By: Leigh Michaels
Published By: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Released: Februrary 2011
Historical Romance
3 Heart Review
The rules are meant to be broken…
When the handsome, rakish Earl of Hawthorne buys the charming house across the back garden from his town home, he never expects the lovely lady he installs there to ensnare him completely…
Again…
After Lady Keighley marries the earl, it seems a shame to leave the house empty, so she offers it to her childhood friend Felicity Mercer, who discovers the earl’s gorgeous cousin…
and again…
Finally, feisty Georgiana Baxter moves into the house to escape an arranged marriage and encounters the earl’s friend Major Julian Hampton late one night in the back garden. The handsome soldier is more than willing to give her the lessons she asks for…
Plenty of gossip, scandal, and torrid speculations surround the “mistress house,” but behind closed doors, passions blaze…
I feel I need to preface this review by letting it be known that I don’t like books under 100 pages, known characters from a series in a novella excluded. And while this book is just over 300 pages, it is actually 3 separate stories independent of each other. I just don’t think it gives the author enough time to build the characters, and I like my books to have a good plot.
That being said, The Mistress' House fell short on a lot of points I am very adamant about. I didn’t really get to know the characters like I would have liked. Each story had a plot – sort of – but the intimate scenes were obviously the focal point of the stories. And, the characters’ decisions and actions weren’t believable, especially for the era.
On the good side, I really enjoyed the characters in this book. They had so much potential. I was able to connect with them, even in the short timeframe. I also really liked how each story flowed into the next. The characters’ interactions and relationships, not just the romantic ones, are often my favorite part of a book.
If you’re looking for a steamy little summer read, this is just the ticket. However, if you like your books with depth and a driving, intricate plot, you might want to skip this one. I really wish Leigh, the author, would have separated each story into its own book so the characters had the opportunity to grow, and things didn’t seem so rushed. With strong personalities like these, I just know they would have come to life right off the page.
What do you think of novellas? Do you think it really depends on who the author is as to if you think they can create a whole world and draw you in with so few words?
Happy Reading!
Cheeky Girl L.A.
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