Lord Gray's List
Maggie Robinson


ISBN-10:
0758269099
ISBN-13: 978-0758269096
Publisher: Kensington
Line: Brava
Release Date: Oct 30, 2012
Pages: 352
Retail Price: 14.00




Genre:
Historical
Heat Level: Hot
Rating:

From duchesses to chamber maids, everybody's reading it. Each Tuesday, The London List appears, filled with gossip and scandal, offering job postings and matches for the lovelorn--and most enticing of all, telling the tales and selling the wares a more modest publication wouldn't touch. . .

The creation of Evangeline Ramsey, The London List saved her and her ailing father from destitution. But the paper has given Evie more than financial relief. As its publisher, she lives as a man, dressed in masculine garb, free to pursue and report whatever she likes-- especially the latest disgraces besmirching Lord Benton Gray. It's only fair that she hang his dirty laundry, given that it was his youthful ardor that put her off marriage for good. . .

Lord Gray--Ben--isn't about to stand by while all of London laughs at his peccadilloes week after week. But once he discovers that the publisher is none other than pretty Evie Ramsey with her curls lopped short, his worries turn to desires--and not a one of them fit to print. . .

Review

I have to be honest; I have high expectations of author, Maggie Robinson. She has written many wonderful novels – of which I love – but this one fell short. The storyline is original in that most heroes and heroines meet, have feelings of like or dislike and then - through the magic wand of romance – fall in love. In Lord Gray’s list, Baron Benton Gray and Evangeline (Evie) Ramsey are no strangers to a loving relationship, though the once steamy hot relationship is long gone and what was love has been replaced with contempt and despise. For Benton, Evangeline is the “One who got away.” Baron Gray, in his younger days, was viciously in love with Evie Ramsey, enough so that he proposed only to be turned down. Evie, who loved Benton, could not spend her life with a young man so restless and wild, fearing she would be marrying a man as destructive and unreliable as her father. Now, years later, Benton is quite the scandalous Baron and Evie is the ever faithful, hard-working daughter to an ailing father who’s lost the entire family fortune, leaving quite a decent amount of debt in his wake.

When the most popular paper in town – The London List – keeps reporting each and every move Benton makes, sealing his scandalous reputation among all of London, Benton decides to put an end to the reporting once and for all.  Imagine the shock he feels when it turns out that the publisher of The London List is the one and only Evangeline Ramsey, disguised as a man. Benton soon discovers the paper was won by Evie’s father in a game of cards, leaving Robert Ramsey a failing paper, mounds of debt and in no position to make anything of it all.  Evie, who took it upon herself to make something of the paper and repay her father’s debt, has been working undercover in order to make The List a success and gain access to the many places a lady would never be allowed to go.  In order to see his name disappear from the lime light, Baron Gray purchases the paper from Robert Ramsey, leaving him in quite the unexpected position of owning a paper that society will not allow him to destroy.  Now, Evie and Benton find themselves working together daily, in order to create the popular reading material that London has considered a must read.

While this overview gives just a hit at the storyline, it is not nearly the entirety of what the book entails.  I enjoyed the story but found it difficult to read when it came to the characters.  Neither character enticed me to read their story on a constant basis.  I found myself distracted and willing to partake in other activities rather than consume the story laid out in front of me.  In addition, though I enjoyed their story, the characters relationship didn’t spark.  While the heat level is high due to the events that transpire, the believability of the characters feelings was not present for me.  I didn’t feel the connection between the two.  That sense of undeniable and mutual attraction, lust and deep feeling was not something I felt during the course of reading this romance.  For that reason, the story was good; it was well written and well developed but lacked emotional elements to make it a chart topper for me. I simply wasn’t hooked from beginning to end.

Of course, this one book will not deter me from reading works written by Maggie Robinson in the future. I think I just didn’t quite click with this one for one reason or another.  It happens.  I look forward to reading other romances by Ms. Robinson in the future, but this wouldn’t be “the book” I first recommend to new readers of Maggie.  Seasoned readers should however give this book a chance.  You’re guaranteed a good story in exchange for your time.

Reviewed by Tiffany


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