Giveaway and Review: "Ripe for Pleasure"

"Ripe for Pleasure"
 by Isobel Carr

Publisher: Forever
Release Date: May 1, 2011

Source: ARC sent by publisher

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
 
Summary from goodreads.com:
Second in line, first in love
A secret society of younger sons, sworn to aid and abet each other, no matter the scandal or cost.... Their fathers and brothers may rule the world, but they run it . . . and when it comes to passion, they refuse to accept second best.

Searching for hidden treasure,
finding forbidden fantasy.
London's most sensual former courtesan, Viola Whedon, is incapable of being seduced-she does the seducing. Until she meets Leonidas Vaughn. Her salacious memoirs have made her the target of half the lords in England, and Vaughn is the only man she can turn to. When he promises to protect her-and to make her beg for his touch-the alluring beauty finds both offers impossible to refuse.

Leonidas Vaughn secretly believes Viola possesses a fortune given to his family by the King of France. So the strong and sexy Vaughn charms his way into Viola's life . . . and her bed. But when their arrangement is consummated, he'll experience pleasure far beyond his wildest fantasies-and realize his heart may need the most protection of all.
 
My Review:

This book was like a breath of fresh air for me. The characters really and truly seemed to care about each other and respect each other. I felt like we really got to see the character's inner thoughts and feelings more than normal in historical romance.

I loved reading about characters that were different from the norm in historical romances. Viola was a strong-hearted, worldly courtesan, not the innocent heiress we generally see. Leo wasn't going to inherit a title and effortlessly sweep the heroine away. He was a second son and had to make his own way in the world. I love seeing historical romance through the different viewpoints of these two characters. Their love wasn't bound by society's rules. They made their won rules for their love story and the result feels so natural.

Leo was positively dashing with his one blue eye and his wicked green eye. He was so intense in all of this feelings, whether it was anger at his cousin, love for Viola, or jealousy over her former flames. I admit, Leo started the book with a pretty big mistake towards Viola. But the action was such a whirlwind at the beginning, it was hard to tell what was really his doing in his cousin's plot. As soon as he met Viola, you could really see his remorse for his part in the plan. By then he was into the intrigue so deep that he had to keep up the lies to protect her from his increasingly dangerous cousin. Besides, he feels his regret just as strongly as his other emotions. Whenever a hero is no holds barred begging for a heroine's attentions and announcing his feelings to anyone he knows, it's easy to forgive.

Pen, the scraggly adopted dog, is a great addition to the story. She brings out both Viola and Leo's real selves. Leo's sister, Beau, is a great secondary character as well. She's spunky but sometimes doesn't think before she leaps. As for Leo's fellow second sons, it was a little tough to keep them all distiguished from each other, but I'm sure we're going to see more of his friends in the rest of the series.


Main Characters: 5/5
Supporting Characters: 4/5
(Pen gets a 5!)
Setting: 4/5

Romance: 5/5

Uniqueness: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Writing: 4/5



Bottom Line: I'm really looking forward to the rest of "The League of Second Sons" series for more out of the ordinary historical romance. Viola and Leo's love story was both all-consuming, and yet felt so real at the same time. I can't wait to read more from this author.


GIVEAWAY RULES:
Hachette books has generously provided three copies of this historical romance for readers of my blog!

All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this review with your email address! Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy
Extra Entries:
+1 Tweet this contest (leave link in comment)
+1 Post link in sidebar of your blog (leave link in comment)

Rules:
  • US and Canada only
  • No PO Boxes please
  • Must be a follower to enter
  • Extra entries are optional and can all be left in the same comment
  • Leave a comment with your email address
  • Books will be mailed out by Hachette
  • Must be 18 or over 
  • Ends Wed May 25
Thanks to everyone for entering! Good luck!  

23 comments

  1. Great review! This sounds like a great read.

    romancingthedarkside@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the great review and giveaway. Ripe for Pleasure sounds like a great book.

    rjofus AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hm I wonder if this wasn't the post I meant to comment on when blogger died yesterday.

    Sounds excellent :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoyed the review - Ripe for Pleasure sounds like a wonderful book. I'm looking forward to reading it, the characters sound interesting, and I want to hear more about Pen, the adopted dog.

    Barbed1951 at aol dot com
    GFC follower

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am a follower and would love to be entered.

    robin [at] intensewhisper [dot] com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ripe for Pleasure sounds like a really good book and I would love to win a copy. Thank you so much for the review and giveaway.

    GFC follower: June M.
    manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really want this novel!! Thanks for this giveaway. :)

    I follow!

    natashajennex(at)gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love books that are unusual. Sounds like a good one. Congrats on your new release!
    lvsgund @ gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ooooh! A green and blue eye? Sounds dashing!

    I'm a GFC Follower. (Cialina)
    books[a]muggle-born.net

    ReplyDelete
  10. This sounds like a great romance! I love books that feature animals :) Would love to read this one! Thanks for the giveaway!

    info@reelswellproductions.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. This sounds different. I wouldn't normally have chosen it but I'm convinced :)

    reflectionsofabookaholic[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm following on GFC @headlessfowl.

    headlessfowl at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  13. This book sounds really good! Please enter me :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was tempted to pick this up at the bookstore but couldn't decide. Your review has convinced me to read it! I am a follower, please enter me to win :)

    kathryn.clewell[at]gmail[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I look forward to reading this one. The cover is so sexy!

    Thanks for the giveaway.
    jenalang@live.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Care & respect each other?? I'm in!
    This looks like another HR that I may like - thanks!

    fwiw(dot)kea(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  17. gfc follower

    felecia@twinoaksfl.org

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great review! Now I'm looking forward to reading this myself! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

    GFC follower

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Great review! I have a copy of this somewhere. I’ll have to bump it up on the TBR pile :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great review! I can't wait to read this. It doesn't seem to follow the typical historical story line.

    meredithfl at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Follow on GFC. I really like historical romances and this looks very good.
    pbclark(at)netins(dot)net

    ReplyDelete
  22. This book looks like a great read! I want a long vacation to read all these great books! Can someone please talk to my boss for me?

    mmafsmith(at)gmail(dot).com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for your lovely comments!