Lord Marcus Bowles has stained his family’s reputation for the last time. Only after spending a scandal-free year restoring some far-flung property can this second son return in good graces. But Marcus isn’t one to abandon a lone damsel on a dark country lane.One stolen kiss and Genevieve Turner’s handsome midnight savior disappears. Typical. No matter, Gen is finally on the way to her new post, … new post, and hopefully to finding her grandmother as well. Instead she finds her mischievous hero is her new employer. Surely a few more kisses won’t hurt…
Midnight Meetings Series:
Meet the Earl at Midnight (Book 1)
The Lady Meets Her Match (Book 2)
The Lord Meets His Lady (Book 3)
more
This is a great series (based on fairytales) and Little Red Riding Hood is the featured one in this story. At first Genevieve was a bit forward for me but the more you get to know her the more you realize she wants to do what she feels is best not only for herself (by not letting people roll over her) but also for others. Oh, and she loves mechanical devices and is good at fixing them. Marcus, bless his heart, is the brother that is sent off to clean up his act. Yes, he does have a terrible problem and realistically comes to terms with and solves his problem. Their interactions are steamy and funny. There is a secondary character in the story that when you look at the surface he is manipulative but is he really?
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
Lord Marcus Bowles has been living reckless life, gambling, fast horses and fast women flitting from woman to woman. He been banished to the isolated country so his brother can find a wife before Marcus creates another scandal. Genevieve Turner is the illegitimate daughter of a light skirt who’s upon occasion has had to sell her body. She can’t read and she unknowingly signed an indenture servant contract not knowing it for a long period of time. Her life became unbearable and she decided to run away to a new life as a house keeper with a fake identity. Marcus and Genevieve meet when they’re both traveling to country. Both of them have big caring hearts, and just want to better themselves to become better people and a better life. The past catches up with Genevieve and protective Marcus becomes intent on saving Genevieve from Wulf. A wonderful story of two people trying to turn their lives around, to become better people and learn to trust each other as they fall in love along the way.
This is my honest opinions after I voluntarily read a copy of this book of anthologies that was provided to me with no requirements for a review.
Loved it
I am torn about this review – I liked the idea of the book, but the execution didn’t work for me.
Genevieve Turner is a woman on the run, she has set out under an assumed name to take a position as a housekeeper. She desperately wants to start anew and hopes this position will be the first step in her new independent life.
Lord Marcus Bowles is a man with no direction, after causing one too many scandals, his brother, the Marquess Northampton, has sent Marcus to the country to sober up and lay low until North can find a suitable bride. Marcus agrees to go, but is counting the days until he can return to London and his aimless, pleasure seeking life.
These two meet when Gen’s carriage is broken down and Marcus mistakenly assumes they are being held up by a highwayman. Gen immediately recognizes Marcus from her former life at the Golden Goose and asks him not to reveal her true identity. Intrigued, Marcus agrees.
Days later he shows up at the house she is working in, turns out her employer is Sam, one of his best friends. Sam wants Marcus to work with him in a business venture and Marcus agrees, if Sam will let Gen come work for him. Sam explains the arrangement to Gen, who agrees to work for Marcus.
Gen and Marcus then proceed to set his house to rights and Marcus tries to lure Gen to his bed. Gen is no stranger to a man’s bed, but she wants a new life and sex is not part of their arrangement.
When Gen’s past comes calling, Marcus steps up and marries her to protect her. But Gen assumes it will be a sham marriage and doesn’t want to get too close to Marcus. By this time, Marcus knows he has deeper feelings for Gen and is content to have her as his wife. They become intimate, but Gen refuses to let there be anything more between them than a physical relationship.
The “Wolf” is not done with Gen yet and Marcus stands to lose everything to keep her safe. And Gen realizes that she loves Marcus and is willing to sacrifice her newfound independence to see him happy.
The story is well written albeit a bit wordy and the pace of the story is bogged down by the wordiness making it a slow read. I liked all the characters, including Wolf (the villain), there are some steamy love scenes, some sweet moments, some amusing moments and finally a HEA.
What I didn’t like was the incorrect use of formal address – this is the one thing that annoys me more than anything else in historical romance – I can overlook a lot, but not that. Marcus is the son of a Marquess, so he has an honorific title of Lord Marcus, when he marries Gen, she becomes Lady Marcus – but for this entire book Marcus is called Lord Bowles and after they are married she is being called Lady Bowles and that made me want to bang my head against the wall. So that, along with the slow pace of the story, made this a 3 star read for me.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*
3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.
This is my first book by Gina Conkle and I liked the story. It is very, very loosely based on Red Riding hood because there is a red cloak and hood featured in the story as well as a Wulf, who is NOT in sheep’s clothing.
