"An enjoyable and rather unique Regency romance"
Laura Lancaster, a down-on-her-luck American actress, is
stranded in London and saving almost all her money for a
passage home. Unfortunately for Laura, her play has been
cancelled and the wages owed her are forfeited. In
desperation, Laura, who has defended her virtue for two
years, agrees to take a protector. After his wife has flaunted her many lovers and been
involved in scandal, Julian Norcliff, the Earl of
Lockwood, doesn't wish to have any further dealings with
women. He has rid himself of his scheming wife by sending
her to the continent. However, his political agenda is
threatened by rumors about his sexual orientation. After
his secretary brings the rumors to his attention, Julian
agrees to obtain a mistress-in-name-only to stifle the
rumors. Julian sees Laura and is immediately enchanted. UNTIL YOU'RE MINE takes a rather unique approach to the
regency romance. Laura is an innocent pretending to be a
mistress and she is also a commoner. At times, I found
her naivety a little hard to swallow. After all, she had
been living alone for over two years in the seedy section
of London. I think that she should have been a little
more hardened with more backbone. I found the fact that
Julian was a former naval officer very interesting, a
pleasant change from the usual army hero or spy. For a
former naval officer, I found Julian to be a little too
trusting. There were several truly nasty villains in this
story, especially Julian's wife. The villains had no
redeeming qualities and I found myself glad that they got
their comeuppance. All in all, I found UNTIL YOU'RE MINE
to be a pleasant read with a likeable but rather inept
hero and heroine.
Reviewed by Marlene Breakfield
Posted May 19, 2004
|
