[.ca] One Bashful Lady

Sensual Romance with Tenderness:
This book had my interest the very minute I started reading it. Ainsley Delacorte's sister is told that she will marry the Marquess of Dunsmore, Desmond Rawlington, but she runs off to elope. This leaves Ainsley at the mercy of her mother who is determined to gain money through the arranged marriage, so she sets him up with her. Ainsley is terribly shy and makes it a habit of running to other rooms and behind curtains. It was touching to see how Desmond, a handsome man, immediately likes her and wishes to prevent her from any embarrassment so he helps her hide. He takes her to England where they get married and the sparks fly off the pages. There's tenderness and a lot of sexual chemistry, so it's not just a book about sex. There is a plot (though a lot of sex too). Ainsely overhears Desmond talking about putting Napolean back in power and fears that she has married a traitor. I won't give away the ending but it's a happy one. What I liked about this book is that Desmond is gentle with her and cares for her. She also cares for him and is loyal, even if it means death. They are very good together. What I didn't like about it (and this is why I only gave it four stars) is that there were two scenes that bothered me. One, he blows up at her because she doesn't want to go to a social event. I could understand that he was upset, but I didn't think he had to go off the handle. Then again, he was drinking and filled with self-loathing in not telling her the real reason he married her. The other reason I didn't give it five stars is because his former mistress hung around him. I give him many kudos for not sleeping with the mistress, but I didn't like the fact that he kissed her in order to extract information from her. He did make it up to Ainsley though, so at least he redeemed himself.

Needed a shot of adrenaline:
This novel really never took off because the characters were rather dull and the story suffered greatly from their inability to really come alive. Ainsley is living in France with her mother and sister because their father left them penniless and rather than face the ton and their shame they live across the Channel. Ainsleys sister (btw she is more interesting than the heroine) is betrothed by her mother to a man she does not know and instead of going through with the nuptials she runs away with her French baron leaving shy Ainsley to face her mother and her betrothed's wrath. Ainsley is painfully shy, she literally runs out of rooms, does not attend functions, doesn't speak and finds ways of avoiding communication. It was hard to empathize with her because there was no background to why her extreme shyness occurred. Was it because she had an outgoing, vibrant sister? Today she would probably be diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder and taking Paxil. She is rather colorless. Desmond Rawlington, Marquess of Dunsmore is furious that his betrothed has disappeared but he is willing to take Ainsley because she is the sister (they are interchangeable for his purposes of satisfying the King of England, who is Ainsley's distant cousin) and she is beautiful. He does not mind her shyness as it makes her more biddable. Ainsley goes along with the plan and away they go to London. Ainsley is forced to a presentation with the King at a ball and throws up soon after meeting him. Her husband scolds her, assists her, then proceeds to kiss and have his way with her at the ball. Sorry, that whole scene was unromantic, why would Ainsley's husband want to kiss her when she just vomited a few minutes earlier? Ainsley has a tendency to eavesdrop and overhears her husband with another woman and concludes he is having some illicit relationship with her. She later overhears him and believes he could be a traitor. Ainsley has a tendency to hide rather than confront, although to her credit she does ask about the woman and blithely accepts her husband's explanations because she is so in love with him within a few weeks. Desmond is supposed to be a libertine but I never saw it. He is involved in some spying but there never seemed to be real danger to him until the end. He loves his wife but I never knew when this happened. He has issues with his grandfather but there is never any real hatred, or other strong emotions exhibited by Desmond or the other main characters (the villainess is vivid and interesting though). This novel needed stronger emotions and deeper character backgrounds, it just scratched the surface and never reached its potential.