"Not Good": (2008-12-24) 
This book was very, very hard to get through. It could have been a good story. But the plot was very mixed up and confusing. The hero and heroine were likable. But there was too much missing to the story. The dialec between characters was not good at all. The author goes on and on about absolutlely nothing. Trust me on this...you will be very dissappointed.

Secrets and Spies: (2008-03-11) 
Jason Dagwood has newly been made Viscount Steele because of some work he's done for the Prince. However with this new responsibility, as well as his job as Solicitor-General of England, he has a new challenge - he has to look after his two nephews, Seth and Felix. Steele and his dead wife's father believe that Seth and Felix's parents were murdered and they are trying to discover who did the deed.

The two boys clearly need a governess to help them to settle down and begin to recover from the events in their past. When Steele hires Abigail West he gets more than he had bargained for. She may look quiet and mousy at times but it's clear that when necessary she can be a strong woman who can keep those she loves safe.

Steele spends some of his nights roaming the streets of London as a Sentinel, a kind of vigilante of justice. When out one night he comes across a woman being attacked - a woman who seems able to defend herself very well. Although he helps the mystery widow it's clear that she is self-possessed and unusual. When meeting her a second night they become lovers, but neither knows the identity of the other as they are always masked or veiled.

The story is part mystery (although the murder plot section is very small), part romance (although the romantic clinches between Steele and Abigail generally seemed rather sordid to me - up against a wall in a dark alley, for example) but it's mostly about Steele and Abigail helping Seth and Felix feel important and part of their world. Steele has to overcome his grief at the death of his former wife and Abigail to realise what's important and how the errors she has made in the past don't need to shape her entire life.

The fact that this author is an American jars the reader fairly frequently in the book. Abigail's young charges ask to eat "biscuits with butter and jam" which sounds ludicrous to English ears - 'biscuits' are what Americans call 'cookies', I presume the 'biscuits' in this book refers to our 'scones'. There are also American word-forms and sentences which, although common in Regency novels such as this, are always irritating to a reader who knows about the language used in England in the 1800s. There also seemed to be unnecessary repetition of the phrase "Solicitor-General of England" which got quite annoying towards the end of the book.

This was a reasonable enough read and the characters were well drawn. However the thinness of the plot and the historical inaccuracies let it down as well.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

4 stars: (2008-03-04) 
Two strangers, Abigail West and Jason Steele, each hiding their true face for reasons of their own, meet in a dark alley when he rescues her from thugs. The intensity of the situation and an immediate attraction lead them to a one night stand. Not even when they meet again, this time with their true faces revealed, do they know each other. Now, she is a proper young woman seeking employment as a governess for the Viscount's two nephews, a job she is able to attain. What she can not do is deny the attraction to her boss. However, secrets and their stations keep them apart. She is on a quest to discover the truth behind her brother's fate, and he is part of a group of masked vigilantes that keeps London safe by night. It seems to be a doomed affair, but as we all know, love can find a way where there is none.

**** If it were not for the rapidity of Jason and Abigail's romantic encounter, this would be a wholly credible story. Ignoring that, Ms. Robbins has successfully combined the classic governess/employer romance with the intrigue of the Scarlet Pimpernel type adventure, making for something sure to win her fans among historical romance aficionados. ****

Amanda Killgore

The Governess Wears...many hats?: (2008-02-19) 
In a nutshell, this is the story of a kindhearted but used, desperate governess and the men she loves (and has sex with). A few topics and characters were repeatedly mentioned but, frustratingly, never developed or completed.

** SPOILERS**

There were repeated references to Abigail's grief over her loss of virtue to a former employer, and her vows to never let "it" happen again were sprinkled throughout the story. It was REALLY difficult, however, to feel any sympathy for Abigail in the role of a jilted lover while she was engaging in anonymous sex in a dark alley while simultanously falling in love with someone she believes is a different man, her current employer. (And they say history never repeats itself.)

And let's talk about the Viscount, Mr. Top Notch Barrister, Mr. Solicitor-General of England, who sneaks around at night to trash the baddies in back alleys (oh, and has passionate anonymous sex while he's skulking around in these alleys, too). Talk about your split personalities.

All of this could have had an enjoyable AND plausible ending but the reader instead is left with a few pages of Too Much Information: a marriage proposal, change of heart for an old codger, a rescued-from-certain-death family member, and an ultra-bad guy disposal are neatly, and uninterestingly, wrapped up. By the way, how did Jason and Abigail enjoy getting to know each other after Abigail disclosed her hidden identity? Did she ever get pregnant? After several references to both you would think...oh, nevermind.

I agree with the other reviewer that Ms. Robins needs to bone up on customs and speech of Regency England before attempting another "historical" romance.

Big Yawn: (2008-02-10) 
I have been reading romance fiction especially historical romance for over 40 years and I found this book to be a big yawn, not quite a wall banger, but not one I could even bother to finish, let alone recommend to friends. I liked the premise, but the characters seemed to be of a more modern contemporary period in both their dialogue and their thought processes ( ie their reactions to events).

The first misunderstanding was so shallow and this reader had to wonder why anyone would let this kook, near children let alone teach them. The hero/heroine relationship seemed too artificial and there was no sexual tension being developed between them. There was also a lot of the mystery of the story left out in the beginning, which added to the confusing pace. Sure you don't want to tell all, but a good writer lets the reader know tidbits of the mystery, before the characters do and that didn't happen in this book. Not only did I not understand why he the kids but to be honest she didn't make me care.

This was my first book by this author and to be honest it will probably be my last. She might want to try contemporary romances instead as her voice is better suited to that than historicals. There are a lot of other midlist romance authors who are producing better stories in this period with characters who speak and act representative of the period and ones the reader can care about after the last page is turned.