Thursday, November 13, 2008

Seduce Me At Sunrise Lisa Kleypas

The good news, I liked it.

The bad news, I had me some problems.

Cindy Blurb:

Oh, wait! Pet Peeves or Silly Cindy Thingies

1. I'm not much on books where the H/H have known each other most of their lives.
2. Especially if they grew up like siblings.
3. Ages of the H/H would have been helpful in the beginning of the story so I didn't have to do awkward math to figure out just how long these two people lived in the same house *like* siblings. I never really figured it out.

Maybe I should have saved those for the 'awkward review' section of this post.

Oh, well. You've been here and seen worse with my brain.

Cindy Blurb (for real this time) :

Dammit, wait.

I have no writing steam, so this will be morbidly more awkward than normal.

Fun.

Cindy Blurb (shut up) : We have Kev Merripen, a gypsy boy that was raised by a brutal Uncle who used him as a fighting machine. His childhood isn't played out long in this book which is nice because I'm not much for flashbacks but it was enough to know Merripen never had it easy. His tribe was attacked at some point and he was left for dead.

Win Hathaway's father found the boy near death and brought him home to his family. The boy was almost feral and wouldn't let anyone near him until the day Win came into his room. An immediate connection was made.

Lord knows how old there were cause I sure don't. Maybe it was revealed in the previous book which I haven't read. Bad Cindy.

So, there is some growing up where Kev stays on the outer lining of the family, learning about trust and what it's like to be cared for. Then Win's father dies and her mother shortly follows. While reeling from this the Scarlet fever hits the family and Leo Hathaway, Win's brother and Win are close to death. Kev remembers an herb that could cure or kill and both are given the dose.

Win and her brother survive but Win is not the same and lives the life of an invalid unable to do normal tasks without being winded. She decides she must go away to get better because she wants a life with Kev (even though he wouldn't think of touching her).

Years later - again, can't remember and still don't know how old anyone is - Win comes back stronger and with a fresh need to get on with her life. She also comes back with a suitor but it's Kev she wants.

Kev wants Win to have everything but him and believes she must be kept in a glass case to be safe.

Romance ensues.

Well, romance to a point.

There is a scene where I didn't think much of Kev Merripen and I didn't think he was acting at all like a hero. The scene made me cranky and if I had been Win I'm not sure I would have forgiven it as fast as she did but then, she knew what she wanted and that was Kev.

All the same, I liked Kev because he was extremely rough around the edges. Even at the end of the book I got the impression that he wouldn't become this huggy lovey dovey kind of person with his family. With his kids and wife sure but not with the rest of the people he had grown up with.

I liked that Win's family knew about her love for Kev and always supported it even when Kev was being an ass.

Yeah, that's right, I said ass.

But I do so love men who can be asses.

Just sayin.

There is a mystery to be solved about the origins of Kev that the new Brother in
Law Cam goes after with vigor even though Kev could care less about his past. There's the suitor issue. There's tension between Win's need of a normal life and Kev's need to protect her life at all costs.

Oh, I should mention that I found the family quite fresh. I liked the intelligence of the siblings, that no matter how the older kids try and protect the younger ones, they know exactly what's going on.

Though once again, I found confusion in what the house was like that they lived in. For some reason as kids I thought it was like a small cottage but when it's mentioned that Kev is re-building it after a fire (from the first book in the series I would imagine), it sounds like a much bigger and regal home.

All the same I'm keeping this book because I do love the way that Kleypas does sexual tension.

That said, I'm going with a straight B for those things I found confusing and for that one scene that got me a bit riled up.

Okay, that's it.

Not sure if this helps you or makes it more confusing for you.

Glad I could help.

5 comments:

Bob & Muffintop said...

My youngest got scarlet fever as a four year old. As soon as the pediatrician told me what he had (his cheeks were bright red *duh, me*) I was all *GASP! OMG will he be ok??* and the dr. was totally puzzled. He looked at me "No one in the developed world dies of scarlet fever, Amanda. It's just a really bad strep throat that got infected. He'll be fine with some antibiotics."

As I collapsed with relief the dr. said, "Why did you think it was so serious??" Of course I was a total wimp and made up some stupid excuse, but you know my reaction stemmed from reading too many books where the worst case scenario always happens.

Um, that's just my way of saying- scarlet fever = strep throat & no one should die of that. Our boy is 13 now & full of wiseass remarks.

nath said...

Hey Cindy :)

LOL at your review :) I really enjoyed it!! :)

Hmmm, I agree with you, Merripen was meh for me as an hero. By the way, I don't think that Win and Kev ever considered each other as sibling.

Also, you're right about the house. When they were younger, they lived in a cottage. After their parents' deaths, Leo inherited a title... so that's the house they're re-building.

CindyS said...

bookwormom - I would have fallen over for sure. I didn't even know people could get scarlet fever anymore! But they did die in history though right? Cause the characters were down right frightened that people were going to die. Unbelievable that strep throat is the basis of it. And don't you just love the age of 13? I can't remember but my Godson will hit it next year. We all can't believe how big he is and then the younger is 7 but looks like a baby still. And we still call him our baby so maybe we need to stop that ;)

Nath - ah, okay. And no, I knew they never considered themselves siblings but because we didn't see how they grew up in this story I didn't know if they lived like siblings. In the same house etc.

Oh, there was no mention of a title but then it wasn't Leo's story. I think I might like to read his story but he's more charming (not to the *maybe* heroine) and seems to be at loose ends.

CindyS

Kristie (J) said...

Well - I think you must know that I enjoyed this one a lot more than you *g*. I think it probably helps if one has read Mine til Midnight first.
I do hear you about the age thing though. All through Mine Til Midnight I really didn't have a clue how old Merripen was.

It's good to see you're still reading though!!!!!!!!!

CindyS said...

Kristie - hey, it takes a real good book to keep me reading. I stopped at one point - (the cabin when all was right with the world) and was all 'okay, I don't need to read the rest' but then I was waiting somewhere and I pulled the book out. After that I couldn't put the book down.

I think I may have to stick to my old rule of 'finishing any book started'. I have a few books I've started and not been able to finish. A few were definitely not for me while others it was more my own state of mind.

Hopefully I'll just keep on reading!

CIndyS