UNEXPECTED PLEASURES by Mary Wine

PUBLISHER: Brava, 6/2012
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1546
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

SYNOPSIS: As Lady Justina Wincott's brutal guardian, Viscount Biddeford promises any disobedience from her will cost her son dearly. A pawn in his games of court treachery, the beautiful widow is forced to tempt secrets from his enemies and seduce allegiance from his friends. Yet even Biddeford's wrath won't make Justina sully the only man of honor she's ever known…

Sir Synclair has earned his honor in blood and muck. War taught him the way to victory is rarely clean--but the passion Justina sparks in him is not to be ignored. Never mind the predators who crave her beauty, or Biddeford's ruthless wiles; he will have her as his wife. And yet if he is to wed Justina, his fiercest battle may be with the lady herself…

MY THOUGHTS: What a disappointment. Neither main character was very interesting to me nor was the thin plot, which was too tame and boring. Justina is under the thumb of a terrible man, Biddeford. He's the most interesting character in the book. Predictably, bad things come his way.

Synclair is very alpha and I never understood his obsession with wanting to marry Justina. The sex scenes were very explicit and I enjoyed them. Sadly, the sex was the best part of the whole story.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DEFIANT CAPTIVE by Kathy Jones

PUBLISHER: Zebra Heartfire, 11/1987
GENRE: Historical Romance
SETTING: West Indies, unknown date
BODICE RIPPER? Yes
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B-

FROM PUBLISHER: Kathleen O'Connor refused to give in to despair. She'd proven how strong she could be--she'd survived weeks of terror in the dark hold of a pirate ship and had bravely faced the humiliation of the auction block. Now that she'd been sold to Captain Kade Morgan, it was time she planned her escape. The Irish beauty thought of his tall, muscular frame and sparkling ebony eyes and sighed. It would not be easy to flee the handsome pirate, especially when her traitorous body yearned for the rough magic of his embrace. But she'd be no man's slave--not even if her master had already tamed her wild heart!

Kade appraised his raven-haired prize with growing admiration. She had courage, all right. After all she'd been through, her blue-green eyes still gleamed with pride and fury. He had no desire to break her spirit, but he ached to replace that fury with willing passion. She was his to command and he had but one request--that she give herself to him with all the glorious fire in her soul. If she needed some... persuasion, he'd gladly supply it. He'd tease her full, red lips with searing kisses, he'd stroke her ivory skin until she writhed beneath his knowing touch. And in the end he'd possess all the wanton sweetness of his Defiant Captive.

MY THOUGHTS/SPOILER SUMMARY: This story started out good. Seventeen year old Kathleen was kidnapped and held for ransom. It was orchestrated by Quint Cathcart. He wants to buy her Arabian horse, Taran, but her father won't sell it. He and his men go there to steal the horse but can't find it, so they kidnap Kathleen instead and plan to hold her for ransom in exchange for her horse. Right before she's kidnapped, they burn her home to the ground and her mother dies in it. The ransom note they send to her father is accidentaly sent to her neighbor, Silas Pennington.

Her kidnapper, Quint, is angry about something so he sells her at auction. Thirty-five year old Scotsman Captain Kade Morgan buys her with the intention of sending her back to wherever she came from. She's held prisoner on his ship and Kade, in true bodice ripper fashion, treats her badly. The first sex scene is what I'd call forced seduction. All the sex scenes with them are spicy. The rest of the story is very boring but there's a bit of action right at the end involving Silas.