Mistress By Mistake
Author: Susan Gee Heino
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Pub. Date: December 1, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0425231517
Retail Price: $7.99
368 pagesViscount Randolph Dashford isn’t a bad person; he’s simply pretending to be one to avoid matrimony.
Heiress Evaline Pinchley isn’t usually a sotted wanton; she’s merely celebrating her birthday.
One full moon and one empty Madeira bottle later, Evaline wakes to find herself in Dashford’s bed!
While Evaline tries to salvage what dignity she can from this colossal blunder, family secrets and would- be fiancés run rampant around her. Just when it seems she might find a way out of the mess she’s made, Evaline realizes things are worse than imagined.
She’s lost her heart to Dashford, and that could be the biggest mistake of them all.
~*~*~
How many of follies can be summed up to a night of too might drinking and to be left in the morning with a feeling of “what the hell did I do last night”. This is pretty much what happens to heiress Evaline Pinchley. Evaline, who has playboy bunny blood flowing through her veins, indulges in bunny hood for one glorious night with the help of some wine. Too bad she can’t remember who her Hugh Hefner is in the morning when she wakes up in a stranger’s bed.
Lord Randolf Dashford is in a bind. In his grief over his father’s death years ago, he gets himself engaged to a Miss Claudia Graeley. Now he will do anything to get out of the engagement. His grand plan for this—made when he is drunk—is to make himself so wholly undesirable that Miss Graeley will call off the engagement. He spends years making himself appear a first class rogue, womanizer, and a very money poor one at that. Unfortunately for him, his plan is not working too well and his fiancée still wants to marry him.
“Imagine what he could have come up with if he was sober when I was thinking of how to ditch the girl without getting shot.”
Lord Dashford’s mother calls him back home for an “emergency”, which he later learns is her “up to her ears in shame and here is a nice young lady to marry” lingo. Dashford, in an effort to avoid the new heiress his mother has caught for him, decides to take a trip to the gardens where he meets a very drunk servant—or so he believes. The servant, being no servant of course,but Miss Pinchley. Thus the story truly begins.
I have to admit this book was quite an effort to read. The author had me hooked at the beginning, but the never ending talk of sex got old. Fast. Thoughts of sex and anything to do with sex shows up in almost every single chapter. I don’t see myself as a prude, but it was too much for my tastes.
Between Miss Graeley, Miss Pinchley’s ex-fiance, Miss Pinchley’s grandmother (who is a courtesan), a book about sex that is repeatedly found in the library, and another young man we later learn has eyes for Miss Graeley, and you got a lot of sex. Talk of sex really drags down the main story and became so annoying, I got tired of reading the book.
I will give Ms. Heino her due and say she is quite capable of writing humorous scenes. There are many times in the book when I found myself laughing out loud. I will also give props to Ms. Heino because when she was not writing about the “s” word she can write very entertaining dialogue. There is also an entertaining side story about a lost “Dashford” treasure that I really wished she had spent more time on. Instead it felt a bit rushed. All in all, Mistress by Mistake was not really my cup of tea. Far too much spice in it and not enough sugar. Those who like spicy tea will enjoy this book immensely though. Those who like sweeter and more subdued teas, will probably not.
Rating: 6 (Satisfactory) For those who like their teas spicy.
Heat Level: 4 (Hot)
Buy Links: Book Depository ~ $6.73 | Amazon Kindle $6.39
Great review, Melissa. It’s always nice to see that what works for one person might not work for another. I haven’t read this book, but from your description I’d be more inclined to pick it up than a sweet tea novel.
Though, I have to say, I’d prefer not to have tea at all. I’m a coffee-with-soy-milk drinker. Don’t know what that says about my reading tastes.
LOL Katrina. I was thinking the same thing.
Great review Melissa. I have this one on the shelf.
I have this one. I started reading it back in December and while I can see why it would appeal to readers who like their romances with a bit of slapstick and lots of talk of ‘sex’ and sex, unfortunately that’s not me. I don’t mind humor and a little bit of farfetched craziness, this book asked me to suspend disbelief too much. I am curious to see whether the next book will be the same. I’ll be checking reviews before making up my mind whether to give this author another shot.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this book, Melissa. I totally did! Then again, I’ve always been a spicy-rather-than-sweet sort of girl! And add humor to that mix? Right up my alley!
I’m with you on the sex references. It seems publishers have decided more is better. It truly is getting tiring. It seems to have taken the place of plot and character development. Things cook well if you simmer them. A full boil or high heat are not always the best way to get good results.
Ooh, I like that analogy, Librarypat.
Very nice way of putting that librarypat.
Great review. The back blurb seemed interesting but shallow that I am I found the cover… well… not appealing at all. I know it’s not a good reason to NOT buy a book but well…
Thanks Katrina, Samantha, & Emmanuelle ^^
I’m with you librarypat. The heaviness on the sex scenes is something that i’ve noticed with some of the newer romances than older ones. I’d much rather prefer only 2-3 sex scenes in a book rather than 5-6. When there are too many sex scenes the book really stops being a book and starts being a porn novel. There really need to be a good balance in plot and sex scenes to make a story good. Sometimes none at all. I consider Jane Austen’s book to be some of the greatest love stories ever told and most of the time you only get one kiss in a particular book, yet i can’t put them down. ^^
lovemyhistoricals: I agree with you that this book was a bit much. I don’t believe i’m going to be picking up the next since it deals with Evaline’s cousin who is a former prostitute with a baby. Not my thing at all.
Agree with your review, Melissa, I felt the same. Though I did appreciate the humor in some of the writing, and while I have no problem with sex scenes, I didn’t find a balance. It just seemed so over-focused on the sex, scene after scene, which didn’t leave room for anything else; not much character development, or even chemistry, their only attraction the sex is how it came off to me. I hope this doesn’t become more of a trend, publishers wanting more sex in the stories because that seems to sell, at the sacrifice of a good romance story, and that to me is more character chemistry and development. I’d rather read the sweet story than the sexier one if that balance between the steam and character development is not there. Still, I think she has a good writing style, just wish there’d been more than the over-focus on the sex.