To me, this story is more about one man’s journey to finding himself, maturing, and realizing the kind of life he really wants to lead. Lord Marcus Bowles is the brother of a Marquess (**giggles** if he were to inherit he’d be Marquess Marcus) and he has lived a profligate life, flitting from thing to thing and woman to woman. He’s finally been involved in one scandal too many and he’s been banished to one of their run-down properties in the extreme north of England. He realizes he has to change his life and plans to use his time in exile to contemplate what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.
Genevieve Turner is the illegitimate daughter of an actress/light-skirt and she has no idea who her father is. Her mother died a horrible death with the French Pox. Genevieve sold her body on occasion and lived with a man who had tricked her into signing into an indenture agreement with him. Well – he didn’t actually trick her into signing the indenture, he tricked her about the length of the indenture. When she finally learned to read and found out the length of the indenture and considered her life as it was, she decided she wanted something different and ran away. She was headed to the north to actually work as a housekeeper so she could spend time looking for her grandmother who was supposed to live in that area.
Samuel is Marcus’ good friend and neighbor from childhood. I mention him because he has a big role in the book. I have mixed feelings about Samuel. He was a really good friend to Marcus because he gave him some tough-love and tough-advice and didn’t sugar-coat or excuse Marcus’ behavior. However, Samuel also had his own agenda and forced/tricked/cajoled (whatever) Marcus into doing some things and taking some risks that Marcus didn’t want to take or do. That they turned out to be good things for Marcus, in the end, was more fluke than plan.
What did I like?
I really liked both Marcus and Genevieve. Both were very caring people, but both tried to hide it. Both wanted to become better people and both wanted a better life. I liked that Marcus was intent on saving Genevieve from Wulf.
What didn’t I like?
I found it to be slow moving and caught myself skimming pages pretty often and had no problem putting it down for a break.
It is set in the Georgian period, but other than the use of horses, carriages, and hip-rolls I didn’t see much to place it there. The conversation style, wording, phraseology, etc. were all very modern
The premise of Marcus and Genevieve was just too improbable to be believable. Genevieve was basically a whore. I know the author avoided that description, but – how many times do you have to sell your body before that description fits? I cannot imagine any nobleman of that period blithely marrying a woman with Genevieve’s background.
I didn’t like that Marcus’ final solution to Genevieve’s problem with Wulf had him treating her just like Wulf – as chattel to be bartered.
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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”
I always enjoy this author’s description of the Regency period.
Seemed To Have The Makings Of A Good Book, But Fell Short Somehow
This book is well written and has good elements of drama, suspense, and romance (it’s steamy in some spots). However, for some reason, the story didn’t engage me. I didn’t connect with Genevieve and Marcus. Maybe there was too much attention given to the lives of all the other characters. It seemed some were introduced in preparation for future releases. Then there was the villain. I kept wondering what drove his actions, but it still wasn’t clear to me when the story ended.
I enjoyed the actual story of this book, however there was too much erotic sexual content for my tastes.This is not for the under 18 readers. I received this book for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. I’ve given it a 4* rating. A Lord banished to his mother’s former home for his drinking and gambling misdeeds, by his family. While traveling there, he meets a former bar maiden who’s coach is broken down on a road. He meets her again shortly after as a housekeeper for a friend of his in the area. If you like erotic, you will probably enjoy this more. This does have a interesting story line that centers around this maiden and horses.
The Lord Meets His Lady, Gina Conkle
Midnight Meetings #3
I have mixed feelings about this book. It is the first book I have read by this author and though it is well written I found it difficult to believe. In some ways I found Marcus’s friend – Samuel – more interesting than Marcus and would like to know what happens to Samuel and his brothers in the future more than I want to know about Marcus and his brothers. Also, I have trouble believing that a well-born second son, no matter what transgressions he has been seen to perpetrate to require being banished, would actually fall for and marry someone as common as Genevieve…at least in that era.
Loosely based on Red Riding Hood and the wolf with Genevieve in the part of Red and the man she unknowingly indentured herself to as the wolf this story is about her desire to get away from “the wolf” and move up in life even if it means acting as a housekeeper when never having been one. Into her life steps the Woodsman – Marcus did chop some wood – who is borderline alcoholic with a possible gambling addiction who has been banished to “improve” or at least stay hidden till his older brother can find an appropriate bride. They meet on the road, she becomes his housekeeper, they dance around one another, he goes into business of sorts with his friend Samuel, the Wolf reappears and has to be dealt with and eventually the two find a HEA together…I did feel like there was a cliffhanger ending with the couple heading off from their home to his family home in the making but have no idea if there is a book to follow or who that book might be about.
So…there were things I did and did not like about this book. I can’t say that Marcus or Genevieve “talked to me” or that they were people that I would value as friends. I believe it is a book some will love and some will like and some might not like so very much. It has plenty of pages and storylines and characters and action and threads to follow with the potential for another book in the making BUT it is not a book that thrilled my soul or made me eager to pick up that next book when it comes out. I am rather sitting on the fence on this on so…
Thank you to Barclay Publicity and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC – this is my honest review.
3 Stars