Swept Away, Candace Camp (B) - This was my first Camp novel and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't overwhelmed by it. It feels just a little dated to me, and overall, the first part of the story is a little disjointed from the second half. The first act is almost farcical in that the heroine believes the hero is a criminal who set up her brother and embezzled a fortune. She and her family members, including servants, decide to kidnap the hero and coerce him into confessing. Somewhere within the silly kidnap plot is an eye-rolling few chapters where Julia instead tries her hand at seducing Deveral into confessing. I can't imagine readers believing this will work, though it does of course set the stage for some serious lusting. Julia's subsequent kidnapping plot is a failure as Deveral escapes within hours and then kidnaps Julia in turn. He's slightly more successful, but not by much as she too escapes. The upshot of all of this back and forth is that the two are caught publicly in their fiasco and are "forced" to marry. The second half of the novel shifts to the hunt for the real criminal and by that point, I felt that the romance got shifted to the back burner. That is unfortunate as I wanted to the book to focus more on how these two essentially decent people are able to resolve their conflict. I'll admit too that was distracted throughout the book by Deveral's constant and at times inappropriate lusting after Julia, especially when it occurs in the face of extreme danger. I found the villain to be fairly obvious too. All in all, not a bad read, but it didn't leave me wanting to get ahold of more Camp novels either.
I like cheesy romance books set in the regency times. Are they fine literature? Nope. Are there ever any real surprises? Nah. But they are satisfying and fun anyway.I'm a big fan of Amanda Quick romances and recently started reading Candace Camp. This is a stand alone book (yes, I'm a sucker for trilogies or multi-series books) but it was still quite fun. Usually the female characters of these times have to be such sticklers for their reputation and never get to have any fun, but Camp seems to be adept in writing her characters in a way that they can bend convention.The plot in a nutshell is Julie Arminger masquerades as a loose woman to seduce information out of Lord Stonehaven, a man who accused Julie's brother of an awful crime. While not exactly historically accurate by any means, it is still a fun, quick read with decent love scenes and good chemistry between the two main characters.
What do You think about Swept Away (2006)?
Una buena historia, pero sentí que en muchos momentos se perdía el romanticismo/conexión entre los personajes, lo presentan al comienzo al lord como si fuese una especie de libertino aunque nunca se vuelve a hablar de sus conquistas, es más, ni siquiera se resiste (o al menos piensa) a casarse!, ni un mínimo debate interno; su furia por saber que ella solo estaba planeando engatusarlo para vengarse dura muuuy poco y la mitad del libro se avoca a la investigación de quien mató al hermano de ella
—Aldy
