When reading a series there are some readers who liked to be reminded of past heros and heroines from the previous books, I happen to not be one of those readers. Don't get me wrong I don't mind a small re-cap but to go on pages and pages about how Anthony was a notorious rake and how James was an ex-pirate was too much even for me. I feel all this re-capping took away from the romance Derek Malory and Kelsey were going through. Having read the previous Mallery book over a month ago I was hoping all the refreshing of previous couples wouldn't be so bad, I was wrong. I ended up skimming past re-caps and reading on to the actual couple. Derek and Kelsey had a unique romance/ story which I was intrigued by from the very beginning. Kelsey has just been told by her uncle that they were broke and the house they were currently residing in was going to be taken away unless they ran into some real money. Her uncle then puts the idea that only Kelsey could save the family by auctioneering herself as a mistress to the highest bidder. She reluctantly agrees to save her older Aunt and her younger sister from living on the streets. Derek Malory had just walked into this sketchy establishment as a favor to his younger cousin when he becomes intrigued by the young lady bring gawked by all the drunken lords. But when he notices one particular lord bidding on the young lady he becomes infuriated because he knows the Lord's perversions for the ladies. Derek makes a hasty decision to bid on the young lady and the next thing he knows he has a mistress. Kelsey doesn't understand until later on how much the gods love her by granting Derek to be her savior and not the other bidder. Kelsey can't quiet believe her luck that such a nice, handsome, caring, wealthy man Derek is to her and she instantly tries to put her guard up to save herself from future heartbreak. Derek on the other hand finds himself loving Kelsey's company and doesn't ever want to leave her side. After some trying obstacles and some heated arguments, the two realize they love each other and wish certain circumstances didn't pertain to their station. I very much enjoyed this story. However, as I previously stated I could have done without all the re-capping and I could have done without Jason's story and his mistress. I would have preferred more interaction between the main couple.....
I am curious what motivates women to like books like this. The so called hero was a man that uses woman purely for sex. All the men in his family had mistresses. Is that romantic? Is that what you want in real life to find a man that only wants to see a woman in the bedroom? Because that was what Derek Malory did - he never spent any of his time outside of the bedroom with his mistresses. He uses them for sex only and then goes about his day.SPOILER"Thank you for gifting me with your virginity" ugh, the hero likes virgins and brags about it to his friend that she was a virgin (emphasis on the word "was" a virgin). And I agree with another post, if he was an honorable man, he would not have made Kelsey his mistress after he bought her. He would have tried to help her out and have her become a governess or something else. No, he figured he would just pull her onto his lap in the carriage and have sex with her, after all he owned her. And if you think she was special, that he fell in love with her...consider this: An educated debutant could not be a mistress (that was a no no even for Derek) That is why he never spent time in public with his mistresses - they were uneducated and unmannered. Kelsey was able to carry on a conversation with him. That's what he liked. If he would have properly courted a debutant, he would have found other women interesting, too.And how about the ending. He was glad she had to sell herself at a whorehouse. He actually said that. He said he was sorry about the "anxiety" she went through. Wow, what about the humiliation, the embarrassment, the fact she was giving up any prospects of marriage, and sold out her virginity to someone she didn't know or love. The selfish guy acted like it was not a big deal to auction herself off at a whorehouse. I only read this book as research and was shocked at the whole story. I prefer romance that sweeps me off my feet not makes light of slavery.
What do You think about Say You Love Me (1997)?
This wasn't my favorite book in this series. While I liked the characters well enough. We had met Derek in the previous books and I had already liked him. Though we still needed to get to know him better. For me that was a big way this book was lacking for me. The characters came across far to flat. The whole of their romance felt like such a brief summery. The conversations were not really in dialogue just given an overview of later. It would have been better if we could have been in the moment for these two so we could get to know them, understand their feelings, etc. It made the story a little lacking for me.
—Kasey
4.5 StarsI have been a Johanna Lindsey fan for a long time and occasionally I like to re-read a few of her books. The other day, I selected this one and was immediately swept away into a different time.1844 LondonKelsey is a wonderful character. She is willing to do absolutely anything to save her family from financial ruin. And I really do mean anything - she agrees to auction herself at "house of ill-repute" to a stranger with the intentions of becoming his mistress.Derek is the average, good looking, aristocrat that has no interest in 1.buying a woman and 2. having a mistress. But when he notices a man he knows for fact is twisted and enjoys abusing his women, he bids on the lovely lady standing on the table without really thinking it through.Kelsey and Derek are delightful and it is fun to read their romance and see how it grows over time. But, can they over come the scandal that is attached to their love?I've said this before and I will say it again, Lindsey has a remarkable talent for character development and slow building passionate (believable) relationships. I highly recommend all of her historical romances, which range from Viking era to Regency.
—Amanda
I just didn't care for this one at all. I thought that Kelsey was a real doormat heroine (and I rarely say that). I don't see why Derek thought the only way he could save her was by making her his mistress. I don't like mistress storylines that much anyway, but I especially hate the "I'll save you by taking you as a mistress" storyline with a fiery, burning passion. It's a cop-out. As many female cousins and aunts as Derek has, he could have asked one of them to take Kelsey in and see her settled respectfully. He just wanted to have the cake and eat it, if you ask me. And the funny thing is that Derek is one of the more straight-laced, less roguish Malorys. I didn't really even think there was much chemistry between Derek and Kelsey and I hated the subplot with Derek's father and his secret mistress who is his housekeeper (and something a lot more important to the plot). For the longest time, dear old dad was in a bad marriage and sleeping with the housekeeper. Yuck. What can I say? This is one of the few Lindsey novels I just plain didn't like. I don't even own this one.
— Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja)
