Masquerading Mistress
Grade : D+

Sentence fragments.

And one word sentences.

Many.

Many.

One.

Word.

Sentences.

If you think that was irritating, just imagine a whole book full of it. I picked up Masquerading Mistress because I'd never heard of the author, and I'd recently had good luck with a little-known Harlequin Historical author. Unfortunately, this one disappointed. The story was average at best, and the writing style was so distracting that the book was hard to finish.

Thornton Lindsay, Duke of Penborne, came to London to dispel rumors about his latest mistress – a mistress he didn't even know he had. Caroline Anstretton was desperate to save her brother from a dicey gaming situation, so she manufactured a relationship with the duke. None of this makes much sense, but it does provide our hero and heroine with an opportunity to meet.

Once Caroline meets Thornton, she does become his whore, partly because she is attracted to him, but also because he offers her money. So she gives him her virginity (he doesn't notice, despite the blood on his sheets, which, come to think of it is a little lame, particularly as he is a renowned intelligence officer). Both of them think the relationship is heading somewhere, but they manage to misunderstand each other, so Thornton insults Caroline, who insults him back, then runs off with her twin brother to parts unknown.

As luck would have it, Thornton comes across Caroline again over a year later while visiting one of his properties. She has changed her appearance and is posing as a widow. She also has a child who looks suspiciously like him. To make a long story short, she becomes his mistress, but there are secrets she is afraid to tell him (having to do with her many disguises and a hasty departure from France). There's also some other stuff involving a past mistress of Thornton's, but I won't bore you with the details.

Frankly, the story's just not that great. I kind of liked the whole France angle, which added a bit of novelty. But even though I am probably less sick of spy heroes than most people are, I never really warmed to either character. I have little patience for dishonesty, and these two spend much of the book lying to each other. And though I generally think the heroes in mistress plots are jerks, in this case I had less patience with Caroline. Thornton tries to treat her fairly, and she just can't bring herself to tell him the truth, even when she appears to have little to lose.

But all of that pales in comparison to the annoying writing style. I think most of us are past the elementary school teacher hard-line view that sentence fragments are never acceptable. Used judiciously, they can be very effective. But on every page, every time the hero or heroine has a thought? That way lies insanity. One can argue that Robin Schone got away with it, but even she invited parody. And Sophia James is no Robin Schone. Every time I saw them, all I could think was "Here come the sentence fragments again." Or maybe I really thought:

"Here.

"Again.

"Fragments.

"So many.

"Dear God.

"Make.

"Them.

"Stop."

Even if the plot had been endlessly fascinating, I doubt I could have overlooked this, and the plot was far from fascinating. All I can say is

This book.

Just.

Sucked.

Skip.

It.

Reviewed by Blythe Smith
Grade : D+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : December 30, 2007

Publication Date: 2007/12

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Blythe Smith

I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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