Amelia Cynster's twin sister has recently married and now she knows it is time to put her plans into motion. She has always loved Lucien Ashford, a good friend of the family's. She has known him since she was a little girl. While Lucian is fond of Amelia, she knows that he does not share the same feelings for her. However, she does believe that under the right circumstances it would be possible for Lucian to grow to love her too. She knows that Lucian is lacking the funds that he will need for his sisters' coming out. She proposes a marriage of convenience that with her large dowry will be sufficient to solve all of Lucian's money problems. He agrees to the marriage, although he just recently managed to solve his own money problems for himself and decides that marrying Amelia fits him just right.Right away Lucian and Amelia both are hiding something from the other and that is they both are in love with the other without the other actually knowing it. So they both set out to seduce the other in the hopes of making the other fall in love as well. I really enjoyed this plot device because the story really focused on the romance between the characters. Another bonus was that this book was very sensual in nature, so sensual in fact that I had a hard time rating it. I was tempted to give it a burning rating because of the numerous sex scenes, but the language was far from graphic, more like subtle and poetic. I did feel that the story at 420 pages, could have been scaled down by about 100. After a while, I felt things were too drawn out and became repetitive.Aside from the main conflict of misinformation between Lucian and Amelia, there was also a mystery involving a thief. The mystery was slightly cliched in that the big reveal ended with Amelia in danger and Lucian rescuing her. I really can't take points off for that because I enjoy it when the hero comes to the heroine's rescue. Even though Amelia put herself in danger after having a TSTL (Too Stupid Too Live) moment. For the most part this was an enjoyable read even if it was drawn out a tad too much for my liking.
So, so awful. After the amazingness of On a Wild Night, this was so incredibly bad. I'm not sure who I hated more, Luc or Amelia. Amelia was so completely opposite of her sister that I found it hard to believe they were twins, and that she was the same person that was in the previous book. And Luc was a detestable "hero". He was awful to Amelia throughout most of the book. I would honestly consider some of his behavior towards her emotionally abusive. And it killed me every time she allowed it to happen. The "mystery" thrown into this one felt the most disjointed of all the Cynster books to date and completely seemed like something the author threw in after the fact. It most definitely did not add anything to the story. The resolution of one of the main conflicts of the book occurred within the span of a few paragraphs. "Oh, I've lied to you this whole time, but now you will not only forgive me but make it seem as though it was all your fault." "Oh yes my love, it has to be my fault, after all you're so perfect and I'm but a lowly female." "Good, now get naked and let me have more sex with you."The sex was definitely plentiful, but so, so, boring. No matter what horrible thing Luc said to her or how awful he made her feel about things, all it took was one stab of his tongue into her cavernous honeypot of a mouth and she opened her legs to him and all was forgiven. I've had some good sex in my life, but no man would ever get away with treating me the way he treats her by simply giving me an orgasm or two.I skimmed a good 50% of this book and from reading other reviews, I'm apparently not missing anything.
What do You think about On A Wicked Dawn (2002)?
The plot seems very classic : an offer for a marriage of convenience to which both parties agree both convinced from the first place that convenience is not on their agenda and they expect more from the deal.However classic and light, I really liked this one. I had the feeling both main characters behaved as they should, their games were far less cold-manipulation than they were in the previous instalment with Amanda. I also really liked the hot scenes (quite numerous actually) which I found different and much more invested with feelings than all the others I had read in the previous 8 or 9 books of the series. For once I was thoroughly convinced that Luc had not let his decisions be taken by lust only. The mystery with the thief is really secondary, and although I'm never Hercule Poirot, nor Miss Marple, I identified the culprit at its first appearance. However one thing I really regret is that S. Laurens does not like conflicts and is probably not able to handle a real conflict scene. This would give additional potential to the story.
—LaFleurBleue
This is Amelia and Lucien's story. I had to laugh at how Amelia decided to handle the whole marriage thing. While her idea was unique it did get the job done. The scene where she proposes to Lucien is also very funny. There is a mystery in this story but not like the earlier ones. While Amelia does get in a fix Luc is there soon enough to keep anything bad from happening. This story is mostly about Luc and Amelia reconciling themselves to their new life. Both these characters are stubborn and more than a little uncertain about the other but they do come around in the end.It was nice to see that Devil finally told Honoria that he loved her. It has been six years after all. I was glad to see the wedding take place at the Place and to get a look at all the Bar Cynster and their wives. Mostly we get to see Dowager Duchess and Lucifer and Phyllida. As always this book will steam up your day, week and probably month. Ms. Laurens writes some of the hottest love scenes on the market even after all these years. This story is a good addition to the overall series.
—Oleta Blaylock
The book is not as good as Amanda's story. Luc is kind of disappointing. He is not the Luc you read about in the other books and neither is Amelia. In Amanda's story, she was like her sister. She was trying to get what she wanted, but in this book she lets look push her around more than in all the other books when she would fight back. I do like how Devil finally tells Honoria that he loves her. I have been just disappointed through the whole book. I thought this book would have topped Amanda's story, but I seem to be wrong. With all of the other Cynster books, she had the problem from the beginning and then the big final in the end. In this one, she doesn't really show an issue but a couple of times and then it suddenly becomes a big deal at the end. The end was really good. I just wish that Luc admitted to Amelia why he was marring her in the beginning. The book could have been a lot better.
—Autumn Mcquarrie
