Beauty Of Bond Street [Paperback]

From the back cover:

After her brother's death, Lady May Hayworth discovered his secret journals, chronicling his many affairs and revealing that he'd fathered several children. Eager for a family, she decides to play fairy godmother to her unsuspecting, beautiful nieces...

Left penniless after the deaths of her cortesan mother and aunt, Sophie Temple is desperate to avoid their fate by marrying a respectable man. So when she discovers a letter addressed to her aunt from a women named Lady May, inquiring about a child her aunt had birthed some twenty years ago, Sophie seizes her chance. She shows up on Lady May's doorstep, posing as the long-lost child.

Now, Sophie's giving herself one season to carry out the deception and find the best marriage possible. Unfortunately, she never counted on meeting the roguish Gideaon Hayworth, Earl of Ashford, who's recuperating from a grave injury at Lady May's home. The dashing earl is anything but respectable, and the last thing he's looking for is a bride, but suddenly he is all Sophie's heart desires...

And my review:

After discovered The Heiress of Hyde Park (Berkley Sensation) on a discount table, I quickly snapped up everything with this author's name on it. Now, after having been disappointed by The Princess of Park Lane (Berkley Sensation) and this last book in the trilogy, I'm starting to wonder if enjoying HEIRESS was a fluke.

This story was very slow-moving. While the heroine's character was marvelous, I didn't feel like the hero deserved her. I don't mind rakes who are reformed, but this hero didn't strike me as dashing, or with a heart of gold. He just came across as lecherous. I kind of felt like he never really had any interest in the heroine apart from her body.

While sexual chemistry is necessary for a good romance novel, I needed something more; a meeting of minds, a feeling of friendship, mutual respect...something. Their interactions never struck the sparks I love to see in a romance novel. The way the hero was always using his bad behaviour as a seducer of other men's wives to hold the heroine at arm's length really grated on me after a while. I felt like I was never really able to get to know him. Okay, so the guy's a great lover. So? That's supposed to be enough for me to cheer for the heroine to be with him? Not enough for this reader. I honestly didn't think he deserved her, nor did I truly believe that he would be faithful to her in the long run.

Lady May's story, a secondary romance that runs in the background throughout the trilogy, was by far the most enjoyable part of this novel. If you've read the other books and want to know how her story turns out, then go ahead and ready this novel. Otherwise, skip it, since the primary romance isn't all it could have been.

It's an interesting idea: an earl dies and leaves behind a journal which details a number of children he's had out of wedlock, and his sister decides that the children need to be looked after.

The Beauty of Bond Street is the third book in the series on the Mayfair brides, and the first I read of the Mayfair Brides series. Navin started with the story of Michaela in The Princess of Park Lane, and continues with Trista in the Heiress of Hyde Park; I'm reading Princess right now, and it looks to be a better story than Beauty.

The plot is flawless in this book. You have the heroine, Sophie Temple, the daughter of a courtesan, who decides to impersonate the daughter of another courtesan so that she can claim that dead child's inheritance as one of the Earl of Woolrich's natural daughters. She wants to have a season, meet someone rich and titled, and become respectable.

While staying at her 'Aunt May''s house, Sophie meets Lord Gideon Ashford, her patroness' brother-in-law and a rake, and sparks fly. At the same time she is pursued by Lord Oliver Burton, which her friend Margaux is hopelessly in love with. Thinking that she can't lust after her best friend's husband-to-be, Margaux cultivates the friendship of Lord Farnsworth instead. As luck would have it, Farnsworth just happens to be Ashford's friend and also the one person who knows Sophie is not who she says she is..

The story starts quite slowly with Sophie getting to know the injured Ashford better. At every turn Navin makes sure to remind the reader that she's feeling guilty of being found out, so much so that I found it tiresome.

I felt the conversation uninspiring as well - nothing seemed quite real among the characters, at least until the last third of the book. Among other things, Ashford ends up offering for Margaux because he is caught with her in his arms after rescuing her from Farnsworth, Sophie confesses, finds her true love, and all is revealed.

There are still gems, as when Ashford persuades Margaux's mother to invite him to her home, but the pacing of the plot could have been better, as could the dialogue. Navin is definitely capable of better, as I've seen in Princess.

These books should be read in sequence, as May's story slowly unfolds across each book. I did find some things completely unbelievable though - it's possible to introduce one or two natural children into the ton, but surely not so many? And such natural children would unlikely have been considered 'good ton' - it doesn't seem likely that society would have accepted a peer marrying Sophie. Then again, romances are escapist, so what's a little more fantasy.

Gideon was truly a magnificant man. He could be Alan Shore, of the TV show "Boston Legal" played by James Spader, reincarnated!! They are so much alike! This book was extremely interesting from the get go, not a boring moment anywhere. I loved Sophie, too. Not only was she lovely, she was smart. I didn't care for the drastic turn the story took-although it seemed in line with Gideon's attempt at reform, it seemed to come out of nowhere and suddenly everything changed and there was much heartache. I'm of the opinion that if these people would have just spoken plainly, they would have ALL been much happier.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars