HUH,.. okey here we go,..Anthony Craven Earl of Wickham like so many Hero is a arrogant man,free to do what he wants.Nothing mattered to him expect pleasure, but then we know behind his charms appearance something happened in his past life. So for the first pages, we know for months he want a beautiful widow became his mistress and she just playing hard to get and because he's Anthony the cassanova who like a challenge he became more curious to the widow. So far i like this, hero who like slutman with bad past and nobody get close to him, bla bla bla..its okay for me if H described as playboy or whatever but i don't like how he seem to obssesed to OW and this kind too much at the first we introduced to Anthony :(Melanie Goodly, yeeeeeaaaaaahh she good. She pretty enough if not stand beside her breathtaking cousin. So she and her brother stay at their ravishing cousin house Cassandra. Anthony want Cassandra to be his mistress fo long, and when one night at party she decide to sleep with him. Melanie has crush for him after months come to London and at this party indirectly became her first debut season. She to old for victorian age at time because she must nurse her parents if i'm not wrong. haha..Anthony taunt by his twin brother Richard about Cassandra and Yes finally he dance with her, not because he want to but to get Cassandra jealous. Why?????? i don't like this he even not hear Melanie question when they dance because he got too much attention elsewhere and no other and no one else is Cassandra Jeeeeezzzz pleaseeeeeee Anthony.Melanie too hurt by him make a reason for early night (headache) and Anthony who had plan to sleep with Cassandra enter the wrong room, Melanie room because so what happened next its Anthony must married her.Anthony know his brother trap him, but what can you say and do??? hahahaha.I like process how Anthony fall for Melanie, from not like to become possesive and jealous man.Hey, its suprise for Anthony because he finally agree to married and he think why not he can free from her mother pressure, get Heir, timid naive wife who can stay home and he free do what he want.OOOOO, you wrong not Melanie, she sassy, strong, and brave to stand for her will. She even want just one unique gift wedding from Anthony that he must cancel his plan for make Cassandra his mitress. HAHAHAHA.Supposed they can be happy couple if not for Anthony haunt by childhood past. He's emotional distand doesn't want to admit his feel to her. and in this appear Anthony mother, he know that her mom just can give her love for his brother and not to him, but he doesn't know that because of her, he must married Melanie. This the way his mother show her love to him, and pay for her fault to Anthony when he was a child. She think Anthony need woman like Melanie to save his soul.Hate it, He must out from house because he can't stand one roof with Cassandara knowing she was only a few doors away yet due to his promise to Melissa—untouchable Damn he still desire Cassandra when he agree to married Melanie.I don't like when Cassandra get angry to Melanie for rob Anthony, and Melanie immediately afraid by Cassandra treat whereas she know as strong heroine and even before that she with brave speak her mind.AND most of all he go to club at his wedding night. JEEZZZZZ,.This why i just give 3 stars, i know i know seen from his current situation its okay, MAYBE.So what??? because he's horny or because his restless hunger it okay for him to do somethng like that, or because the pathetic reason in the world he's a MAN.So even after he enter the club he still remember his WIFE Melanie, and can't get to excited about other woman, until this i'm happy. YEEEEEE...but not this after he hard instantly by remember his wife he still hard by other woman. WTF.????but i little confused here, when he eyed female display pleasuring herself He hardened immediately at her blatant sexual invitation but when she finished for the first time in his life, Anthony was not aroused. SOOOOOOO????? how can be? what different between hard and aroused??? Oh, where do I begin? I guess with a warning that there are some SPOILERS (and I NEVER do the spoilers) ahead, so read this review at your peril! Before buying the book, I read some of it and thought it would be really very good. It had a lot going for it even though we read this theme many times before. The opening scenes in this book promised so much, but by the second chapter the Author lost me completely. Our Hero and Heroine's "ruin" moment was rushed and forced, no pun intended. It lacked emotion and movement, again no pun intended. It left me rolling my eyes and feeling cheated somehow. They meet at a ball, and while he fully plans on making her cousin his mistress and thinks Melissa a poor imitation of her cousin, she on the other hand has had fantasies of him, knowing his interest in her cousin. Fast forward to her bedchamber, and she's sound asleep, he comes in thinking he's in her cousin's room and proceeds with intercourse. SHE THINKS SHE'S DREAMING!!! At this point I'm annoyed with this scenario, but hey! I bought the book, so let's continue with this torture, shall we? Now we come to the part that just gets me angry! Our Heroine is a VIRGIN, for crying out loud! Am I to believe that she slept through this? Oh, but wait...what do they do when they both realize the "mistake"? They both jump out of bed? She is angry at him? He's angry with her? I mean what would a normal virgin do when she awakes in the middle of the night with a man INSIDE her? Our Melissa lets him STAY there!!! I just couldn't see it; it made no sense, no logic. I'm giving you a taste of what comes next: "'What sort of trick is this?' His voice was low and deadly in her ear. She tried to turn to face him, wiggling in this strong grip. `Christ, do not...move...do not...wiggle...oh my God.'" Melissa felt him surge inside her. Once, twice, his grip on her arms vice like. She knew her skin would be bruised in the morning. He all but roared in her ear, his breath coming in ragged pants. He was trying desperately to withdraw from her, but in her frantic panic they seemed to tangle further." GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! So our Hero KNOWINGLY takes a woman without her consent. And what do we call this? There's only one name for it: RAPE! At this point I'm just fuming for paying $14.00 for this "book". Our Heroine shows array of emotions and none make sense to me as a reader, and I'm sure to her either! Is she hurt because she's been abused, or are her feelings hurt because he's not paying more attention to her? Just read it for yourself: "Stunned, she curled into a ball and lay completely still. She was the one who had just been violated, yet he rolled away from her as if he'd been burned by a flame. He made sure he was no longer touching her, as though she were diseased. Her temper flared at his dismissal of her. She rolled onto her side, facing him, trying to ignore the dull ache between her thighs, noticeable, along with the wetness." That's what's on your mind at a moment of being raped? REALLY? SERIOUSLY? You've been ruined and possibly (at the end did) end up pregnant and this is how you react? Not buying it. From there on, I just skimmed and wanted to get the torture over with. Their romance wasn't that believable to me and the compromising scene was very uncomfortable to read. Our couple lacks a strong emotional connection. I guess I was supposed to read between the lines and understand "the connection", but I didn't. And until almost the end of the book (the ONLY part of the story that has some tension) where he shares his past with her, and even then it is almost not as climactic as it should have been, it all seems stilted, underdeveloped somehow. Everyone in this story was one-dimensional, uninspiring, predictable and plain boring, even the villains! It's not that only the characters are poorly developed, even the plot is boring. I just couldn't get over the beginning of the story. This could have been such a great story of redemption, but it felt flat and boring. Celeste Bradley's debut novel "Fallen (2001)" was somewhat on this theme, so please find it and read it so you can compare the two. In it you'll find out how a heroine should and did react to a man coming into her room uninvited. I highly recommend it. I usually give an author a second chance, but I simply do not see the point here. Mel
What do You think about Invitation To Ruin (2011)?
LOVED IT I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. I ENJOYED VERY MUCH.
—Cecil41
