/or romance might like this book.